CREATING WEALTH – A lasting cure to financial struggle!
“Profit is better than wages. Profit makes you a fortune (wealth) which is fine; wages makes you a needy (paycheck) which is not fine. Which of these two do you possess?”
The issue of money is a lifelong challenge; any attempt to tackle it with a short term solution will be futile. You cannot solve a long term problem by applying a short term solution. You’ll only end up where you started!
Conquering the challenge of financial struggle is not a quick fix affair. You cannot fight a chronic illness by simply treating the symptoms. You’ve got to go to the root of the illness before you can effect a permanent cure. You simply cannot cure the illness of being poor by simply injecting some funds every thirty days. If your solution to financial struggle is a constant paycheck from a secure job, then you are far from it; you’re endlessly trying to solve a long term problem with a quick fix solution. You can’t succeed!
WELCOME TO THE RAT RACE
Robert Kiyosaki, author of ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’, calls this mindset of trying to cure a chronic illness like financial struggle by treating the symptoms a rat race. Looking at the basic characteristics of a rat will help to shed more light on this issue. A rat is naturally needy–dependence on an external source for survival; It’ll always be in pursuit of the next meal. It knows it will always be in need of food, but can’t seem to work out a lasting plan on how to continually get food without having to worry about where the meal will come from. A rat is never certain about the next meal knowing well that it doesn’t own the source where it got the last meal. The fear of not being able to ascertain the source of its next meal keeps the rat in a perpetual race for survival.
Unfortunately, a majority of the world’s populace live their lives just like the rats; perpetually on the run for a paycheck they know will never last forever. The fear of lack of money keeps them hanging on to a source they do not really own–a job. They live their lives fully dependent on a paycheck for survival. You can never be certain of continuously getting something from a source you do not own.
Why plan your life around a source you can never own? Why choose to pursue what won’t always be available? Since a paycheck, no matter how secure the job is, can’t put an end to all your financial challenges in life, why hold on to it all your life? Why choose to cure a chronic disease (financial struggle) by treating the symptoms (lack of money)? The problem of lack of money is a symptom to the illness of financial struggle.
WHAT PROBLEM ARE YOU SOLVING, FINANCIAL STRUGGLE OR LACK OF MONEY?
Financial struggle is the state of constantly living in the fear of not having enough money to cater for one’s expenses in life. Lack of money is a state of being broke; that is having no money. When you struggle financially it doesn’t mean you are broke, it means you know the money you own will never be enough to meet all your life’s expenses. It means the money you own can’t afford you the kind of lifestyle you desire. It means your source of money has an expiration date. Financial struggle is a matter of time, that is; how long can the money you have take you? How long can your means of livelihood last you? Can your money last you for your entire life time without running dry? Are you free from the worry of how you are going to live for the rest of your life? How long can you live without the fear of not having enough money to meet your expenses in life? These and many more are the challenges of financial struggle; it is a matter of a lifetime. Financial freedom comes when you’ve permanently put an end to financial struggle. That is; when you can live your life without the fear of not having enough money to cater for your life.
It’s unlike the problem of lack of money which on the other hand refers to a state of being without money. It means you are incapable of meeting your immediate needs. It means you do not have a source of income. This makes the problem of lack of money a matter of source; where do you get your money from? How do you solve the problem of not having money? Are you sure of making continuous income from where you’re currently earning your money? Is your source of income a permanent one? Are you the owner of your source of income? When your source of income is a job, then you really haven’t solved your problem of lack of money; you’ve only suspended it. Being broke is a temporary state which cannot be permanently solved by applying a temporary solution such as a paycheck (job); you’ll need something much bigger. A paycheck is an inadequate solution to the problem of lack of money; never assume it’s going to solve the problem of financial struggle.
Not having money is the symptom of financial struggle. It is a sign that one is not yet financially free; that is freedom from the worry of where the next income will come from. Many people confront this problem of lack of money by getting a job which allows them to earn income through a paycheck. They believe as long as they have a job they will always have money to spend and thus would have ended the problem of being broke. The problem with this approach is that they are not treating the real sickness which is financial struggle but treating the symptom. When you try to get money by getting and holding on to a job, you have only extended the date to your being broke again.
