How to Become a Billionaire by 30 – Have you ever wondered how to become a billionaire by 40 or 25 or even 30? I sure have. I recently started looking into the topic after talking with some friends about the things we could do to build businesses, get rich, and live better lives while helping others.
There’s no doubt that becoming a billionaire is possible, and maybe you’re interested in learning how to become a billionaire by 30, or even 40. Maybe you’re curious about how one of the world’s richest people achieved their fantastic wealth. But what strategies should you learn from to become a billionaire? It probably won’t be something like ‘flipping pancakes’ or ‘spontaneously growing money tree branches’, but it may be something even more practical for your needs.
Table of Contents
Get a College Degree
Finish high school and college by age 22 or 23.
Ethan, no matter what you do, please finish college.
Unfortunately, our North American society places a lot of importance on a college education. Although I agree that college has many benefits, I also believe that its importance is somewhat overrated. Either way, college provides some of the foundational elements required for future success, and the best jobs are usually reserved for those with college educations.
While you’re in college, please have fun. The college years are probably some of the best years of your life.
BUT no matter what you study, and what degree you hold when you graduate from college, you need to be an expert in two areas:
2 Key Areas to Focus in School to Be a Billionaire by 30
- Marketing
How to build a sales funnel, brand, marketing automation, lead magnets, landing pages, and email marketing
- Social Media
How to build your online presence through social media, and leverage social media to build your business
Whether you’re 18 or 28, your belief that you’re already an expert in social media doesn’t matter if you don’t have the education to back it up. Yes, I understand you might use Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat every day, but that doesn’t make you a social media expert.
You need to understand the tricks for leveraging the various social media tools that will help you build a business.
Gary Vaynerchuk does an excellent job of talking about social media and its role in business, including how you can leverage these tools from a business perspective.
Follow the money
In today’s economic environment, you cannot earn millionaire status. The first step is to focus on increasing your income in increments and repeating that. My income was $ 3,000 a month and nine years later it was $ 20,000 a month. Start following the money and that will force you to control your income and see opportunities.
Invent
Inventing is a tough career path to take. But if you’ve got the smarts to successfully create, patent, produce and market a product that people need (and thus, will buy in droves), you can build your future billionaire life on it. Successful inventions aren’t necessarily complicated or high-tech items but can be improvements on existing items. For example, James Dyson invented a better vacuum cleaner, and Gianfranco Zaccai invented a better mop, the Swiffer.
Get a Job
You should start your first full-time job by age 23 or 24.
After college, get a job working for someone in your chosen industry. (See Step 2.) Work in the sales department, and learn how to become a kickass salesperson. Study the traits of the #1 salesperson in the company, and ask him or her to mentor you.
Follow your mentor. Learn from him or her, and keep studying the industry.
Keep learning as much as you can about marketing and sales. (See Step 1.)
During the first two years of employment, put 25% (or more) of your salary aside.
Also during the first two years, put together a business plan, and share it with as many successful business people as you can find. Tell them you’re looking for an angel investor, someone who will help you fund your chosen business. Impress the heck out of them with your knowledge and perseverance, and articulate that you will live and breathe the industry until you’re its king. Offer them a percentage.
Increase Your Income
The first step to becoming a millionaire is having the capital to fund your investments that will compound your money. To get this money, legally, you’ll need a stable job. You should work to always make yourself marketable as a way of not only maintaining your current job, but moving up the ladder to a better position or company. If you are in the technology sector, consider to stay on top of tech news and improvements. Even if you are outside of the tech industry, learning a few technical skills can improve your income. Always focus on increasing your income, even if you are currently comfortable.
Don’t brag, show up for work
I didn’t buy my first luxury watch or car until my businesses and investments were producing multiple safe streams of income. I was still driving a Toyota Camry when I became a millionaire.
Be recognized for your work ethic , not for the things you buy.
Innovate
Innovation is the fine art of considering a current mainstream market and finding a creative way to improve the current offering.
Successful innovators will identify the real needs behind customer demands and will meet them with a smarter, better, more efficient product, or with a service that provides more than its competitors. Others may develop a business that works in a way just different enough to stand out from the rest. IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad is a great example of someone who used innovation to yield billions.3 Furniture doesn’t seem like a very exciting market, but his approach of providing modular, economical pieces with a modern flair from Sweden and other European designers and manufacturers to a global market proved fruitful.
Live Frugally
You may feel that individuals who are millionaires are the ones who drive flashy cars and own the latest gadgets. That isn’t true in most cases, and shouldn’t be in your case if you are looking to work your way to millionaire status. To maintain your income’s growth, this is the time when you have to seek out the clearance rack or sales. Never accept retail price, it simply isn’t worth it. This is the case in grocery stores, shopping malls, the internet, or even club/gym memberships.
Avoid debts that do not pay you
I borrowed money for a car just because I knew it could increase my income. Rich people use debt to leverage investments and grow their cash flows. Poor people use debt to buy things that make the rich richer.
Don’t Think You Know It All
The moment you think you have nothing left to learn is the moment you kill your potential for becoming a billionaire. Especially if you’re interested in building your wealth through inventing or innovating, you have to be curious, open-minded and always learning. Those qualities allow you to look at old things in a new way, to see the potential for change and profit where others see only what already had been done.
Manage Your Money
The only way to grow your money is to know where it all is and where it’s going out. Download the Mint application for your smartphone. This will allow you to stay on top of your (almost) total net worth from your bank accounts, credit cards, and investments. While not all financial services and institutions are supported yet, it gives you a detailed look at the financial aspects of your daily life. Set up isn’t very lengthy and once set up, it updates automatically whenever you open the application. Having a holistic look at your finances makes savings easier and even offers an incentive to save.
Conclusion
This is a story book for all ages, teaching the billionaires (by the time they reach their thirties), those born without a silver spoon in their mouths, those who forgot to join the billionaire’s club as teenagers, those who want to reach their financial goals and become a billionaire much faster than anyone else.