by J Woodman

"Who wants to be a millionaire?!" 

It seems like a fairly easy question to answer! And it is an easy question, judging by the numbers of people who tune in to watch a game show that holds out the promise of giving away a million dollars or pounds.

Although many people believe that winning a game show or a lottery is their best chance for financial success, the actual reality is that there are far better ways to get there. In truth, game shows (and their friends the lotteries) are quite simply among the very worst ways to approach succeeding... if one wants to acquire a million dollars.

We can imagine, for example, that the 30 million people who avidly watched the show’s American edition during its first couple of years probably would have liked to be millionaires too. As it turned out, though, the show has actually produced only twelve American millionaires from among the show's contestants in the course of six years, with the British version making a total of five contestants into millionaires in seven years... 

So the odds of actually becoming a millionaire via interest in "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" are literally millions to one against.

Interestingly, though, the US version was reported to have racked up some $200 million in profits (!!) for the network and producers... during the first season alone!

Game shows, then, are a lot like lotteries: a winning proposition for the very, very few (and this extremely short list is always headed up by the network or organization that sponsors the game show or lottery) but an absolute waste of time (except for a bit of entertainment value) for practically everyone else.

Okay... so do you still want to be a millionaire? For real? I’m betting the answer to that question is yes.

Surprisingly, your goal is far more attainable than you might realize. In the United States alone, 1.3 million United States households became millionaire households just during the year 2004... although it didn’t happen through game shows or lotteries.

(By the way, while Ken Jennings did win over $3 million on Jeopardy during 2004, not a single one of the 1,300,000 new American millionaire households of 2004 gained their million via "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?")

It gets even better. As of November 2004, there were 8.2 million total "millionaire households" in the United States -- and growing. And the definition of "millionaire" here is a net worth of at least $1 million excluding primary residences! So if you count the value of the homes that people live in, there are undoubtedly many more millionaire households.

Since there are an estimated 107 million households in the United States, this means that more than 1 out of every 13 households is now a millionaire household!

Of course, this is not at all to say that 1 out of every 13 persons in the US is a millionaire. Far from it. If there are, for example, 4 people in a millionaire household, then probably only 1 or 2 of them hold most of the money. If it’s a married couple, then they "only" have half a million dollars each, and the kids may have zero assets of their own.

Still, there’s an awful lot of money out there, and the statistics show that becoming a millionaire is very doable.

(And by the way, while I've spoken of the USA in this example -- due to a big American audience and easily-available statistics -- and while the US is a great place to achieve financial success, it's BY FAR not the only place where such success is possible. The third and fourth richest people in the entire world come from India and Mexico respectively. New opportunities are popping up and being created literally almost everywhere.

There are even new small businesses springing up -- and new wealth being created, on a small scale at least -- in North Korea, of all places! So before you say, "It can't be done here," you should first look carefully to see whether somebody's doing it. If they're doing it, then it can be done!)

All of this is the good news. If you want to become a millionaire, it’s definitely possible for you to do so. Forget about your present financial situation -- it’s possible. More than possible, in fact. Your odds of becoming a millionaire in most reasonably free societies turn out to be very good, if you go about it in the right way.

Okay... so how DO you become a real, live millionaire... for real?

Let’s begin with some assumptions (this will tell us a bit about how we want to go about the millionaire process), and then look at some ways we could accomplish the goal.

• Presumably, you’d rather become a millionaire sooner instead of later, so that you can enjoy financial freedom for the longest possible period of your life. In other words, you’d like to become a millionaire fairly quickly and directly.
   
  Therefore, you want to find ways to accelerate the process of building wealth. Probably, this also means that you don’t want to spend 8 or 10 years in preparation -- if you can reasonably avoid it.
   
• It’s much better to take one of the most certain routes, rather than one of the least certain. Oh, you can still send in the game show application, but I definitely wouldn’t be betting on that as my means of achieving financial freedom.
   
• You’d probably rather minimize, or at least effectively manage, your risk of loss in the process.
   
• Effort’s one thing, but undoubtedly, you’d rather not spend years of your life doing something that you simply hate.

Even with those parameters as a starting point, there are probably many different ways that you can become a millionaire.

The bad news is that most (though maybe not all) of them involve a fair bit of effort, and they also involve a lot more time than answering a few questions on a game show. But the good news is: if others have gotten there, you can too... if you’re willing to do what it takes. So the key question is: Are you willing to do what it takes?

Well, the time’s going to pass anyway. As for effort, well, do you want the million dollars or don’t you? It’s certainly reasonable to expect that you’ll have to exchange some concerted effort for such a large prize -- especially if you want to have a good chance of actually receiving it.

And if you’re unwilling to do that, well... just know that "luck" much more frequently visits people who are willing to put forth dedicated, consistent effort in a specific direction. Or, as a Chinese proverb says:

So the choice is yours: Are you going to sit and wait for the roast duck to fly into your mouth; or are you going to go, locate the appropriate duck, do what it takes to acquire it, wade through the messy work of cleaning and preparing it for cooking, get  a recipe, and roast yourself a nice duck?

What will it be?

Now if you’ve decided to simply wait and see if steaming ducks will fly, you may as well put this article down, as the rest of it will be of no use to you.

