{"id":8965,"date":"2024-10-03T20:11:37","date_gmt":"2024-10-04T00:11:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/getting-rich-can-ruin-your-life-unless-you-read-this\/"},"modified":"2024-10-03T20:11:37","modified_gmt":"2024-10-04T00:11:37","slug":"getting-rich-can-ruin-your-life-unless-you-read-this","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/getting-rich-can-ruin-your-life-unless-you-read-this\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting Rich Can Ruin Your Life… Unless You Read This"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Profit<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

\n

My life changed dramatically and immediately when, in 1982, I decided to make \u201cgetting rich\u201d my number one goal.<\/p>\n

Within a few weeks of that decision, I convinced my boss to raise my compensation from $35,000 to $75,000. A year later, I was a bona-fide millionaire.<\/p>\n

My status changed too \u2014 from just another good employee to a junior partner and employer of hundreds. This made me more confident. And that confidence had a noticeable effect on everyone I dealt with. <\/p>\n

They took my opinions more seriously. They gave me more respect. Most memorably, my lifestyle changed. <\/p>\n

Instead of eking out a modest living, paycheck to paycheck, I was able to buy a car without asking how much it cost.<\/p>\n

But making this change happen had two negative consequences I didn\u2019t intend or foresee:<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. I gave up thousands of hours of good times with friends and family.<\/p>\n

2. I did a few things I wish I hadn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

When I set that goal, I knew there were more important things in life than money. But I suspected that I would be more likely to achieve it if I made it my number one priority. That turned out to be terribly true. There is an enormous power that comes from saying \u201cI will put this goal above all others.<\/em>\u201d <\/p>\n

It is impossible to understand that power until you have experienced it.<\/p>\n

Most people won\u2019t even dare to try. And maybe that is because most people have more sense than I had back then.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t recognize how monomaniacal I would become. I didn\u2019t anticipate how willing I would be to put my family second. Most of all, I didn\u2019t realize that I would be making some ethical concessions along the way. <\/p>\n

When my partner and I were accused of misleading advertising, I was actually shocked. All of our copy had been run by lawyers. It was accurate to the letter of the law. <\/p>\n

How could they call it misleading?<\/p>\n

Because some of it was.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I had talked myself into accepting an exaggeration here and there. <\/p>\n

Individually, they didn\u2019t amount to much \u2014 but strung together, they manifested themselves in advertising copy that was just plain over the line. <\/p>\n

Not all of it. Eighty percent of the stuff we did was very straightforward. But that 20 percent got us into trouble.<\/p>\n

I regret the compromises I made every time I think about it. So now, when I look back on my decision to make \u201cgetting rich\u201d my number one goal, I feel that it was a big mistake. <\/p>\n

In the 30 years that have passed since then, I have continued to make plenty of money. But I\u2019ve done it without sacrificing other important goals.<\/p>\n

Knowing what I know now about making money, it\u2019s easy to see that I could have made the millions I made \u2014 and plenty more \u2014 without neglecting my family or getting into trouble with regulators.<\/p>\n

And that is what I want to talk about today: how you can set moneymaking goals \u2014 even very ambitious ones \u2014 without sacrificing any of your other goals or doing something you will regret.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with this\u2026<\/p>\n

The most significant positive result of having \u201cgetting rich\u201d as my number one goal was that it made all my subsequent business decisions easy.<\/p>\n

Prior to that, I was never entirely sure if I was making the right call. <\/p>\n

Faced with multiple options, I could see some merit in just about all of them. I\u2019d force myself to pick one\u2026 and then worry that it might have been the wrong one.<\/p>\n

But once I had established my priority, there was no uncertainty or self-doubt. I\u2019d listen to a question or problem and ask myself, \u201cWhat solution would give me the best return in terms of money?\u201d<\/p>\n

Suddenly, complicated problems were simple to resolve, and difficult questions were easily answered. In a matter of a few months, I was transformed into a marketer who was considered \u201cbrilliant\u201d at coming up with product and advertising ideas.<\/p>\n

Within two years of my transformation, our business went from a negative worth of more than a million dollars to considerably more than a million dollars in the black.<\/p>\n

And after that, it got better\u2026 Much better.<\/p>\n

So that\u2019s what\u2019s good about making wealth building your priority. <\/p>\n

It will give you laser-sharp focus. And it will make it easy to make profitable decisions.<\/p>\n

If you are starting a business now, you may be thinking, \u201cHey, it\u2019s tough to build a successful business. I\u2019m willing to make the trade-offs you made.\u201d<\/p>\n

But you don\u2019t have to. You can enjoy the immense power of making wealth your number one goal so long as you don\u2019t make the two mistakes I made:<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. I was too short-term-oriented.<\/p>\n

2. I ignored my instincts about quality.<\/p>\n

My partner and I were always going after the \u201cshort money,\u201d as he called it. <\/p>\n

The short money was the profits you could garner over a matter of weeks or months. We never thought about the long-term development of our business. It was there to make us money as fast as it possibly could. <\/p>\n

We didn\u2019t have long-term plans. We just didn\u2019t think that way.<\/p>\n

After I retired and came back into business as a consultant, I decided to work only with clients who had long-term ambitions.<\/strong> My first (and eventually biggest) client had absolutely no interest in short-term profits.<\/p>\n

He was focused on building a business that he could pass on to his children. He lived frugally and took a small salary. When profits were made, 90 percent of them were routinely plowed back into the business for future growth.<\/p>\n

