Category: Learn How To Make Money

In your quest for financial freedom, you probably find yourself getting creative. Investing in crypto, checking out pot stocks, or scouring the classifieds for a passive income. That’s great. Your hard work will eventually pay off. But you can start getting richer right now by simply cutting out the ways you’re wasting money.

According to a report by CNBC Money, if you’re like most young people in your 20s and 30s, you’re leaking money like a damaged faucet from sources you never consider. Some of the most common offenders include using the wrong ATM, paying for a gym membership you never use, or buying items from the closest store and missing out on cheaper prices just a few yards away.

Moreover, with the rise in interest rates, especially in the US, borrowers will find themselves paying more on their credit card balances and other repayments. This will see you splashing out even more cash than before. Before you can start thinking about becoming a billionaire under 30, let’s start with the basics. Here are a few ways to start getting richer right now by stopping wasting money.

Pay Down Your Debt

You work hard. Of course you’re inclined to spend that unexpected bonus on a night out with friends. But if you’re paying off a debt, like a student loan or credit card, that should always be your first priority. It’s basic economics. You should never try saving money while you’re still repaying your debt. Anything outside your mortgage has to be your first priority.

The average American has a credit card balance of $6,375 with the total credit card debt reaching over $1 trillion last year. So, that Starbucks on your way to work or that rolling subscription to that running app you forgot you had? Cut them out and put the extra cash towards paying down your debt first.

Stop Eating Through Your Money

One of the greatest expenses for this age group is eating out with friends. While we all know that cooking at home is cheaper, it can be a hard pill to swallow. Especially with growing numbers of millennials working from their home office.

If it’s the social interaction you crave, why not eat out at each other’s houses? If you despise cooking and want the ambiance of a restaurant, start getting friendly with coupons. You can also try cutting out the alcohol since wine and liquor are the highest profit margin in any restaurant. Why not try being really cheap and having a few drinks before going out?

Cut Down Your Bank Fees

One of the biggest and most silent culprits is ATM fees, which can add up to hundreds of dollars every year. So, if you’ve gotten into the bad habit of going to an ATM because it’s closer to you or easier to park, get out of it.

Going to the wrong ATM five times a month is an easy mistake to correct and a quick way to start saving money. When you go to the wrong ATM not only are you paying your own bank’s fees, but you’re paying the other bank’s fees as well. You’re literally taking out your money and handing it to the men at the bank.

Save on Transport and Living Expenses

You may not be willing to cut out your car and ride a bike to work, but there are other cutbacks you can make that aren’t so dramatic. Think about sharing your living expenses by living with a roommate. Try to shop around for a new cell phone plan, or cable TV rather than getting stuck with a bad deal, and be sure your health insurance plan is still right for you. Beware of enticing deals for six months that suddenly shoot up in price and lead to wasting money without realizing.

Stop Wasting Money Today

Looking after your money isn’t exactly sexy. And fumbling around in your wallet for a 10% OFF coupon won’t make you feel very successful. But the message is basically this:

You don’t have to become a sewer rat to start developing better habits. Before you can think about saving or even investing, get rid of your bad debt first and cut out all the unnecessary payments from your life. You may even find you start enjoying it once you watch the extra money pile up.

Images from Shutterstock.

Becoming an entrepreneur is not just being a business person, it’s a way of life. Successful entrepreneurs live like they love and love like they live. It is quintessential that budding entrepreneurs get into the correct mindset from the get-go that propels them in a forward-thinking direction.

Here is a handpicked selection of life-changing tips from some of the most successful entrepreneurs that confidently stride Planet Earth that will give you a fascinating insight into what it takes to become a successful businessperson.

 

1. “If you can improve people’s lives, you have a business.” – Richard Branson

Finding a niche is uber-important in the business world. Are you a leader or are you a follower? Successful entrepreneurs are leaders and Mavericks at heart, and nobody personifies this ethos like the famous British billionaire businessman, Richard Branson. Known for building his Virgin Group empire that comprised of over 400 companies, Virgin, under the tutelage of Branson, rose to unparalleled heights in the business world over the past 40 years.

The mercurial entrepreneur has reached demagogue status in the business world and bestowed pearls of wisdom when talking with CreativeLive on their 30 Days of Genius podcast. Branson stated that if you can improve people’s lives, you have the foundations of a successful business. Although it is easy to think that everything has already been thought of, there are still gaps in the market and niches ready to be exploited, especially when it comes to improving people’s lives. Just ask Apple.

