“There are some people who live in a dream world, and there are some who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other.”
– Douglas H. Everett

I confess, I am a dreamer. I’ve always been a dreamer. I can remember sitting in my Physics high school class staring out the window, daydreaming about my future. I’ve never stopped dreaming. In fact, my life has been filled with dreams about what my life would be like one day. Here’s a list of my One Day’s:

One day I will be one of the top tennis player’s in the country (1978 & 1979).

One day I will be able to afford braces to fix my teeth (1981).

One day I will be able to afford to go to college (1983).

One day I will find a beautiful, perfect girl to build my life with (1986).

One day I will become a CPA (1988).

One day I will run a half marathon (1992 & 2016).

One day I will get a graduate degree in Taxation (1992).

One day I will have my own company (2004).

One day I will find my purpose in life (2008).

One day I will write a book (2010).

One day I will have children and I will pay for their college education (2011, 2014 & 2015).

One day I will be a muscular 175 pounds (2015).

One day I will become a bestselling author (2013, 2014, 2015 & 2016).

One day I will visit Ireland (2013 and 2015).

One day I will visit Australia (2016).

One day I will golf at St. Andrew’s in Scotland (work in progress).

One day I will visit China and see the Great Wall (work in progress).

One day I will pursue my main purpose in life full-time (work in progress).

One day I will become a world-famous author (work in progress).

One day I will be a successful speaker, getting paid to travel the world (work in progress).

One day I will be be a success, admired by millions for my accomplishments (work in progress).

One day I will be able to buy my wife a beautiful house down the Jersey shore (work in progress).

One day I will be able to work anywhere I like (work in progress).

One day I will be able to vacation for a month every year (work in progress).

One day I will be like the self-made millionaires in my study. I will be debt-free and have more money than I can ever spend (work in progress).

One day I will run a non-profit dedicated to helping rescue others from poverty (In 2017 I became President of The Ashley Lauren Foundation – we help families struggling with pediatric cancer survive financially. But I still consider this a work in progress).

As you can see by the dates, I’ve achieved some of my One Day’s. Yet, at age 55 I am still dreaming.

What is your One Day?

When you realize all of your One Day’s, it make’s for one hell of a life.

Keep dreaming and never quit on your dreams.

When most people think about self-made millionaires they imagine some entrepreneur working around the clock, passionately toiling away in the pursuit of greatness. Yet, 39% of the self-made millionaires in my Rich Habits study became rich working for someone else. How did they do it?

I discovered three ways employees were able to strike it rich:

#1 Save and Invest 20-30% of Income

Saving your way to wealth is the safest way to accumulate wealth. It is also the longest way. It took the average self-made, employee-millionaire in my study 32 years to accumulate their wealth. By assiduously saving 20-30% of their income every year and then investing it diligently they were able to accumulate an average of $3.3 million. Most of their investments were in stocks and real estate.

#2 Work for a Big Publicly-Held Company in a Good Industry

Other employees in my study worked for big, publicly-held companies in an industry where profit margins were very good or in an industry that was growing. Due, in large part, to prodigious profits, these employees were beneficiaries of generous stock option or employee stock purchase plans. Because the stock of the companies they worked for continuously appreciated, the stock they received provided the lion’s share of their compensation packages and made them rich.

#3 Sales Commissions

The salesforce is the engine of growth for most companies. Big companies rely on their sales people to grow their revenue. Salespeople often receive commissions, in addition to their base wage. The best salespeople get the biggest commissions and can become extremely wealthy selling products or services for their employer.

Working for someone else takes most of the risk out of the pursuit of wealth. You don’t have to worry about working capital needs, profitability, meeting payroll or expenses like business owners do. You can focus on one thing – whatever it is you do for your employer. From my research, the key is finding a company to work for in an industry that is prospering and growing. These companies pay their employees generously and are often publicly-held companies whose stock is listed on some stock exchange.

There are many paths to wealth. Not every self-made millionaire got their by running their own business.

