Two Reasons I Am NOT A Millionaire

If you haven’t made your millions yet, have you ever had a good think about the reasons why? Are any of them your fault? For me, the only one who can be held responsible is myself.

There are many things I either have or haven’t done which could have lead me on a better road to success. Now I’m not saying I’m a failure, I am very happy in terms of family, health and life experience, but when it comes to financial success I am not where I want to be, I am not in a bad position…. but I am not financially free. Here I would like to share two things I didn’t do, which I believe could have made the world of difference in financial gains.

1.) Do Something

When I was younger I spent a lot of time thinking of business ideas, careers to pursue, courses to start or skills to gain, but ninety nine percent of the time I never acted on these ideas or plans. I would spend so much time thinking of what to do, that I never actually just did it. Which meant I never progressed in any way. My lack of resolve only wasted my time. Basically if you do something, then something will happen, even if you fail at least it is a progressive step. If you do nothing, then nothing will happen…. that is a certainty.

The worst thing about this is that I already knew and applied this principle in other parts of my life, for example, I wanted to lose some fat and put on some muscle, so I started going to the gym 4 days a week, and within three months there was a noticeable difference in my physique. Its only because I acted and went to the gym that I saw the results, I did something.

I remember considering investing in property and getting a mortgage, in the end I thought about it too much and never just did it. At the time there was a huge property boom in my area, and the place I was considering purchasing went up by £55,000 over two and a half years. Even after fees and taxes I would have profited by at least £45,000. I know that is not life changing money, but if I had purchased the property, I could have used that £45,000 of equity to invest into another property, or any other investment, it may have put me on the path to making more investments and more money! If I had just done it, that would have been a great asset financial to have! But I didn’t do it.

Now I’m not saying that just doing anything is a good idea, I still think all investments/decisions should be carefully considered, I think that if I had been more active in actually executing ideas or progressive choices I would be in a better position today.

2.) Consistency

The second area I believe hindered my financial success was the lack of consistency in any one thing. I have found that when you consistently practice something, perform an act/duty, work in a specialized area, then eventually after time you will become an expert in that area, you will have a skill. Once you have a good skill and good experience, people will be willing to pay you. For example, you would pay a skilled and experienced sculptor a lot more than you would a beginner or apprentice sculptor, because you know the master will sculpt something of true value.

When I actually did make a choice to do something and act on it, I didn’t stay in it long enough to become an expert. Over the years I worked in many different industries doing many different jobs, this meant that I never built up enough experience in any one area. Therefor I was always only able to get entrance level roles, which were not that well paid. I truly believe if you become a master at any one thing, you have a much greater potential of financial success. I saw this happen to one of my friends.

I got a job as a barman in a club, where I met my friend as he had started there two months previous to me. We were paid an average hourly rate and were able to keep our tips, but over all it was not a well paid job. I would simply go to work, serve people and leave as soon as my shift was done. I didn’t put any more effort into the job than I had to, as I didn’t see any real potential in it. Don’t get me wrong, it was a nice place to work and the people were all great, but the money wasn’t. So after six months I left and moved onto a completely different job type. My friend however stayed, not only did he work hard at his job, but in his own time he started building his barman skills. What skills was he building you may be thinking? Well, he practiced making the perfect cocktails, he would have parties at his house and make all of the drinks for us, he would ask for feedback on his drinks, and over time he could make you any cocktail/drink you would like! I mean they were great! And he didn’t even have to look up the ingredients, he knew them all! Once he was really good at making cocktails, he started practicing his showmanship skills, he could throw spinning bottles almost to the roof and catch them behind his back, and much more. It was really entertaining to watch! Because he got so good, his tips vastly increased and he became the bar manager. Now that he had a much better income he bought a portable bar, and started doing jobs at garden weddings, private parties, even some festivals! Eventually he left the club and concentrated solely on his portable bar business, all the time getting better and better at bar tending. He became so busy he had to buy more portable bars and employ other bar tenders. Now he isn’t a millionaire, but he is making a lot of money and lives very comfortably. He has paid off his house and has spare money to invest in other areas, I am certain he will one day become a millionaire. All of this started is due to him continually progressing his barman skills and becoming an expert.

How have I tried to improve?

Over the last few years I have been more decisive about investments and acted on ideas. I have started a stock portfolio (very small one), and have been investing in property. Initially I didn’t do very well with the stocks, but I am still glad I acted and decided to invest, because where I lost some money I learnt a lot, and am now doing ok. As for being consistent in something, I made a choice to get into programming. I have since managed to get a degree in Software Engineering, and a masters in Computing (I don’t know how haha). This has taught me that if you persist and don’t give up eventually you can succeed. Now I hope to go from an entrance level role in software to a more advanced role, and hopefully one day someone will be willing to pay me a good rate (pleasssseee!!!). I am far from a millionaire, but I hope that by acting on opportunities (Do Something) and continually improving my programming (Consistency) I may have a better chance of one day becoming one.

I would love to hear if you have made any of the same mistakes, or if you have any thoughts or advice! Thanks for reading!