But if you’ve decided that yes, you’re going to do what it takes to become a millionaire (or at least give it a really good shot), then read on.

Okay, now that you’ve decided to embark on the millionaire path, there are two major things that will help get you there.

The first thing is developing the mindset and attitudes of a millionaire achiever. This may sound irrelevant, but it’s really the key to getting where you want to go. If you’re not a millionaire already, what’s been holding you back? There are many mindset issues that keep people from acquiring wealth, and some that help people to do so.

Looking for wealth in the wrong places is clearly a mindset issue. The question is, are you prepared to change that mindset? Are you prepared to change the way you think?

Another mindset issue has to do with listing all the reasons (consciously or subconsciously) as to why you "can’t." Forget the reasons why you "can’t." Or better yet, go ahead and list them -- but alongside each one, also think of and list the means by which you can overcome that obstacle -- and do it anyway.

Still other mindset issues are roadblocks to even seriously beginning to acquire wealth or success. Do you have negative stereotypes of wealthy people? A lot of us do. It might surprise you to find out what most wealthy people are really like.

Certain religiously-based hangups are also a problem for a lot of people. Isn’t it more "spiritual" to be poor? Not necessarily. Joseph of Arimathea, King David, King Solomon, Abraham, and Joseph who ruled under Pharoah in Egypt were all rather highly spoken of in the Bible -- and all were wealthy. Solomon in particular, by today’s measure, appears to have been not just a millionaire, but a billionaire.

The second major key to acquiring wealth is learning and using the right methods. If you want to do what wealthy people have done, you’ll do well to learn what that is -- and do it.

It turns out that owning and operating a successful business is the single activity that produces the greatest number of millionaires. It’s also quite possible to become a millionaire in sales, as a top corporate manager, or as a physician or lawyer. Or even by simply working at a job and squirreling money away; or by marrying a millionaire. But for most people, owning a business is likely to be the key pathway to real affluence.

Starting a business, of course, carries with it a significant risk. Not the least of which is the fact that most new businesses fail! This indeed is one of the reasons why the pathway to wealth can take longer than hoped for.

But understand this: "failing" in business is similar to "failing" while learning to walk. You gain by the experience, and the next time you try, you do a little bit better. And once you’ve really learned to walk, there’s really no reason to go back to stumbling around.

Most toddlers have to fail a lot before they master the art of walking. But they keep trying. The keys in business are just the same: First, make sure that if you’re going to fail, you won’t inflict permanent injury on yourself (this is why parents of toddlers put gates at the top of staircases). Second, be prepared to get up and try again.

In fact, here’s a major secret: If you’re willing to fail in business as many as half a dozen times or more, if required, and keep trying, and learn as much as you can along the way... your odds of ultimate success are virtually guaranteed. 

By "virtually guaranteed," I mean around 99% -- or better. 

Of course you’d rather succeed the first time around, or at least the second. And there are ways of managing your risk to help you do that and avoid injury. For example: start a new business part-time, while maintaining your regular income. Start small and grow as you go. Only leave your current income when you’re certain that the new business will support you.

A second way of succeeding the first time around is this: learn the business inside-out working for somebody else before you launch out on your own.

A third way of upping your odds for business success may be to buy into a franchise opportunity. These have a fairly high rate of success. However, your own unique idea might ultimately turn out to have more potential. Or how about this: learn an existing system, then improve upon it. That’s how a young man named Sam Walton created Wal-Mart Stores, now the biggest retailer in the world.

Fourth, it's a good idea not to dig yourself into too deep a hole. It may be better to find investors rather than go in debt personally to fund a business. Having to convince others can also help you sharpen your plan for making profit as well. And if it doesn't work, don't keep digging. Know when to get out, and keep a door open for an alternate means of making a living if it all possible. 

Naturally, in order to really succeed, you’ll have to learn what works, and keep learning. And keep innovating. Audio tapes can be particularly useful for learning without having to invest any extra time (if you commute to work or drive alone in a car, listen to good educational tapes while doing so).

Seminars can be good, too -- but be extremely careful how much money you spend on these. If the choice is between a $12 book and a $1200 seminar, you've got to have a LOT more cash for the seminar -- and it had better provide $1188 in value over the book as well, else you're literally wasting money. 

Controlling expenditures and NOT wasting money is one of the other key skills for the small business person -- or any business person, for that matter. 

Lastly, in order to learn and implement both the mindsets and the methods it takes to become a millionaire, it usually helps to associate with like-minded people. You may be able to find clubs or associations locally that will can be very helpful to you in your quest. Often these are specific to particular issues and interests: for example, business networking groups help you make contacts; and Toastmasters helps you develop skills in public speaking.

Actual associations of aspiring millionaires can be quite a bit harder to find, however. And this is the reason why I’ve personally been involved in starting and growing just such a community. If you’re interested in finding people to associate with in your millionaire quest, I invite you to check out the community at Millionairesville.com.

So here’s to your ultimate success. If you take the right paths, instead of simply wanting to be a millionaire, you should be able to actually become one. Yes, it'll probably take a fair bit of time and effort, but when you're a millionaire, won't it be worth it?

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