7 Things You Should Avoid If You Want to Be Rich

If you don’t want to be like everyone else,

you have to make the sacrifices others aren’t willing to make.

This perspective, shared by a mentor early in life,

serves as the foundation for building significant wealth.

Starting from scratch with no qualifications and no money,

the journey to becoming a multi-millionaire often depends less

on what you do and more on what you choose to avoid.

1. Working Only for Money

Imagine two distinct career paths.

Path A involves taking a boring but well-paid job.

Early on, you stack cash, your friends are impressed,

and your parents are proud.

However, over time, your earning potential hits a plateau.

Path B involves a challenging, lower-paying job

where you might struggle for a few years,

even finding it hard to pay bills.

While others think you are falling behind,

your earning potential eventually goes through the roof.

Prioritizing Skills and Equity

The fundamental difference between these paths

is that Path B prioritizes skills and equity over immediate cash.

This is the path followed by self-made millionaires.

Swiss Army Knife Mentality: Every job should be viewed as an opportunity to add a new “tool” to your skill set.
High-Income Skills: In the modern economy, focusing on online-based skills like copywriting, video editing, and coding is highly recommended. The demand is growing, and there is a massive shortage of high-standard talent.

Long-Term Asset: By learning wide-ranging high-income skills, you become your greatest asset, making it almost impossible to ever be broke again.

Understanding Equity

Equity means owning a percentage of a business

so you can benefit from the profits.

There are three main ways to gain it:

Starting a Business: This is the most direct route to ownership.
Sweat Equity: Gaining a stake in a company by contributing extreme skill and hard work.

Purchasing Equity: Buying into a business, though this is best done when you have skills that can help accelerate that business’s growth. It is vital to have self-awareness; you must focus on becoming someone worthy of equity by proving you can add value rather than just taking from a business.

2. Buying a Luxury Lifestyle

Many people fall into the trap of pretending to be rich

while drowning in debt.

They take trips on credit cards, drive cars they can’t afford,

and dine at expensive restaurants just to impress others

on social media.

This is a life of smoke and mirrors.

The Reality of “Flexing”

The statistics are telling: 37% of Americans cannot afford

an unexpected $400 expense,

and 60% cannot afford to buy a new car.

While the goal of becoming wealthy is to eventually buy

what you want, you cannot live like a king and build wealth

at the same time during your early stages.

Depreciating vs. Appreciating Assets: Instead of spending on flashy clothes or expensive meals, wealth-builders focus on assets that increase in value.
Investment Focus: Prioritize stocks, crypto, and real estate. These generate income that can later be used to fund a luxury lifestyle sustainably.

3. Doing Everything Yourself

No matter how talented you are,

you will never out-compete a group

of talented people working together.

Even figures like Elon Musk, who may appear to work single-handedly,

are part of larger ecosystems like the “PayPal Mafia”,

a group of tech experts who launched companies

like YouTube, Yelp, and LinkedIn

and continued to invest in and advise each other.

The Advantage for the Younger Generation

Older business owners are often lost

when it comes to modern tech, managing teams online,

or building websites.

This creates a massive opportunity for the younger generation

to provide value.

Leveraging Tools: Platforms like Odoo allow individuals to help traditional businesses modernize by managing everything from e-commerce to invoices in one place.
The Consultant Path: You can earn significant money by bringing older companies into the 21st century using all-in-one management tools, effectively scaling your efforts beyond your own manual labor.

4. Having Too Many Inputs

In a world full of opinions,

it is easy to feel pulled in a million different directions.

This leads to cognitive overload,

where the brain cannot cope with the overwhelming amount

of information and choices regarding

side hustles, careers, or lifestyle paths.

Filtering Information

The solution is to start with your end destination

in mind and work backwards.

Prioritize Quality Over Quantity: Limit the number of opinions you listen to. Most people receive too many opinions from non-experts.

Seek Expert Advice: Focus on inputs from mentors or successful individuals in your specific field.
Overcoming Decision Paralysis: Too many conflicting inputs lead to mental fatigue and decision paralysis. By selecting only the inputs that help you reach your specific targets, you keep your brain focused and capable of taking action.

5. Being Ego-Driven

Arrogance is a silent wealth killer.

It convinces you that you are too smart to listen

or too important to take the small,

necessary steps that lead to greatness.

Ego-driven people often obsess over the “big picture”

or the end goal while overlooking the crucial daily steps.

The Iceberg Principle

True wealth requires the humility to keep learning.

What you currently know is just the tip of the iceberg;

the massive chunk of knowledge needed

for success lies beneath the surface.

Humility and Growth: Real growth happens when you realize how much you don’t know.
Avoiding Shortcuts: Those who scroll through life looking only for the “top 7 tips” without absorbing the actual knowledge miss the insights that could fast-track their journey. Success is built on the humility to listen to those who have already walked the path.

6. Passing the Blame

There is an old proverb that suggests a man

who blames himself is halfway through his journey,

while the man who blames no one has already arrived.

Many people reach for a “magnifying glass” to hyper-focus

on others, blaming teachers, the government,

the “rigged system,” or their lack of initial capital for their failures.

The Mirror vs. The Magnifying Glass

Passing the blame can grow into a habit that is hard to break.

Taking Ownership: To succeed, you must put down the magnifying glass and pick up the mirror.
Focusing on Control: When you look in the mirror, you focus on what you can actually control—your own thoughts and actions.
Eliminating Excuses: The more you blame external factors, the bigger your excuses become. Wealthy individuals take full responsibility for their situation, regardless of external circumstances.

7. Comfort zone

The comfort zone is a self-imposed prison with no gaps for growth.

Studies show that over half of people rarely leave

their comfort zone, and many eventually regret it.

Expanding your circle of comfort is the only way

to claim the infinite possibilities of the world.

Iterative Expansion

Expanding your comfort zone is a continuous process

that involves taking calculated risks:

The Apprenticeship Phase: Stepping out of traditional schooling into hands-on learning.
The Side Hustle Phase: Experimenting with new income streams to push into unfamiliar territory.

The Entrepreneurship Phase: Taking the pivotal risk of starting a business and expanding it internationally.
The Reinvention Phase: Even after achieving success, it is important to avoid complacency. For example, starting a new venture like a YouTube channel in your 50s to share knowledge can be a way to expand your boundaries yet again.

Remember, the space beyond your comfort zone is infinite,

but you have to claim it for yourself by constantly pushing

beyond your current boundaries.