Conclusion

Let’s see how many of this book’s ideas we can sum up in one go:

Poverty mindset

I’m paid by someone else to make them rich. I receive a limited monthly salary to do a thing. It takes a long time to do, I can only do it for one customer at a time, it costs a lot to do it, lots of other providers can do it too and it’s not worth very much per instance. I don’t own the sale of the thing when it sells. I can only make and sell it in a limited geographical space. I am also limited by my own inabilities; if I can’t make and do it personally, it doesn’t happen. I don’t determine my own income – it is apportioned to me. 

To realise wealth potential, reverse as many of these ideas as possible:

Wealth mindset

I work to make myself wealthy. I’ve decided to live and think differently from most people to achieve different and superior results. I have uncapped potential, based on my own abilities and my capacity to upscale. I have automated the thing I do to remove myself from the time equation. I can do it for many customers at a time, my costs are low, and few other providers can do it. It is worth a great deal per unit. I have transcended geography to reach large markets. I am also not limited by my own abilities; I hire others who are good at what I can’t do, and I automate as much as possible. I can go to bed and know that I am earning money while I sleep.

Now try this

One of my favourite concepts is what has popularly become known as ’10 ×’ thinking.

Coined by Grant Cardone, this term refers to a simple, but powerful, idea. When you try to make something ‘a little’ better, you will get limited results. However, when you try to make something ’10 ×’ better, you are forced to think in radically different patterns. Instead of tinkering, you need to overhaul. Instead of making something incrementally better, you need to change its foundations.

What if you applied 10 × thinking to your own world? Are you earning R100 000 per annum right now? What if, instead of trying to increase your earnings to R120 000 per annum, you shot for R1 million per annum?

Is your small business earning R1 million a year right now? Instead of trying to get to R1.5 million, what if you aimed for R10 million?

You can immediately see that such a radical change would not come from doing things ‘slightly’ better, or ‘a little’ differently. It would imply quantum shifts. Large-scale changes. Thinking and acting really big.

As you pursue your wealth goals, I encourage you to apply this framework. And remember, the mega-rich of history have typically not played to play – they have almost always played to win. Their thinking is fundamentally different … and that changes everything.

Imagine you …

Imagine you, a few years from today.

You have become a constant student of wealth and success principles. You’re a sponge for ideas that can accelerate your trajectory.

Instead of believing that time spent working = wealth, you have learned to think value raised = wealth.

You’ve decided to become your own boss, and you are living a business system that is making you progressively wealthier. Sure, it’s been hard – but it’s been satisfying, and your wealth continues to accumulate.

You save more than you spend, and you tend to acquire assets that make you richer, not liabilities that make you poorer.

You see Ferraris on the streets and you smile, acknowledging a fellow grower and generator. You know just how much work, wit, strategy, risk and input it takes to acquire such a vehicle. You wish the owner well, and you wish that everybody else could learn the same principles so that they, too, could prosper beyond their wildest dreams.

You contribute to humanity by serving exceptional value through your business. You don’t operate out of need. You operate out of value, impacting millions and making millions.

You are immensely proud that your idea, your creation, your business, your brand, your thing is making life just that much better for humanity. You are a part of the innovating, making, growing and generating story of our species. You are part of what we do.

You laugh at the idea of government dependency, and you wonder how others could fall for it. You are proudly creating your own story, growing your own prosperity, and your life is not only financially rewarding – it is psychologically satisfying. Your patterns of thinking are different, which shows in your bank balance.

Join me

If you find yourself in this position – better off because of some of the ideas in this book – please will you join me in my personal quest? I am on a crusade against victimhood mentality, and my goal is to share specific answers and ideas that can equip people to overcome it.

Won’t you please pass this book on to somebody who needs it, or buy a copy for somebody whose life could improve as a result? We desperately need fewer victims in our country. We desperately need more makers and growers and contributors. We cannot sustain a system in which less than half of the population is supporting the rest.

And we don’t need to. Poverty is now optional. It can be rendered obsolete by the right thinking. It can be made extinct by start-ups, entrepreneurs, small businesses, large businesses, solo practitioners, artists and artisans and makers and growers of every kind. It can be helped along by government removing red tape, reducing punitive taxation for new businesses and encouraging start-ups in supportive, proactive ways.

Help me to help South Africa to graduate to newer and better problems. Problems that come dressed in Armani. Problems like how to defeat the Klingons in the far reaches of the galaxy, instead of problems like how to feed a starving child.

Poverty is a ridiculous problem to have. The answers exist. Let’s share the hell out of them!

Douglas Kruger is a business author and professional speaker. See him in action, or read his articles, at www.douglaskruger.co.za. Douglas’s books, including ‘Is Your Thinking Keeping You Poor? 50 Ways the Rich Think Differently,’ are available at Exclusive Books, Estoril, CNA, and as ebooks from Amazon.com