Ways to build wealth at a young age?

[WilkensOne]

Ok.

4. Most will only become very wealthy by "gearing" on the shoulders of others (ie owning businesses)... getting skills in this area is very very easy for those confident to have a go, and very rewarding. = So I would move into a business relatively early ( I was early 20s when I purchased my first business )

Hey MW,

Would you mind elaborating a bit about this for us, would be useful to have a bit more information as to what/how you went about it at a relatively young age.. also how it turned out? (not sure how old you are now

Wilkens

 

[Kryzz]

Ok.


4. Most will only become very wealthy by "gearing" on the shoulders of others (ie owning businesses)... getting skills in this area is very very easy for those confident to have a go, and very rewarding. = So I would move into a business relatively early ( I was early 20s when I purchased my first business )

MW

http://www.theage.com.au/business/want-to-get-rich-heres-a-brutal-crash-course-20090403-9rn7.html

 

[Smurf1976]

Get a job, work hard and always go the extra mile with no expectation of immediate reward.

Do that for 4-5 years, then quit and start your own business. Work hard and always go the extra mile with no expectation of immediate reward. Treat your staff well and ensure they are rewarded when they go the extra mile (it'll make them go three).

Agreed there. Do not expect immediate reward for anything you do.

It's the single biggest difference I've noticed between employees. Those who go the extra mile versus those who insist on doing only what they are paid to do. The former start out at the bottom, gain skills and move up the ladder. The others stay where they are, often resenting the success of those who go the extra mile.

From the other side, management or business owner, motivation of staff is a key to success. Keep them happy, give them reasonable flexibility, and the better ones will do whatever it takes to make the business successful (and take the advice of such people when they want to try something different - the odds are they've thought about it, probably do know quite a bit about it, and if you don't take the risk then you have no chance of gaining from their perspective). And don't spend your time trying to "penny pinch" and claw back every last cent on staff entitlements etc - it's a false economy in that whatever you save, you'll lose many times over via a demotivated and resentful workforce.

In short, if someone is doing their job above requirements then just don't worry about a few private photocopies (within reason), how much milk they put in their coffee or things like that. You've already gained far more than you've paid them via high performance - if a ream or two of paper and a few bottles of milk keep them happy then you're getting good value so don't worry about such things. Your time is far better spent growing the business - and you need staff "on side" to make that work (especially when things go wrong which WILL happen sooner or later).

It's the same with customers. Treat them fairly and they'll come back. But if they think you've ripped them off (whether you have actually ripped them off or not) then suffice to say that social media does wonders to weed out such dodgy business operators these days. So be sure to be fair, and to be seen as being fair. Treat customers badly and they do two things - they don't come back and they warn others to stay away too, both of which are likely to cost the business far more than simply fixing whatever the problem was in the first place.

Price is what you pay, value is what you receive. Be wary of paying too little and receiving no real value but likewise don't pay too much. That's the short version of the above comments - pay what you need, no more and no less, and do what you need to do in order to create value.