Humility is a hallmark of the successful. Successful, self-made millionaires become humble during their journey towards success. They become humble because they are focused on succeeding and because they are focused on succeeding they seek the truth.

When things go wrong, success-minded people seek the truth, rather than someone to blame. Sometimes the truth is that you screwed up. Self-made millionaires park their egos and embrace their mistakes, enabling them to learn from them. They make a habit of accepting responsibility when things go wrong.

Those who never take risks in pursuit of success have a penchant for assigning blame to everything that goes wrong in their lives. They have the Poor Habit of avoiding responsibility when things go wrong. These Blame Shifters are not interested in the truth. Instead, they outsource the blame for the mistake to someone or something else. Consequently, they never learn from their mistakes. 

You must avoid Blame Shifters like the plague. Specifically, you must never allow them to become part of your dream team – individuals you rely on to help you realize your dream. Blame Shifters are not interested in seeking the truth – the real cause of the mistake. They are only interested in assigning blame to protect their egos.

Self-made success is built upon a mountain of mistakes. The more mistakes, the higher your mountain, the greater your success and the more money you’ll ultimately make.

In my Rich Habits study, I stumbled onto something I thought was counter-intuitive. The self-made millionaires in my study acknowledged that they had made a lot of mistakes over the years. Those mistakes set them back and cost them an enormous amount of time and money. Yet, they said those costly mistakes were the reason why they became rich.

Mistakes helped them figure out what to do and what not to do. This is school of hard knocks stuff. The school of hard knocks is the hard, costly way to wealth. The mistakes you make are painful and agonizing. They cost you precious time and money. But, they stick. They are like railroad tracks on the brain. You never forget them and you never repeat them.

Probably the poster child for mistakes leading to success is Thomas Edison, who made thousands of mistakes that eventually led to the invention of the incandescent light bulb. But today, we are witnessing in real time another future poster child for mistakes leading to success, Elon Musk.

Musk is the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla Motors. Musk’s mistakes, in the early stages of those two companies, were so numerous and so costly that they took him to the very brink of personal bankruptcy. At one point, Musk was literally one event away from bankruptcy. At the end of 2008, Musk and all of his companies were on the verge of outright bankruptcy. His Falcon 1 rocket had failed to reach orbit for the third time in early August, 2008. Everything hinged on a fourth flight in September, 28 2008. If it too failed, it was over. Only it didn’t fail. The first privately built rocket attained orbit. Musk was able to cobble together enough money to get them through the end of December, 2008. On December 28, 2008 NASA awarded SpaceX with a $1.6 billion contract. Today, Musk is estimated to be worth $10 billion.

Spectators, or those who are averse to risk, make very few mistakes in life. Most people are spectators, watching and criticizing the courageous who try. Those who refuse to be spectators in life, make many mistakes. But those mistakes lead to growth and growth leads to success and success leads to wealth.

Wealth is the reward for taking action, making mistakes, pivoting to change what you are doing, and persisting until you succeed. Mistakes are part of the get rich process. Mistakes, in fact, are beautiful things.

We are defined, not by our success, but by our ability to overcome adversity, in the pursuit of success.

A crucible is, by definition, some harrowing adversity that can leave us momentarily thunderstruck with pain, anguish, anxiety and uncertainty.

The Great Depression was a crucible for millions in America. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were crucibles for an entire country – Japan. Surviving cancer is a crucible for too many individuals.

Almost every self-made millionaire in my Rich Habits study had to face a crucible during their march towards success. Running out of money was a common one. Failure was another for 27% of the millionaires in my study who failed at least once. Bankruptcy and divorce, were other crucibles that tested their resolve.

A crucible is an event that pushes you to the brink of surrender. It is the ultimate test of your ability to survive. It is often a turning point for those who are somehow able to survive. Crucibles test you, push you, challenge you and forever change you.

If you think you are alone, facing some crucible that is dragging you down into a dark hole, you are not. Many, just like you, have had to face crucibles at some point in their lives and survived to talk about it. Crucibles are meant to test you, challenge you and transform you. When you battle through your cocoon of adversity that is your crucible, you emerge a butterfly, better, beautiful and forever changed.

