Step Seven – Plant Seeds and Acquire Assets

Over 80% of Millionaires today are self-made.   This means that they did not inherit their millions, they earned their millions.  Now these ‘self-made’ millionaires are from different socio-economic backgrounds, with more than 50% of the self-made millionaires coming from a poor or lower middle-income socio-economic backgrounds.   Therefore whether you come from a country that is labelled as Third-World/Developing or a Developed country, following these steps outlined in ThirdWorldSuccessGuide 10 Steps to Success will give you the best chance of making it anywhere.  This is so because the laws of success as written thousands of years ago in Babylon are still the same today.  Everyone who is a long-term success does it, everyone who is a failure does not. Now you have circumstances where people live in a war-torn country or a country where human rights abuse is the norm.  My best advice would be to get the fuck out!  Move!  Move to a different country or a different part of the country which is more conducive to you becoming all you can be.  Now I know it may be hard for many to leave behind whether it is loved ones or a place you call home.  But hear me when I say you can’t make a difference if you are dead or poverty-stricken.  Move, become successful, then reach back with your long arms of success and help in the best way you can.  We are now ready to start re-enforcing our second floor in our mansion of success.  You have read steps #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6 and are now ready for step #7 which, if done right will put you in the millionaire or billionaire status, given time.

 

Step #7 – Plant seeds/Acquire assets   

                                                                                  

 

What are financial seeds? –  Financial seeds are investments that are made today and the near future that will bear financial fruits for years and even generations to come.

What are Assets? – For the purposes of this guide, an asset is any financial vehicle or instrument that you buy that puts money in your pocket.  Meaning it earns you money.  For example if you are paying mortgage on your house and it is not earning you any money but costing you money, then that particular house is not an asset, it’s a liability – it’s an expense.  however if you purchase or lease a property and you get rental income from the property that covers your expenses as well as turn a small profit then that particular house is an Asset.

 

What are some of the seeds I should plant and assets I should acquire? –  Now, most Jamaicans, we love our fruits.  Some people go crazy when mango season comes around.  They are succulent, juicy, sweet – just pure heaven.  However not many people stop to think, I am enjoying this fruit, I wonder who planted this seed/tree?  Year after year this tree bears fruits in abundance providing succulent treats for 10s of hundreds of people for many generations.  But that well-manicured East-Indian mango tree in the front lawn was first planted by someone.  This is how financial seeds work, they may take a while to mature, however they will bear financial fruits for years to come. Below are examples of financial seeds/assets that we should plant/acquire.

1. Start a Business/ several businesses –  In step #2 I encouraged you to ‘Earn Income’. I told you not to sit and wait on your dream job, to go out there and earn an income and to not discriminate against the industry you may have to work in to earn an income.  Now, in step #7 we are pass that stage and although we may still be in those jobs we acquired in step #2, now in step #7 I want you to lean more towards your passion and doing what you love.  Because when the business has grown into an empire, this is what you will quit your job to be doing.  It is best that you love what you are doing here, because you will put forward your best and that is what is going to make you a millionaire.  The ideal is to start businesses that you don’t have to work in.  Otherwise it’s not just another job.  However note that you may have to work in it and put in a lot of hours at the start to get it up and running and profitable.  Thereafter you put systems in place so that you can train someone to run it in your absence. Starting or owning a business is how most millionaires earned their millions.  Some examples of businesses are:

• Open a franchise; if you are passionate about coffee – open a Starbucks, if you are passionate about healthy fast food – open a subway, if you are passionate about putting a smile on people’s faces with sweet treats – open a Baskin-Robbins.
• Logistic and Transport; if you are good at logistics and management you may want to start a Trucking company for example. You may start a luxury transport service.  You may start a courier/delivery service.  You may even start a small airline company that flies locally.
• Online retail store; if you are passionate about retail and are a good marketer, then you may look at starting something online. This has great potential as start-up costs are low however potential customer base is massive.

