Brett Rants

How to Become Rich

Ain't if funny, it's all about money.

Millionaire Pauper

This simple guide isn't about becoming a millionaire. Becoming a millionaire is child's play in this day and age.

How to Become a Millionaire:

Get a halfway decent job.
Save a significant portion of income (10-50%).
Work for most of your life.

See, becoming a millionaire is easy and well within the reach of anyone who puts forth the time and effort.

Now, getting sickly rich, that's a different matter.

This is a Roadmap
Not a Travelogue

I'm not sickly rich. But I believe that if I were to put forth properly directed effort for a long enough period of time, I would get sickly rich.

In much the same way that I've never walked from New York to Los Angelos, but I have done enough walking, hiking, and travelling that I can more or less extrapolate what the trip would be like. And believe it or not, it's not a trip I want to make.

Streams of Income

No, this isn't some get rich quick scheme, but one has to start somewhere. And I am going to call this starting somewhere a Stream of Income. It doesn't matter much to me whether this means continuing to work as a corporate lawyer, getting a part time job at the local fast food restaurant, or babysitting the neighbour's kids.

One has to start somewhere.
It doesn't much matter where.
Believe it or not, starting is the hardest part.
The second hardest part is to keep on keeping on.

How to Become Wildly Wealthy

Keep the best Income Stream going.
Change that Income Stream up a little.
Try something new.
Rinse and repeat.

Since this may be a bit unclear, let me restate the basic idea.

Make money as best as possible.
Put more energy into what works.
Put less energy into what doesn't work.
Switch it up and try something new.

If that's still unclear, well, not everyone gets to be rich. But the one line mnemonic is:

Follow the Money

So, the real key to making money is to spend lots and lots of time doing things that make more and more money.

It's not a difficult concept.

Lead by Example

As always, individual results may vary, the only thing these examples have in common is the overall pattern.

Start with nothing
Become fry cook at fast food joint
Go to school
Get better job
Go to night school
Get better job
Become corporate lawyer
Found firm that represents corporations
Hire other lawyers
Rejoice in the fruits from the labour of others

But maybe one has an allergy to peanut oil and hates everything about our legal system.

Start with nothing
Babysit the neighbour's kid
Get more clients
Raise rates
Pay another to handle overflow
Open day care centre
In a word, start anywhere and expand slowly but surely

'Yes. Yes. Yes. Children may be our future, but personally, I can't stand the blessed things.'

Start with nothing
Mow neighbour's yard
Start yard service
Hire some schmuck who isn't as enterprising to take care of the overflow
Rinse and repeat

'But, hey! I've got hay-fever!'

Not to worry!

Start with nothing
Bake a cake
Sell a cake
Bake a pie
Sell a pie
Start catering service
Do that county fair thing
Open restaurant
Open chain of restaurants
Count vast stacks of cash

So, the basic pattern is simple:

Start somewhere
Expand or move on to bigger and better things

'But I don't want to work!'

Which is to say, money isn't everything.

Quality of Life

I would literally (quite literally) rather write about what I want to write about for an audience of one than slave away writing what someone else wants me to write for a few measly bucks.

There is more to life than money.

After all, many a person has decided they'd rather babysit one or two children and enjoy themselves playing with said toddlers than spending their time managing a day care centre. The later may pay better. But for some, the former is far more enjoyable.

So, keep this in mind, most folks won't pursue a life of money for two simple reasons:

Fishing doesn't cost that much.
They'd rather be fishing.

Final Incoherent Words

It's easier to expand by doing a good job, doing what the customer wants.

But what this means isn't always clear. Many a person has made billions following a business strategy I would have never endorsed (and in fact, would have and have betted against -- i.e. shorted).

But that's simply because there is no predicting the future or what customers want. Hence, if one wants money, the only meaningful advice is to: