How To Get Rich
by Felix Dennis
ISBN-10: 1591842050
Often times people avoid talking about money. Probably because:
- they feel more meaningful if other values are put forward
- they are afraid to share that they don’t have enough money
- they just can’t admit to themselves how important money is
- etc
Fact is however, money is important, and part of an entrepreneur’s life. This post is derived and remixed from the book of Felix Dennis and is all about MONEY!
What qualities do you need to have to become RICH?
- Determination!
- Confidence
- Tunnel vision
- Ability to delegate (make sure you delegate to a person, that is not a copy of yourself)
- Fear NOTHING. Here is quotation about it:
“Armies and governments fear men or women who know they are going to die soon; and they have good reason to. Such people have nothing to lose. They will commit any atrocity and take as many others with them as they can, if they are driven to it. YOU must now become that doomed man or woman. You are going to DIE. Nothing can alter that fact. It is immutable. Incomprehensible. Unfair. All those things.
But it sets you free, don’t you see? It sets you FREE.
What does anything matter if you are going to die? Nothing matters. Nothing at all. Get that through your terrified mind and you will wake up in the morning ready to rip the throat out of the first gazelle unfortunate enough to cross your path. Why would you rip its throat out? Because you CAN. Not for breakfast. Not for the ‘thrill of the chase’. But because you CAN.
If you want to be rich you must make a pact with yourself about fear of anything. you cannot banish fear, but you can face it down, stomp on it, crush it, bury it, padlock it into the deepest recesses of your heart and soul and leave it there to rot.”
Luck. I have talked before about luck here and here. Felix’s favourite quotes:
- Luck is preparation multiplied by opportunity. -Roman Philosopher
- The harder I practised, the luckier I got. -Gary Player, Golf champion
- Luck is a dividend of sweat. -Ray Kroc, McDonalds founder
Financing:
- Inherit it
- steal it
- win it
- marry it
- borrow it – (sharks) those maxed-out credit cards stories are heroic but stupid. Not the way to do it, interests are too high.
- earn it – (dolphins) VC’s have good money, but you have to be really careful. 1 sentence in the contract can make the difference between owning the business and not. Buy legal advice. It’s likely that you’ll make your first million with them, but you will make them many millions before that.
- earn it – (fishes) Fishes are all your friends and partners. This is THE BEST WAY to finance. Get a tiny loan from your aunt. Ask your dad to let you have an office in the other bedroom. Borrow a printer from your friend. Bring partners to do work. Motivate young people to work for portfolios, prove their qualities. etc. All those numerous little arrangements with little fishes can be managed to achieve absolutely realistically huge tasks. Don’t forget though that every fish has to get its share in the end – one way or another.
Staff, partnerships, and ownership:
- If you don’t need them for a specific reason, avoid partnerships. Differences in visions, differences in manners of operating, and all personal matters turn to be distracting for a focused entrepreneur set on making money.
- Most of the young people value opportunities and challenges more than money. Exploit that.
- Keep every single share and ownership to yourself. Be generous in salaries and bonuses, but keep ownership to yourself. 4 guys tried asked FD to give them 20% or they leave. He fired them on the spot. Later those 20% became £80,000,000
- Do not hire a replica of yourself to delegate to. Makes no sense to strengthen your strengths and not address weaknesses.
- Leave every now and then in total isolation. The teams that will be forced to work without you will learn quickly to take responsibility, cope with problems.
- Do quality work. Talent will come to you.
MISC:
- Diversify. If you have only one egg in the basket you will be highly unlikely to get rid of it, even if it is not going well and needs to be rid.
- Go where money is. “If you want to become rich, look carefully about you at the prevailing industries where wealth appears to be gravitating…Computer software, technology and dot com start-ups, cable and satellite television, property, environmental waste clean-up, alternative energy sources…Keep your eye on the ball if you wish to get rich. And do not forget which ball. It’s the one marked “The Money is Here”
- Dilusions. “When enough people share a short-lived delusion, vast sums of money can be acquired overnight. The ‘tulip mania’…a single tulip bulb was swapped for a …4 touns of beer, 1000 pounds of cheese, 2 tons of butter, …”
- Happiness. “Happiness? Do not make me laugh. The rich are not happy. I have yet to meet a single really rich happy man or woman – and I have met many rich people. The demands from others to share their wealth become so tiresome, and so insistent, they nearly always decide they must insulate themselves. Insulation breeds paranoia and arrogance. And loneliness. And rage that you have only so many years left to enjoy rolling in the sand you have piled up.
The only people self-made rich can trust are those who knew them before they became wealthy. For many newly rich people, the world becomes a smaller, less generous and darker place. It sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? Ridiculous and gloomy.” - Whores. “To be serious for a moment, some of the smartest, nicest people I ever met in my life were whores…”
- Keep giving it away. “The faster you give it away, the more money will flow back to you. Not because of ‘karma’ or ‘universal cosmic forces’, but because you then spend less time defending it and more time making more of it.”
- Never loan it to a friend. “If you loan money to a friend, you will lose your friend as well as your money. Give them whatever you feel like giving. Then forget it. Ditto with relatives”
- Imagine. Close your eyes. Try to imagine you are 50 and you have all the money in the world. But time is running out. If you had the chance to go back in time, what would you have done differently? Now open your eyes, and do exactly that!