WHAT ARE YOU WORKING FOR, A JOB OR A BUSINESS?
A job is short term solution to a lifelong problem; staking all your life on it will be a fatal mistake. You are never going to make it out alive. The problem (financial struggle) will continually outpace the solution (paycheck) you are proffering. This is because a job was never created to solve your financial problems for life. It was designed to make you needy (dependent) for life. It was designed to pacify (make less painful) the problem of lack of money but never to nullify (abolish) it.
As long as the job remains, the trick is to make your financial problems less obvious. But once the job stops, that same old problem of lack of money which was never actually solved suddenly resurfaces again. Why? Because all a job does is to shift your focus from the problem (financial struggle) to the paycheck (temporary cure for lack of money). For as long as the paycheck keeps coming, your problem of lack of money appears to be over. But is it really over?
What we never stop to ask ourselves is this; “who is actually making the problem of lack of money less painful, you or your boss?” if we do ever come to this realization, then maybe we’ll stop feeling secure about an uncertain job. The feeling of being secure can only come from what we have a direct control over. How can you feel secure about a job your boss directly controls? How can you feel secure when you are not in charge? How can you call a job yours when someone else designed the position you currently occupy? How can you feel secure or safe about a company you work for? The very notion of “a job” negates the essence of security. Security can only come from being in control and you can only control what you own. Unfortunately, in all my short stay on earth, I’ve never come across a job that is owned. What I’ve seen so far are job positions that were created for people to occupy. Just because you fill the position doesn’t make you the owner and since you’re not the owner, you can be replaced.
A job was created to be “worked in” (physical engagement) and not to be “worked on” (mental engagement). A job is like a car; you’ve got to be in it before you can drive it. Your physical engagement will always be a requirement. There’s no other way to having a job than to “work in” one. You can never be free from what you “work in” (job), you can only be free from what you “work on” (business). The former (job) requires all your time, while the later requires some of your time. You do a job, but you build a business. You engage in a job, but you create a business. You are inside one doing all the work (job), but on top of the other calling all the shots (business).
A job requires your presence to make money; a business depends on asset to generate income. A job gives you money (active income); a business makes you wealth (passive income). The difference is TIME. A job takes your time and gives you money, but a business frees your time and still gives you money. In a job, your time is being exchanged for money; the more money you make, the less time you have. Eventually, you would run out of time because there’s a universal constraint placed on we all humans–AGE.
The older we grow, the less we can physically do. Ultimately, as we age we lose our capacity to physically perform. Life has been designed in such a way that there’s an opposite relationship between age and our capacity to perform. This implies that there’s a deadline on our working years; much like an expiration date when despite our increasing needs, the ability to work would have diminished. The reality of this fact of life poses a rather disturbing question to us all; “how long will your earned income serve you when your working years are over?” Don’t wait till that time to find out, it would be too late; START NOW!
You can start a part time business that will help you build assets (wealth) while you are still working for a paycheck (money). Don’t get carried away by the temporary thrill of working for money that you forget to start building a business that will guarantee perpetual wealth. Wealth and not money, is the lasting solution to financial struggle!
How are you building your own wealth?
The Anatomy of Employment (Job)
There’s an age long saying that “there’s always more than a two side to every story”; the same is true for every concept ever conceived by man. There are several sides to every idea, concept, theory or thing in life; what really differs is not the concept, idea, theory or thing itself, but ‘how’ we humans perceive or see them. What really changes, is how we think about these things; the individual subjective meanings we attribute to things.
WEALTH vs MONEY
“Whether rich or poor, we all have money problems; the difference is how we go about solving them. For the rich they solve their money problems by building systems (assets) that generate money for them; the poor simply go work (labour) for money. “
Wealth is not the accumulation of money over thirty days. The source of wealth is not a paycheck (job). The source of wealth is an asset (business). Wealth is not the accumulation of money, but the accumulation of assets that perpetually generate money. Wealth is income earned from assets (business and investments). Money is income earned from labour (job and self employment). Both are never the same thing!
What is wealth?
