A few months ago I wrote a post on How To Become A Millionaire. I detailed many of the most popular avenues that individuals take to reach the ranks of the wealthy. Becoming a billionaire is much harder than reaching millionaire status but it is possible. Over the next few posts, I will take a look at the essential traits that are required for how to become a billionaire. Let’s take a look at the first trait that is possessed by those with the billionaire mindset.
Billionaire Trait Number One
Billionaires are Risk Takers
Billionaires are willing to take the risk of failing multiple times in order to achieve success. Billionaires know that the number of failures does not really matter but only the success. Billionaires are willing to take big bets on their best ideas. Billionaires know that it all takes is one great idea, one great business, one great investment in order to hit the jackpot.
Wal-Mart’s founder Sam Walton, said he failed nine out of ten time while creating the nation’s largest traditional retailer. Oprah Winfrey credits her extreme risk taking ability as playing a major role in her financial success building a media empire. Elon Musk has revolutionized the electric car market with his risk taking strategy that has launched Tesla.
“If I try my best and fail, well, I’ve tried my best.”
– Steve Jobs
The world’s wealthiest people would have never achieved their level of success without being able to endure going through a few hiccups along the way, Take Steve Jobs for example.
Steve Jobs would never have become the visionary and CEO of the world’s largest technology company if he had not been willing to take the risk of starting Apple on April 1, 1976 with Steve Wozniak. Jobs dropped out of Reed College to find his passion and then he pursued it vigorously.
Jobs went through the catastrophic failures of the Apple Lisa and Newton before finally finding success with the MacIntosh. Jobs was even forced out of his own company after conflict with the board of directors at Apple. He returned to Apple after leadership stints at various companies. Steve Jobs worked at NEXT and Pixar before returning to Apple and guiding it to the behemoth that it has developed into. Today, Apple dominates the technology sector with it iPhones, iMacs, iWatches, iTunes, and ApplePay.
Had Jobs been stopped by one failure the world would have been robbed of numerous technological innovations.
Become A Risk Taker
Billionaires know that you don’t achieve success by being fearful. Fear is what inhibits people from being successful. Most people are afraid of failing so they never really try. They stay locked in a career or position that is beneath their abilities and aptitudes. They never realize their potential because they are afraid to chase their dream. They are underpaid and underutilized but never leave their positions because of fear. The fear of failing is so crippling that it can keep you trapped in a substandard life.
Remember that the fear of failure is only paralyzing if you allow it to be so. The key to becoming a risk taker is to overcome your fears by taking action. You cannot wait for feelings of fear to dissipate. You have to move forward even while being afraid. Risk takers have the courage to take action even while feeling afraid.
The business that you have been thinking about – Start that business now!
The stocks that you have been thinking about buying – Start investing now!
The passive income that you want to generate – Start producing multiple streams of income now!
The financing that you need to become an entrepreneur – Apply for that loan now!
The executive position that you have been dreaming about – Apply for that new position now!
The key to being a risk taker is overcoming fear.
The billionaire mindset requires moving forward in the face of failure. You have to take risks in order to get rich. Billionaires know that you cannot save your way to wealth. Playing it safe does not lead to riches. You have to take intelligent well-thought out and well researched calculated risks. Risk is directedly associated with returns. The rate of return that you should expect to receive is based on the level of risk that you are willing to take,]
I have personally come across too many people who fail to achieve success because they play it safe in life. They are afraid to risk the $1,000 $2,000 that they have saved. They park it in a low interest bank account or very conservative annuities and bonds. They refuse to invest it in the stock market or use the funds to start a business. They say, “I cannot afford to lose any of my money”, when the truth is they really do not have any money to lose.
If you park your money in a bank and only buy safe guaranteed investments, you will never make much money. Investors who generate the greatest returns take the risk of buying the next Facebook, the next Amazon, the next Google.
Risk takers are contrarian in their behavior. They run the opposite way of the crowd. Risk takers invest in real estate in the midst of a recession. Risk takers buy small cap stocks when the market is crashing. Risk takers start a business when everyone is telling them not to do it. Risk takers invest in new markets that others are afraid to get into. Risk takers know that high levels of risk bring high levels of returns. Any investment that can lose all of my money also has the potential to multiply my money 10, 20, or 100 times over.
Stop Fearing Failure
Risk takers do not fear failure because they know that failure produces greater knowledge and experience. Every failure just brings you one step closer to success. Each failure teaches you which missteps to avoid and enables you to locate the right path to take. Billionaires are tenacious and persistent. The risk taker fails and gets back up again and again and again. Billionaires never give up. Bankruptcy, rejection, denials, criticisms, and losses do not inhibit them. They are just launching points that are used to propel future billionaires to success.
What fears are keeping you from pursing your dreams and reaching the heights of financial success?
