You often hear that in order to become rich you must develop assets that will pay you over time. This could be in the form of digital assets like a website or tangible ones like a rental property and while both of these things can contribute to your financial success, there are three assets that will make or break your financial future. Here are the three that will unlock future financial success!
About a decade ago, I began to develop an affinity for books. In particular, I couldn’t get enough when it came to self-help books because, as early as my teenage years, I knew that one day I wanted to be successful. Over the years, I have read more books that I can count and one thing that I have come to realize is that the books I feel I get the most out of are not the technical books but the philosophical ones instead. Sure, I have read books on real estate investing where I learned how to negotiate housing prices and optimize your contracts with tenants but these types of books paled in comparison to the information and benefit I got from books that opened my eyes to success from a broader perspective.
For instance, one of the most profound lessons I learned through my readings was the power of focus. In the book, The One Thing by Gary Keller, I learned that you are able to succeed quicker and in a much greater magnitude if you focus all your attention on one thing rather than dividing your focus on a plethora of different activities. This lesson and many more were all gems that came from being a voracious reader and often I would share these lessons with my friends only to realize that they didn’t share the same zest for learning as I did.
In fact, the sad reality is that once people graduate from their formal education, their learning as a whole tapers off which hinders their ability to enrich their lives with all the great information that exists in books, courses and even platforms like YouTube. And by limiting their intake of good information, they are missing out on the real pieces of advice that can change your life forever. I find myself fortunate that I have an affinity for learning and through this learning I have come to realize that there are three assets that must be cultivated to achieve financial success and they are the following:
Asset #1: Your Mind
When I was a kid I hated school. In fact, very recently I was talking with my Dad and he admitted that he was surprised at how much education I ended up getting given that in the beginning I had an aversion to the classroom. Now, if you ask my dad, he will tell give you the same advice that most people in his generation preach: that a degree is a pathway to financial stability. And quite frankly, he’s not wrong. Using my formal education, I have been able to secure jobs at very high profile organizations but unfortunately, that’s all a degree will ever give you — financial stability. Sadly, it was only after I had invested tens of thousands of dollars into my education that I started questioning what the true merit of school really was and if my seven plus years in college were worth it. You see, school does itself a disservice because it makes you perceive learning as a boring and tedious chore.
This is why young people hate education. School makes people focus on a nearly useless piece of paper called a degree instead of them focusing on learning. School makes you sit down for four years to learn in theory what you can go out to learn in the real world in six months. Moreover, it makes students care more about the grades they need to graduate than the knowledge that will actually help them succeed in the working world.
Earlier I talked about how a lot of my friends lacked the passion for learning that I have and quite frankly I can’t blame them given how school squanders many people’s thirst for learning.
Don’t believe me? Ask ten people who have graduated from college in the last ten years and ask them how many books they have read, conferences they have attended or courses they have completed since finishing their formal education. Because there is no degree or certificate attached to these activities, they don’t want to invest the time and energy into them.
But if you genuinely want to be successful in life you should spend as much time as you can investing in your mind and then applying what you’ve learned. The best part is that unlike school, much of this self-education is free. You can take out books from the library, setting up conversations with mentors and watching educational videos on YouTube. With cost not being an issue, there is no reason that you can’t start to cultivate your knowledge today!
Asset #2: Your Relationships
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, “you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with”. This saying, from my personal experience, is true and should be taken seriously if you want to achieve the success in life you desire. You see, years ago I was not that selective in who I spent my time with. That meant that I would spend time with those that added a ton of value to my life and others that didn’t and as the demands for time in my life became more expansive and my aspirations in life changed, I knew that I needed to be more selective in who I shared my time with. For instance, when I was in the process of getting my CPA designation, I spent a lot more time with my classmates who helped support me and my studies and a lot less time with those who didn’t. The same situation happened again a few years ago when I was starting my YouTube channel. Slowly but surely, I started to spend less time with my friends who would just sit around and gossip and spent more time with creators that I could share my ideas with and learn from.
When I look back at my life today, I can say without a doubt that I would never have been successful if not for the kind of people I associated with. My academic and business journey up until today has been full of successes and failures and the only reason I was able to persevere was because I had quality people around me.
It could be the friend who guided me towards a certain book or course or a mentor who gave me advice on taking one job offer over another. What you need to realize is that your success in business and in life in general cannot be attributed to one single person. Your success is the culmination of advice, support and care from those you surround yourself with which is why you need to appreciate and cultivate this asset if you want to be rich. And this effort needs to be deliberate. For myself personally, I keep a list of individuals I must stay in contact with and then reach out to them on a regular basis to set up calls or meet ups so that these great people continue to stay in my life. Like investing in your knowledge, building relationships takes time and effort but the rewards will be great if you stick with it!
Asset #3: Your Aspirations
One of the most treasured things that each one of possess are our dreams and aspirations. Some people dream of owning a massive home and a fancy sports car and others want to travel the world and see all that Planet Earth has to offer. Whatever your goal may be, the important thing is that you remain steadfast in your pursuit of this end result no matter what. Unfortunately, this is easier said than done. Many people have enormous dreams but they struggle to find the willpower and determination to get started. The issue is that they look at their end result and see one of two things: a long path that seems nearly insurmountable or no path at all. Now, both these scenarios present issues and are why many people fail to start their journey to achieving their lifelong dreams. You see, when you have a long path to venture such as building up a large YouTube channel, you may have a decent idea of what activities you must undertake to be successful. Of course, you will have to determine what the channel will be about, then determine how you will script and shoot your content.
Essentially, you already know the steps that it will take to get you from where you are today to where you want to be. However, in the second circumstance, things are different. Not having a pre-defined path to your goal can not only be frustrating but debilitating as well. For instance, if you have the goal of travelling the world, there are a ton of different unanswered questions that you need to address. How will you get the time off work? How will you finance your endeavour or who will you travel with?
These roadblocks are just a few questions that must be answered in this particular situation but they can be enough to stop you in your tracks and hinder your ability to realize your dreams. Unfortunately, for most people, there simply is no time to waste when trying to achieve these goals.
I say waste because the achievement of goals is not a linear path. Throughout your journey, you will face all kinds of failures and adversity. You’ll make mistakes, lose money, get rejected and go through a rollercoaster of emotions which is why the best time to start working towards your goals is now.
And my path to success is no different. When I first started trying to build an online business I faced a lot of failure and frustration. At the time, dropshipping was very popular and every time I was watching YouTube, I was being recommended videos of people making tens of thousands of dollars a month selling products online with next to no effort. Who wouldn’t want to earn five figures a month with ease, right? Well I certainly did and so I watched a few dropshipping YouTube videos, set up a website and waited for the orders to start rolling in. At this point, I figured I was just a short-time away from making more money than I had ever earned before but after the first month, I hadn’t made a single sale.
Quite honestly, after not seeing progress in those initial months, I started to get discouraged. It seemed like people online were making money effortlessly while I was struggling to get people to even visit my website. After a second month without a single sale, I got back on YouTube and started watching more dropshipping videos. However, as I was watching, trying desperately to figure out why I was struggling to make sales, a video about making money selling books on amazon caught my eye. Before I knew it, I had watched 5 videos on how to flip books on Amazon for a profit. That next weekend, I was at the bookstore scanning hundreds of books that I could potentially flip for a profit.
Needless to say this whole path led me to finally choosing to start a YouTube channel which I have made my primary focus for the last three years. While I have realized noticeable success through this platform, I wouldn’t appreciate what I’ve achieved so far if I hadn’t had faced these challenges in the past. Therefore, if you want to achieve your aspirations, don’t waste another second and enjoy the process towards your future rich lifestyle!