One of the lessons I am learning about building wealth and succeeding in business is that you must understand the business market you operate in, the demographics you want to monetize and make the right connections. Wealthy people, along with practicing strategic and responsible personal finance, make connections to financial advisors, businesspeople, workforces, and potential investors as they build their wealth.
Wealthy people think differently about life, finance, and business. Until very recently, I just thought about living paycheck-to-paycheck as most people do. As I have admitted in the previous columns of this series, I spent most of my life being financially reckless. I didn’t necessarily live above my means, but I didn’t actively try to improve my financial standing either.
I am writing a series of columns about my ambitions to become wealthy. At this moment I aspire to become a self-made businessman, so I moved to Southeast Asia from New York City to start a budget-conscious business endeavor. I don’t just want to talk about it or dream about it or just wish for it anymore, as many people do. I used to be a college educator, but I have been a freelance writer for the past decade.
For over a decade, I have been helping a collection of clients and small businesses achieve their business ambitions. I am in my early 40s and it was only within the last few years that I could appreciate that if I didn’t try to start a business, if I didn’t try to strategize how to build wealth now, then it certainly wouldn’t become easier in my 50s or 60s.
Or, feel personally rewarding to wait so long to achieve a dream.
My Aspirations of Wealth
I am writing about my aspirations, and the lessons I am learning along the way, to inspire others to realistically attain wealth and not just daydream about it. I have recently made some connections and business contacts and I am steadily working to launch my business, an international comic book and literary company soon. In this column, I will explain my newest connections and how I am on track to launch my business in the near future.
Before I get into all of that, I want to explain some lessons I am learning about wealth acquisition and some guidelines you could follow if you are striving to do the same. It’s never to late to improve your personal finances. The only wrong thing is to do is nothing.
Wealthy People Strategize
I highly recommend that you read the 1997 book The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America’s Wealthy written by Thomas J. Stanley and William D Danko. It’s an extremely enlightening book about how everyday people misperceive who millionaires are, how they live, and self-sabotage their own aspirations of wealth acquisition. The main point of this book is that anyone can be wealthy, but their own misguided notions of how millionaires become millionaires prevent such.
I am learning that to become wealthy, you must view money as a tool, not as an end. The Millionaire Next Door offers many tips to help you gain the mindset of a millionaire. You must learn to live well below your means, cut down and eliminate debt, eschew materialism. Rich people prize financial independence over flaunting their status.
They work in occupations suited to their skills and always target strategic business markets when looking for opportunities. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to attaining wealth. Any lessons you learn on the path to wealth-building must be tailored to your life and circumstances. And, to apply your skills to targeted business markets target requires you to make professional connections.
That is what I am currently doing in Manila.
Networking and Making Connections
I am currently in Manila, the Philippines developing a business plan that focuses on starting a viable business that requires little startup capital but serves a demographic that will love the product: comic books. The cost of living here, and the currency exchange, works in my favor. Also, while I cannot get away with free or exploitive labor, paying artists and creative types is going to be relatively cheaper to do here than in the Western world.
I don’t have any credit cards and I live well below my means relative to my former life in New York City. My business plan is ready, but I don’t have enough money or investors yet to move forward with it. So, a friend of mine in a nearby city, who works in a college that caters to students who study computer design, website creations, and graphic art, recently offered me temporary work as a lecturer.
I was offered the opportunity to lead several special classes since I have experience as an educator. Many Filipinos work in call centers that cater to Western companies and in telecommuting work (like telecommuting comic book artists and graphic designers). In the next few weeks, I will be holding talks about how students can find telecommuting work in an ultra-competitive international gig economy, updating C.V.s (resumes) and finding the best paying international job markets that cater to their skills.
As a foreigner, there are restrictions on my ability to start a business, unless I ally myself with a citizen or company. I am thinking about starting an e-job recruitment agency where I source telecommuting jobs for qualified locals to apply to. Many students don’t have home computers or laptops, but they have access to them at school. The staff at the school knows local comic book artists, colorists, and graphic designers I can connect with as well.
Successful People Learn New Skills
In the comic weeks, I will be making connections that may possibly benefit my business aspirations. I haven’t launched my business yet, but I am on the cusp of making serious connections that will could my dream a reality. Another lesson I am learning in my quest to build wealth is that one should always try to learn new skills and to always try to learn new things.
I am taking online language lessons to learn the local language, which is not fun for me, but necessary. Wealth acquisition is a journey, not a destination. I will post updates on my progress in the coming weeks.
Read More
Allen’s Wealth: Lessons Learned #1- No More Credit Card Debt
Allen’s Wealth: Lessons Learned #2 – Advantages of Budgets
Allen’s Wealth: Lessons Learned #3
Allen Francis was an academic advisor, librarian, and college adjunct for many years with no money, no financial literacy, and no responsibility when he had money. To him, the phrase “personal finance,” contains the power that anyone has to grow their own wealth. Allen is an advocate of best personal financial practices including focusing on your needs instead of your wants, asking for help when you need it, saving and investing in your own small business.