[Article collected from cafebiz, published on 1/5/2015. Very useful for those hesitating over the decision to start a business]
Note: We at YUP! Institute encourage continuous learning and continually setting and overcoming challenges to break personal limits. YUP! does not see its mission as recklessly promoting “every household and every person starting a business.”
The point is, when you want to do something, research it thoroughly. If it is what you want, learn to do it SMARTLY
Becoming an entrepreneur is the best investment you can make if you want to become very, very wealthy, because you are investing in yourself.
Do you want to be truly successful? To become very, very wealthy? (Of course, there are many ways to feel “wealthy,” but here we mean financial wealth.) Then you will very likely seek an opportunity investment.
This is a simple investment. You only have to put in all the money you have. If things go well, after about a year you may earn an additional 3%. In a worse scenario, you could one day lose everything for reasons as simple as losing control…
So would you invest again? Of course not. And so, every day, millions of people accept working-for-someone-else, under someone else's control.
However, this is not a perfect choice either. You must live on a salary. If things go well, you may occasionally receive a raise, but in most cases 3–4% is the maximum.
Meanwhile, countless bad scenarios are possible. You could be fired, losing your income in just 1 night, with your time, effort, dedication, and courage disappearing along with it.
Thus, the upsides of working for someone else are few, while the possible downsides are countless. It is a poor investment.
Wealth in Assets
If you want to become truly wealthy, working for someone else under their control will, of course, never make you rich.
Statistics show that in 2009, you needed USD 77,4 million to enter the top 400 richest people in the United States. (That was merely the minimum; the average income of people on this list was USD 202,4 million.)
So Where Do People in This Group Earn Their Money:
– Salary: 8.6%
– Deposit interest: 6.6%
– Dividends: 13%
– Business cooperation: 19.9%
– Investing capital in business: 45.8%
Several fairly clear conclusions can be drawn:
– Relying on your salary alone cannot make you wealthy.
– Investing only at a safe level cannot make you wealthy either.
– Investing in shares of large companies cannot make you wealthy either.
– Owning one or more businesses not only builds a solid foundation for wealth but also, one day…
– It also creates enormous financial good fortune that makes you wealthy.
The evidence is that Forbes' top 10 richest billionaires in the world, including Bill Gates, Buffett, Ellison, Kock, Walton, and Adelson, are all entrepreneurs. Clearly, becoming financially wealthy results from investing in yourself and others, accepting risks, first doing hundreds of small things right, and then moving on to do 1 or 2 big things right.
However, what if you cannot get 1 or 2 truly major things right? There is another way to become genuinely wealthy.
Wealth in Life
I have had the opportunity to speak with hundreds of entrepreneurs, and they all shared one thing. When discussing financial matters — business strategies, revenue, IPOs, and cash flow — they were interested, but not truly excited.
However, when discussing entrepreneurial life and how it feels to be an entrepreneur, everyone came alive. They began sharing the challenges, responsibilities, missions, purposes, and enjoyment of working with talented teams. They felt empowered and in control of their own destinies.
This happens all the time.
Successful entrepreneurs include Joel Gascoigne, who expanded Buffer from a personal project into a profitable business with a talented team.
Other successful entrepreneurs include Scott Dorsey, who took ExactTarger out of a garage, completed a successful IPO, and later saw it acquired by SalesForce.com.
Everyone becomes excited when talking about how it feels to be an entrepreneur, because they feel alive, able to make their own decisions, make their own mistakes, and take control. Thus, even before considering financial benefits, every entrepreneur feels wealthy in spirit and in life.
So How Do You Become Very, Very Wealthy?
That is why the only way to become truly wealthy, financially and in personal life, is to start your own business.
However, this does not mean you should immediately quit your job and open a business. You absolutely should not. One of the best ways to minimize risk is to keep your full-time job while building your own organization or business. Moreover, the basic procedures for starting a business are fairly easy; you can complete them in just 1 day.
Conclusion:
If you accept less freedom and less control over you, working for someone else every day offers few upsides but countless possible bad outcomes.
Being an entrepreneur is not entirely positive, but in return they feel satisfied with both their financial position and personal life.
Therefore, give yourself a chance. Try once to become very, very rich. You may only become very rich. However, whether “very rich” or “very, very rich,” either is wonderful.
If friends and family think you are crazy for starting a business, show them this article. If those around you do not understand how wonderful it feels to be your own boss, show them this article. Then begin your own entrepreneurial journey, even in the safest way possible. Each step brings you closer to wealth, or even to being very, very wealthy.
Becoming an Entrepreneur – this is the best investment you can make, because you are investing in yourself.
