There are many ways to become a millionaire in your lifetime, with some that are quicker than others. There are definitely faster ways of becoming wealthy than others, but you must remember that they all need hard work and dedication. You can become a millionaire by following any or all of these steps; it’s up to you!
Becoming a millionaire takes a little imagination and a whole lot of dedication. Anyone can become a millionaire if they read books, watch documentaries, and take action.
Increase Your Income
Whether you’re just starting or in transition, having multiple income streams is the most fundamental step to building wealth. Here are some of the ways you can increase your income and build wealth fast.
Venture into Business
The wealthiest people in the world are not employees but business founders. Entrepreneurship fulfills two aspects of wealth building: income and high returns on accumulated wealth. Therefore, if you have a business idea that can increase your income, get started.
It doesn’t have to be a huge business. You can start a small business and offer the services you’re good at. For instance, with the emergence of the internet, you can create an entirely online-based business. If you’re busy with other things, you can hire people to run the business for you.
Take Up High-Paying Jobs
You can check out the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for a detailed occupation database. From there, you can see the high-paying jobs and their subcategories that you can apply to. More than 100 professions pay an average of not less than $80,000 per year. Good examples of professionals paid highly include physicians, managers, nurses and engineers.
However, some of these professions are very expensive. They may also take a lot of time to complete the requisite coursework, and it can be even longer before you start earning a high salary. You should consider all these factors before picking a profession. Whichever career path you choose, make sure it doesn’t leave your debt levels too high.
Evaluate your current financial status.
You can’t grow if you don’t know where you currently stand, so it’s time for you to put everything on paper. By physically seeing where you stand, you can make the appropriate changes to achieve your financial goals. You need to be clear about the amount your earn versus the amount you spend and create a financial plan that will help guide your next steps.
If creating this plan has made you realize you aren’t satisfied with both your income and your spending habits, don’t get discouraged. This is a step towards making positive changes. When creating your future plan, you need to:
- Know your full income
- Establish how much you spend
- Be clear about where you could save
- Use an online invoicing tool like sighted.com to track your finances.
- Write down your financial and lifestyle goals
Related: 10 Ways to Become a Millionaire in Your 20s
Work on increasing your current income.
Once you’ve created your plan and listed your financial and lifestyle goals, it’s time to work out how you are going to achieve them. Realistically, you aren’t going to become a millionaire by cutting back on your daily coffee; you need to work out how you are going to grow your current income.
Firstly, look at opportunities with your current employer. Maybe there is a promotion up for grabs or a new position within your company that would suit you better while offering you a higher income. Secondly, consider a side hustle that will allow you to regularly generate more money. Lots people use my tool Chattypeople to make chatbots on the side.
Think about new revenue streams.
Millionaires rarely have only one form of revenue. In fact, many of them have more than two. Start small and find a side job that can generate more money for you on a monthly basis. Some options could be:
- Offering your expertise as a freelance consultant
- Mentoring or teaching
- Doing guest lectures or blog posts
- Working a second job part-time
- Renting the spare room in your home
- Opening an online store
Get saving.
Once you’ve got your income on track, you need to create a strategy whereby your income is split between your:
- Living costs (bills, rent, mortgage, grocery shopping etc.)
- Personal expenses (cinema, dinners out, holidays, etc.)
- Savings
Your savings will be split into two accounts, these are your:
- Retirement savings plan (401(k), Roth, IRA)
- Emergency savings plan (personal savings account, money market)
The best way to organize your finances is to automate them. Once you have established how much you are going to be saving, create direct debits from your current account to these two savings accounts.
Schedule your direct debits to leave your current account on the day you get paid to avoid any temptation of spending. Depending on how much you earn, you want to aim to put 5 percent towards your emergency fund and 10 percent towards your retirement fund.
Start learning new skills.
Learning is about more than enabling you to do your current job properly; it’s a way for you to become an expert in your chosen field. Additionally, it’s a way for you to discuss topics with other professionals more broadly. Further, it will allow you to become a well-rounded intellectual.
You don’t have to reapply to go to college to learn new skills. You could simply:
- Read more
- Listen to podcasts
- Attend events and conferences
- Do an online course
Related: All 7 Shark Tank Stars Share Tips on How to Become a Millionaire
Seek opportunities.
Opportunities aren’t just going to land on your lap as you sit at your desk during your usual nine to five routine. You have to go out there and get them. You also have to make your name heard so that others think of you as the perfect person when jobs pop up.
If you’ve got a business idea you’ve been sitting on for a long time because you have to keep your day job to pay the bills, invest your spare time developing it until it starts generating a side income for you. Once it’s up and running, it could even become your million-dollar baby.
Become more frugal.
Rich people don’t get their fortune from giving it away and buying fancy cars, at least not in their beginnings. If you want to become a millionaire, you need to start living a more frugal lifestyle. You need to cut down on your spending by avoiding branded products and lavish shopping days. You can also:
- Start using coupons
- Look out for freebies
- Buy your supermarket’s own brand products
- Start using public transport instead of your car or a taxi service
- Cut down on restaurants and cook for your loved ones instead
Avoid debt.
The best way to become a millionaire is to avoid debt at all costs. A mortgage is an investment into yourself and potentially your family. A credit card bill, on the other hand, is an expenditure you have made without considering whether or not you could pay it back in the first place.
Start by treating your credit card as a way out of an emergency rather than a luxury. To get into the right habits, avoid taking it shopping with you and take it off any online shopping accounts you may have. This method will also make you think twice about buying things you simply don’t need.
Work smarter and harder than your competition.
Identify your competition. How hard are they working? What are some differentiators you can bring to your workplace or market?
Start by working smarter. There’s no use in working harder if your work isn’t effective at producing income – you’ll be spinning your wheels.
There’s no sense in selling ice cream cones on your front lawn in the dead of winter. Instead, set up a booth at the park in the sizzling summertime – you get the idea! Simple, commonsense changes can greatly improve your effectiveness.
Work harder than others are willing. We’ve all seen the guy or gal at the office who works harder than anyone else. Maybe they’re a little nerdy or a little too interested in their job – or are they?
Maybe they’re onto something. After all, aren’t they the ones getting the promotions? Aren’t they the ones who become the office linchpins?
I remember when began my career with A.G. Edwards & Sons in 2002, I was in a training class of around 55 people. After completing training a year later, our class was reduced to less than half. My fifth anniversary mark? Only five of us were left.
Most failed. Why? Because they weren’t willing to put in the hard work required.
I beg you to not be afraid of hard work. Not only will your boss feel better about what you’re doing for them – you will too.
I’m not afraid to die on a treadmill. I will not be outworked. You may be more talented than me. You might be smarter than me. And you may be better looking than me. But if we get on a treadmill together, you are going to get off first or I’m going to die. It’s really that simple. I’m not going to be outworked. – Will Smith, Actor
Conclusion
Once you become wealthy, you never want to go back to where you used to be. Yet many people think that becoming a millionaire overnight or in a year is impossible. Your circumstances might not be ideal right now but that doesn’t mean it’s permanent. If you want to become a millionaire, think about it as an investment in yourself. Of course this doesn’t mean it will happen overnight but the odds are much better if you start right now ,compounding interest could make a huge difference in 1 year.