When it comes to making money, the most valuable skill you can have is the skill of producing profits. If you know how to do that, you wi...
When it comes to making money, the most valuable skill you can have is the skill of producing profits. If you know how to do that, you will never have to worry about supporting yourself. The person who knows how to get and keep a business going will always be secure -- and can quickly become rich.
But what if producing profits is not a skill that you want to learn?
How Do You Want to Make Your Millions?
I've said many times that to become wealthy you need to learn and practice a financially valuable skill -- and most such skills have something to do with helping a business make money. There is virtually no limit to the amount of money you can make if you become skillful at one of these trades:
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CEO
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profit-center manager
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marketer
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copywriter
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consultant
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salesperson
Another category of financially valuable skills has to do with professions
that are focused on certain specific areas of law. Notice that I said
"specific areas" of law. Why? Because, in general, law doesn't pay as
much as you might think! Most people are shocked to discover that the average
attorney makes less than $60,000 per year. But certain fields of law pay very
well. Estate-planning lawyers, for example, make a half-million or more.
The point is: If you want to make lots and lots of money (I'm talking about $200,000, $500,000, or more than $1 million), you'd best know how to produce profits.
That begs the question "If I can't stand that kind of work, how much can I expect to make practicing other skills?"
The short answer: a good deal less. Most architects, engineers, plumbers, technicians, and other highly trained professionals make about $70,000 or $80,000 a year. Some of them make more than that -- often twice as much. But then some make less -- sometimes half as much. Teachers make less. As do pastors. And rabbis. And artists. And philosophers.
There is, ironically, an inverse relationship between the value of the work you do and what people are willing to pay you for doing it. It may not be fair, but it is true. So if you want a realistic chance of getting rich, you need to be realistic about what lines of work will get you there.
I bring this up because one of the more common problems I encounter when counseling people on their wealth-building goals is a completely whacky idea about what they can make for doing what. "George," for example, a friend I've been working with recently, has given me the following ideas about how he'd like to get rich:
The point is: If you want to make lots and lots of money (I'm talking about $200,000, $500,000, or more than $1 million), you'd best know how to produce profits.
That begs the question "If I can't stand that kind of work, how much can I expect to make practicing other skills?"
The short answer: a good deal less. Most architects, engineers, plumbers, technicians, and other highly trained professionals make about $70,000 or $80,000 a year. Some of them make more than that -- often twice as much. But then some make less -- sometimes half as much. Teachers make less. As do pastors. And rabbis. And artists. And philosophers.
There is, ironically, an inverse relationship between the value of the work you do and what people are willing to pay you for doing it. It may not be fair, but it is true. So if you want a realistic chance of getting rich, you need to be realistic about what lines of work will get you there.
I bring this up because one of the more common problems I encounter when counseling people on their wealth-building goals is a completely whacky idea about what they can make for doing what. "George," for example, a friend I've been working with recently, has given me the following ideas about how he'd like to get rich:
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run a restaurant
·
captain a fishing boat
·
be my personal assistant
·
manage an oceanfront resort
All of those jobs have their benefits. But if you had to place
them on a list of professions arranged according to compensation, they would fall
pretty far down the line. None of them would break into the six figures.
That doesn't mean you can't get rich -- or, if not rich, at least financially secure -- by doing something that makes you happy. But sailing around the Caribbean . . . piloting someone's million-dollar yacht . . . and getting paid a king's ransom for doing so?
That doesn't mean you can't get rich -- or, if not rich, at least financially secure -- by doing something that makes you happy. But sailing around the Caribbean . . . piloting someone's million-dollar yacht . . . and getting paid a king's ransom for doing so?
Today's Action Plan:
Take a moment today to consider, frankly, the income potential of your current job. How much is the top person in your company paid? And the top person in your industry?
If you are not satisfied with that kind of money or don't believe you can be as good as or better than those people, you'd better start thinking about making a change. You don't have to jump ship immediately, but it would help to begin educating yourself about financially valuable skills you could develop.
For inspiration, check out the links for AWAI's Accelerated Program for Six-Figure Copywriting http://www.thewriterslife.com/
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