Thanks to the ever-increasing inflation, the purchasing power of $1 million aren’t what it used to be. Even such a seemingly large amount won’t be enough to enjoy life and all its pleasure for the rest of your life, but if managed wisely, it can bring you to a way better place than where you are right now.
The richest 1% in the world knows a secret that most of us, ordinary people, have no idea of. And now, we are revealing that secret to you— how did these extremely wealthy people make their fortunes? The answer is pretty simple. They don’t just “earn” it. Rather, they “make” it.
To tell you frankly, few jobs out there can truly make you a million. It will be pretty easy to acquire such money if you are in the entertainment, sports, and technology industry. However, 9-5 jobs won’t bring you a million. This is why you need to create value and trade it for cash.
Depending on one’s skills, tech ability, social network, and resourcefulness, it takes about 0 to 10 years to make $1 million.
Even when you’re starting from zero, acquiring your first million won’t be rocket science if you possess these excellent skills and knowledge. In fact, many people are paving their own pathways in various industries.
3 Phases of a Financial Journey
To brute force your way to $1 million, you need to understand these three phases of the financial journey first since this can guide you in getting where you want to be.
Phase 1
During the initial phase of your journey to making $1, you won’t see a big improvement and will remain stagnant in growth even though you’re putting in enormous effort just to flourish. This just makes sense because you’re just starting out. You don’t know what to do or what your market wants, and you might not even know your business model!
Not progressing much is only natural, so keep your chin up and save your tears.
Phase 1 is merely the “learn and build” stage, so it is understandable that you do not see any development at all. During these times, what you need to focus on is figuring out the essential functions of your business.
The first stage is the hardest because it’s where 90% of the businessmen give up. However, you should not let failures pull you down. Learn fast in silence. This way, you’ll grow drastically.
Learning how to learn is probably one of the essential skills a person should acquire. And the best time to “learn how to learn” is during phase 1.
You will be doing most of the work with a chump change budget during this phase. But the best thing about this initial journey is that you get the knowledge and skills required to advance in the next phase.
Phase 2
In this phase, your growth wouldn’t be stagnant anymore, and you will see some progress. The things you learned in the previous phase will pay off at this stage, and your foundation will be much stronger than ever before.
This so-called “optimized traction phase” is where you would need a small team to run your business because you’re getting more customers. The development here is linear, and you can begin tinkering with the particulars.
The things you used to have a hard time figuring out become easier to understand when you’re at this stage. You start understanding your competitors and their course of action, so you know how to compete with them actively to get more customers.
However, although you may be growing at this stage, you’re still not differentiated enough. You are yet to find the special ingredient that will be crucial to your success.
In order to continue flourishing, you need to find people who specialize in the tasks you used to do before. Let these experts do the work for you and set your focus on other important things that need your attention.
Phase 3
The third phase is called the “lift-off phase,” where you’ll generate about 90% of your wealth. This phase usually takes place once you come to realize how to scale exponentially.
Rather than building once and selling once, you need to find ways how you can build once and sell a million times. Hence, instead of picking up customers once after another in the same old business, shift to making things that the customers themselves will run after.
In this phase, you won’t be running after clients anymore, but they will be the ones to run after you. You will gain a positive return on investments, and you’ll be known in your industry because of your good work.
There will be a problem that will arise in this stage— a good one, though. The market demand would be much higher than what you can deliver. A real good problem, isn’t it?
But before you take delight in the astronomical demand, you will stress yourself out first to figure out how you will be able to meet that demand.
Reaching the $1 Million Mark
Bruting Force your way to $1 million might seem to require so much, but your entire journey boils down to these three phases.
You wouldn’t find success overnight, and it won’t be an easy journey. It would take you continuous effort, persistence, and consistency. You will fall down several times. You’ll struggle to the point that you’ll want to give up, and your failures might make you think that everything is not worth it. But these downfalls are nothing compared to the glory you’ll get to enjoy later.
Where are you in the mentioned phases? Are you enjoying your success in phase 3? Are you still on your way to getting there? Or are you stuck in phase 1?
You don’t need to worry if you’re doing your best to learn but still don’t see immediate results. As long as you are doing your best to educate yourself, you are already making progress. And no matter how slow that progress is, remember that “a little progress is still headway,” and success stories start from there.
