(How to get rich without luck, talent, or a trust fund

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:00]Most people think getting rich requires a lucky break, but it's actually just about gaining specific knowledge.

[00:00:06]>> start a business and you start to talk to about somebody, you're never in a vacuum with no competition, unless you're just extremely lucky.

[00:00:12]>> In fact, nearly 80% of millionaires are entirely self-made, meaning [music] they built their wealth through learned skills rather than inherited money. Once you lock this in, you can completely rewire your family's history and live [music] entirely on your own terms.

[00:00:28]Naval Ravikant wasn't born rich. He came to America as a poor immigrant. [music] He worked in catering and delivering Indian food just to get by, but he didn't just wait for luck to happen. He read every book he could get his hands on and learned about tech and investing.

[00:00:40]>> I read everything. I read every magazine. I read every pictograph. I read every book. I read every map.

[00:00:46]>> He figured out that if he built specific knowledge in a brand new industry, he could create massive value. He eventually founded AngelList and invested early in massive companies. He built incredible wealth because he owned a piece of the business, [music] not because he rented out his time.

[00:01:01]>> Obviously, we want to be wealthy and we want to get there in this [music] lifetime without having to rely on luck.

[00:01:07]A lot of people think making money is about luck. It's not.

[00:01:09]>> You can do the exact same thing if you stop relying on hope and start building your mind. Right now, you might be thinking that Naval, he just he got in early and all the good opportunities are gone. You think you missed the boat because you don't live in Silicon Valley or know how to code, but that's not right. It's completely wrong. Every single day, new industries are born. The internet is bigger than ever and specific knowledge is 100% free to learn if you actually look for it. You don't need to invent the next AngelList to get wealthy. You just need to follow a few core steps to build your own leverage, which I'm about to show you right now.

[00:01:43]If you've been here before, drop a hashtag believe in the comments below so I can feature you here in a future video. And if you're new, welcome to Believe Nation, the [music] only channel that helps you believe in yourself daily, one video at a time. Believe.

[00:01:56]Combine average skills to become unstoppable. Now, you probably think you need to be the absolute best in the world at one specific thing to get wealthy. You watch top athletes or these brilliant inventors and just assume their level of mastery is the only way up. But, it's actually not true. You don't need to be in the top 1% of anything to build massive wealth. You just need to build a talent stack. So, the concept is simple, but incredibly powerful. Instead of trying to be the best at one skill, you become very good at three or four different skills. And when you combine them, you'll become completely unique. Look at the creator of the famous Dilbert comic strip, Scott Adams. He openly admits he isn't the greatest artist in the world. He isn't the funniest comedian. He isn't the smartest business expert. But, he's in the top 25% of all three of these categories. When he combined his decent drawing skills with his good sense of humor and his corporate business knowledge, he created a comic strip that made him millions of dollars. You can do the exact same thing right now. So, take out a piece of paper and write down the skills you already have. Maybe you know a little bit about coding. Maybe you're decent at writing emails. Maybe you understand basic graphic design.

[00:03:07]Individually, those skills won't make you rich. But, if you can combine them, you can build a highly profitable web agency for small business. You have to stop feeling bad about not being a genius at one thing. Your specific knowledge comes from the unique combination of your average skills. When you stack them together, nobody can compete with you because nobody has your exact background. You become completely impossible to replace. And to find out which skills you should actually focus on, you have to look at what you truly love doing, which leads us directly to the most important rule of all.

[00:03:41]Turn your deepest pain into your ultimate purpose. So, you have to follow your passion. You never win doing work that you hate. Society often tells you just to get a safe job and pay the bills. But, if you don't love what you do, you'll quit the second things get hard. Entrepreneurship is incredibly difficult. You'll face days when everything goes wrong. And if you're only doing it for the money, you will quit. The people who actually build massive wealth are obsessed with their craft. They do the work even if they weren't getting paid. Now, I've learned this on my own journey. I believe that your purpose comes from your pain. You want to help the person that you used to be. When I was 19 years old, I had a business, I struggled immensely. I was making $300 a month. I felt totally alone, defeated. Because of that pain, my massive passion became helping other entrepreneurs believe in themselves more, too. That's why I do this channel.

[00:04:27]I want to save others from the struggles that I went through. That passion drives me to make videos every single day. And so, you can look at your own life and find what you're deeply passionate about. What's a problem that you have overcome yourself? What's a topic that you can read about for 10 hours straight without getting bored? When you follow those passions, it stops feeling like work. You'll happily put in long hours that are required to become a master.

[00:04:48]You'll outwork everyone else because they're doing it just for a paycheck, and you're doing it because it's a purpose. And once you find that passion, the next step is getting your foot in the door with the right people.

[00:05:00]Work for free to build massive leverage.

[00:05:02]You might feel stuck right now because you don't have a big network or a fancy resume. Yeah, you think nobody will give you a chance because nobody knows who you are. The solution is called the permissionless apprenticeship. You don't need to wait for a job listing open up.

[00:05:15]You don't need to ask for permission to show what you can do. You just need to find someone successful who you want to learn from. Identify problem that they currently have. Solve that problem for them completely for free. Let's say you want to be a video editor for a massive creator. Don't send them a desperate email asking for a job. Instead, take one of their long-form videos and edit it into five amazing short clips. Send the finished files directly to their inbox. Tell them they can use the clips for free, and that you just wanted to add value to their brand. If you do this for 10 different successful people, and your stuff is good, you'll get a response. You're proving your worth before you ever ask for a dollar. The strategy works because successful people are incredibly busy. They don't have time to interview unproven beginners.

[00:05:56]But when you deliver massive value up front without asking for anything in return, you immediately stand out. You build instant trust. And worst case scenario, they ignore you, but you still got the experience of doing the work.

[00:06:07]Best case scenario, they hire you, mentor you, and introduce you to their incredibly powerful network. So, stop waiting for someone to open a door for you. Build your own door and walk right through it. To actually build wealth from this though, you have to change how you charge for your work.

