Can anyone Achieve financial success and wealth?

I’m writing this thread because I had a good conversation with another member here and we/I kept derailing the thread! I also keep running up against people that seem to think that wealth or financial success happens only by pure luck or rich benefactors and that for the rest of us, we’re stuck at some pre-determined level of success. Maybe low middle class but I disagree. So let’s talk about wealth and financial success.

Remember that we’re not talking about what success means to you here. It’s a simple question. Can you become wealthy without luck? And is there a Ceiling that you can’t get past without help?

What does wealth of financial success mean in this context? That can vary and it could mean something different for all of you. It generally means not worrying about money and getting whatever it is you want whenever you want. It also means not being stopped by the imaginary ceiling.

Wealth then could be defined as…being able to go out to dinner every single night of the year without worrying about money. It means buying whatever book, article of clothing or watch you wanted without checking the bank account. It means being able to afford a small weekend vacation to San Diego every month of the year. It means taking a European or Hawaiian vacation every year without having to scrimp and scrounge for every dime. It means driving a brand new car and being able to afford a brand new Gun, ATV, Motorcycle or snowboard or maintain bike whenever you wanted it. Or maybe it’s becoming wildly rich and affording a 2 million dollar house on the ocean front somewhere.
Wealth or financial success could be more modest also. It’s where you want to be. Maybe it’s just living debt free with a brand new truck on a farm in Tennessee. For many of us that simple dream is too expensive for where we are at now.

The only ceiling you have is the one you give yourself.

Why listen to me on this thread? I’m not rich and no one would call me wealthy, however, I do…own multiple homes. I own my own business. I’m getting ready to buy a brand new SUV and Motorcycle next week. I don’t have a boss, nor will I ever have one again. I have $400 in cash in my pocket that if I lost it I wouldn’t even frown. It would have no effect on me. I have a huge house and a heated pool and I’m spending the weekend in San Diego over the 4th of July. My future is looking bright, meaning that my business will keep growing and income will keep increasing.

Let’s not devolve this conversation down into whether wealth is bad or materialism is bad or what personal success means to you. My buddy started another thread on that topic. The point is, can you obtain wealth or is there a limit, a ceiling and is luck the only thing involved?



Here’s how I did it.
First of all here are my limitations. I have a terrible memory. I’m terrible with new technology and math. I don’t have a college degree of any sort. I’m ugly and old and a terrible speaker. I sweat too much and I don’t have any rich benefactors or family members. I have a bad temper and I’m relatively stupid compared to most other people. Sounds like the recipe for an amazing loser.

So let’s talk about success in evolutions.

First evolution. I evolved from dishwasher to Salary Assistant Manager. Hard work and good attitude. Every manager wanted me working on their shift and I always came early, stayed late and volunteered for everything from scrubbing cans to cleaning the parking lot.

Second Evolution. Fast food to telecommunications. I did that with networking and having manager on my resume. When a friend told me to apply for an entry level call center position where she worked I took it.

Third Evolution. Customer service to IT. Because of my work ethic 2 separate co-workers helped me transfer departments until I ended up in IT.

Fourth Evolution. Finding passion. I had a passion for fitness and self-defense. I worked tirelessly until I could get paid for my passion. It paid off and I became the manager of a Gym. Only hard work got me there. There were many smarter people but no one that would work as hard as me.

Fifth Evolution. Entrepreneur. t I knew I needed to become an entrepreneur and that instead of running gyms, I needed to own the gym. Instead of having a boss in any industry, I needed to be the boss. So I borrowed about 20 books on Business planning and wrote a big long detailed business plan. I secured funding and went about learning how to actually start a business, from negotiating leases to getting insurance to getting and forming an LLC, business license and everything until I have my current business. Let me add here that if say a loan or funding were not availiable? Then I would have worked at a rec center or other gym to buid up my clientelle and when I had enough to secure rent, I would have opened a smaller locations with less bells and whistles. The end result would have been the same it would have just taken longer.

Sixth evolution. Every year I’ve been open my business has improved. There may be a limit but it’s pretty high, perhaps it’s six figures a month. I’m now looking to expand into other areas and other businesses.

How can you do what I do? It’s simple. First work harder than everyone else wherever you are. Then Network. Keep in contact with your friends, family and former co workers and don’t burn any bridges. It’s also not enough to just work hard you must have a good attitude, Your co-workers must be happy to see you when you come into work. Learn to sell. If it’s not in your job now, then get a part time job selling anything. Craigslist is full of them. Create a vision board. Write down ten goals. Write down step by step plans to achieve each goal. Get a passion and learn it. Learn to do it and teach it. Become an expert at it. Say daily affirmations. Put down the phone. I only use mine to text and call. I have two time waster games incase I’m stuck in a doctors office or seomthing. Stop watching the news and listening to talk radio. Work out and stay physically fit and become straight edge. Cut the tobacco, alcohol, drugs, porn, clubbing, gambling and vaping. You know it’s bad for you. And be persistant. Never stop, no matter how long it takes.

