Showing posts with label million. Show all posts
Showing posts with label million. Show all posts

How to Become a Millionaire by Age 30


Getting rich and becoming a millionaire is a taboo topic. Saying it can be done by the age of 30 seems like a fantasy.
It shouldn’t be taboo and it is possible. At the age of 21, I got out of college, broke and in debt, and by the time I was 30, I was a millionaire.
Here are the 10 steps that will guarantee you will become a millionaire by 30.
1. Follow the money. In today’s economic environment you cannot save your way to millionaire status. The first step is to focus on increasing your income in increments and repeating that. My income was $3,000 a month and nine years later it was $20,000 a month. Start following the money and it will force you to control revenue and see opportunities.
2. Don’t show off -- show up! I didn’t buy my first luxury watch or car until my businesses and investments were producing multiple secure flows of income. I was still driving a Toyota Camry when I had become a millionaire. Be known for your work ethic, not the trinkets that you buy.
3. Save to invest, don’t save to save. The only reason to save money is to invest it.  Put your saved money into secured, sacred (untouchable) accounts. Never use these accounts for anything, not even an emergency. This will force you to continue to follow step one (increase income). To this day, at least twice a year, I am broke because I always invest my surpluses into ventures I cannot access.
4. Avoid debt that doesn’t pay you. Make it a rule that you never use debt that won’t make you money. I borrowed money for a car only because I knew it could increase my income. Rich people use debt to leverage investments and grow cash flows. Poor people use debt to buy things that make rich people richer.
5. Treat money like a jealous lover. Millions wish for financial freedom, but only those that make it a priority have millions. To get rich and stay rich you will have to make it a priority. Money is like a jealous lover. Ignore it and it will ignore you, or worse, it will leave you for someone who makes it a priority.
6. Money doesn’t sleep. Money doesn’t know about clocks, schedules or holidays, and you shouldn’t either. Money loves people that have a great work ethic. When I was 26 years old, I was in retail and the store I worked at closed at 7 p.m. Most times you could find me there at 11 p.m. making an extra sale. Never try to be the smartest or luckiest person -- just make sure you outwork everyone.
7. Poor makes no sense. I have been poor, and it sucks. I have had just enough and that sucks almost as bad. Eliminate any and all ideas that being poor is somehow OK. Bill Gates has said, "If you’re born poor, it’s not your mistake. But if you die poor, it is your mistake."
8. Get a millionaire mentor. Most of us were brought up middle class or poor and then hold ourselves to the limits and ideas of that group. I have been studying millionaires to duplicate what they did. Get your own personal millionaire mentor and study them. Most rich people are extremely generous with their knowledge and their resources.
9. Get your money to do the heavy lifting. Investing is the Holy Grail in becoming a millionaire and you should make more money off your investments than your work. If you don’t have surplus money you won’t make investments. The second company I started required a $50,000 investment. That company has paid me back that $50,000 every month for the last 10 years. My third investment was in real estate, where I started with $350,000, a large part of my net worth at the time. I still own that property today and it continues to provide me with income. Investing is the only reason to do the other steps, and your money must work for you and do your heavy lifting.
10. Shoot for $10 million, not $1 million. The single biggest financial mistake I’ve made was not thinking big enough. I encourage you to go for more than a million. There is no shortage of money on this planet, only a shortage of people thinking big enough.
Apply these 10 steps and they will make you rich. Steer clear of people that suggest your financial dreams are born of greed. Avoid get-rich-quick schemes, be ethical, never give up, and once you make it, be willing to help others get there too.
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Things I Learned Growing $2,000 Into a Multi-Million Dollar Business

In Spring, 2008, I spent my exchange semester studying in Osaka, Japan. Three of my American classmates were looking for summer internships. As I had spent my previous semester in Shanghai making friends with interns who worked at Heineken and the Beijing Olympics, I managed to help my classmates by connecting them with companies in China.
A few months later, I graduated from Jonkoping International Business School in Sweden. I was 23 years old, in the diamond industry and decided to move to the Thailand. Paradise on earth! One day I looked at my bank account and saw $1,998. I recalled my time in Japan and thought how easy it would be if you could just apply up for an internship and go to China with your housing, visa and friends organized.
My parents told me I had to burn all my bridges to truly succeed. I bought a laptop and a one-way ticket to China. I burned all my bridges and have never looked back.  
Five years and four global offices later, I’m running a multi-million dollar business. My journey has taught me vital lessons for an entrepreneur to live by.
1. Learn foreign languages. I speak seven languages, a tremendous advantage compared to our competitors. It is much easier to understand foreign markets and cultures. I communicate with local vendors and business partners without any problems. People appreciate and respect you when, literally, speak their language. Thanks to my language skills, I've developed relationships with important business people who others could not. Join a language course today. It’ll be worth your time and money.

2. Treat everyone with respect.  Not everybody in the global business world is doing business the same way as you. Be open-minded to other cultures and “when in Rome, do as the Romans do.”  Too many entrepreneurs put on an act when they meet important business people and treat everyone else with less respect. Every single contact knows another contact, so treat a CEO the same way as a waiter. I see them both as potentially important contacts. People judge actions more than words. 
3. Move fast. A start-up has to move as fast as a mouse or get crushed by an elephant. If you come up with an idea today, act on it today. Don’t wait. Every day somebody is waking up with the sole purpose of running you out of business. Procrastination is your enemy.
4. Love what you do. I meet so many people, from investment bankers to marketers, who don’t enjoy what they are doing. You can never be truly great unless you really love what you do. Every day, wake up with a smile and enjoy every second. Don’t live a wasted life. Love every second and, if you don’t, do something else.
5. Be 24/7. Opportunities are lost while dining with your friends or out in a bar. Once, I was invited for a live interview on Fox-TV business news but, as it took me 12 hours to respond, they canceled on me. My iPhone is on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. My colleagues know they can reach me at 5 am as well as at 11 pm. Be connected and keep your phone on 24/7. Answer emails in real-time. That’s the only way to get an edge running a fast growing start-up in different time zones.

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ZenPayroll Raises $20 Million in Series A Funding

Accounting is a critical piece of operating a small business, and the investment community appears to see promise in companies innovating in that space.
ZenPayroll, a cloud payroll provider, said today it has raised $20 million in Series A funding from venture capital firms General Catalyst Partners and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. The company also announced that Hemant Taneja, a managing director at General Catalyst, will be joining the company's Board of Directors.
ZenPayroll was co-founded in 2012 by CEO Joshua Reeves, with a $6.1 million seed investment from Google Ventures, Salesforce, and the CEOs of companies like Yelp, and cloud-based peers Box and Dropbox. This round of financing is the most money that the company has raised to date. 
The San-Francisco based platform, which currently processes more than $400 million in annual payroll, positions itself as a "delightful, modern" and low-stress solution for small businesses, plans to utilize the financing to continue to expand its reach as well as hire more employees to join its team.