 

2. “If you’re going to start a business, you need to really love it, because not everybody is going to love it.” Arianna Huffington

Loving what you do is always an important part of entrepreneurial success. Nobody wants to wake up on Monday morning to do something they despise. This is a major reason to become an entrepreneur in the first place so you have more control over your life, finances and business ventures.

As co-founder and former editor-in-chief at the Huffington Post, Arianna Huffington is an extremely successful businesswoman and entrepreneur that really knows her stuff. Arianna left her editor job at the Huffington Post to start up her own wellness venture that was a passion for her.

Arianna offered some top advice for those striving to become successful entrepreneurs when saying it is important that your business is something that you love because if you love and believe in your product, you will have more perseverance in the face of naysayers and doubters. If you are thinking of starting a new business, make sure it is something you are passionate about, or how do you expect your potential customers to be passionate about your product?

 

3. “Good ideas are cheap, and success comes from hard work, not a stroke of genius.” – Nir Eyal

Entrepreneur and author, Nir Eyal, wrote the book, ‘Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products’, and has some fantastic advice for newbie entrepreneurs trying to break into the marketplace. In his book, Nir makes some valid points about how anyone can conjure up a great idea, but “good ideas are cheap.” He advises first-time entrepreneurs that success generally comes from lots of hard work and has nothing to do with being a genius or having genius-type ideas.

Work ethic and vision are what sets successful entrepreneurs apart from the rest. Procrastination and laziness are the kryptonite for businesspersons and anyone else in the world trying to achieve something.

The conclusion is that budding entrepreneurs need to find a business idea that can improve people’s lives and would advisedly be something you are passionate about or at least very good at. And even if you have a great idea, you need to work tirelessly with tenacity to reach your goals and to ensure the venture is a success.

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You dream of being wealthy, you dream of having more. You have a strong desire to break free from ordinary routines, but you don’t know where to start. I’m not exaggerating if I say that most people share the same goal.

People want to be independent; we want to stay on our own feet and provide for ourselves and our families.

When I studied for a bachelor’s in Entrepreneurship and Business in Oslo, we did not learn about personal finance. I’ve never learned how to acquire wealth and how to become more independent from employers and banks with their loan practices. We didn’t even touch this topic during my 12 years as a student.

Think about it, one of the essential things in life is to be able to take care of yourself financially. And we don’t learn about it.

I love this video by Ken Robinson on how our educational system came into place, and why it is so outdated:

The current system was designed and conceived for a different age.

Modern society has failed to improve the educational system and is currently stuck in producing qualified employees with degrees. Our schools educate us to be “employable.” Not to stand on our own feet and make smart choices regarding personal finance.

How often did you hear about interest rates? Inflation? And what about consumer loans? Did they tell you to keep away from consumer loans? My guess is no.

The Ironic Failing System

A book that I recommend for anyone interested in our economic system is the book “23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism” by Ha-Joon Chang. In chapter 17, he writes:

There is remarkably little evidence showing that more education leads to greater national prosperity.

And on page 187:

.. an unhealthy dynamic has been established for higher education in many high-income and upper-middle-income countries that can afford to expand universities. Once the proportion of people going to university goes over a critical threshold, people have to go to university in order to get a decent job.

More education doesn’t mean better productivity for a nation. It can result in the opposite. How many years are spent on education alone? How many years could have been spent on producing?

You are not stupid for not being wealthy

The society isn’t built to help people become financially independent. It’s built to make people economically dependent on being employed. We are fooled into a consumer pattern where “buying more” is considered the ultimate goal of life. Owning the latest gadgets, the most expensive cars we can get our hands on, and living in an ever-expanding house.

Think of how often you see advertisements trying to convince you to purchase a product or service. That’s an enormous part of your life. You are not superhuman. We are easily affected and lured into different schemes.

And when you don’t have the most basic knowledge of personal finance imprinted in your mind, it’s nearly impossible not to fall for their tricks.

 Social Pressure Doesn’t Help

We are social creatures. Our mind is warped into living in conformity. We want to be like our friends and our family. It’s very hard to stand up against social pressure. The consumer market is so robust that it makes the smallest attempts to break free unimaginable hard.