In summary, I’ve told you what I did to get where I am. I don’t have a ceiling. As long as I keep working hard my income will keep growing. The main things are persistence and hard work. I always worked harder than anyone else I was working with. Period.

Thoughts? Some of you might turn this around and say it’s an arrogant thread but that’s not the point. Some of you will say it’s still luck, but it’s really not. In this world you make your own luck. Opportunities don’t just come round once. Opportunities are like a parade…when one float(opportunity) goes past, it’s not long before the next one comes round. What if you’re working as hard as me and nothing’s happening? If you’re in a restaurant or Telecommunications or insurance place, are you taking manuals and binders home to study? Does your boss smile when you come in because you make their jobs easier? Do all of your co-workers like you because you have a great attitude? Did you come in 30 minutes early and leave 30 minutes late? Are you learning new skills and trying to get more training? Are you learning how to sell? What business book are you reading?

Thoughts?

a reply to: amazing

I would say that at least eighty percent of what you just said is bunk, and the other twenty is gold.

The quitting everything that comes with a warning label routine is BULL. Some of the most successful individuals walking the world today have had addictions of one kind or another since before they earned their first dollar/pound.

Also, although hard working is important, as well as knowing what you want and how to get it, if you ignore luck as a factor, then you are no more sensible than the man who does no work, but buys lottery tickets like crazy. There is a balance to be struck, and people who have made it must accept that alongside having worked very hard (and by the way, the most successful people that are alive today, haven't done a days actual work in fifteen years) they have been FANTASTICALLY lucky, because for every one of them, there are hundreds of thousands of people who had exactly the same tools and approach, and failed anyway, repeatedly, no matter what they tried. That's just a fact. It's not a debate point, it's a reality.

This is wonderful!
You got more going on up there then you give yourself credit.

originally posted by: TrueBrit
a reply to: amazing

I would say that at least eighty percent of what you just said is bunk, and the other twenty is gold.

The quitting everything that comes with a warning label routine is BULL. Some of the most successful individuals walking the world today have had addictions of one kind or another since before they earned their first dollar/pound.

Also, although hard working is important, as well as knowing what you want and how to get it, if you ignore luck as a factor, then you are no more sensible than the man who does no work, but buys lottery tickets like crazy. There is a balance to be struck, and people who have made it must accept that alongside having worked very hard (and by the way, the most successful people that are alive today, haven't done a days actual work in fifteen years) they have been FANTASTICALLY lucky, because for every one of them, there are hundreds of thousands of people who had exactly the same tools and approach, and failed anyway, repeatedly, no matter what they tried. That's just a fact. It's not a debate point, it's a reality.

I disagree, not because I live in a fantasy world but because of experience. I could pull off success anywhere going by the principles I outlined above.

I may not ever be as successful as Bill Gates or Justine Beiber, but I don't need that level of success. For most people like us, what I outlined will work. I don't disagree with your assessment of my staightedge rule, but I know dozens of people that would have been successful if they would have heeded it.

So then ambition, hard work and money are the key to success?

I beg to differ.

"You keep busting your hump like that your'e going to have a 16 million dollar funeral." -- Rodney Dangerfield (paraphrased), from that golf movie.

He who dies with the most toys is, nonetheless, still dead.

a reply to: amazing

I am very similar to you in my life path. I worked in the corporate world for 15+ years, but I didn't really get my life on track until I quit that job and started my own business. I don't drink, smoke or do drugs and never have.

My definition of 'wealth' is to have passive income that exceeds my expenses every month. That provides freedom to do what you want when you want and THAT to me is true wealth.

Ultimately money represents freedom and freedom is what I value.

a reply to: amazing

I disagree, not because I live in a fantasy world but because of experience. I could pull off success anywhere going by the principles I outlined above.

Could you do it in Liberia?

a reply to: amazing

I feel that circumstances & timing (luck?) DO play a huge role in the outcome of your decisions, even if they were the "right" decisions and you did your best everytime.

But I agree the principles you outlined are crucial in order to ensure that such "success" is attainable

Thanks for sharing!

You amazing, are the shining example. It took a serious bump for me to figure out some of what you know now. Sometimes it takes dire need to make the obvious, obvious.

Thanks.

