Yes, of course, it's challenging work to become a millionaire, especially if you're wanting to achieve that elusive goal by the age of 30. 

BUT,  if you're a younger, budding entrepreneur, there are some things you can do while you're still young in order to position yourself for wealth so that by the time you reach 30, you'll have a net worth of $1 million.

Join me in this podcast as I review the 7 steps required for a younger entrepreneur/wealth creator to achieve the million-dollar status by the time they're 30.

Why do so many people spend and waste their money? Even those who have won the lottery?

The answer to that question is the same as why most people live from paycheck to paycheck and don't even have 4 weeks of an emergency fund put aside.

Most people have a poverty mindset. And there's a difference between a rich vs poverty mindset. 

The poverty mindset could be what's holding you back from becoming rich.

So which one do you have? A rich, or poverty mindset?

Understanding that could be your first step to achieving your wealth and financial dreams.

Matt Cohen started Ripple Ventures in 2018 and already has more than 10 successful investments under his belt.  

In the episode we discuss how he got started in angel investing, what he’s typically looking for in an entrepreneur and company, the overall success rate of startup businesses, what a unicorn looks like, and much more. 

If you’re an early-stage entrepreneur considering the next growth phase, or, how to approach an angel investor, are looking to build the next angel unicorn, and build wealth to decamillionaire levels, then this episode is for you.

You can use your business at the core of your wealth-building strategy, but, there’s an art to developing real wealth outside the day-to-day operations of your business.

The risk of relying solely on your business, and not investing outside of your business to generate your wealth is that should something happen to your business, or should it become impacted by a black-swan event like a pandemic, for example, then you’re potentially left with nothing. 

Imagine spending years building a successful business, and reinvesting all of your profits, year after year, back into your business, only to find that you open the papers one day to find that the government has shut down your operation for an indefinite period of time. And that's the unfortunate reality that many small business owners have found themselves in.

In light of that, how do you, the entrepreneur, create wealth? How do you invest? What's the difference between rich vs wealth?

I discuss all of the above in this podcast. Ultimately, my goal is to share with you the tools you need to become a millionaire, or even better, a pentamillionaire or decamillionaire entrepreneur.

In last week’s podcast, I interviewed Andrew Henderson from The Nomad Capitalist.  At the end of the interview, Andrew and I got to speak about business in general, and some of the challenges of growing a business.

We discussed managing bureaucracy, managing people, creating a vision, The Peter Principle, building and managing a team of people, and conducting one on one meetings.  The snippet of conversation I extracted is short, but, is packed with amazing small business nuggets you can use in growing and managing your small business.

Hope you enjoy 

I’m a proud Canadian. I enjoy living in the country and all that it has to offer including the education system, the infrastructure, the healthcare (more or less), and most importantly, my freedom. Freedom of speech, of association, and my right to vote.

I’m now in the later stages of my career though, so the thought of leaving Canada isn’t really an option for me, but, if I were a younger entrepreneur considering where I want to live and start a company, there would be many considerations, one of which would be the tax rate, and how tax and business-friendly the nation was to their entrepreneurs, and in that regard, Canada's not necessarily the best place to call home.

And that's why there are people like Andrew Henderson from Nomad Capitalist who are only a phone call away. Andrew helps entrepreneurs and wealth creators who want to find a new country to call home. He helps them expatriate.

You can read my thoughts on this subject here: Would You Move Off-Shore to Save on Taxes?

In the podcast, I interview Andrew and we discuss the what, why, when, where, and how much of expatriating in order to save taxes.

Andrew is someone I have followed for years. He's a respected individual in the space. Our conversation is interesting to say the least.

In order for you, the entrepreneur, to expand your business, you need to get comfortable with taking risks, but, taking risks isn’t about making ad hoc decisions, it’s about educating yourself, mitigating the downside, making a decision to proceed or not, and then, executing as flawlessly as possible.

Taking risks is at the heart of building a thriving business, and in creating wealth. 

These risks taken in business, not just in running your business, but, in your investments as well, will dictate how successful you ultimately become.

So how do you know when and how to take risk?

In this podcast, I review something I’ve called the Risk Compound Effect, and it goes like this: 

The better educated on a particular topic you become, the finer your decision-making instinct becomes. —–>
The finer your decision-making instinct becomes, the higher the chance your bet will pay off.  —–>
The higher the chance your bet will pay off, the bigger the bet you can take, and —->
The bigger the bet you can take, the more you compound your success.  —–>

In this podcast episode, I will be discussing four critical criteria for risk-taking you must understand in entrepreneurship.

Every business and every person eventually reaches a ceiling. They grow just so far, and beyond that point, they need to pivot to reach the next level. It’s often difficult to tell when you’ve reached your ceiling. It’s not like there’s a little birdie up there telling you what to do next. Nor do you have your life plan written in a book that you can just flip to the next chapter.

You need to be self-reflective enough to notice when it’s happening. Sometimes, something happens to make you realize it’s time for a change.

In this podcast, I relate a personal story of what happened to me a number of years ago that made me realize that I had hit my Peter Principle or glass ceiling, and what I came to realize is that is why my business wasn't growing. I had become my business's problem.

One of the things that prove the most challenging for an owner in building a sales team is the difficulty in letting go of sales, and for a good reason. Sales are what keeps the doors open, lights on, bills paid, and profit in your pocket. 

Sales are generally the one thing most business owners do well. You started your business, you know your products and processes, you’re passionate about your product and company, and you’ve built the business to where it is.

You’re also likely your business’s best salesperson. And therein lies the owner’s dilemma.

If your marketing is working, and your business is bringing in leads, there’s a temptation to take the best leads for yourself. If you do that, you’re missing an opportunity to train your salespeople on your business’s process, style, and sales methodology. 

Here’s the paradox when building a sales team:

How do you scale and develop your business when …

    - You’re the best salesperson
    - You don’t want to let go of leads
    - It’s challenging to trust other people to sell because not everybody is like you

Is it possible that you’re the business’s bottleneck?

And on that note, I address the 9 steps that you, as the business owner or manager, need to take in order to build your inside, and outside sales team from the group up.

The small business startup mistakes I review in this podcast are two of the most common entrepreneurial mistakes that I see most entrepreneurs make when they open their business. And both, are potentially deadly to the small business.

There's a reason that something like 80% of new businesses don't make it past their first five years in business, so, don't be one of those small business owners who make these two common mistakes.

And I want to be clear about one thing, and for full disclosure purposes, I made these two mistakes when I started my business, and they almost cost me my business. In fact, I was hundreds of dollars away from closing my doors.