I’m struggling with it myself! I don’t own any Rolexes, but when I’m in social gatherings and look at the men wearing their “Rolexes” or “Omegas,” I immediately feel I need to be as good as them even though I know I don’t need an expensive watch. It is hysterical!

Don’t Feel Sorry for Yourself

Stop feeling sorry for yourself. You have been fighting society for all your living years without the necessary tools and support you need to build wealth. Wealthy people have been:

• Lucky
• Inherited their wealth
• At the right time and right place
• Educated in personal finance

You can accomplish a lot with guidance. You can also strike luck any time, but you have to try. Try, try, and try again. You will fail multiple times, and you will learn from your mistakes. Trust me; I’ve failed over and over again. Even though I’m quite successful with my ventures and money management, I still striving for my next goal.

Why Do You Not Invest?

One of the great secrets to wealth is ownership. To own something that is both worth money and that generates more.

Who were the wealthiest persons a few centuries ago? It was the landowners. The landowners had a massive chunk of land that they rented out to peasants and other more unfortunate individuals. They made money by either claiming most of their crops or by securing a fixed sum per month. Those were the truly wealthy people.

People do not seem to understand how having a money-generating asset truly can help them economically. To own a house or an apartment for personal use is not the same as to own a house or an apartment that you rent out. Something that generates a monthly cash flow. The more money-making assets you have, the more wealthy you will become in the end. At some point, you might not be able to spend all the money you make even if you wanted to.

We are not taught this skill. There’s a reason why you have not spent most of your adult life trying to accumulate assets. The capitalistic society does not want you to focus on what can set you free; they want you to work and consume to grow the market. Now you are aware.

So What Can I Do?

On MoneyMakers.com I will continue to write educational pieces to make you think, become financially independent, and in the end, be able to live a better and happier life. My passion for this field is intense.

Images from Shutterstock.

This is not another article on how to make money fast; it’s not a get-rich-quick scheme. I dislike those articles as they are merely spreading false information. There is no way you can get rich fast. Well, you can win in a lottery, but as many lottery winners have shown, keeping the money is an entirely different ball game.

No, Never Chase the Get Rich Quick Scheme

One says that lottery games are the “poor man’s game.” It gives false hope to the millions risking their own money. It’s better to throw money out the window. Rich people do not take unnecessary risks. They never gamble with their money unless there is a high possible return on investment while the risk is minimal. Don’t be fooled into joining hypes and take high risks for small payouts.

If you genuinely want to be rich, you need to think differently. You need to stop doing the same things as your friends and start your own journey to financial freedom. You need to widen your network and find mentors who have done similar things as you want to accomplish. 

How to Make Money When You Have None?

You’ve probably heard the phrase, “You need money to make money.” And it is true to some extent. The more money you have, the more opportunities you have to invest and expand your wealth. When that’s said, people with next to nothing are still able to make money. The first and most obvious answer is to get a job. If you want to guarantee a steady income that can support your lifestyle, working for a company can be a good option. You have to start at the bottom, but that’s where most employees start. It takes time to climb the corporate ladder. Always improve yourself, and give your employer the best of you every day. Take more initiative, and read books about the industry you are in. When you feel you are worth more than the salary you receive, ask for a raise! Never settle; strive for more (but don’t overshoot!)

When you have reached a certain level within the corporate ladder, stay open to change and take a different path. There’s only so much you can make by being an employee; if you want to get financially independent, you can focus on entrepreneurship and investing. More on this later in this article.

Start your own business if you want to work for yourself. I would recommend starting a company where you can generate a cash flow rapidly. The less you have, the more reliant you are on a positive revenue.

How I Started My Ventures

I started with a clothing line when I was 16 years old. I managed to sell a few sweatshirts to a local shop in my hometown in Norway called Tønsberg. At that time, I was not very focused on the business as I had school to attend! It quickly faded out and ended up costing me a few thousand dollars. Then, when I was 18 years old, I started a phone company that imported exclusive phones from China. I sold them with a 50% profit margin and generated a profit of $2000 per month! I used Finn.no, which is equivalent to Ebay.com.

The phone business went well for a while. Besides being hustled by a shady character in Oslo, I saw that the phones I sold were beginning to become outdated, as this was in 2008/09. I sold “analog” phones while Apple introduced the smartphone. I decided to shut the business down in 2009 and focus on my last year in high school.