Edit to add: success is measured by your own yardstick. Not by your bank account. I have also found that personal success can breed many types of responses from your peers. Some not so good. But it is a lifechanging experience. And once successful, always successful now that you have tasted it.

nvm.

a reply to: amazing

I consider myself very successful; I don't have near the affluence you display but that's not my goal.
Even though I have a great education, blessed with exceptionally good "luck" and was reasonably successful in business, I pissed it all away with alcohol, drugs
and the rock and roll lifestyle. Wound up broken, broke, drunk, living with my mother, no future and no hope. 50 years old.
Second evolution...
Did I mention I'm "lucky"? Met a man in a bar that suggested I work in the movies as apparently I have a "good Look"
He gave me a number to call and was immediately hired, taft-hartlyed, and went to work on "Breaking Bad" as a day player, background extra, driver, stand in/photo dbl.
I fell in love with the biz, sobered up, studied my craft and in a year started my own production company with money borrowed from some very influential producers, actors and directors in the movies. I continued acting on well over 100 films and TV shows, plus joining another union working behind the scenes. Now I can afford to pick the projects that interest me or pursue writing my own films.

Besides blind luck, I was blessed with a fun loving personality, gift of gab, and a passionate interest in other people. Being a nice guy in this world of mean spirited, selfish, soulless people; will take you a long way professionally.

Life is good here in Tamalewood. New Mexico

a reply to: amazing

Very refreshing thread to see opposed to so many others that either push for ever increasing hand-outs or attacking people that have "made it" to one degree or another.

While my wife and I are in no way "rich" we have definitely come a LONG way.

Survival Phase:
We went off and got married right after high school and were broke, of course. What you call evolution, I'll call a phase. This was totally the Survival Phase. We took whatever work we could find in order to make ends meet. The roof over our heads was basically a small room with a bathroom. There was no kitchen but the landlord would allow us to use hers. We ate a LOT of pasta and rice back then. We also went hungry in the lead-up to payday

Quest for Stability Phase:
After a while I realized that I needed to find something more stable. After searching for a while and taking numerous different jobs, I managed to find a clerical position for a local small-to-mid-sized general contractor. "Clerical" in this case is really just a fancy way to say photo-copy boy/errand boy. The work ranged from dull to sometimes border-line degrading but I always reminded myself that there was no gun to the back of my head forcing me to stay and the work was steady.

First Rung of the Ladder Phase
Although my job didn't necessarily require any advanced skills, I did my job well. I showed up on time. Worked hard and I was never at rest and never really goofed around. If I managed to do my work, I would ask anyone/everyone else if they had anything I could help them with.

One of the people I asked from time to time was an old timer that worked part time that exclusively handled Building Department permits. Little by little I learned how to complete the applications, what supporting documentation to submit with applications and all of that. After a year or so the old timer was set to retire and I had suggested to the owners of the company that rather than hire a new part timer to do the permit work, to let me take a crack at it. I explained that I wasn't asking for a raise yet, just for an opportunity to prove myself. They explained, in no uncertain terms, that in the twenty+ years they've been in business, they have never had used a file clerk for anything other than clerical work. However, they stated that since I'd been so reliable and so helpful to everyone, they would give me that chance. They did say though, that they still expected me to keep up with my clerical work (which they were willing to pay overtime for so I spent many a Saturday as the sole person in the office).

I can tell you that I found the prospect of meeting with Buildings Department people terrifying. I was young and didn't have any true experience for things like this (as the projects that I was permitting for weren't adding a dormer to a house but mulit-million dollar schools, subway station renovations and other large projects). I admit that I made a few mistakes here and there but I kept on going and my confidence built.

The extra benefit was that I was soon THE permit guy which gave me exposure to many of the project managers. As they saw I was reliable, they soon started to ask if I would be able to cover some evening/overnight shifts (with the main office's consent). I wouldn't have any real authority but I would be the representative of the company on hand in the event something happened (so I could alert someone who would have authority). After a while I was covering so many shifts for many different project managers.

Then, something amazing happened. I was called into the president's office (with the CEO sitting next to him). I swear I thought I had done something and was getting canned. Boy was I wrong! They explained that based on all the work I was doing that I wasn't hired to do, they had no choice.... but to formally give me a promotion and hire a new person to be the new copy-boy/errand-boy.

That was my first real promotion. Having a real desk? Being asked to attend meetings (and not just to bring copies of the agenda)? Getting issued business cards with MY name on them? It was surreal, as was the raise that came along with everything. In truth, the raise was a few dollars an hour but when you are REALLY poor, a few dollars an hour feels like a huge windfall.

Growth Phase:
After securing that first promotion, for the first time in my life I felt that I had real proof that I had a future (something that kids that grow up poor don't always have). I was going to do everything I could to protect this sapling of a career and help it grow. As time went by I took on more and more responsibilities and with each new leap, the money and respect followed.

