I Talked to 1000 Millionaires - here’s what makes you rich

Welcome to the Growth Stacking podcast. This is Dan Martell. I met over a thousand millionaires, and they all had these six traits. So what's a millionaire in my books? Well, first off, I'll tell you what it's not. It's not somebody that's got a million bucks in paper value because they raise a bunch of money on a valuation that all their friends just kind of agreed on. It's not somebody's got a million dollars on a balance sheet. It's definitely not. Somebody's got a million dollars in equity in their home. It's not somebody that's got a million do revenue business. For me, a real millionaire is somebody that's got a million dollars in cash in their bank account after taxes. So now that we got that out of the way, number one is millionaires are crazy. I've met so many millionaires that are wacky crazy, big dreamers. I mean, Travis Kalanick from Uber, Richard Branson, Mark Cuban, you name it. There's all something about them that makes them a little wacky. They're kind of like a mad scientist. They say, I don't agree with 99% of the people that are doing this. I'm willing to go change. See, what I've learned is wealthy people are unreasonable. They look at the world and they go, that is unreasonable. I'm going to change it many ways. Rich people are weird, Weird is rich, and normal is poor. So most millionaires, honestly, including myself, we're a little crazy. And the only reason that it works is because of number two, which is millionaires think they deserve it. I remember one time I was at an event and I met a guy and I was asking him what he did. He was a coach, you know, works with a lot of finance people. And what do you charge people? And he goes, well, I only work with a handful of people at a time, and it's a million dollars to work with me. People pay him a million dollars. But the way he said it, he said it with confidence, certainty, conviction. Like, he said it as if somebody else said, it's 25 grand to hire me as a coach. And this is when I realized people that are wealthy, they get there because they think they deserve it. So you'll never get a penny more than you think you deserve. But the only way you can think you deserve it and actually be successful is to take massive action. Which is number three, millionaires are risk takers. So when Elon Musk started Tesla, he said this publicly, that he only gave himself a 30% chance of succeeding. That's crazy. Think about it. I think at the time he had like $180 million. And he put like 60 million in Solar City and 60 million in SpaceX. And then he took 60 million, he put it into Tesla, but he only gave him 1 out of 3 chance of winning because he's a risk taker. There's this great quote that says the Fortune rewards the bold. You have to be bold if you want to become a millionaire. These are people that decide to build and don't need anybody to believe in them. They don't need support from their friends, their family, even their mentor sometimes. But it doesn't mean you take dumb risks. See, we call it asymmetrical risk reward, where you can stack the deck in your favor. You're never going to figure it out if you're not in the game. But this is what people like Ray Dalio, Buffett, Munger, all these incredible investors, all the hedge fund managers, they're all looking for opportunities where they can take risk, where the downside is protected. But the upside is uncapped. And for many of you, it's taking a risk on you. And taking risks only works when you take your health seriously. To get through the hard times, which is number four, what do people do at the beginning of the year? Every one of them, they all set new intentions for this is the year that they get in shape. They decide to take their energy and their fitness and their health and make it number one. What I've learned is from all these millionaires is you might look at them and not think they're in shape, but I'll tell you, they take their health seriously. To operate at the top, you need to be fit. Millionaires know better than anyone that health is wealth. You gotta exhaust the body to tame the mind. So it's not only the physical energy, it's the mental capacity. You gotta push through when everybody else would give up because you've made your health a priority. But the only way you can get fit is number five, which is saying no way more than you say yes, especially. Especially when you want to stay fit. See, I get asked all the time, you've met all these millionaires, what did they do to become wealthy? And here's the reality. It's not what they did, it's what they don't do. See, I watch a lot of people that have these aspirations to become wealthy and have better relationships. They do things that rich people don't do. They don't stay up all night drinking, they don't step all night eating junk. They don't drone out and watch the news. They don't stay up late and then sleep in and just drag their feet. Wealthy people spend more time saying no to the vices, to the things that are gonna hold them back. You have to say no to all that stuff so you have the space to say yeah, see, I'm still spontaneous only when it aligns with my priority. Millionaires know how to evaluate those opportunities fast and they can say no really quick so that they keep their optionality open for something that might be more aligned to hit their vision. They only say yes to things that align with their priorities. And priorities need to be set on a long time horizon, which is number six. Millionaires think in decades, not days. You know, when I hire new employees, one of my favorite question to ask them is if you woke up in five years, I want you to describe your dream life. You've achieved all your goals, magic wand, everything's there. What does that look like in five years? And the truth is, is that most people I interview, they can't describe that future. They actually don't know exactly what that looks like. And that is the challenge. See, most people can only think about the month. Millionaires think in the decades. See, your bank account is a direct correlation to the time frame you plan it. You know, it's not one week, it's not one month, it's it's one year, it's five years, it's 10 years, it's 25 years. You can almost tell the wealth of the person based in the language they use to describe their timelines. The longer you set your time horizon, the wealthier you probably are because you're willing to use time to compound your effort. Most millionaires are willing to invest over a long period of time without seeing a result right away, knowing that they're building the foundation towards the future because they understand how hard the big things are to accomplish. That's the difference between millionaires and average people. That's what I learned from meeting over a thousand millionaires. And if you want to learn what I Learned from spending 100 hours with 4 billionaires, click the link and I'll see on the other side. If you like this week's episode, be sure to visit itunes, leave a review that'll help us get in front of other founders just like you. And if you're looking for more resources and video trainings, be sure to check out dan martell2l's the martel.com to subscribe. Keep up the hustle. Keep stacking your growth and I'll see you in next Monday's episode. Peace. Grow. Peace. Bye. Bye.