How to Be a Billionaire in 10 Steps

The most we used to dream about accumulating in terms of wealth was a million dollars. That figure was already too high for us to even imagine, so the thought of wanting more just made us feel bad about being so greedy. But wanting to make unimaginably huge amounts of money is actually a good thing. See my last article “Greed v. Desire.”

Nowadays, a million dollars can barely buy a decent house in Los Angeles, let alone pay for the taxes and upkeep. Besides, once you’ve worked so hard to get your first million, why stop there? It’s relatively easy to make the next million after you’ve made your first. Then the next, and the next. It’s up to you how far you want to go. If you keep working at growing your millions by studying how others did it, the odds are in your favor that you will eventually become a billionaire.

The trick is to get your first million as quickly as possible, so you can begin growing it into a billion. Once you figure out how to get your first million, keep doing whatever it is you did to get it to turn it into another, and so on, until you have a fortune worth one billion dollars. Here are the 10 steps that all rags (or average income folks) to riches stories reveal about how to become a millionaire and, eventually, a billionaire:

1. The Big Idea You Love
2. Immediate Action
3. Family and Friends
4. The Right Information
5. Like-Minded Entrepreneurs
6. People Skills
7. Never Give Up—Don’t Quit
8. Stay Focused
9. Trust Your Instincts
10. Stay on Top of Your Game

1. THE BIG IDEA YOU LOVE

The richest family in the world today is the Walton family made up of the 5 surviving children (or surviving spouses of the children) of Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart, who died in 1992, at the age of 72. As of March 2007, his children were worth approximately $16.5 billion each, for a total combined worth of $88.2 billion. Yet, their father, in 1918, had been born into a family of farmers that struggled through the Great Depression.

During high school, Sam helped milk the family cow, delivered the milk to customers, then delivered newspapers on a paper route. During college, he worked at odd jobs, including waiting tables in exchange for meals. His first job out of college was working for JC Penny for $75 a month.

His big dream was to own a department store that sold quality products at a great price with great customer service. In 1945, he borrowed $40,000 from his father-in-law and used his own $5,000 savings to start investing his dream by buying a variety store. It wasn’t exactly what he wanted, but it was all he could afford. It was a franchise from a chain of variety stores. He kept his store open longer than other stores, especially during Christmas season. He bought in bulk from wholesalers for a discount, which was not a common practice at the time, and passed the savings on to his customers. His lower retail prices attracted more customers that increased his profits. Then he used his increased profits to buy in greater bulk for even greater discounts, which savings he again passed on to his customers, and so on. He tried many different ideas. Not all of them worked. But he kept testing innovations, revising his methods, and implementing the ones that did work.

His store grew so successful that, by 1954, he tried opening a few more with the help of his brother, father-in-law, and brother-in-law. He offered innovative profit-sharing incentives to the managers of the stores to motivate them to increase profits and improve their managerial skills. By 1962, Sam and his brother Bud owned 16 stores in 3 states. In 1971, Sam introduced a profit-sharing plan for all employees, whom he called “associates.” Presently, Wal-Mart has more than 2,500 stores in the U.S. and 535 Sam’s Clubs. It is the world’s largest retailer and the second largest income-generating corporation, only after Exxon Mobil.

If you review the 2007 Forbes list of the world’s billionaires, you will see that 99% of them are self-made, some from amazingly humble beginnings, such as Steve Jobs (#132 with $5.7 billion), Oprah Winfrey (#664 with $1.5 billion), and J.K. Rowling (#891 with $1 billion), who all grew up as poor as anyone ever did. What inspiration for all wannabe rags-to-riches billionaires!

The first step to unimaginable riches is the big idea that you love.

2. IMMEDIATE ACTION

Nothing can happen until you take action, and the longer you put it off, the longer it will take you to get your first million and ultimately your billion. The youngest self-made billionaires are Americans Sergy Brin (age 33; #26 with $16.6 billion) and Larry Page (age 34; #26 with $16.6 billion), who met in graduate school while studying computer science but dropped out to co-found Google.

Take immediate action by writing down ideas for a service or product that satisfies two criteria: (1) you love it; and (2) the public will love it. How do you know you love it? Imagine yourself spending long hours working on it, perfecting it, and presenting it to potential buyers. Do you see yourself being excited, energized, and happy doing all of that, despite the occasional lack of sleep? If yes, you love it!

If you don’t love it, brainstorm constantly until you find an idea for a service or product that you do love. Invite friends or family to brainstorm with you. Don’t limit your imagination or rule out any ideas. Don’t criticize any idea as too expensive, complicated, difficult, silly, stupid, or overdone in the marketplace already.

But, how do you know if the public will love it? You can never be 100% sure that the public will love it. Even McDonald’s flopped with the McLean sandwich after investing in sophisticated research conducted by highly paid experts. But you can test your service or product by doing some research of your own. Check out the competition on the internet. Find similar products and services advertised there, and see if your idea is comparable or even superior. Your service or product might offer something unique that the others don’t, cheaper price, higher quality, or targeting a special group that has been overlooked by existing companies.

After finding the big idea you love and the public will love, take immediate action to turn it into reality. Don’t worry about making mistakes. Worry about not making enough of them! Mistakes mean progress—as long as you don’t repeat too many of the same ones. Keep pushing through obstacles, and never give up!

[Continued in “How to Be a Billionaire - Part 2.”]

[For all 5 parts to “How to Be a Billionaire,” click here.]

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[For “Millionaires v. Billionaires,” click here.]

[For “Greed v. Desire,” click here.]

[For “How Dad Turned $50 into $1.2 Million,” click here.]

[For “Think and Grow Rich,” click here.]

[For more “Easy Steps to Success with Money,” click here.]