[00:06:26]Stop renting out your time. You're never going to get rich by renting out your time. Even if you're earning $200 an hour, your earning potential is completely capped because there are only 24 hours in a day. So, if you stop working, the money stops flowing. To build real wealth, you must decouple your time from your income. You have to own equity. Equity means you own a piece of a business or an asset that works for you while you sleep. Well, this like having a computer program running on a server that serves customers around the world while you're on vacation. So, you need to transition your mind from being a wage earner to being an owner. Now, right now, you have the greatest tools in human history to build leverage without needing millions of dollars to get started. Code and media are the ultimate forms of permissionless leverage. You don't need anyone's permission to write a piece of software.

[00:07:12]You don't need anyone's permission to record a podcast, a YouTube video, or write a blog post. Once you create these assets, they can be duplicated and consumed by millions of people at zero extra cost to you. You can record a video once and it can earn you money for the next 10 years. That's true leverage.

[00:07:27]So, look at your current life and ask yourself, how can you turn your daily efforts into these permanent assets?

[00:07:33]Stop trading hours for dollars and start building systems that compound your wealth automatically. Also, if you want to take real action after this video, I made a free worksheet just for you.

[00:07:42]Covers the top lessons from today, gives you space to write your biggest takeaways, and helps you build a simple action plan. It's 100% free. Just check the link in the description below to go grab it. I'll see you there. Now that you have assets building wealth, you have to protect your most valuable invisible asset.

[00:07:58]Play the long game with your reputation.

[00:08:00]Everything in life that's actually valuable comes from compound interest.

[00:08:03]This applies to money, but it heavily applies to your relationships and your reputation. So, if you want to build massive wealth, you have to play long-term games with long-term people.

[00:08:12]There are a lot of people who try to get rich quick by scamming others or burning bridges for a quick payout, right? Quick buck. They might make a few dollars today, but they completely destroy their future. When you play the long game, you realize that your reputation is your most valuable asset. When people know that you're honest, you're reliable, you're incredibly good at what you do, opportunities will magically start flowing to you. You won't have to chase deals because the deals, they start to chase you. This concept is closely tied to the Lindy effect. The Lindy effect states that the longer something has survived, the longer it'll continue to survive. The same goes for reputation.

[00:08:48]If you spend 10 years building a spotless track record of delivering massive value, that reputation becomes completely bulletproof. People will trust you blindly because you've proven yourself over a massive timeline. So, you have to stop looking for just the immediate gratification, stop worrying about making a quick buck all the time this month, and start focusing on who you're going to become over the next decade. Treat every single client, every partner, every customer with massive respect. Under promise, over deliver.

[00:09:15]You've heard that, right? Every single time. When you let your reputation compound over years and decades, you'll eventually build this empire that nobody can tear down because your reputation doesn't get torn down. And then the next step is learning how to keep the money that you actually make.

[00:09:32]Keep your wealth completely invisible.

[00:09:34]Most people don't actually want to be wealthy. They just want to spend a lot of money to look wealthy to other people. They buy the fancy cars and massive houses, the designer watches just to prove and show off their status. But, playing the status games is actually the fastest way to destroy your wealth. True wealth is actually what you don't see. Wealth is the sports cars you decided not to buy.

[00:09:54]Wealth is the expensive dinner that you skipped. Wealth is the money sitting in investment accounts quietly compounding and growing your ultimate freedom. You have to realize that investing money is the gap between the ego of what you want to look like and your actual income.

[00:10:08]When you stop caring about what strangers think about you, it becomes incredibly easy to save and invest your money. Look at Ronald Read, he was a janitor, gas station attendant who lived a very quiet life. When he died, people were shocked to learn that he'd amassed $8 million.

[00:10:22]He did it simply by investing what he earned and quietly over decades making it happen. The highest dividend that money pays is the ability to control your own time. Having money in the bank gives you the freedom to walk away from a terrible boss. It gives you the flexibility to take on a risk or a new business venture without facing total financial ruin. You can't achieve that level of freedom if you're constantly spending every dollar you earn to impress people that you don't even like.

[00:10:48]So, keep your lifestyle completely grounded even when your income skyrockets. But, none of this matters if you never take the very first step.

[00:10:58]Take immediate action on your ideas. The final piece of this puzzle is massive, relentless execution. You can read every book, study every billionaire, master all the psychology in the world. It means absolutely nothing if you don't take action. Most people stay completely stuck because they overthink everything.

[00:11:15]They wait for the perfect business plan, the perfect camera equipment, the exact right moment to launch. That perfect moment is never going to come. You have to start making moves today, exactly where you're at with exactly what you've got. You build confidence by taking action, not by sitting around and thinking about it. So, think about the smallest possible step that you can take right now. If you want to start your podcast, awesome. Don't worry about buying an expensive microphone, pull out your phone, hit record, start talking.

[00:11:42]Your first attempt, it's going to be terrible. It's going to suck, and that's perfectly fine. You have to expect to suck at the beginning. I hated my first 350 videos. I couldn't even watch them back, but I just kept going, and it took 700 videos before I finally felt a little bit proud of my work. You build momentum by pushing through the initial discomfort. Momentum is your superpower.

[00:12:02]It's your superpower in wealth creation.

[00:12:04]Once you get the ball rolling, it becomes so much easier to keep moving forward. You learn by doing, not by over planning. The market will give you feedback, you adjust your strategy, and you'll get slightly better every single day. So, stop waiting for someone to come and rescue you. Stop waiting for permission to chase your dreams. Your entire life will shift the second you commit to taking relentless, imperfect action every single day. This is the exact moment you need to step up and claim the life you actually deserve.

[00:12:34]Your time is right now. So, you've got everything you need inside of you right now to make this happen. Stop letting fear dictate the size of how far you can go. Step into your power and prove to yourself what you can achieve. You're fully capable of building an incredible life. And congratulations, you're one video closer to who you're meant to be.

[00:12:52]Believe. Now, listen to the only 20 rules you need to get rich. Law number one, money follows value. Money isn't random, it's the reward for solving problems. Wealth is built not on what just excites you, but on what you create that serves others. The more value you deliver, the more dollars will chase you. It's that simple. Think of entrepreneurs like Elon Musk or Sara Blakely. They got rich by fixing pain points for millions. You want money?

[00:13:17]Stop chasing cash and start chasing problems to solve. When you help enough people get what they want, you'll get what you want. That's a law of the universe. Law number two, adopt a wealth mindset, not a lottery mindset. Getting rich starts in your head. If deep down you believe money is evil >> [music] >> or not for people like me, you'll unconsciously push it away. Newsflash, luck won't save you. 70% of lotto winners blow it and a third end up bankrupt because they didn't change their mindset. Self-made millionaires on the other hand think differently. They believe they deserve success and can learn whatever skills wealth requires.

