The best way to become a millionaire in five years or less

First, to be clear. I have no product, service, or affiliate program tied up with this hub. This is about my own personal journey and I hope it will help you in your own journey.

Before the 'how' in everything, comes the 'why.' You need to ask yourself why you want to become a millionaire first. The answer can't be as simple as "because I want to" or "because I could quit my job."

You need to have a real driving force that you're committed to. Even the way this hub request was posted shows a lack of commitment. "What is the best way to become a millionaire in 5 years or less?"

If you're only willing to put in 5 years to become a millionaire, why are you even bothering to try? You put 3 or 4 years into a University degree and do you walk out feeling you know everything you need to know?

So why do I want to become a millionaire or become 'rich?'

• To create a better life for my family, friends, and myself
• To be financially free and not be limited by money
• To help as many people as possible in the world
• To completely experience life and the world

I set my goal to become financially free when I was 22, now I'm 27 and I'm still not a millionaire. So why even listen to me? Good question? If you were really serious about becoming a millionaire in less than 5 years you would find people who have already done it and ask them.

What I can offer is a life filled with studying entrepreneurship and business, which I believe is the best way to become a millionaire. Some people prefer real estate and investing but I think businesses are simply more interesting.

If you still want to listen to what I have to say, welcome. I've learnt a lot in the last 5 years and I know, without doubt, I'll get there within the next 5 years. All I can offer you at this moment is what I've learnt, what I've tried, and how my thinking has changed.

When I talk about starting a business, I talk about creating a system that makes you money whether you are working or not.

I am NOT talking about get rich quick schemes that promise you thousands of dollars when you work 1 hour a week. It's a lie, move on with your life.

I am NOT talking about becoming self-employed. Working for yourself has a mindset that you are the only one that can do the work. If you want to grow a business and become a millionaire, you need to shed that belief and begin to create a business that will work without you.

I am talking about creating a business that produces a product or service of value to the community. It will have employees or you are not financially free. It is a system that you will build from scratch and slowly replace the technical tasks below you with employees, allowing you to grow your business.

Let's face the facts, building a successful business is difficult. Very difficult. I believe anyone has the potential to do it, but I'm never going to say it's easy.

It will take time, it will take hard work, it WILL take hard work (yes it's worth repeating), and it will take an approach to continuous learning that will blow your mind.

Most people think business is common sense and anyone can do it. It's time to wake up and start living in the real world. Look at all the big companies in the world and tell me you could of done that, right now, with just your common sense.

Then look at all the small companies in the world and realise that there are an incredible amount of really smart people that will never grow their business past it's current point. They will never reach the success they dream of.

It's up to you to be different. It's up to you to learn what it takes. It's up to you to make a commitment to learning that you can't even fathom at this point.

You'll need to become a master of:

• Marketing
• Finances
• Creating systems
• Managing staff
• Strategic planning
• Leadership
• Creativity
• Psychology
• and on...and on...and on...

It's impossible to create a list of all the skills you'll need, they'll change as you grow. The most important skill you'll need is an ability and desire to learn. You'll want to know why everything works, you'll want to know why people act the way they do, and you'll want to know how Bill Gates created Microsoft.

You will have such a passion for business you won't know what hit you. And your family and friends won't either!

Commit yourself to learning and face the fact that now, you know 0.0001% about the subject, and you're taking the first step on the road to success.

Every successful business and business person reached that point by focusing on their strengths. That may sound like a little bit of a contradiction after the previous section, but let me explain.

Strengths are what you are truly great at. They are the activities that come so easily to you that other people are amazed. You might be great at math, you could be fantastic with people, or you might understand technology like no one else.

When you are focused on your strengths, everything comes a lot easier to you. It positions you in the market in a way your competitors never can. By basing your business and your working activities around your strengths, you can produce tremendous results.

Only a few people even realise what their strengths are. Some people have a hint but have never managed to link it to their business. Until recently I didn't fully understand this incredible concept and the power it had for my business. Since then, my business grows more in a month than it did in the previous 6 months, and will continue to grow at an incredible rate as long as I continue to do so.

As an example, my strength is "seeing the big picture." I can look at a business and design a fabulous strategy, come up with innovative new ideas, and literally turn a business around. I can also start new projects with a lot of enthusiasm and effort, but you know what happens? I hate finishing projects! I always falter at the end, in the last 5 metres of the 100 metre race.

So I focus on my strengths in my business by designing strategies that would blow your socks off, but I make sure I'm not the person needing to do the implementation or we're all in trouble!

Your business will depend a lot on your strengths. If you get this right from the start, your growth will be a million times faster.

Of course, we're talking here about starting one business. Too many people, especially on the Internet, manage to tie themselves up in a million different websites, all with different products, and scatter their attention everywhere.

