How Changing My Perspective Opened the Door to Success

. . . and I’ve never looked back!

Credit: yacobchuck from iStock

What if I told you that you won the lottery, but you just haven’t realize it. I’m talking more about the life lottery of opportunity as opposed to a large dollar payout. Did you just roll your eyes? I’m not being facetious; the mere fact that you are reading this is evidence of my assertion.

Being alive today gives you access to so much information, so many great tools and a global reach that wasn’t even imaginable just a few years ago. This gives each of us, with the ability to access the internet, an immeasurable advantage over previous generations. If you are reading this article, you were born at the right time and in the right place. However, just like winning a traditional prize like money, it really depends on what you do with your winnings that determines your future. Are you going to squander your fortune and waste your valuable time, or are you going to invest in yourself and make the most of the opportunity? Are you going to buy frivolous items that temporarily satiate your desires? Or, are you going to invest the resources, you have been blessed with, into building true wealth and success?

Unfortunately, a great number of people choose to spend their time and money buying things they don’t need. I see so many “cool” looking poor people it’s almost dizzying. Do you know how many times I drive past low income housing with brand new cars riddled throughout the parking lot. I especially love the cars with the huge shiny rims that are out of proportion to the rest of the car. Or the person wearing a fake Rolex working at the drive-thru. Now, I’m really not sitting here in judgment of their life choices. Rather, it is an observation of where I was hovering before my perspective changed.

It’s actually worse than most think. People today have not only become consumers but are actually mega-consumers. I wrote an article, Four Reasons You’ll Never Be Rich wherein I explain why we are now seeing such a proliferation of mega-wealthy individuals while at the same time the rest of society seems to be sliding down deeper and deeper into debt. This is often referred to as the widening wealth gap. A major contributing factor is how easy it is now for consumers to give their money to companies (i.e., producers and/or content creators) via subscriptions, memberships, buy-now buttons, auto-renewals and so on.

It doesn’t have to be this way; you can choose to move over to the producer side of the equation and change your financial picture. A good start is to understand the very basic premise that being a consumer means money going out while being a producer means money coming in. I know, if it was this easy everyone would be wealthy. Ha! That’s like saying you’re set for life if you win the mega-millions lottery. But history has shown us that the vast majority of winners are bankrupt within five years. Where did their money go? To the producers! The worst part is, they willingly handed their money over with such excitement and zeal.

So, how does it all boil down to something as simple as consumer v. producer? Well, producers are the courageous ones that create something (goods and/or services) and put it out into the world. The market then determines it’s worth and either rewards or ignores the product or service. In some cases, the reward is extremely high but impacts a small segment of the population — think Rolls Royce Phantom. Other times, the price a product or service will command is small, but a lot of people are willing to pay it — think Angry Birds. And there is everything in between.

The cogent point is that in order to go from being a spender (consumer) to a money maker (producer) you must create something that the market is willing to pay you for. I know what some of you are thinking — I can just stop spending money on frivolous stuff to a point where I make more money than I spend. And yes, you can definitely do that. It’s called being a saver. But as Robert Kiyosaki so famously says, “Savers are losers.” Now I don’t personally like the term loser, but he sure gets his point across. Either way, most people cannot possibly save enough to ever become independently wealthy. Even if you were able to save $25,000 a year, it would take 40 years to save one million dollars. If I start now, I’ll be almost 90 years old when I discover that $1M isn’t what it was 40 years ago — topic for another article.

Look, there is nothing new about this topic. However, I am a consistently amazed at how overlooked the simple concept of consumption v. production is. My goal here is to simplify the concept that consumer = money out and producer = money in, and beat it into your head until it is second nature. I want to make it so repetitive that you take note and actually do something about your situation. I want you to take stock of where you are as opposed to where you want to be. It’s time to realize that all you have to do to get started is to change your perspective. So what you weren’t born rich and don’t have friends in high places. You won the life lottery which puts you in a position to leverage the tools around you to build your future.

It’s not going to be easy no matter what anyone says. No, you cannot work a four-hour work week and expect to miraculously become independently wealthy. No, you cannot attend a real estate seminar and start raking in millions of dollars overnight. No, you can’t make money while sunbathing on a yacht in the Mediterranean — at least not at first. Only after you have made the decision to become a producer and reduce your addiction to consumerism can you start on a new path.

You will have to work hard at it for years and even then, there is no guarantee that your first, second or tenth idea will be the one. But you will never get there unless you start the journey and stay focused on your goals. Look, I know I’m not going to sell a bunch of motivational cassettes by telling you it’s hard work, but that is not my goal. I’m going to tell you like it is, not what you necessarily want to hear. However, the truth can absolutely change your life by giving you a sense of purpose and direction instead of feeling like you’re wandering through life aimlessly each day and barely treading water. No one is going to do it for you.

I suggest you take it a step beyond simply producing and start your own business. When your business is the value you are putting out into the world, your opportunity for growth is expanded exponentially. There is an art to starting and running a business especially when you don’t have access to large amounts of capital and don’t have much experience. But don’t be discouraged because you actually have a tremendous team willing and able to help you along the way.

Remember, you already won the lottery. Information from testimonials to step-by-step processes are all over the internet. Most of them are free so steer clear of the expensive seminars and gimmicky products created solely to separate you from your money. You don’t have to give someone else a lot of money in order for you to make money. Use your time and resources, not their snake oil products or methods. An honest approach to being a producer that is focused on creating real and beneficial content for the world will continue to be the true path to success. Create something that you want and/or think will benefit others. That’s the key to real success. The more people your product/service benefits, the better you will do. I’ll touch on how to start a business with very little money in another article.

Are you willing to work hard, continually educate yourself, change your habits so you are consistently producing quality content for the world and focus on building wealth? I bet if you did win a million-dollar jackpot and I was able to convince you to invest your winnings in stocks, bonds, cryptocurrencies (controversial I know) and business ventures with the sole purpose of seeing sustained, long-term returns, there is a good chance that you would not become another sad riches-to-rags statistic. So, why can’t you be convinced to invest your winnings (time, resources, global access) now? Decide to do something today!