[00:13:51]So, dump the excuses like I'm not smart enough, I came from nothing and replace that with why not me? Train yourself to see money as a positive force, a tool [music] you can master. Your mind is your biggest asset or liability. Choose to make it an asset. [music] Law number three, purpose over profit, but money in your top five. Money itself isn't the end goal. Freedom, impact, and purpose are. I always say making money is great. It has to be in your top [music] five, it just can't be number one. If you chase only dollars, you'll burn out or compromise your values.

[00:14:22]Instead, chase a mission [music] and use money as motivation. Think of companies like Patagonia or Tesla. Mission-driven, but they still prioritize revenue to fund that mission. Here's the balance.

[00:14:33]Care more about your impact and your income, but respect money enough to plan for it. Money in your top five means you price your product right, you monetize your skills, you track your revenue because you know profit powers your purpose. When your why is strong, the [music] money follows and when the money comes, you push it back into your why.

[00:14:52]That's how world-changing businesses and lives are built. Law number four, pay yourself first. The first bill you pay each month should be to yourself. Before rent, before groceries, invest in your future. Siphon a chunk of every paycheck into savings or investments immediately.

[00:15:05]This habit needs to become a non-negotiable. Why? Because wealth doesn't come from what you make, it comes from what you keep and grow. It's the classic millionaire habit. Nearly half of self-made millionaires save 20% or more of their income from day one.

[00:15:19]That requires discipline and delayed gratification. Skipping some short-term treats so future you can win. Psychology proves this. The famed marshmallow test showed that kids who delayed gratification ended up more successful in life. The same goes for money. So automate your savings. Treat it like a tax that you owe yourself. If you can't pay yourself, you'll always be paying someone else. Law number five, live below your means. I know this sounds basic, but it's amazing how many people ignore it. Don't spend all you earn and definitely don't spend more than you earn. Hello credit cards. The rich stay rich by living like they're broke. The broke stay broke by acting rich. Studies of millionaires show they're frugal. 64% live in modest homes, 55% buy used cars, nearly all of them vacation cheaply, and 84% refuse to gamble with their money.

[00:16:09]They aren't clipping coupons for fun.

[00:16:11]They just know that every dollar wasted is a dollar that can't work for them. So yes, reward yourself occasionally, but don't inflate your lifestyle with your income. Grow into your wealth. Don't blow it. As your earnings climb, keep your expenses in check. This creates a gap, the golden gap, that you can invest to generate real wealth. Law number six, avoid bad debt, leverage the good debt.

[00:16:34]There are two kinds of people, those who pay interest and those who earn interest. To get rich, you want to be the second kind. Credit card balances, payday loans, buying a Ferrari on finance, that's bad debt. It will chain you down. The average credit card interest will eat your future alive. So here's your rule. Never borrow to buy depreciating crap. Use debt only when it's a tool to acquire an asset that pays you back. In simple terms, an asset puts money in your pocket, a liability takes money out of your pocket. Your home, for example, can be a liability if it's draining cash. Meanwhile, a rental property or business loan can be good debt if managed well because they generate income. The rich strategically use other people's money to multiply their wealth, but they respect the risks and have a plan to pay it off. Be very real with yourself. If the thing you want to buy won't earn or save you money, don't go into debt for it. Law number seven, let compound interest work. Start investing now. Time is your greatest ally or your worst enemy in building wealth. Every day you delay investing is cash left on the table.

[00:17:37]Why? Compound interest. The snowball effect of money earning on top of itself. Albert Einstein supposedly called compound interest the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it earns it. He who doesn't pays it. So, here's a quick example. If you invest $1,000 at 10%, you'll earn $100 a year.

[00:17:54]Not bad. But, if you reinvest that $100 next year, you earn 10% on 1,100, not just 1,000. That's 110. And now you have 1210. Keep rolling that over and in 10 years that $1,000 turns into nearly 2,600 without adding a penny. All from reinvesting and compounding. Start earning and it's like planting an orchard instead of a single tree. Don't wait for enough money to invest. Even $50 a month invested now beats $500 a month started 10 years later. Small seeds become giant oaks, but you must plant them now. Law number eight, create multiple streams of income. One stream of income is one point of failure. If that stream dries up, job loss, one client leaves, industry shifts, your financial life sinks. The wealthy know this, so they build boats with multiple engines. It's often said the average millionaire has seven streams of income.

[00:18:41]And while your number may vary, the idea is diversification. It could be a side hustle, investments, rental incomes, royalties, a second business, you name it. In one study, 65% of millionaires had at least three income streams and nearly a third had five or more. So, start with one strong income. This is where most people get it wrong when they're thinking have multiple streams of income. You don't have seven off in the very beginning because then you will be you will diversify your energy out of any real wealth. So, you start with one strong income, master it, and then add another. Each new stream is a layer of security and a force multiplier for your wealth. Importantly, build active income, so business, career, and passive incomes, which is investments and assets. Do them together. Don't rely on a single paycheck or a single customer.

[00:19:24]Spread your bets and create income while you sleep. Law number nine, make money while you sleep. That's passive income.

[00:19:30]If you earn only money when you're personally working, you'll never escape the grind. You need income that doesn't require your constant presence. Warren Buffett said it best, "If you don't find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die." And that's not hyperbole, that's that's reality.

[00:19:45]Passive income can come from investments like stocks, uh index funds that pay dividends, rental properties, or from systems that you create. A business that runs without you, or online products, or royalties from a product. It usually takes hard work up front to set up these passive streams, so don't think it's free money. But once they're running, they free up your time. Even having a little extra cash trickle in every month gives you breathing room. So, imagine waking up to find you earned $100 overnight. Now, imagine $1,000 or $10,000. The goal is to decouple your time from your money. Start building something today that pays you tomorrow, next week, next year. That's real financial freedom. Law number ten, never stop learning. The moment you think you know it all, your bank account will prove you wrong. The wealthy are students of wealth, constantly reading, attending seminars, picking up new skills. 88% of rich people devote at least 30 minutes a day to learning through reading. They read biographies, business books, industry news, not gossip, not junk. They treat their mind as a million-dollar asset that compounds just like money. If you want to get rich, adopt a growth mindset. Invest in courses, find mentors, seek feedback. My core philosophy is belief. Believe that you can learn and improve. And I try to live this. In the early days, I studied Bill Gates and other successful people to model their strategies. And that learning led directly to my big breakthrough. So, ask yourself daily, what can I learn today that will make me more valuable tomorrow? Every new skill or insight is money in the bank, just a bank you can't see yet. Stay curious and humble. The more you learn, the more you earn. Law number 11, your network is your net worth. You can't do it alone and you shouldn't try. The people you surround yourself with will make or break your success. Jim Rohn famously said, you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. So, take a look around. If your five closest friends are broke, negative, and complacent, guess where you're headed.

