My Own Wealth Building Experience
I thought it might be interesting for you guys if I share a little bit about my story when it comes to my experience with wealth building. The background that I want to share upfront is that I had a grandfather who was extremely entrepreneurial.
He was someone who was very well connected. He had relationships with top politicians and movie stars. He was well-liked and well known and he was asked often to come and speak at big public meetings.
He was a very influential person in the city where he grew up and he did everything from owning car dealerships to bringing circuses to towns, to all sorts of things. I can say he is a very wealthy guy.
Interestingly, my dad was probably the polar opposite of that. He was a very risk-averse kind of guy who saw great value in (he was probably a product of his generation) working for the man, keeping your head down, and just holding down a good job.
And in fairness to him, his attitude towards that probably came about as a result of the illness that he contracted when I was around 10 that put him under a very short life sentence and so that would have changed his views, I’m sure.
But even prior to that, he was very comfortable with the idea of working for someone else and in my own journey, I know many of you know that I started my career as an accountant with Deloitte. I think I started my career very much adopting the attitude of my father, which is I’m just going to put my head down, I’m going to work as hard as I can and if I do that, the rewards will come.
I realised very early on in my career, that just was never going to happen. I realised that even if I doubled my effort at work and did an amazing job and won new business or solved big problems, it wasn’t ever going to result in huge increases in pay.
So when I had the opportunity to leave corporate and I had an inkling of a feeling for many years that I just didn’t feel like it was my destiny to work for someone else.
I definitely felt like I had a creative streak, that I wanted to be an entrepreneur and run a business. I just didn’t know in what form but I took a leap of faith in the year 2000 and just stepped out and tried to do a number of different businesses.
I was describing to someone earlier today, at one point, I owned a day spa and all sorts of things. Anyway, some of those things worked. Some of those didn’t. But you know, in the background investing became something that I realised was earning me far more money than anything I could be earning in a corporate job.
So that was the nail in the coffin of ever going back to corporate.
Take the Limits Off What You Earn
I think, having worked now with so many people in the business world, what I recognise is that, there are a lot of you out there who don’t realise the gift that you have in that being a business owner means that you can take the limits off what you earn. You have in many cases, a high degree of control over how you work, when you work, how much money you take home, and what your lifestyle looks like.
But obviously, that’s not always the case. I think many people go into business with a passion and a dream of being financially well set up and only a small percentage of people make it and but I guess the point of this is if you are in that fortunate position of earning great dividends and profits in your business and maybe you’re just realising that you haven’t really put your head into the wealth-building game…
Reason #1: The Banks Will Love You
I want to describe to you why you have an edge and really what you need to be asking yourself if you want to rectify the idea that you haven’t really done enough at this point.
Obviously, first of all, the edge that you have even in the domestic market is that the banks will love you. If you can show that you earn a good income, borrowing from the banks becomes easier and most people understand that using leverage to acquire, particularly real estate that to do any form of investing is going to exponentially increase your outcomes, provided you do it safely*.
Reason #2: Better Access to Deals
Secondly, if you’ve got a good income, you’re not going to nickel and dime over advice. You’re going to go out there and you’re going to find the best people who are going to support your wealth journey and get you to the results that you want. And I guess what I’m saying when I talk about that is the idea that you can basically buy your way into getting access to better deals.
Because ultimately, what most investors do is they do it themselves, they try and find deals themselves. They take whatever limited information they have, the experience they have, and they applied in their local markets or even, more broadly across the nation.
They try and find deals and they fight and they elbow alongside other people to try not only to find the deals but once you found the deals, actually securing them.
I think having a high income definitely gives you an edge because you can cut through a lot of the competition by working with people who can fast track those deals.
Certainly, inside of my program, I think that’s why people come to me, as much as they love my sparkling personality and my sweet nature, they want access to premium deals.
Same with buyer’s agents. That’s why they engage a buyer’s agent because they want somebody else to do the headache work of finding and securing deals. If you are in that luxurious position, then you can certainly go out there and pay for the top advice.
Reason #3: Having A High Income to Fuel Your Investments
The next thing I would say is, and probably this is the most important, out of all the reasons. If you have the luxury of high income, that is the fuel that drives your investment engine.
One of the things I’ve witnessed over time is people who have earned significantly more money than I have, but who have been more focused on growing their lifestyle or not to kind of tarnish everyone with the same brush, or who have just simply been poor with their money management and just had massive money leaks to some degree.
I don’t know if you can relate to this, business owners who earn great money, who tell me that they’re incredibly frugal, but have very little to show for what they have. If you do have the luxury of high income, sometimes it just takes a few small tweaks. Someone may be to show you where the flow of money or the structuring of money isn’t serving you to turn things around and if you can start to harness your income and direct it into growing assets and investments that are going to help you deliver financial freedom sooner than most, that is what you know, the game is all about.
So I think people forget that information is great. The way you think is great. The actions you take are great and all have a role to play when it comes to wealth building. But let’s not forget that the fuel that you can contribute is a massive determinant in terms of how quickly you reach financial freedom.
Final Thoughts
So the real question that I want to leave with you today is to ask yourself, “Do you have an edge? Do you have that ability to generate dividends and profits over and above what most people that you know can do?”
Then the question to ask is, “Well, what are you going to do about it?” Because ultimately, nothing else matters.
I hope you found this useful. I’d love to hear from you guys if you have any thoughts, questions, or topics that you want covered, but till next time, just please take care.
If you’re a business owner feeling frustrated that despite doing everything right in the property investing playbook and you’re no closer to financial freedom, then head over to www.inkosiwealth.com to learn more about how you can use alternative investments to catapult your investing income and blend strategies to shave decades off your timeline to financial freedom.
If you’re interested in understanding how to create wealth through alternative strategies, please check out my programs, where I help you catapult your investment income and blend strategies to shave decades off your timeline to financial freedom.
Or, you’re welcome to get in touch today, book a call with me, and I would be happy to talk you through it – no obligation!