As Churchill famously said, when you find yourself in hell, keep going and never, never, never quit.

Becoming wealthy is not a fluke. I spent five years studying rich people in order to find out what they did from the moment they woke up in the morning to the moment they put their head on the pillow.

In my book, Change Your Habits Change Your Life, I share ten incontrovertible truths about creating wealth that you should know if you want to be rich:

1. Wealth Requires Daily Practice – You must read to learn every day. You must practice some marketable skill every day. Daily practice is how you grow into the person you need to be in order to become successful and wealthy.
2. Wealth Requires Good Habits – You must forge good habits and eliminate bad habits. Good habits lift you up. Bad habits pull you down.
3. Wealth is Not Inherited – Depending on the study, 80% or more of wealth in America is first generation. Meaning, 80% or more of the wealthy rose from poverty or the middle-class.
4. Wealth Requires Work – You will have to work 50 hours or more every week, for many years, in order to become rich. The work you do will have to be focused work. Focused work is intentional work – the daily pursuit of goals related to a dream or dreams you are passionately pursuing.
5. Wealth Requires Relentless Persistence – Those who succeed and become rich never quit. They will go bankrupt, rather than quit. They will get divorced, rather than quit. They will die, rather than quit. They will sacrifice just about everything in the pursuit of their dreams and goals. They are relentlessly, obsessively persistent.
6. Wealth Requires a Team – You must surround yourself with apostles who believe in what you are doing and who will follow you off the cliff in the pursuit of your dream.
7. Wealth is Attracted to Dreamers – Those who amass the most wealth are dreamers. They devote their lives to pursuing some dream.
8. Wealth Requires Passion – You must like or love what you do for a living in order to become wealthy. When you like or love what you do, you will devote more time to it.
9. Wealth Requires Good Health – You can’t make money from a hospital bed. You must exercise every day and eat nutritious, healthy food.
10. Wealth Requires Luck – Luck is a common denominator of every self-made millionaire. Persistence creates luck. Those who refuse to quit, eventually get lucky.

Times may change but truths never do. These are hard truths that apply to every generation interested in accumulating wealth. Individuals who embrace these truths change the circumstances of their lives, and the lives of their children, forever. We call these individuals self-made millionaires.

In the 90’s I taught Graduate school and college part-time. It paid $1,500 per semester, per course. Mostly accounting and tax courses. I had a full-time job back then that just didn’t pay enough. I taught because we needed the money. And I was grateful for the extra money.

Although teaching did not pay a great deal, I loved it. I loved standing up in front of people and talking. I loved taking complex subjects and breaking them down into simple to understand concepts. I was constantly praised by my students and the administrators at the University. I had stumbled on an innate talent I never knew I had.

I remember thinking, at the time, wouldn’t it be great if I could leverage my love for teaching and speaking to make money? But how?

The answer revealed itself to me many years later, when I became an author. Writing books enabled me to teach my Rich Habits to millions and get paid money in the form of royalties and speaking fees.

Finding your innate talents, therefore, should be your #1 objective in life. We all have some innate talent; something that is unique to ourselves. Your job is to devote part of your life searching for those talents. You do that by experimenting with new things: teaching part-time, writing a blog, joining Toastmasters, building your own deck, taking up painting, learning the piano, designing a website, singing karaoke at a bar, or exploring some new skill.

Find your innate talent and then spend the rest of your life perfecting it. People are willing to pay a premium to individuals who are expert in what they do. Those who perfect their innate talents, by practicing them every day, eventually become experts. And the money eventually follows. 

“The first million is the hardest.” Berrey, circa 1920

Long before Elon Musk became a household name, he was telling people about his dream of one day going to Mars. Just about everyone ignored his hyperbole. Then he succeeded in launching the first privately manufactured rocket into orbit around earth. Now, he is considered a genius. Today, his words capture the ears of millions. He is quoted. His success altered the perceptions of everyone.