[00:21:43]Successful people consciously build success circles. They hang out with other winners. One study found the rich intentionally seek optimistic, goal-oriented peers. Why? Because environment matters. Conversations with high achievers will spark ideas, opportunities, and higher standards in you. On the other side, toxic, pessimistic people will drag you down to their level. This doesn't mean cut off loved ones. It means spend time strategically. Find mentors who've achieved what you want. Join entrepreneur groups, mastermind calls, online communities of goal-getters.

[00:22:18]Upgrade your network and you'll upgrade your net worth. It's practically automatic. Remember, birds of a feather flock to the bank together. Law number 12, don't do it alone, ask for help and mentorship. So, pride and secrecy keep people poor. I learned this the hard way. In my startup days, I was making $300 a month and was too embarrassed to tell anyone how much I was struggling. I thought I had to fake success or go solo and it nearly broke me. The truth is, successful people ask for help all the time. They hire coaches, they seek mentors, they gather teams of advisors.

[00:22:47]Ego can be expensive. If you're too proud to admit what you don't know, you will cap your growth. In fact, 82% of small businesses fail due to cash flow problems, often because the founder didn't seek financial advice or delegate when they should have. So, don't let that be you. Find someone who has been where you want to go and learn from them. And if you're in a crisis, reach out instead of suffering in silence.

[00:23:12]Don't do it alone because you'll probably fail. You'll quit along the way because it's too devastatingly lonely.

[00:23:18]The right help at the right time can save your business and your sanity.

[00:23:22]Success is a team sport, so play it that way. Law number 13, reinvest your profits. So, when money does start coming in, it's tempting to celebrate. I made it, let's spend. But, the wealthy think differently. They plow money back into growth. Warren Buffett insists on this. When you first make money, you may be tempted to spend it. Don't. Instead, reinvest the profits. Whether it's profits from your business or returns from stocks, feed it back into your wealth machine. This is how small ventures become empires. I did this with my first company. When we landed our first deal, I didn't go buy a car. I poured into the scale in the business, which later allowed me to sell and truly cash in. Reinvesting is how Buffett turned a pinball machine side hustle into a stock portfolio. Each round of profits bought more assets, which produced even more profit. It's a cycle.

[00:24:07]Earn, invest, earn more. On the flip side, if you spend all you make, you kill the compound growth and go back to zero. So, celebrate your wins, yes, but then put that money back to work. Delay the gratification a little longer and watch your wealth snowball. Law number 14, take calculated risks and embrace failure. No risk, no reward. It's a cliché, but it's true. Getting rich will require you to step out of your comfort zone. So, start that business, invest in that property, pitch that big client, even when there's no guarantee of success. In fact, you will screw up along the way, and that is okay. 63% of millionaires admit they took risks and failed at least once in business. But, here's the difference. They didn't see failure as the end. It was just data.

[00:24:50]They learned and kept moving. As the saying goes, winners are not afraid of losing, but losers are. Failure is part of the process of success. People who avoid failure also avoid success. And that was one of the hardest lessons for me. I was afraid to look stupid, to ask dumb questions, to lose money on a strategy that might not work. But every failure, eating beans for lunch for years, failed product launches, interviews that tanked, they taught me something that eventually led to a huge win. So, don't be reckless, do your homework, and take calculated risks. But when you feel fear, don't let it stop you. Often that fear is a sign that you're on the right track. Bet on yourself, and if you fall, get back up smarter. Law number 15, be patient, wealth takes time. We live in a world of instant gratification, but building real wealth is a long game. Too many people try one thing for 6 months, don't become millionaires, and then quit or jump onto the next fad. Don't fall for the get rich quick trap. The truth is, most millionaires get rich slowly. In one study, 80% of millionaires were over 50.

[00:25:50]It took them decades of consistent effort to hit seven figures. Saver investors took an average of 32 years to reach millionaire status. Even fast-track entrepreneurs took 12 years on average. The media loves to highlight the 22-year-old crypto billionaires, but that's the exception, not the rule.

[00:26:05]Embrace the process, commit to the long haul. This doesn't mean it has to take 30 years for you. The timeline can accelerate with smart decisions, but it won't happen overnight. Set longer-term goals and keep grinding. Remember, compound interest needs time to work its magic. That's law number seven. Each year you persist, your knowledge, your network, and your assets compound, too.

[00:26:22]Patience isn't just a virtue in wealth building, it's a strategic advantage.

[00:26:26]Law number 16, leverage, multiply yourself through others. Here's a harsh truth, you will never get truly wealthy trading only your own time and effort.

[00:26:34]There are only 24 hours in a day and only one of you. The rich scale up by leveraging other people's time, their talent, their resources. That means hiring, delegating, automating, building a team and systems that make money even when you're not personally doing the work. So, I learned this around my YouTube channel. For years, I was in front of the camera, I was behind the camera, I was doing everything myself, and I was hesitant to spend money on help. I grew up without a ton of money, and maybe I was too cheap at first, but once I hired my first part-time editor, boom, I went from one video a week to one a day, which then brought in more money. Leverage. Similarly in business, the moment I started bringing in partners and employees who are smarter than me in their areas, our growth started to explode. According to research, over 80% of millionaires rely on a team of smart people, attorneys, accountants, advisors, to help achieve their vision. So, ask yourself, what tasks or expertise can you leverage from others to scale up? It could be as simple as hiring a virtual assistant for $10 an hour to free you up to make $100 an hour, or partnering with someone who has skills or contacts that you lack.

