We’ve all had jobs we despised. We were underpaid, underappreciated, and bored out of our minds. We either quit these jobs or were fired for poor performance because we just checked out. Instead of falling into that trap, you need to consider every job an opportunity to learn something new that you will apply down the road to find success.

When you give people the tools they need to come up with extraordinary solutions, you are enhancing their lives for the future. You need to take this approach with your business. What if one of your terrible jobs had been one with no pay at all and you needed to come up with some ingenious ways of making money? I bet you could have found a diamond in that rough. This idea can also be used in your own company.

I don’t recommend going into your next meeting and advising your employees that no one will be paid anymore, but you can tell them that their potential raises, bonuses and other perks are now commensurate with their creativity to enhance the business.

Let’s reflect on a great concept called financial literacy. This certainly isn’t something that was taught in school, but is still an essential skill. So what is financial literacy?

The “old school” way teaches people to be good employees and not employers. This mindset will never offer you wealth. You need to focus on becoming a good employer.  Not only do you need to learn how to acquire wealth, but also how to sustain wealth for generations. This is what financial literacy is all about.

So how do you get out of the rat race and start working towards a future building wealth? You need to understand the difference between an asset and a liability. If you take a look at your own life you’ll probably find the following:

Assets

·       Real Estate

·       Stocks

·       Bonds

• Intellectual Property

Liabilities

·       Mortgage

·       Consumer Loans

·       Credit Cards

You’ve probably been conditioned into thinking things like your house, car and entertainment system are assets, which isn’t true. Assets should be working to MAKE you money. When you continue to struggle, you are not building wealth. If your primary income is derived from wages and each time your wage increases you pay more taxes, you are not really creating wealth, are you?

So if buying a house isn’t an asset (and it’s not, because you spend about 30 years of your life paying it off), then what is? Here are some of the best assets to acquire and when you can actually start to see wealth being created as a result:

Average time of holding onto an asset before selling it for a higher value:

1 year

·       Stocks (Startups and small companies are good investments)

·       Bonds

·       Mutual funds

7 years

·       Real estate

·       Notes (IOUs)

·       Royalties on intellectual property

·       Valuables that produce income or appreciate

So here are the steps to getting out of the rat race and onto your journey building wealth:

1. Understand the difference between an asset and a liability;
2. Concentrate your efforts on buying income-earning assets;
3. Focus on keeping liabilities and expenses at a minimum;
4. Mind your own business.

If you need help getting out of the poor way of thinking and into a mindset that focuses on building wealth, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me for guidance.

Next time we will be discussing how to mind your own business to keep your eye on the prize.