This was a very commonplace event for the self-made millionaires in my study. Until they succeeded, what they did and what they said was virtually ignored by everybody they came into contact with. Until they succeeded.

We quote successful, relevant, world-changer types. When you succeed, you alter the perceptions of everyone you know – family, friends, co-workers, superiors and casual acquaintances. When you succeed, you have gravitas. You become credible. Success makes you matter.

When you matter, you can get things done much easier. Success feeds upon itself. It acts like an accelerant, fueling even more future success.

This is why it is so important to never quit on your dreams. When you persevere and finally break through to realize your first success, it’s a game changer. You gain instant credibility and the ears of those around you. You change everyone’s perception of you. And this makes future success so much easier.

The first success is the hardest. There’s no doubt about it. But once you succeed, it gets much easier. Your success magnetizes you, attracting other successful people to you. It’s as if you were accepted into a very exclusive club, whose membership is restricted to only the successful.

Never quit on your dreams. You only need to succeed once. Success changes everyone’s perception of you. It removes the mountains, clears away the potholes, greases the gears and creates a snowball effect that grows and expands your success and it’s byproduct, wealth.

There are many sharks in the waters, when you are pursuing a dream, or the goals behind a dream. One of those sharks is the charlatan.

Charlatans are individuals who recognize your passion and enthusiasm for your dream and seek only to exploit your passion for their own benefit. The benefit they seek is typically your money but it can also be your expertise, your time or your relationships.

Successful people become expert in vetting people they surround themselves with. This expertise enables them to weed out the charlatans – con artists who intend to use you to help themselves in some way.

Charlatans will waste your time, money and damage your relationships with others. You need to become expert in identifying charlatans because charlatans disrupt your march towards success.

What are the characteristics of charlatans? In my research of self-made millionaires I’ve identified certain traits, certain characteristics that all charlatans possess:

• They Want Something From You – Charlatans want your time, expertise, your money or to tap into your power relationships. Power relationships are individuals inside your inner circle who are influencers and who can open doors for others.
• They Over Promise and Under Deliver – Charlatans sell you a bill of goods that never arrive. They will make you believe they can help you realize your dreams and achieve your goals. Charlatans never deliver on their promises and will waste your time and money.
• Overpowering Personalities – Charlatans have strong, overwhelming personalities. They use their personality to exploit your desires and passions.
• Profuse in Their Approbation – Charlatans drown you in praise as a way of luring you into doing business with them.
• No Value – Charlatans lack real expertise, knowledge and zero power relationships that can help open doors for you.
• Deceptive – Charlatans will deceive you. They will take you down the wrong path.
• Bombastic – Charlatans bang the drums of their triumphs. Only later will you realize they lack any real success of their own.
• Unsuccessful or Struggling Financially – Charlatans are unsuccessful individuals who are struggling financially.
• Have Their Own Mission – Charlatans have one thing in mind – to use you to help them achieve their own dreams and goals.

Those who are not on guard against charlatans will lose time, money and will have to perform triage on their damaged relationships. Those who are aware of the characteristic traits of charlatans will be able to identify them, cast them aside, and continue marching towards success.

To thine own self be true – Shakespeare

Definition of Authenticity – Genuine, real, accurate, to be yourself.

Authenticity is perhaps the most foundational characteristic of successful individuals. When you are authentic, you embrace who you truly are. You don’t pretend to be someone else.

Authentic people accept themselves, with all of their flaws and all of their uniqueness. They have answered the question Who Am I?

Authentic people devote time to studying themselves. Through their self-study, they are able to grasp the essence of who they truly are. Through this self-study process they become aware of their strengths and their weaknesses. 

When you stop pretending to be like others and embrace who you are, life rewards you. People fall in love with individuals who are authentic. They follow authentic people. Authenticity is like a magnet, drawing others to you. It’s a magnet because it’s rare. Be authentic. Study yourself. Acknowledge your flaws, your strengths and your weaknesses. In order to succeed you must be authentic. Authenticity makes people fall in love with you.