[00:27:34]Yes, it can cost money to hire good people, but not hiring when you need to is far costlier. Build your dream team.

[00:27:40]Lot number 17, take action. Speed beats perfection. The money goes to those who do, not those who wait. One thing I see holding entrepreneurs back is analysis paralysis. They plan and polish and procrastinate, and opportunities pass them by. The wealthy have a bias for action. They do the best research they can, then pull the trigger. Jeff Bezos calls it the bias for action, and credits much of Amazon's success to it.

[00:28:05]Warren Buffett calls unnecessary waiting thumb-sucking, and pushes himself to make decisions swiftly when he has enough facts. The point is, you can't steer a parked car. You have to start moving. Want to invest in stocks? Open the account and put in a small amount today. Learn as you go. Have a business idea? Launch a simple version of it right now, even if it's not perfect. You will refine through real-world feedback.

[00:28:29]Money love speed. Not reckless, stupid speed, but the momentum that comes from decisive action. Action precedes clarity. So, the law is, do it before you feel 100% ready. An average plan executed today beats a perfect plan never executed. Start, stumble, learn, adjust, but start. Law number 18, know your numbers, track your money. You wouldn't drive a car blindfolded, right?

[00:28:52]So, don't drive your finances that way, too. Ignorance is extremely expensive.

[00:28:56]Wealthy people are keenly aware of their numbers. They know their income, their expenses, their profit margins, their tax liabilities, their investment returns, at least the key figures at all times. You need to become the CFO of your own life. You make a budget, update it regularly, and review where your money is going. You can use apps or spreadsheets, chalk and a board, whatever works for you, but track it. If you're an entrepreneur, this is even more critical because poor cash flow management kills 82% of small businesses. When I started, I used Microsoft Money software to track my business finances, and my early accounting was a total disaster until I learned how to prioritize it. And once I did, I found ways to save on taxes and get unexpected refunds that boosted my cash flow. That's the reward for paying attention. The law here is what gets measured gets managed. When you track, you naturally start optimizing. You spot wasteful spending. You find opportunities to save or invest, and you avoid nasty surprises. So, open those bank statements, know your credit score, set a weekly date with your money. Yes, I'm serious. Your bank account should never be a mystery. Law number 19, give and you shall receive. This might sound more spiritual, but it's hard no success strategy, too. Generosity breeds prosperity. The wealthiest people I know are givers. They donate to charities.

[00:30:10]They mentor others. They create opportunities for the people that are around them. Why? Because what you put out into the world comes back to you multiplied. Zig Ziglar said it best, "You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want." And it's true. When you operate from a mindset of service and generosity, you build an army of allies. People open doors for you. Clients refer to you. Your reputation starts to shine. Even on a practical level, generosity expands your network and skills. So, volunteer in an organization and meet influential people. Mentor someone and you often learn from the teaching. Also, giving keeps you humble and hungry. It reminds you that wealth has a purpose to improve lives, including your own. And here's a little secret. Giving money away can actually make you feel wealthier. It breaks the fear that money is scarce. Of course, be smart. Don't give beyond your means, but make generosity a line item in your life. It could be money or time or knowledge. Nearly three of four millionaires in a study volunteered at least five hours a month, and many actively mentored others. Coincidence? I don't think so. The more you give, the more you grow. It's a law. A law number 20, stay humble and stay hungry. Money is a moving target. The game doesn't end when you hit some magic number. To not only get rich, but to stay rich, you must keep your ego in check and your drive alive. Success can be a sedative the moment you think I've made it. You start to slip. Remember Bill Gates's warning, success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can't lose. So, don't fall for that trap. The greats, the the Buffets, the Oprahs, they never stop learning. They never stop pushing. They act like beginners even when they are masters.

[00:31:45]For me, the belief game never ends.

[00:31:46]Despite all the subscribers and the business, I still wake up as a student.

[00:31:50]I still want to get better every day.

[00:31:52]So, celebrate your wins, yes, but stay curious and grounded. Keep setting the next goal, setting the next challenge.

[00:31:58]And importantly, stay grateful. Humility also means recognizing the role that others have played and some luck in your success. It keeps you from doing something dumb and losing it all out of arrogance. The hungry humble entrepreneur will run circles around the complacent one who's resting on his laurels. Money has a way of disappearing from those who take it for granted. So, no matter how well you're doing, adhere to these laws. Keep growing, keep giving, and keep believing. A quick final thought. You've just learned 20 laws, but knowledge alone won't change your life. Action will. Pick one law today and start living it. Maybe it's setting up that savings account. Maybe it's calling that mentor. Maybe it's finally launching that product.

[00:32:38]Remember, every big success is just an accumulation of small consistent wins.

[00:32:42]You showing up for this, absorbing these strategies, that already sets you apart from the masses who are still looking for easy answers. And so, I want to acknowledge you for for being here right now and investing in yourself. Now, get out there and do the work. Apply these laws and build the wealth and life that you deserve. Now, let's learn the 10 signs you're secretly getting rich even if you don't feel like it. You're not broke because of the economy or bad luck. You're broke because you keep stepping into the same 10 money traps.

[00:33:07][music] While other entrepreneurs are quietly getting rich by avoiding these mistakes, you might be repeating them without even realizing it. And if you don't fix this, a year from now, [music] you'll still be stressed about money, hustling hard with nothing to show for it, wondering why [music] you're not winning. Just look at the proof. Ever hear about lottery winners going bankrupt? Roughly [snorts] 70% of big lottery winners end up [music] broke within a few years. Jack Whittaker won a $315 million Powerball jackpot and lost it all in a few years. He even said the money destroyed [music] his life. Why?

[00:33:38]Because money isn't the answer if you haven't fixed the habits that keep people poor. If you got a million dollars today but carried on with the same bad behaviors, that money would vanish. I had to learn this myself the hard way. When I was 19, I had my first company and was making $300 a month.

[00:33:53]Imagine working more than full-time and not being even able to afford rent. That was me. I felt worthless, hit my breaking point at a family event, and I told my business partner I quit. I broke down crying, snot-nosed, uncontrollable tears because I felt like I just didn't have what it takes. But, the very next morning, I woke up and something snapped. I realized [music] I hadn't earned the right to quit because I hadn't tried everything. I thought, has someone figured this out before? And it turns out Bill Gates had built a software company from nothing. So, I decided to model how he did it. [music] I stopped feeling sorry for myself and started learning from someone who'd already won. And you know what? Within a short time, I closed a 13 and 1/2 thousand dollar deal and jumping from $300 a month to a 13.5k check. In my head, I felt like a millionaire, but more importantly, I had proof that if I changed my approach, I could change my results. I went from almost giving up to finally getting momentum. Now, maybe you're thinking, "Evan, that's not me.

