What makes a millionaire?
Below are some characteristics that all millionaires have in common. They:
- Work very hard and often spend 16 hours a day, six days a week working.
- Are conscious of time. Time means money and they will often spend time on the phone while being chauffeured from one meeting to another.
- Have a strong need to achieve. Focus. They know what they want and go after it. They do not easily get distracted.
- Have energy and often play sport.
- Learn from the best. If they want to learn something they will identify an expert and learn from them. Often they will take menial jobs just to learn a particular skill.
- Have a low need for acceptance. This is because of their strong belief in themselves.
- Are enthusiastic, especially about their business.
- Are risk-takers. They are often willing to take risks which others are not because they see the reward where others do not.
- Have great persistence and will often outlast others who give up a lot sooner.
- Are resilient. They know when they have failed but they get up and do something else.
- Are problem solvers.
- Love what they do.
Any of these qualities can be learnt or improved. Take a look at yourself and see how many of these qualities you already have and how many you need to work on.
Below are the top ten qualities millionaire company directors give as contributors to their success:
- Honesty and integrity
- Enjoying work
- Working hard
- Able to get on with others
- Intelligence
- Being in the right place at the right time
- Being self-disciplined and success orientated
- Good health
- Taking opportunities
- Being good at delegation
Ask yourself
- Which of the personality traits are important for my line of work?
- Which of the personality traits do I share?
- Which of these do I need to work on?
- How can I improve in these areas?
Interestingly, they generally believe that meeting or employing the right people is more important than any personal qualities they may have. In other words, they rate leadership and networking skills as vital for success.
People are either leaders or followers. Followers will rarely make a difference or become great. It is great leaders that books are written about. Leaders come in all shapes and sizes but they have three common characteristics, they believe in their goals, they know what drives people and they are decision-makers.
Leaders make prompt, firm decisions whereas followers will look to others to make decisions or remain indecisive and no decision will be made. “Study failures around you and you will see that they all lack the ability to make a firm decision. They usually talk a great deal, but there is little action,” says Hill.
This is not to say that the decisions leaders make are rash or without grounds, but they are able to weigh up a situation and take action. It is not enough to have a plan, you must take the initiative to make it happen. Hill says, “Deeds, not words should be the motto of those who intent to succeed in life, no matter what the calling.”
Another important part of being a good leader and being able to grow your business or climb the corporate ladder will be learning to let go. You will need to hire the right people and then let them work in the areas where they are strong and you are weak.
Leaders are also able to identify what drives people and cater to that force. This enables them to unify the team and create a single vision for their company. Hill terms a group of people able to work together and add to the greater company objective ‘the master mind’.
Being able to achieve a company with a master mind is like striking gold, and you can achieve wealth beyond your wildest dreams.
Knowing what type of skills and personality traits you need combined with your plan will allow you to become a success.
Another myth is that money is bad and corrupts you. This is a story that many people believe and have passed on from generation to generation. Break the cycle by stopping this belief because it is not true and will only lead to your failure.
The truth is that many of the wealthiest people in the world give generously, both time and money, to charities.
Formulas for success
While you are working towards your goal you may want to take a look at some of the following tried and tested formulas for success. They may help you to make good decisions or put spectacular systems in place, which will lead to success faster.
The formulas are:
- Do more than you are paid for. The brain is like any muscle in your body, and it needs to be exercised in order to grow strong. Also, if your attitude is one of giving more than you receive your wealth will be bountiful.
- Pay attention to the little things. It is the small things that make the biggest difference. If you are not the kind of person who pays attention to the small things then hire someone who does because it will make a huge difference in your company.
- Create a clear strategy for gaining and retaining clients. They are the key to the success of any business. Profits are the applause that the customer gives you.
- Be prepared. The more prepared you are the fewer surprises you will have. Be prepared financially by having savings be prepared for a meeting by knowing what you want to achieve by the end of the meeting. No matter what area of your business, be prepared.
- Develop the habit of health. Get enough rest, exercise and healthy food. Get into the habit of living a healthy life and you will function to your full potential.
- Have balance in your life. Spend time with loved ones, there are few things as destructive as divorce or an unhappy home life.
- Money is the measure of value that is placed on your goods or services. The amount you earn is the measure of the value that others place on your products or service. The more you are worth the more you will earn. Money is an effect not a cause.
Ask yourself
- What do you do that contributes the greatest value to your goods or services?
- How can you increase the value of your own contribution?
Common myths about millionaires
- You have to be born wealthy. A third of British millionaires come from average backgrounds, a quarter come from backgrounds with poor or struggling parents and only two percent comes from wealthy backgrounds.
- You have to be academically brilliant. Great business people are brilliant at what they do, this does not mean that they were academically brilliant, 40% of British millionaires were average at school and 45% left school at eighteen.
- You need to have a stable background. Many had a difficult or unhappy childhood.
- It is all about luck. Very little of what happens in life is luck.
- You need to be young. There are more millionaires in their 50’s than in their 20’s.
- You need to have a certain type of personality.
- Millionaires are made up of a range of people with all types of personalities.
- You need to be a crook. Most millionaires are not, honesty and integrity is a far less risky strategy than drug running.