That made a huge difference. <\/p>\n

Key employees understood the company\u2019s philosophy on profits and had to be in agreement with them or find another job. Instead of asking, \u201cWhich decision will give us the quickest return?\u201d they asked, \u201cWhat will make us a stronger company five years from now?\u201d<\/p>\n

This long-term orientation automatically prevented my client from making the second big mistake I had made. Because there is only one way to ensure long-term profitability \u2014 and that is to produce quality products that customers are happy to keep buying, year after year.<\/p>\n

Everyone in business gives lip service to quality, but few are willing to invest time and money to achieve it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Those who do get the golden goose \u2014 a business that produces profits more easily as time goes on. Those who don\u2019t are condemned to keep running like hamsters in a cage for their profits\u2026 until they either drop dead of a heart attack or get exposed as the hacks they are.<\/p>\n

So if you want to make wealth building your number one goal, go for it. <\/p>\n

But make sure you go after that wealth with a long-range view of making profits and a serious commitment to creating good products.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you do it that way, it will be a little tougher at first. <\/p>\n

You will have to spend more money im\u00adproving your products, and you\u2019ll have to wait a little longer for them to be produced. But in the long run, you\u2019ll make more money and you will be happier,<\/g> because your customers will stay with you and reward you with continued buying.<\/p>\n

I was talking to \u201cEliza\u201d yesterday about her career. <\/p>\n

She was considering a job offer that would double her income and put her on a rapid road to wealth. \u201cI am tempted to take the job,\u201d she told me, \u201cbut I don\u2019t want to make money the center of my life. I want to do good for people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Had she said this to me many years ago, I would have told her to get real. <\/p>\n

Now, I realized that she\u2019s right. She should never make the pursuit of money her primary objective. She should be in a business that she wants to be in. <\/p>\n

She should sell products she\u2019s proud of selling. She should find some way to make her business interests coincide with her personal ethics and dreams.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d I said to Eliza, \u201cmake the good you can do for people your primary goal. But pay attention to the money as well, because it will be the best and simplest way to measure the financial health of your business.\u201d<\/p>\n

You should be in business to provide people with something of value. If you conduct your business correctly and offer them a good deal \u2014 and if the product you sell is something they really want \u2014 you\u2019ll make plenty of money.<\/p>\n

One business acquaintance of mine put it this way: \u201cMoney is a result, not a cause. If you get into business solely for the money, chances are you will never be great at what you\u2019re doing.<\/em><\/span>\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

That\u2019s why so many people fail at network-marketing businesses. They\u2019re attracted by the promise of big profits. But then they realize they have to sell soap or vitamins or lotions or whatever, and they don\u2019t want to do that. <\/p>\n

Get into a business you like, learn it thoroughly, and do it right. The money will come automatically.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve heard the same thing said by professional athletes. The guys who do it right \u2014 who have long careers \u2014 think in terms of long-term success. They are always practicing to improve their game. <\/p>\n

They are always interested in learning new skills. They are happy to make as much money as they can, but they know that their lifetime wealth depends on how many years of income they can enjoy, not on how much money they can make in any single year.<\/p>\n

Michael Jordan is a great example. Tiger Woods was too. And you\u2019d have to include Agassi and the Williams sisters in that group. There are many athletes who have a short streak of high earnings, but only a handful who enjoy long, profitable careers.<\/p>\n

In the world of entertainment, I think of Oprah Winfrey and Howard Stern (an unlikely pairing, I grant you). And Johnny Carson and David Letterman.<\/p>\n

These wealth builders must have put \u201cmaking lots of money\u201d on top of their priority lists, but they always thought in terms of the long run, and they constantly strove to be better at what they did.<\/p>\n

They worked tirelessly because they wanted to be the best. And in being the best, they earned amazing amounts of money. The money was the result, not the cause.<\/p>\n

The moral of the story (if you don\u2019t mind hearing it from a reformed sinner) is that money isn\u2019t the root of all evil, but the love of money is. Don\u2019t love money. Love the idea of building a good business that will last.<\/p>\n

Love the good that your business does \u2014 the value it brings to your customers and the quality of life it affords your employees.<\/p>\n

Cherish the unsolicited testimonials you get from your customers, your vendors, and your subcontractors.<\/p>\n

Enjoy the thought that one day you may be able to hand over your business to a child or grandchild or a protege you care about.<\/p>\n

See money for what it is \u2014 a neutral indicator of how good your business is at doing what it does, at fulfilling the promises it makes and keeping its customers engaged. If the value you provide is worth the money you get for it, people will buy what you\u2019re selling. The better the value you give, the more money you will get.<\/p>\n

#<\/p>\n


Use this millionaire-vetted Morning Routine to earn more, work less<\/strong>, and live your perfect life TODAY!<\/strong>\u00a0
<\/h4>\n

Sign up now<\/a>\u00a0to get our FREE Morning Routine guide\u2014the #1 way to increase productivity, energy, and focus for profitable days. Used by thousands of fitness, business, and finance industry leaders to leapfrog the competition while making time for the people who really matter.\u00a0Learn more here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

Mark Morgan Ford<\/a><\/h3>\n
\"Mark<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Mark Morgan Ford was the creator of Early To Rise. In 2011, Mark retired from ETR and now writes the Wealth Builders Club. His advice, in our opinion, continues to get better and better with every essay, particularly in the controversial ones we have shared today. We encourage you to read everything you can that has been written by Mark.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

\"Profit<\/a>
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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