[00:34:48]It's just uh it's a tough market." or "I already know this stuff." Wrong. That thinking is a trap by itself. I've coached thousands of entrepreneurs and the ones who stay broke always point fingers at the economy, their competition, anything but themselves.

[00:35:03]The winners, [snorts] they take responsibility. They look in the mirror and they fix what's holding them back.

[00:35:08]So, drop the excuses, at least for this video, and really listen. Even if you think you've heard it all, I guarantee there's at least one trap on this list you're caught [music] in right now. And if you could eliminate it, it could mean the difference between scraping by and actually building real wealth. So, let's do this. Here are 10 money traps that will keep you poor and how to break [music] out of each one.

[00:35:30]Trap number one, scarcity mindset. This is the fear of spending money or taking risks. The impulse to hoard every dollar. You tell yourself you can't afford to invest in growth, so you do nothing. And ironically, that guarantees you'll always be short on money. Here is your truth. Money is a tool, not a trophy to tuck under your mattress. If you're too afraid to use it, you'll never have more of it. Think about it.

[00:35:54]Uh if a farmer refuses to plant seeds because he's afraid of losing them, he'll never get a harvest. It's the same with your money. Sitting on it due to fear is a sure way to stay broke.

[00:36:03]Successful entrepreneurs have an abundance mindset. They invest in themselves and their business confidently. Even when I was struggling, I forced myself to invest in help. I hired someone for just an hour a day to take over tasks that he was better than me at, so I could focus on higher value work. Did it cost money I felt I didn't have? Yes. But freeing up that hour led to more growth and more money. The scarcity-minded you would never have done that. That you stays stuck. So, here's your action step. Next time you're scared to spend on something that could grow your business, a course, a tool, an employee, remember avoiding calculated risks is the riskiest move of all. If you want this year to be different, you have to loosen the grip.

[00:36:42]Invest in your growth or remain forever a servant to pennies.

[00:36:48]Chapter number two, believing money is not important. I don't care about money, I do it for passion. It sounds noble, right? It's also a recipe for staying poor. I'm all about mission. My channel exists to spread belief. But, if you don't make money, you can't keep going.

[00:37:03]Some entrepreneurs wear burnout and poverty like a badge of honor, as if making money would taint their purity.

[00:37:09]That's nonsense. Money is oxygen for your business. If you ignore it, your dream dies. I had this blind spot myself. At a mastermind, my peers told me, "Evan, we want to pay you more, but you haven't given us a way." It hit me that I was so focused on service, I hadn't built monetization into my mission. And I used to say, "I'll do it for free if I have to." And I meant it, but that mindset was holding me back from scaling my impact. I learned that money can't be your number one motivation, but it must be in your top five. If your mission really matters, you owe it to yourself to fund it properly. Think of money as the fuel or the your gasoline that you have on your fire. More fuel, bigger fire. Does running on fumes make you a martyr? No.

[00:37:51]It makes you a struggling amateur who might have to quit their dream and go back to a day job. So, your action step is start respecting money. Charge what you're worth. Create offers and products that bring in revenue, not because you're greedy, but because revenue equals longevity, equals impact. Money in your pocket means you get to keep serving, keep improving, keep living your purpose. Breathe life into your business by embracing profit not as the goal, but as the means to amplify your goal.

[00:38:20]Chapter number three, the get-rich-quick illusion. This one is deadly because it seduces you with flashy promises, crypto schemes, mean stocks, guaranteed six figures in 30 days courses. If you're chasing those, you're running on this hamster wheel, right? The reality is almost nobody wins that game. Studies show that over 97% of day traders lose money over time. Did you hear that again? You think you're the exception?

[00:38:41]The odds say that you're not. Trying to get rich quick is like trying to sprint in a marathon. You burn out or collapse financially. Wealth built fast rarely lasts. Look at the dot-com bust. Look at the crypto crashes. Fortunes made in months disappeared overnight for those who didn't have solid fundamentals. And psychologically, the more you chase instant rewards, the more you wire your brain for short-term thinking. Remember the famous Stanford marshmallow experiment? Kids who resisted eating one marshmallow immediately to get two later ended up with better grades, better jobs, and way more success decades later. Why? Because delayed gratification is a superpower. It means you can sacrifice now for a greater payoff later. If you lack that, you'll always snatch at pennies and miss out on dollars. So, your action step, commit to the long game. If you catch yourself saying, "Why am I not rich yet? I need a shortcut." Slap yourself, right?

[00:39:30]Figuratively. Decide to get rich for sure, but not to get rich quick. Build real value. Develop skills. Put in the reps. It might take longer, but when you get there, you'll stay rich. Every overnight success you admire took years of unseen work. Keep that in mind every time you're tempted by the next hot opportunity.

[00:39:50]Trap number four, stagnating your learning. The moment you think you've arrived or I know enough, you're done.

[00:39:56]The world is changing faster than ever.

[00:39:58]This year will belong to the innovators, the learners, the adapters, the tinkerers. If you're not obsessed with learning, you will be left behind. Maybe you've got a degree or some experience and you think that's enough.

[00:40:10]I'll tell you what I discovered. My business degree was practically useless when when came to real entrepreneurship.

[00:40:16]In my senior year at uh University of Toronto, I finally got a class on entrepreneurship, on small business, and the professor had never even run a business himself. While my classmates played it safe with uh case studies about fake coffee shops, I was out there running a real company at the time and struggling, and none of my professors could help me. I learned more from YouTube shows than an entire semester of lectures. That's how out of touch formal education was with entrepreneurship. And guess what? Today, the best teachers are on YouTube or podcasts or forums, people actually in the game sharing their up-to-the-minute insights. If you're not tapping into that, you're choosing ignorance. Meanwhile, technology is exploding. AI, social platforms, shifting market trends. You can't rely on what worked in 2016 or 2023. You need to be upskilling constantly. Read books, take courses, follow industry leaders, watch YouTube videos, experiment with new tools. The top CEOs read dozens of books a year, always hunting for one idea that gives them an edge. So, your action step, schedule daily learning.

