Do you believe you can become rich? Do you want to become wealthy? Great! First of all, identify WHERE you are on these 7 steps to riches and wealth.
While teaching an entrepreneurial masterclass to a group of senior and principal managers at the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) some years ago, someone asked me a question before I could even finish introducing the class. Note that I did not even introduce the class from a standpoint of steps to riches.
“Just a few of us here are rich. Most of us are average and a few others may even be poor,” he said looking around at his colleagues for affirmation. It looked like everyone in the room agreed with him. “Is entrepreneurship the only way we can become very rich and not worry about money again? Many of us have used most of our lives here.”
Let me give you a quick background about these great guys. They worked for Egbin Power Plant when it was still an operation of the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) which later became PHCN. A transition of some sort was going on. Therefore, these guys knew that their jobs were on the line. Moreover, they were also getting old. The management asked my company to train them on project management (PMP) certification. However, they arranged for me to spend extra time with them to teach them entrepreneurship and what businesses they can do post-retirement.
These guys were expecting a lot of money from their gratuity and pension. Obviously, they didn’t want to end up wasting it as other people do. They wanted to get it right.
“That is a very good question,” I said smiling. “But from your question, you think that there are 3 financial categories of people, namely poor, average, and rich.”
He nodded. Looking at his over 20 colleagues in the room, it was obvious that they agreed.
This is the same stratification almost everyone I have met believes.
Or do you believe something different?
I will now use the rest of this article to show you what I taught them (the actual steps to riches) before continuing my MasterClass on that fateful day.
I hope this helps you on your journey to riches.
Stratification Error
As I wrote before, it is an error to think that people are either
1. Rich
2. Average OR
3. Poor.
That is because the steps to riches become unclear to someone who wants to systematically move from one level of financial status to another.
The right financial stratification
There are 7 classes that I have discovered. An understanding of the various steps to riches will help you to know and take action in the right direction.
- Destitute
- Very poor
- Poor
- Decorated poor
- Rich
- Very rich
- Wealthy
The Destitute
I see the destitute as the individual who does not have a home and a means of livelihood. The destitute sleeps anywhere night meets them because they have no home to go to. They eat whatever they get and it is usually through charitable handouts. Most of them would beg and others would scavenge wastebaskets of restaurants to get food. Most people in this category are products of “migration gone wrong” because they are too ashamed to go back to where they came from. Large cities like Lagos are homes to the highest number of destitute people.
Very Poor
The very poor live in deplorable conditions. You will find them living in the slums, under bridges, and in uncompleted buildings. They can fend for themselves. But they also scavenge or beg like the destitute when things get rough. They even start families and send their children to public schools. They do not have the requisite knowledge to take advantage of the opportunities that may come their way. Most people get into this condition because they have chosen to live in a city where their earnings are far below their minimal compulsory expenditure.
The Poor
The poor are low-income earners who can pay rent and live in a decent but very small space with limited resources that are shared by many people. You see those people who live in “face me I face you” 1 room apartments in Lagos? Those are poor people. Some of the houses have as many as 24 rooms with 12 rooms on one side of a common passage and 12 rooms on the other side. Families of up to 5 people live in rooms in houses like this. Some of these houses accommodate up to 50 people. They are made to share just about 6 toilets, 1 kitchen, and 1 balcony. If they are lucky, they will also have a tank of water to share. Artisans are also able to afford this kind of accommodation. Everyone in this category makes money from their effort only.
The Decorated Poor
Those in this category are not tagged poor because they earn low. As a matter of fact, they earn a lot of money. Many bank managers, oil and gas workers, and IT executives are in this group. I consider them poor because they are only able to make money with their direct effort. If they were to lose their job, and are unable to get another one, they will have to drastically cut down on their living standards. Many of them lose all that they have because most of their belongings are acquired on loans. If the loans are not paid before they lose the job, they are in trouble and might commit suicide. They have a nice car but are broke. They live in a nice house but are broke. Only those who reinvest their money become rich. Many self-employed people are also in this category. Meanwhile, it is easier to start taking deliberate steps to riches at this level. But many people don’t see far into the future
The Rich
The rich are those who have people, money, and systems working for them to bring in money. Anyone who masters this skill is a budding rich person. As a result, they will eventually become financially independent irrespective of their present state. It doesn’t matter if they are destitute, very poor, or decorated poor. The rich who has good money discipline will succeed in multiplying the rate at which people, money, and systems make money for them. Conversely, a lack of discipline, consistency, right decisions, and the right support from good people will send a starter down to becoming a decorated poor person.
Very Rich
Those who can duplicate, triplicate, and eventually have multiples of groups/packets of people, money, and systems working for them become very rich. These groups/packets are organized businesses, real estate units. and so on. The efforts they put into their work start impacting their net-worth at this stage. The very rich do not have to exert too much energy on any kind of work before getting results. The work of the very rich is to hire smart and honest people to run their portfolio of money-making ventures.
The Wealthy
The wealthy do not have to ever work again. This is because the wealthy have established and optimized sources of income that are guaranteed to outlive them. Their riches are transgenerational. They will never be poor again if they can remain objective, unassuming, and emotionless when dealing with their resources. The wealthy has crossed the $1 billion mark in their net-worth. They have income coming from everywhere – agriculture, oil and gas, real state, tech, etc.
One of Kingsley Aigbona classes
Steps to Riches – Becoming very rich
Becoming very rich as we have seen above begins with creating and optimizing multiple avenues of making money. In my opinion, if you want to be very rich, find a way to start earning daily income. This is extremely important. At the time you perfect making X dollars daily, begin to find ways to optimize. Then start making 2X, 3X, 100X, 1000X as the case may be, per day. When you start thinking like this, your subconscious will start cooperating with you to think of ways in which you can make more money daily. In other words, this mentality will determine the kind of business you are interested in going into.
What is stopping you?
In conclusion, what do you think is stopping you right now from getting rich? Would you like me to tackle that? Leave it as a comment below and I will get back to you.