Another key to success is focus! This is maybe the hardest thing for some people, myself included, when it comes to creating a successful business. When great opportunities come at you left and right, you really have to have strength to say "no thanks" and go back to work on your business.

Ok, so we have one business and we understand our strengths a little more. Now we have the right mindset to create something great. So what do you do?

It's time to look at your strengths again. Combined with your strengths you'll have hobbies and activities that you really excel at. For some people it'll be something exciting that really gets them moving like playing football or decorating houses. Something they really have so much passion for that other people might look at them strangely from time to time.

For others, it may be a little less exciting...like plumbing. Now, to me plumbing isn't really exciting but perhaps you can find excitement in doing it, I mean no offense to the plumbers reading! But for example you might be the best at working out why a tap isn't working on how to fix it. You might be able to explain it in plain English and show people how to do it themselves. This could be your business.

Everyone has a passion, everyone has things they really love doing. You don't even have to be really great at it, you can always work out an angle that makes what you offer valuable.

Once you have a list of potential ideas, start researching. The best idea in the world means nothing if no one wants to buy it. Make sure you understand your potential market, what they want, what their problems are, and how your product or service can solve it.

Now we've got a business idea that people are willing to pay money for and it's time to bring it to market. This is where another important mindset comes in.

Most people want that million dollars. Call it greed, or some other nice fuzzy name, but it exists inside all of us...there's no point in denying it. This can hinder the results of your business if you're not careful.

I'm not saying don't make money and I'm not saying don't enjoy making money but just be aware of this very important fact:

People are selfish!

It doesn't sound nice, but it's true. People want to know what they will receive in return for giving. You see it in business, you see it in relationships, you see it everywhere across the world. It's a fact of life and the longer you try to deny it, the longer you'll hold yourself back.

Remember how I said be open to learning? Not that easy is it!

So how do you beat this formula. Easy, you give more than you take. You give your little heart out and just watch the results. If your product or service is giving thousands of dollars worth of value, only charge hundreds of dollars. It seems strange, but the benefits are obvious when you look at it.

You see, if people are getting incredible value from you, then they are much more likely to tell everyone about you. And if you look at how the world is connected these days, this is definitely not a bad thing!

It's been an age old wealth principle, in order to receive, you must first be prepared to give. The great benefit of living in our age is the receiving happens so much faster.

So work out a way to offer incredible value to your customers, you business will thank you for it.

I wouldn't be surprised if you were reading this and thought "well it sounds nice, but it sounds like a lot of effort!"

I don't blame you, it is a lot of effort. But isn't everything worthwhile? Education, Relationships, Careers, don't these all take a lot of effort too? If you're going to be committed to something, it might as well make you a millionaire!

Now what is the single biggest factor that will stop you from becoming a millionaire?

Not taking action!

You can read all the books, you can study all the famous entrepreneurs, but if you don't start taking action you will never succeed. There's no point in learning if you're not going to use it.

There are people that have become millionaires that started off far stupider, poorer, and uglier than you! Whatever excuse you have, there is someone who has overcome that 'handicap' to become successful.

The only person you have to make excuses to is yourself. That's the hard truth. As much as I want you to be successful, if you read this hub and still don't find yourself successful it's really not going to effect my life.

It just effects your life. So work out what you're afraid of, what the real reason you're not putting this into practice is. Then go buy a book and learn how to overcome it.

Becoming financially free is not an overnight thing. It's just putting one foot in front of the other until you arrive at your destination. To be honest, it's a little boring knowing I'm going to achieve it and I just have to follow the steps.

Once you destroy all the mystery around being a millionaire, you realise it really is as simple as just taking action every day. How dull!

So I challenge you, when you've finished reading, to do something. Even writing in the comments that you want to do this is at least admitting it to yourself and putting it out there for the world to see. Is typing a few words and clicking a button that much effort?

Ok, so maybe I get a little excited about this topic. For those of you that want the short version, here is my 7 step process to becoming a millionaire in 5 years or less:

1. Find the real reason you want this goal
2. Focus on what you want to do and let nothing stop you
3. Realise you know nothing and be prepared to learn
4. Discover your strengths and work with them
5. Come up with your killer idea
6. Give value to everyone you can
7. Never stop taking action

I realise this is a lot to take in, but if you're really committed to becoming financially free one day, this is only the beginning!

I hope you got some value out of it and let me know if you have anything to add or want more information on something. I'm always happy to try and help.

So thanks for reading and I look forward to hearing your feedback.

Here's a quick list of must read books:

Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki

The Cashflow Quadrant by Robert Kiyosaki

The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber

The Internet Business Manifesto by Rich Schefren

The Missing Chapter by Rich Schefren

Good to Great by Jim Collins

And any autobiographies written by entrepreneurs.