How to Get Rich: What it Takes, and the Skills You Need to Know

If you want to be rich, and who doesn’t, then you are going to need to understand what is the most reliable way to do so. And unfortunately, it of course carries some significant risk. But getting over that hurdle is the first step to finally breaking free from the rat race and truly learning how to get rich.

The Rich Aren’t Afraid of Risk

How many times would you be think the average millionaire goes bankrupt? It’s actually rather funny because we see these successful people and we think that they have never struggled with money before, but the fact of the matter is they tend to have a harder time than the average person, at least in the sense of bankruptcy. The average number of bankruptcies for American citizens hovers around .42 of a percent. Which means that on average around one in five people in America file for bankruptcy at some point in their life

However the average number of bankruptcies for millionaires is significantly higher at 3.5 times per person! That’s over 17 times more likely to go into bankruptcy. The reason for this is because they are willing to take the risks that others won’t, sure they might fail, but they don’t see failure as defeat, merely a stepping stone for getting where they want to go.

They Start Businesses

If you look at the statistics then you’ll find some interesting bits of information. Only twenty percent of millionaires have inherited their money. Which may sound like a lot, but that means that 80% of the rich made their money themselves. Seeing as we can’t do anything about who you were born to, let’s just write off inheritance as a means of getting rich.

Of all of the wealthy people in America 50% of them started a business. Now hold on because you might not have gotten that statistic right, it’s not half of those who inherited their money, it’s half of all millionaires. So we’re not talking 40% but 62.5% of those who have made it to the millionaire club got there by starting their own business.

They Invest Heavily in Their Education

Now you might think that because they are primarily business owners that they don’t usually invest in their educations, but at 80% they are one of the highest educated groups in the world.

However I think it’s important to keep in mind that these people don’t view education the same way that the typical person does. They are not looking to get a job with their degree, and the bulk of them don’t even count formal education as their primary education.

This might be confusing, but there is some great logic behind it. Instead of just seeing education as what an institution might teach you, they see their experience as their education as well. So to them every place they worked, every job they did, is a part of their skill set. When you look at it this way you start to see a bigger picture, as they are focused on essentially a few invaluable skills, of which are not easily taught in school.

They Learn How to Sell

Learning to sell perhaps the most valuable skill that anyone can learn in this world, and it’s not just about learning to sell goods and services either. Look at it like this, in an interview your job is to sell the person hiring you on the idea that you are a valuable asset to the company. Learning how to sell is all about persuasion. If you can learn how to persuade people into parting with something they have in exchange for something you can offer, then that is the essence of sales.

Now it’s almost a little sad, but there aren’t any good formal training programs which teach you how to sell. Although awkwardly learning how to sell is typically how you start making money. If I had to recommend how to learn this skill it would be to go out and start selling a product or service. It doesn’t matter what it is, cars, boats, life insurance, perfume (yes I used to be a perfume salesman) once you learn how to get people to buy into an idea, you can start to see how companies work. Which is what makes the biggest difference between a business that fails, and one that succeeds. So if you want to start a business that doesn’t fall flat on its face, then go out and get a sales job, then be determined to get good at it.

They Know How to Market

Marketing and sales go hand in hand, but because of this a lot of people mistake them for being the same thing. The core difference is in what each tactic is trying to achieve. Sales as we know is trying to persuade people to do a certain action for you, whereas marketing is all about awareness.

This one surprised me at first, but the average person doesn’t buy a product until the fifth time they’ve seen it. So look at it like this, an ad campaign that reaches a million people is probably going to fail, but the same campaign now targeted to reaching only 200,000 people five times each is likely going to get some traction. Now granted you aren’t going to get 100% conversion from prospective clients into a sale, but it’s going to get the people you are targeting thinking about it, and once it’s in their head, then it’s just a matter of reaching out to them with your sales tactics.

So as you can see, with marketing you want to get people talking, get them thinking, get them curious about what their life could be like if they just had what you are offering, that’s what it’s all about.

They Learn How to Network Correctly

If you’ve ever been to a business conference then you might have seen one of those poor souls who pass out business cards like candy, rushing around from booth to booth without creating any real connections. Well you know what people do with those business cards? They go right in the trash.

Networking is not about meeting as many people as possible, it’s not about making people recognize you, it’s not about getting your name out there (remember that’s what marketing is for). No, networking is about creating valuable connections in you field to be mutually beneficial to both parties involved.

If you aren’t offering something which is going to help the people you are trying to connect with, then why should they bother with you? The short answer is, they shouldn’t. If you take a look at successful people at one of these same events then you’ll notice that they don’t just rush around the convention trying to push their agenda, instead you’ll find them having a casual conversation with anyone they think they can honestly help, because in the end the only people who are going to work with you are the ones who see it as a benefit to them anyway. So it’s true, they may not talk to a hundredth as many people as some others, but the ones they do connect with will actually consider contacting them in the future.

They Know the Value of Customer Service

Once you have a person’s business it’s important to learn how to keep it. This is where customer service skills come in, and it’s not hard to see why it’s so important. If two businesses sell the same product, but one has terrible customer service, then which one are you going to shop at? Yeah, it’s a no brainer. Rich people know this, and make sure that it is a primary focus in their business. A doctor that is rude, even if he is the best doctor out there, isn’t going to keep a lot of clients.

Look at it like this, if you started a Youtube channel, and it was only getting 3,000 hits per video would you call that a success? No probably not, but it actually can be. If you show loyalty to your patrons then they often times return it in kind. Let’s say that out of those 3,000 only 1,000 people are your loyal customers, but because you keep them so happy they are willing to buy anything that you are selling. Well that makes a huge difference, every t-shirt, every coffee mug, every book, whatever it is, every single time you put it out there, they buy 1,000 of them. Now if you’re making ten bucks a month off of each of those thousand customers, then you are making 120,000 dollars a year off a channel that looks like it’s a miserable failure. That’s the difference that quality customer service makes.

Once you learn how to use these skills correctly, then it doesn’t even matter what kind because you can start a business and have it reeling in customers like there’s no tomorrow. But even if you have no desire whatsoever to start you own business, with these things in mind you can make yourself much more valuable to every single business out there, which makes it a lot easier to get a better job, better pay, and a better life.