"Tony, how did you become wealthy?"



There's probably a lot of answers to that question but the answer I gave (and nearly always do) is simply this:

To become wealthy, you have to think like a wealthy person.

Every week, I talk to dozens of people who dream of becoming wealthy. They're tired of working more hours for less money. They're tired of never seeing their spouse and kids. They're tired of taking their vacation days and using it to only go visit their relatives and letting their kids play with their cousins.

And so they've called me to talk about becoming wealthy. And it's very easy for me to see which ones are going to actually succeed and which ones will continue to struggle.

I simply watch how they think.

For example, if someone is struggling to pay their bills and that is their REASON for why they're starting a business, that person will find a way to be successful. They're motivated. They're focused on a solution. They realize that -- if things are going to change -- it has to start with them. And they're committed to be successful.

On the other hand, if a person says "Oh, I can't get started in business, I'm too broke".....that person has already lost. Because they are choosing to let their circumstances dictate what they can do. They will continue to use that situation as an excuse for why they can't be more successful. Which means that they are creating their own self-fulfilling prophecy.

I can usually call these people back in 6 months and they're no better off than they were when they first contacted me.

What's the difference?

It's how people THINK. This why Napoleon Hill titled his book, "Think and Grow Rich".

Wealthy people think differently than broke people. They don't ask "can I?" They ask "how can I?"

One of my favorite authors, Ayn Rand, once said, "What do you mean who's going to let me? You mean, who is going to stop me!"

Back when Jessica and I chose to start our business, we were broke. We were living in a very small cinder-block house. We had no heat. I was earning less than $1,000 a month. We were a couple of months late on our rent. Our car broke down frequently.

But we believed things could be better. We believed there was a way we could become wealthy and start living the life we deserved.

When it came to finding the money to start our business, we could have easily said, "I don't have the money." But, what would have changed? It's not like either of us had a rich uncle who was suddenly going to remember us on his deathbed. Or that our fairy godmother was going to show up and hand us lots of money just because we wished for it.

No, we did what a lot of people do: we scraped and borrowed and did whatever we had to do. We sold things we owned. Jessica took a part-time job on a short-term basis. I did odd-jobs for a friend of mine.

And when we made the decision that we were not going to let fear or other obstacles stand in our way, things started coming together in a way that we could have never planned or predicted.

So, if the question is, "How do you become wealthy?" the answer is simply, "Start thinking like a wealthy person".

Would a billionaire every say, "No, I can't do that."? No. they say, "That's what I'm going to do" and they go find a way.

There are two kinds of people in the world: stoppable and unstoppable.

Which are you?