Miller - The eventual millionaire : how anyone can be an entrepreneur and successfully grow their startup

Contents

Cover design: C. Wallace

Cover image: Early Flying Machine iStockphoto/Classix

Copyright 2014 by Jaime Tardy. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Tardy, Jaime.

The eventual millionaire : how anyone can be an entrepreneur and successfully grow their startup / Jaime Tardy.

pages cm

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-118-67470-3 (Hardcover); ISBN 978-1-118-67487-1 (ePDF);

ISBN 978-1-118-67474-1 (ePub)

1. New business enterprisesManagement. 2. Small businessGrowth. 3. Entrepreneurship. I. Title.

HD62.5.T359 2014

658.11dc23

2013039713

To all of the Eventual Millionaires out there ,

and to my husband and children who wear their

Eventual Millionaire T-shirts proudly.

Foreword

Dan Miller

New York Times best-selling author of 48 Days to the Work You Love

Ah yes, If I were a rich man. That familiar plea from the popular show and movie Fiddler on the Roof seems to echo the wish and the dream of many today. If only I were rich, then I wouldnt have to go to work every day. And yet, when we talk to those who are rich, getting out of working hard doesnt appear to be their goal at all. The money was not the primary goal at all. Rather, money showed up because the person wanted to do something worthwhile and thoroughly enjoyed the work they were doing. The Eventual Millionaire is a fresh reminder that ending up wealthy is not a position reserved just for the lucky or those born into the right family. It is available for anyonebut may not come in the way portrayed in movies and fictional stories.

And thus we jump into some observations that challenge common thinking:

• We cant go after money directlyit will stay just out of our reach. It seems money is a by-product of combining our skills, talents, and a reasonable economic model.
• We dont become millionaires by being envious of those who already are. Rather, we become millionaires by thinking like millionaires thinkand they tend to be not greedy and jealous, but extremely generous.
• We dont become millionaires by hoarding resources so we can eventually give back. Instead, it appears millionaires have been giving back from the very first day.
• We dont become wealthy by caring for only ourselves, but by caring deeply for everyone we meet.
• We dont become millionaires by hoping to be lucky, but by acting on opportunities that others ignore.

When I was just 13 years old, my life was dramatically impacted by a little recording by Earl Nightingale called The Strangest Secret . The message presented was essentially the time-honored principle We become what we think about, but it struck me at an impressionable time and became a critical building block of my life. I learned the power of feeding my mind positive, hopeful, and optimistic thoughts as opposed to allowing the challenges of a legalistic religion and a poor farm life to determine my attitude and future. And I learned that by taking responsibility for my thinking and actions I could determine the direction of my life. I discovered we can all choose to tell our life story as a victim or as one who has chosen to walk in success and abundance.

Nearly all of us dream of and wish for lives of happiness, meaning, fulfillment, and riches. And yet, it seems that reality assures us that we will experience hardships along the way that make a straight path to those benefits nearly impossible. It seems natures way is for us to grow from the unexpected struggles that inevitably show up. But like the butterfly struggling to get out of the cocoon, our struggles are part of the process of making us fully alive. And like the butterfly, those struggles are not intended to limit or cripple us, but to allow us to develop our resilience, fortitude, compassion, personal excellence, and wealth-building insights. The millionaires Jaime has interviewed describe that process over and over again. They did not avoid those struggles but chose to believe there was light on the other side.

Youll see that if you take action, you dont have to wait on someone to pick you for success. You pick yourself. If you blame, point fingers and make excuses, youll block any chance for financial success. But you can open the floodgates by taking full responsibility for where you are, and can create the future you want, starting today.

Jaime observes that millionaires dont think ideas are worth much. Its trueideas are a dime a dozen. But a person who creates a clear plan of action to go with a great idea can change the worldand his or her bank account.

For Day 47 of 48 Days to the Work You Love , I recommend that the reader take a millionaire to lunch. I get more feedback about being stuck on that step than any other. But most people simply never ask a millionaire to lunch, believing that those who are already successful are now unwilling to help those a little further behind. The Eventual Millionaire shares story after story of how that is not true. Millionaires are quickest to offer help and be available. As Guy Kawasaki shares, they are not obsessed with making or holding on to their money or belittling those who are struggling. I dont think the goal should be to make a million dollars. I think the goal should be to make the world a better place, increase peoples creativity or productivity and I think that making a million dollars is a natural outcome of successfully changing the world.