Over the next decade or so I worked for just a few different companies and each of them hated to see me go and I've never burned any bridges. As many other people may have experienced, when you build up enough experience and you go for it, you FINALLY make the "big jump" when you take a job at a new firm and get that VERY substantial raise. It's sort of a signal to yourself that not only do you have a career, you're career is truly legit. My "big jump," oddly enough, happened just at the start of the recession. At the time I was working for a firm that built high-end high-rise apartment buildings. Obviously, what with the recession and housing crisis, that type of work slowed down considerably. Although I survived the three rounds of lay-offs, I didn't want to take a chance so I applied for a job with a Construction Management firm that worked in the environmental field (water treatment plants, sewer systems, etc). THAT turned out to be my "big jump." They actually offered me more (a lot more) than I had asked for. Some time later on it turned out that the person whom hired me had called every single person on my extensive list of references and received nothing but overwhelmingly glowing reviews. They saw a good thing (according to them) and didn't want to let it slip by.

Today's Phase:
I've made one more move since the Environmental CM firm. The pay is even better than before. Beyond the paycheck the overall compensation package (insurance, pension, 401K, dental, eye care) is by far the best I've ever had. Although there may come a time that I want to leave, if someone had a crystal ball and told me I'd work here until retirement, I would gladly accept that.

The Ceiling:
I truly believe there is no ceiling. At the moment, the only ceiling I have is a self imposed one. We have a four year old son and our schedules are perfect now. Since I am on the jobsite I work early mornings into early afternoon which allows me to get home before my wife goes to her job at the hospital for the night shift. Although it would be nice to see each other a bit more during the week, we (almost) never have to worry about daycare or figure out how little guy is getting to and from school. As I type this there are several offers for promotion that I have declined because I don't want to work 9:00 to 5:00 in the office (and the bosses understand that and assure me when the time is right, they can't wait to bring me up the ladder if for no other reason that it will make their lives easier). When the kid gets a bit older (or if we have another child and then when that one gets older) I'll go ahead and seek a promotion.

To be continued...

a reply to: eluryh22

Continuation....

Final Thoughts:
1) My wife's story is in some ways similar to mine, except when we could afford it she started attending college on a part time, pay as we go basis. The main things we have in common though are we are both hard working, dedicated people who refuse to let anyone stop us from growing and growing to reach whatever goal we set for ourselves.

2) I grew up very poor (as did my wife, actually). When you grow up poor you don't necessarily see a clear path to becoming a success (whatever success means to you). When I have a rough day at work or am struggling with other things outside of work, I always remind myself of the teenage me. I assure you, if someone went back in time and told the teenage me that in the year 2016, I would be making six figures and be under contract to purchase a home, teenage me would have thought it absolutely impossible. But here we are.

We all get dealt different cards in life at the starting point. What we do with it the rest of the way is entirely up to us (excluding accidents or debilitating diseases and all that).

I think your question should be either;

If given the opportunity can anyone...

or

Under the right circumstances can anyone...

Of course you can create your own opportunities and circumstances but to what extent is the important question you need to ask in order to understand how to answer those questions.

a reply to: olaru12

I pretty much did what you did but I pissed away my fighting career right when it started taking off. Lost out on a TV show, 2 PPV fights and one of them was at the Playboy mansion.

Among other things.

The luck part was the opportunities I had and was given to train with the best fighters and trainers in the world. There was hard work involved but there was also a lot of luck.

Change luck to destiny. I don't believe in luck.

a reply to: smirkley

success is measured by your own yardstick. Not by your bank account.

I can not stress how important and true your statement is.

originally posted by: onequestion
a reply to: amazing

I disagree, not because I live in a fantasy world but because of experience. I could pull off success anywhere going by the principles I outlined above.

Could you do it in Liberia?

You have a good point, but is it possible to have any success in Liberia? Are there merchants there that have their own houses? Can migrate from Liberia? For out discussion here it's more about where most of us live in a country with some Freedoms. But even in China and Russian and India and Brazil and really most countries in the world you can still get some kind of financial success.

originally posted by: FamCore
I feel that circumstances & timing (luck?) DO play a huge role in the outcome of your decisions, even if they were the "right" decisions and you did your best everytime.

I think a big part of 'luck' (being in the right place) is just being some place. The person who is out and about hustling and generally putting themselves out there is going to encounter more opportunities for 'luck' to insinuate itself into their success stories. It then becomes self perpetuating, you become 'luckier' because you have already benefitted from your previous activity.

Call it networking or who you know, but you never know anyone if you do not put in the effort to ingratiate yourself into their network.

a reply to: amazing

Then my question would be, how much success can you have in Liberia?

How much role does luck play?