The Four Pillars of Wealth

by Larry John

 

One thing I know for sure is that most people want to get rich. Some want power, some want fame, but almost all of us want money. So I came up with a "rich formula" that is 100% successful.

 

This formula, if precisely followed, will assure you will become rich. We have been told, "If you work hard, you will make money." And that's true, but the question is, how much money? I have seen a lot of people who work hard at McDonalds, Wal-Mart, Taco Bell, Ace Hardware, or in Real Estate, Insurance, Advertising, Training Horses, Cooking, Building Homes, etc.

 

They work 10-12 hours days, 6-7 days a week, and never have two nickels to rub together at the end of the month. So, looking at this in a pragmatic way of thinking, just working hard and long certainly doesn't insure you will get rich. Some say that the key to getting rich is to "work smart" not "work hard."

 

I think I know what they mean when they say that. This "work smart" concept has been explained to me as doing the things that are important; not just the things that are urgent. I will admit that this is definitely a step in the right direction, but one step is not enough to get rich.

 

I have been looking and evaluating all the rich people I know to come up with a real formula to make money and keep money. It's like in science: the formula for water is H2O, or 2 parts Hydrogen and one part Oxygen.  If you have HO2 you will have something totally different.

 

I don't know what HO2 is, but it ain't water. The formula for water is what it is and you can't change it. So what is the pragmatic formula for getting rich?

 

Now, when I say get rich I am not talking about "doing well, getting by, doing Okay or even doing fine." I am talking about rich - that point in life when money doesn't rule your life; that point when you rule money or when you are not attached to money. 

 

That point in life at which you do the things you want to do, when you want to do them without worrying about how you will afford to do them. I don't need to tell you when you are rich; you will know rich when you are rich. It is like someone asking you, "When will I know when I have arrived?"

 

If you have to ask, you haven't. If you have to ask if you are rich, you aren't. Being rich is not a number; it is a state of mind. But believe me, when you are you know it. So, here is the pragmatic formula that if followed, will make you rich. Rich rests upon four giant pillars of wealth. Using one or two of the pillars will help you make more money, but if you use all four, you will get rich.

 

So don't say you don't need one of them. You need all four pillars to be rich.  Each of the pillars has a rule associated with it. Keep the rule - get rich. It is that simple.

 

The rule of the first pillar is "Whatever you decide to do be twice as good at half the price!" Now that was easy, wasn't it? You could have come up with that simple rule.

 

What I mean here is that regardless of the business or service you offer; don't offer it for half the price, but not quite as good. NO! NO! NO. It must be twice as good as the competition, but at half the price.

 

You figure out how to do that. Wal-Mart and Target sell the same stuff you can buy at other stores, but it costs a whole lot less at Wal-Mart and Target. They figured out how to do that and even though some people hate to shop there, they do. Sure, Wal-Mart puts the "little guy" out of business, but HELLO! This is what capitalism is all about.

 

Capitalism is just another name for the war of Businesses. But I digress.

 

It used to be said that if you wanted to make a million dollars, "build a better mousetrap." That may be true if the better mousetrap costs less than the old standard mousetrap. But, if the new and better mousetrap costs twice as much, then you have a whole lot of selling to do to convince "Joe Public" that your mousetrap is indeed better and worth the extra money.

 

Remember less is always best when it comes to the mind of man. We are greedy souls. Sure quality sells, but sell TWICE the quality at half the price and you will sell much more, and you will sell it easier and faster. You are on your way to getting rich.

 

 

But it doesn't stop there. The second pillar has as its rule: "Share your knowledge." What this means is to teach others how to do what you do.

 

In other words, if you are a great landscaper, teach others to do what you do until they are as good as you are, or better. If you are a great builder of children's play houses, teach others to build children's play houses as well as you build or better than you build them.

Another way of looking at this; as soon as you are the best basketball player on the court, teach someone to be as good as or better than you and start coaching. You can never get rich if all your personal time, energy and resources are tied up in "doing the do." You can't get rich if you are so busy "doing" landscaping that you don't have time to get more business.

 

As soon as you can see that you are 50-60% "busy", start "sharing your knowledge."  Don't wait until you are so busy that you don't have time to "share your knowledge." This is important.

 

The third pillar has as its rule: "Share the wealth." What this means is that you have to be willing to let go of the lion's share of the money so you can make more money. Make others rich so you can become rich. It is better to get 25-35% of a large sum of money, than it is to get 100% of a small sum of money.

 

Share your knowledge (pillar two) and then share your wealth (pillar three) and start making your money on the "quantity and the quality" of your work; only you personally are not doing this quality work.

 

You have taught people, as many as are necessary to get the work done, to do the quality work you would have done if you still did the work and for their work you are willing to share the wealth.

 

And the final fourth pillar's rule: "You have to be willing to stop doing what you did and only work at getting more DO to DO."

 

In other words you have to be willing to stop doing landscaping and never mow another lawn and spend most of your time getting more jobs for your people to do. In other words, you have to be willing to sell your services and stop doing them.

 

This is the easiest thing to teach and the hardest rule for people to do. In other words, you need to be the President of "starving artists." However, you don't want to be a starving artist.

 

If you loved to paint, and even if you made money selling your paintings, you can't paint any longer. You can teach people to paint, and pay them to paint, but you can't paint.

 

You spend your time selling the paintings painted by the starving artists, but you don't paint. You have to be willing to stop doing the do and keep getting more DO to DO.

 

And it doesn't stop there. Soon you will hire others and "share your knowledge" again, and show them how to sell more business like you have been doing, and they will sell more and more business so your people can make more and more money, because you shared with them the knowledge of how to do this.

 

Now you are king. Yes, "the king is in the counting house counting all his money." And what did you do?

 

1.      You were TWICE as good at Half the Price.

2.      You shared your knowledge and taught people to do what you do so they could make money too.

3.      You shared the wealth keeping only 25-35% of profits and paying your people the rest.

4.      You stopped "doing the do" and started only selling the "DO."

 

Again, at some point you won't even sell anymore and will just allow others to make a rewarding and good living while you live in richland.

 

Being rich may not make you any happier, but it will allow you to stop worrying about money, which may "enrich" your life by mentoring others so they can make money.

 

One thing for sure, if you have never been rich don't try and tell me that money doesn't matter. It may not matter if you go to Maui and bask in the sun on the white sands at the Grand Wailea Resort.

 

However, once you have "been there and done that," you will never say you don't care if you go there. For those who have "been there and done that," you know what I mean. For those that haven't "been there and done that," you can say you don't care, but you should care.

 

And so it is with rich. When you are rich, you want others to be rich too. It's that good. Remember, being rich is not a number. It's a state of mind. Only you will know when you get there. When you are in that rich state of mind; you will know it. Think about it.

Larry John is the international author of Think Rich to Get Rich, a detailed outlining of the 4 pillars of wealth, and Larryisms, an introduction to pragmatic thinking. He owns a successful advertising agency and enjoys his many entrepreneurial plots and adventures.