According to Robert Kiyosaki, wealth is the ability to survive so many number of days forward without working. For example, if all I have to my name is $1000 in savings and my living expenses are $100 a day, then my wealth is ten days. If on the other hand, my living expenses are $50 a day, then my wealth is twenty days. This is calculated by dividing the living expenses per day by the total amount of money one has in that particular time. Which means wealth is measured by how many number of days one can survive with the current one’s current level of living without a paycheck.
Health and wealth are similar. Like when a doctor says “you have six months to live”, a banker or accountant “you are six months away from being g poor”. Wealth is not measured in money; instead wealth is measured in time. It is not a matter of accumulation (savings), but a matter of generation (cash flows). Wealth answers this question; “how much money are your assets generating?” and not this question; “how much money are you making or saving?” You’ll notice that wealth is continuous so long as the assets are supervised, but savings can be truncated at any time since the source of your savings is a job. Wealthy people don’t save money, they invest it. Their assets have the capacity to generate more than they need such that whatever excess is left is not accumulated (saved) but rather re-invested into the same asset or other assets in order to generate more wealth. It’s a continuous cycle of cash flows, that’s why the rich get richer. The secret? Is that they build assets that generate wealth while the poor do jobs that allows them save more.
You cannot save wealth, you can only save money. Why? The source of wealth is not money but assets. Wealth is always generated, built or created from assets not money. Wealth like I said before addresses this questions; firstly, “how much cash flows (income) can your assets (business or investment) generate?” and secondly, “how long can they (assets) continue to generate that cash flow? (Income) Until you can confidently answer these two questions never assume you are financially free; you’re still in the rat race. Never assume your problem of money is over; they are only some days away from re-appearing!
What is money?
Money is the reward gotten for a problem solved. It is the currency you get in exchange for the solution you provided to an existing problem. Money is that which is given in return for a problem solved. Money therefore is released every time a problem is relieved. That is; there’s no way you can earn or get money until you’ve first solved a problem. In other words, solving more problems literally means making more money. The universal principle of making money states; “TO GET, YOU MUST FIRST GIVE.” Nothing more, nothing less!
The idea of a job originated from this principle. A job is what you do (give) in order to make (get) money. Until you give your time, talent, skill and experience to a job (solve problem), the boss or owner won’t release his money which is what you get (reward) for the job done (problem solved). Before you were employed, the boss or owner had a problem which needed to be solved. The position you now currently occupy was created by the boss or owner so as to solve a particular problem in the owner’s business (asset). Until he’s convinced that you’re adequately qualified to solve the particular problem he hired you to solve, there’s no way you’re going to be paid (money).
In other words, you’re the solution to a problem your boss created. The day you’re not adequately solving that problem, your presence will no longer be needed! I’m sorry if I sound a little bit harsh, but this is the bitter truth. The earlier you summon up the courage to accept this bitter truth, the better for you and all your loved ones. The life of an employee is far more risky and uncertain than all the risk faced by an entrepreneur (business owner). Most people would want to agree otherwise, well, experience they say is the best teacher. With time, the bitter truth will emerge; I can only hope by then it won’t be too late!
The reason why employment is very risky and not secure is that a whole lot of others can equally solve the same problem you’re currently being paid to solve for your boss. In fact, most times, they even charge less than what you’re currently being paid. And don’t blame a savvy business owner who is always on the lookout for more ways to cut cost; you would do the same if you were in his shoes. This is why employees are constantly on the edge of their seats. They live and work in perpetual fear of the unknown. Is this the kind of life you seek? Only you can know better.
The universal principle of money equally applies to the business owner or boss; to get, he must also give. The only difference is that he chose to tackle his from a different and more strategic perspective. Be it a worker or an employer, we all must solve problems (give) before we can make money (get). Principles are timeless; they are no respecter of persons. You either accept them and apply them or you reject them and endure the consequence. God is not mocked, whatsoever you sow, same shall you reap.