When I moved to Oslo to study for a Bachelor in Entrepreneurship and Business, I got a part-time job as a customer representative for a VoIP company. I didn’t like that job, but it gave me needed money. While I studied, I was enrolled in a mentorship program where I received a mentor working at Telenor (Norway’s largest telecom company). He helped me to go for it and start a new company where I sold website services. I got a few clients from friends and family, and it resulted in enough income per month, that I was able to quit my other part-time job. In some way, it did set me free. Free to focus on my projects and the knowledge of generating money for myself.

The Key Take Away, What I’ve Learned

After that, I’ve started multiple businesses. Many have failed, some have succeeded (like CCN.com and Hacked.com). If there’s one thing that I’ve learned and that you should take away from reading this article, it is this;

Make sure that you can make money fast – get a revenue source.

If you need to develop a product or service over a longer period, the risk dramatically increases, including the costs of the project. That’s why it’s often smart to start a consulting business or a “pay-per-hour” business where you perform specific tasks for other companies or individuals. Perhaps you can run their social media profiles? Maybe you can create a website or an app for them? Or even create a gardening business. The options are endless; make sure you make money from day one. No matter how little you make. Start, build, develop, improve, and grow.

How Do Wealthy People Make Money?

Investors and entrepreneurs are making the most. Unless you live in corporate America (or the UK) and are the CEO of a large multinational company, you are probably earning the same amount as most of your peers with regular jobs, anywhere from $40 000 to $100,000 per year. That’s an okay sum, but it’s not enough to be set for life or to guarantee a comfortable life for your children’s children. To break free from the entangling system we all live in, you must learn what the people on top know and how they exploit the system. Unless we all can exploit the system, then how can we call the system fair?

The rich don’t work for money. Between 1993 and 2010, over 50 percent of the increase in the national income in the United States went to the wealthiest one percent. Since then, things have only gotten worse. Economists at the University of California found that 95 percent of the income gains between the years 2009 and 2012 also went to the wealthiest one percent.

The 0.1% top earners have so much power that they will do everything and currently do, to secure their wealth and keep increasing it. Workers are not rewarded any longer; workers are looked at as a necessary evil. The shareholders want a flexible labor market where they can easily hire and fire people to increase the company’s value. Since the principle of shareholder value maximization was introduced in the 1980s, the focus on short-term profitability for shareholders has exploded. This has led to job insecurity, not only because it became easier to sack employees but the businesses became short-sighted and focused on bringing the highest returns year-on-year. This has caused many Western businesses to fail by not investing in people, research, and development and to have a long-term vision and strategy. Power corrupts; the more power people and businesses get, the more they focus on short-term growth and maintaining control.

Employed? Your Company Doesn’t Care About You

You are easily replaceable. You should not have any loyalty to your employer. None at all. If you get a better offer somewhere else, or even better, you can start your own company: DO IT. Don’t think about your current employer. They don’t give a shit. Wait? I like my boss; he/she is kind to me. Well, that’s your boss’ job! Don’t be fooled. The real rulers are the board members and the shareholders, and they DON’T GIVE A DAMN. They are interested in profits, not in you. And if you are not rewarded based on the profits you bring the company, why should you work there?

So many people I know are STUCK in their jobs. They cannot see themselves working for anyone else or to start anything on their own. Limited by their mind. I was educated to believe that a good life is a life where you work for the same company and do the same thing repeatedly. Wake up! You are stuck. You need a reality check. Do you have a contingency plan? What happens if you get fired or the company you work for files for bankruptcy? Now is the time to create one.

So How Can I Make Money?

What are you good at? Can you start a business on your own and try to expand? Can you change your job to a better-paying one? Always focus on generating income and not spending your proceeds. Use your salary to buy assets, whether it is stocks, or index funds, to lend out money through a peer-to-peer lending service like Prosper, or to buy real estate to rent out for a yearly return above the inflationary level. Do not spend money on unnecessary items, like a new car, a bigger house, or a diamond ring. You do not need it, nor does your family! You need to watch your capital grow, not shrink.

Either become an entrepreneur or start investing in low-risk assets

And please take my word for it. Never fall for the get-rich-quick schemes, they do not work.

Images from Shutterstock.