[00:41:16]Yes, daily. Even 30 minutes of reading or watching a YouTube video or tutorial.

[00:41:20]Adopt a beginner's mindset. Assume that there's always something that you don't know, because there is. This year, ignorance will cost you more than ever, but if you keep learning, you won't just make more money, you'll future-proof your success.

[00:41:35]Trap number five, lifestyle inflation and looking rich. This trap is sneaky because society will clap for you while you fall into it. You make a bit of money and you immediately upgrade your lifestyle, bigger apartment, nicer car, expensive gadgets to look successful.

[00:41:50]After all, you deserve it, right? Here's the problem. When your income goes up, if your spending matches it, you're not growing wealth. You're just on a nicer treadmill now. I've seen entrepreneurs make $100,000 in revenue and spend 110k trying to appear like ballers. The math doesn't work. Even multimillionaires go broke from this. 78% of NFL players are either bankrupt or under serious financial stress within two years of retirement. These are people who earned millions per year and 60% of NBA players are broke within five years of leaving the league. How is that possible?

[00:42:23]Lifestyle inflation. They felt like they had to flex Lamborghinis and jewelry, spend like kings, help every second cousin and old friend who asked, and they blew their money. Wealth is silent.

[00:42:35]Poverty is loud. If you're spending money to prove to others that you have money, that's a fool's game. Real millionaires are investing into assets, not liabilities to stunt on Instagram.

[00:42:46]They're not buying depreciating toys on credit. They're reinvesting in their business and stocks and real estate, things that make money while they sleep.

[00:42:53]Meanwhile, the pretenders stay one hiccup away from complete disaster. So, your action step, cap your lifestyle.

[00:43:00]Pick a modest baseline and stick to it as your income grows. Instead of a fancy car, get a fancy investment portfolio.

[00:43:06]Let your results do the talking, not your Gucci belt. This year, economic ups and downs will hit the flashy spenders hardest. Be smart now so you're not selling your luxury junk later to pay your rent. Remember, you're building empires, not trying to look like a king for a day.

[00:43:24]Chapter number six, doing everything yourself. The one person army, the solopreneur who refuses to delegate, that mentality will keep you broke and exhausted. You might think you're saving money by not hiring, not outsourcing, not partnering, but you're actually stealing from your own future. Why?

[00:43:41]Because you're capping your growth to the hours that you personally can work.

[00:43:45]There are only so many hours in a day, and if you insist on being the hero who does it all, you will burn out before you ever build real wealth. I'll share a quick story. I met a YouTuber with 6 million subscribers, had a huge audience, and he had just hired his first virtual assistant because until then he'd been doing everything himself.

[00:44:03]The editing, the thumbnails, the emails, all of it. This guy was a rockstar on the outside, but behind the scenes, he was drowning in busy work. It blew my mind and it reinforced one of my core beliefs. You have to build a team if you want to go from just hustling to actual enterprise. And again, nobody does it as good as you, right? And paying others feels like a luxury when money's tight.

[00:44:24]But not hiring help when you're overloaded is a trap. Think about it. If you spend 10 hours a week doing $10 an hour task, that's $100 of value. If you paid someone $10 an hour to do it, that's $100 out of your pocket. But those 10 hours could be used to generate $1,000 of value or $10,000 doing higher level strategy, sales, product development. So, action step. Identify the one task that consumes your time and someone else could do at half your rate or better. Outsource it this month, even for a trial run. Start small if you have to. Hire freelancer for 5 hours a week.

[00:44:54]Your future self will thank you as you find yourself with more time to make real money. Remember, businesses are built by teams, not lone heroes. You're not just an entrepreneur, become a leader of people, even if it's one part-timer to start.

[00:45:09]Trap number seven, never asking for help or advice. Pride, fear of looking stupid, I have to figure it out on my own. These attitudes will silently rob you of your success. Listen, every great entrepreneur that you admire had mentors, coaches, advisors guiding them.

[00:45:24]Steve Jobs had Bill Campbell, Zuckerberg had Steve Jobs, Gates had Buffett in his corner. Meanwhile, you're over there Googling or ChatGPTing for hours just flailing in silence because you're too proud or too shy to ask someone who's been there for help. And I struggled with this too, I'm an introvert. I don't like bothering people. For years, asking for help was my biggest weakness, probably still is. I thought I had to do everything myself, back to trap number six. But once I started seeking guidance, everything started to change.

[00:45:49]I joined a mastermind group, I reached out to entrepreneurs I looked up to. And very often, people are willing to help.

[00:45:54]84% of CEOs say that having mentors prevented them from making costly mistakes and 69% of them made more profitable decisions thanks to mentor guidance. That's data. Even the top of the top lean on mentors to fast-track their learning. If the highest performers can benefit from advice, why on earth would you try to wing it alone?

[00:46:12]It's pure ego or ignorance. Both will keep you broke. So, action step, swallow your pride and actively seek out mentorship. This could mean reaching out to someone in your field that that you respect with a specific question, joining a local entrepreneur mastermind or meetup group, or even just posting your challenge in a community of your peers. Not asking is a guaranteed no.

[00:46:33]The worst that can happen is someone says they're too busy. So, what? Move on to the next. When I was stuck early on, I could have saved so much time if I had just asked someone who'd already built a business for advice instead of assuming the bank would help me or suffering in isolation. Don't let your pride or your fear keep you ignorant. This year, make it a rule, if you don't know, ask. Save yourself years of trial and error. Your net worth will often depend on your net worth. So, start building one that can guide and inspire you.

[00:47:06]Tip number eight, waiting for the savior or a sign. This one's a bit counterintuitive. It's when you wait for an outsider to rescue you, a bank loan, an investor, the perfect moment, instead of creating momentum yourself. It's the mindset of if only I had X, then I would succeed. And I see entrepreneurs fall into this trap all the time. They think a big investor is going to suddenly appear, write them a check, or a bank will just toss them tons of money because they had the courage to start a business. I made this mistake myself at 19. I walked into a bank, my head was held high and I said, "Hi, I'm starting a business. How can you help me?" expecting them to be as excited as I was. And the banker basically laughed me out of the door.