Both you and your boss obey the universal principle of money; you give in order to get. However, your boss is much smarter. How do I mean? For him to make the money he pays you as salary, he has to use you to solve a problem he has identified in the life of a customer. If he fails to successfully do this, both yourself and him will be eventually fired by the greatest boss of all; the customer. There’s really no difference when it comes to money between you and your boss; you both must first give (solve a problem) before you can receive (make money). He just like everyone else is financially struggling and desperately wants to be financially free, the ONLY difference is in the kind solution he seeks and this is what separates the poor from the rich. While your boss builds a system that enables him create products or services that solve the problems of his customers, you the employee function as part of the system created by your boss to solve a problem on his behalf. What is now known as BUSINESS is the name given to the system created by your boss to solve the problems of customers.
Whether rich or poor, we all have money problems; the difference is how we go about solving them. For the rich they solve their money problems by building systems (assets) that generate money for them; the poor simply go work (labour) for money. One builds a system that makes money; the other works for money. I ask you, which is smarter? Employees are perpetually poor (financially dependent) because they are ‘part’ of the system, while employers are perpetually rich (financially free) because they ‘own’ the system. The former works in the system created or built by the latter. The rich build systems that generate wealth; the poor go to work in the systems built by the rich for a paycheck. Both give in order to get, but one builds in order to get, the other works in order to get. To be financially free, you’ve got to be a BUILDER and not WORKER! A problem (financial struggle) truly does exist, your boss solves his by building a system, but you solve yours by working in a system. He’s financially free because he owns the system; you’re financially struggling because you’re part of the system. How can you expect to be free from what you’re a part of? Only the one who built the system (business owner) can be free! Why? He’s giving more than you’ll ever give. He builds while you work and God, the universe and all of creation rewards the builder more than the labourer. “I’ll give bread to the eater and seed to the sower” he says.
The rich ultimately become wealthy not because of their accumulated money (savings), but because of their accumulated systems (assets) that continuously generates a constant source of income. This is the secret of the world’s wealthiest people; they never work (labour) for money, they simply build systems (assets) that makes them money. This is the beauty of building a system; it has the capacity to generate constant unlimited cash flows (income) as well as the power to free you of every physical involvement thus allowing you the luxury of time needed to enjoy the money being generated. Wouldn’t you rather choose this than continue the rat race? The time to start is NOW!
The solution to financial struggle: creating wealth!
Here is how;
Begin a part time business that can allow you to build a system that is capable of generating unlimited cash flow even though you’re still doing your nine-to-five job full time. Don’t expect quick returns the moment you start out building your system on part time. Business is like a child, it takes time to nurture and grow; it’s not a job that you ‘work in’, it’s a system that should be ‘worked on’.
2. Be willing to spend all your time and energy learning, developing and building your system (assets) up to the point that its cash flows (income) outweighs your current paycheck from your full time job.
3. Once this is achieved, it is time to quit your full time job and concentrate full time on fine tuning your system making sure all errors are reduced to the barest minimum. You must never hurry while building. Workers may be allowed to hurry, but builders must be meticulous for it takes much more time and precision while building; this can only be achieved through proper long term strategic planning. Now you see why builders are rewarded more than workers?
4. Then it’s time for expansion, a system is no use being in one place alone. The economic value of a system is its number of users squared. If your business is in one location and has ten customers, its economic value is just ten. But when your business expands to another location and has ten more customers, then its economic value is (10+10) all squared.
5. Keep repeating step three and four above until your cash flows from your systems (assets) exceed your total cost of living and you have more than you need to meet your needs and even enjoy some luxuries.
6. Now take control of your excess income it’s time for investment; use the excess income from your business and start learning how to invest in real estates, stock market, forex, commodities etc. so as to multiply your wealth. The beauty of investments is this; your money is at work for you all round the clock 365 days a year whether you are alive or dead!
7. Make the world a better place by using your wealth for the good of humanity through the provision of charitable services to the less fortunate ones in our world. This is where you secure your wealth in the hands of the universe which ensures that your wealth is transferred from generation to generation even after you’re long gone!
I hope I have been able to break this down to the most comprehensible form possible. This is the blueprint to creating and building wealth; the lasting cure to financial struggle. Thank you for your time; it’s been a whole joy being of blessing to y’all.