 

2. Investment real estate – Note that these ‘real estate’ investments at this stage is solely to generate income. Some examples of these type of real estate investments are:

• Apartment complexes; these are to generate rental income from families and working professionals.
• Student rentals; have a spare room? You may rent it to a university student for example.  You may also purchase or lease a house or apartment and divide up the rooms so that you may be able to rent to multiple students.  Check with apartment complex management before doing this.
• Farm; real estate also includes land, and by extension, farming. Checking what is needed in your society and leasing some land and producing that may prove to be a profitable venture for you.

 

3. High Dividend Paying Stocks, Bonds, Mutual Funds, ETFs and REITS – The definition of these were outlined in step#6 of TWSG. The purpose of buying these high dividend paying instruments, separate and apart from your investments in step#6 is to earn a regular income from these instruments.  You can buy different instruments and strategically set it up in a way that you get an income every month from the various ones, since most pay dividends quarterly.

 

4. Do something creative that pays Royalties – This may be in the form of the arts, technology and engineering among others. For example you may earn royalties from the following:

• Writing a song
• Recording a song
• Writing a book
• Create a film
• Creating a successful musical rhythm
• Create an App
• Patent a Design
• License a product
• Create and license a trademark

 

What is the goal here? – The goal here is to create Multiple Streams Of Income.  You have heard it time and again that the way to wealth is to create multiple streams of income.  Most self-made millionaires have an average of between three to Seven streams of income.  Most persons only have their jobs as the only stream of income. There is no plan B, and if they should lose that stream of income they would be financially devastated.  That is crazy if you think about it.  Most successful people have a Plan B, Plan C, Plan D, Plan E, Plan F etc. in this regard. At this stage I am not referring to small side hustles. At this stage in TWSG I am referring to scalable legitimate investments and businesses.  As was mentioned earlier you can at this stage lean more towards doing things that you love.  Also research and choose industries that have a future.  Look around and see what problems exist in your environment or developing country.  Problems = opportunity and opportunity = business or service and businesses = multiple streams of income and multiple streams of income = wealth.  Look around and see what services you can provide to bring your country closer to the developed country standards. For example, in my first step to TWS I suggested that having an education is the foundation on which Third World Country citizens should build their success and wealth.  If you are from one of those countries with very low literacy rates, you could open a series of schools from basic to secondary education.  You would make it free for these students to attend and you would seek international charity donations.  Provide free meals for students, which are paid for using these donations.  Pay the teachers well, and make sure to provide a quality education.  Use a separate arm of your charity to build businesses that will turn a profit to help with providing funding for these schools.  In terms of tertiary education you would provide scholarships to students to attend universities nearby and also overseas. You may have a contract with students to give back whether through service or donations when they have made it through the ‘system’.  This is an example of seeing a problem and providing a solution that can make you wealthy as well as making a difference.

 

So what should I take away from step #7?

• Most millionaires are self-made.
• The average millionaire has between 3 and 7 streams of income
• Planting financial seeds and acquiring assets is the best way of earning multiple streams of income
• Most millionaires either owned or started a business
• Make sure to do your research, you also have to add value to whatever product or service you provide.
• Do not skip doing steps number One thru Six. These earlier steps are what will provide the stable platform on which you can launch your endeavours in step #7.
• Earning multiple streams of income is a proven way of becoming a millionaire.
• Try to do something you love at this stage.
• Do not leave one 9 to 5 J-O-B for another J-O-B in your own business. Create systems that can allow for someone else to run the business and make it scalable.
• Seeds will bear fruits and Assets will produce income for years to come.

 

Type ‘I love Mango’ in the comments if you have read all the way to the end.  It shows who are really ready to do the hard work and learn what is necessary to become a TWS.  Also please share with a friend or family member who you wish to see succeed.

Stay tuned next week as I will publish step eight of the ten steps on how to make it in the third world.

Our actions now will determine future results.

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