[00:47:42]They told me, "No loan without 3 years of history or huge collateral." I left feeling crushed like, "Oh my god, I'm going to fail. This is ridiculous." For a minute, I thought maybe that was it.

[00:47:54]Maybe I wasn't meant to be an entrepreneur if even the bank didn't believe in me. But, here's what I realized, nobody's coming to save you.

[00:48:01]That rejection was actually a gift because it forced me to get creative.

[00:48:05]Many people would have quit right there.

[00:48:07]In fact, a lot of new entrepreneurs do quit after their first big rejection or failure. They take it as a sign that it wasn't meant to be. That's the trap. The truth is, setbacks are normal. Rejection is normal. Waiting around for perfect conditions or someone else's money is a loser's game. If I'd waited for an investor or kept begging banks, I'd still be waiting. Instead, I bootstrapped. I cut expenses. I hustled for sales. We made alliances. Remember the idea of modeling Bill Gates's partnership strategy? Eventually, I didn't need the bank's money. My business funded itself. So, your action step. Whatever you're waiting for, stop waiting. Start doing. If you think you need funding, challenge yourself to launch a smaller version of your idea with whatever resources that you have right now. Prove that it works. Get some traction. If you're waiting for the economy to improve, find a way to serve people in this economy right now. If you're waiting for a permission or validation from some expert, give yourself permission. Here This video is your permission. The only savior you need is the person in the mirror. No more waiting for someday or someone.

[00:49:09]Successful people start before they're ready and they trust that they'll find out what they need along the way, not up front.

[00:49:18]Trap number nine, not managing your money.

[00:49:21]Look, it doesn't matter how much you make if you can't manage what you have.

[00:49:25]Plenty of entrepreneurs have high income and still end up broke because they don't know where their money is going.

[00:49:31]Ignoring your finances is a huge trap.

[00:49:33]Maybe find it boring, spreadsheets, budgets, taxes. So, you avoid it. Or you assume your cash flow is fine because sales are coming in. That's a big mistake. According to a US Bank study, 82% of businesses fail due to poor cash flow management. That means almost eight out of 10 businesses don't die from lack of ideas or even lack of customers, they die because the owners weren't on top of the money moving in and out. They run out of cash and boom, game over. You must know your numbers, your monthly expenses, your revenue, your profit margins, your your burn rate, if you're burning savings, all of it. When I started making a bit of money, I hated accounting. So, you know what I did? I didn't ignore it, I delegated it.

[00:50:16]One of the first things I let go of was doing my own books because I knew if I tried to handle it while hating it, I'd probably screw it up. I used Microsoft Money software to automate what I could and as soon as I could, I hired a part-time bookkeeper. I kept an eye on everything, but I left someone who loves numbers handle the details. So, that key point is I respected the numbers. You need to respect your numbers, too. If you're not a finance person, fine. But, the excuse I'm not good at math doesn't fly when your business goes under. So, action step.

[00:50:48]Today, make a simple financial dashboard for yourself. Track your monthly income, the expenses, your net profit. At the very least, you can use a spreadsheet, an app, I don't care. Just have visibility on it. Set a weekly date with yourself. Money Mondays, for example, to review and update your finances. Find one expense to cut or optimize and one area to potentially invest more in. And please, separate your personal and your business finances, right? Pay yourself a salary or draw, so you're not constantly mixing your funds and losing track of what's what. When you know your numbers, you can control them. They don't control you. Master this and you won't wake up one day surprised that you're out of cash. Instead, you'll wake up building true wealth systematically.

[00:51:32]And chart number 10, quitting too soon.

[00:51:35]The only guaranteed way to fail is to give up, right? Cliché? Maybe, but it's cliché for a reason, it's true. And most people still don't get it. Quitting early is the ultimate wealth killer.

[00:51:44]Every entrepreneur faces pain and doubt and darkness on the road to success.

[00:51:49]Those who push through eventually see light. Those who quit stay in the dark forever. And I nearly fell into this trap myself. As I told you, I almost quit my business in the first year when nothing was working. If I had stayed quit, you probably wouldn't know my name. I'd be working some job that I hate right now and none of the impact I've had would exist. I was this close to that reality and it scares me how many people's success stories end early because they walked away right before the breakthrough. It's digging for gold.

[00:52:15]Most people stop 3 ft from gold because it's taking longer than they thought.

[00:52:20]I say keep digging. Often the breakthrough comes just when you're at your lowest and ready to quit. If you give it one more big push. After I decided to stick with my business and model Bill Gates, our first win, that 13 and a half a thousand dollar deal, it came in not long after. That wasn't a coincidence. It was my persistence being rewarded and it taught me that a failure is just an event. It's not the end unless you make it the end by quitting.

[00:52:41]I try now to use my almost quit story to coach others that quantity leads to quality. You have to put in the reps to churn through the failures to get to the success. If you bail after a handful of tries, you never develop mastery. You never hit the tipping point where it starts to rain money. So your action step is make a commitment this year that you won't quit on anything important out of frustration or fear. If you're going to quit something, quit making excuses.

[00:53:04]But don't quit on your dream. Whenever you feel like giving up, remember why you started and picture yourself 1 year from now if you keep going versus if you stop. And use the pain of potential regret as fuel. Because if you persist through 10 failures, you might find success on number 11. But if you quit after three, you've guaranteed failure.

[00:53:22]So keep going, adjust your strategy, learn from the setbacks, reread chapter number seven about asking for help, but keep going. Persistence is undefeated in the long run. Winners are just ex-losers who refuse to quit. And most importantly, don't just watch this video passively. Do the work to call yourself out and improve. Most people won't even admit they have flaws to fix. You are.

[00:53:43]That already sets you apart from the masses who will just let another year go by and live in the reruns of the same mistakes. Now, it's on you to take action. Knowing these traps is step one.

[00:53:52]Doing something about them is step two.

[00:53:54]You've got this opportunity right now to set new habits, a new standard for how you handle money and success. So, take it. To learn the seven habits to make this year your best year ever, check the video right there next to me. I think you'll love it. Continue to believe and I'll see you there.

[00:54:10]>> Success this year for you comes down to one thing, your habits. Most entrepreneurs say they want the best year, but then do the same things as last year. If you change nothing, nothing [music] changes.