10 Mistakes Standing Between You and Your First Million
Becoming a millionaire is not as hard as you may believe, but your lifestyle and behaviour may be pulling you down the ladder in your pursuit to making your first million.
If you are dedicated, focused and patient enough, success will become a recurring order in your life.
I am not only an entrepreneur but a worker on a monthly pay and as such making my first million was not so hard but bad investments came along the way. We all make mistakes but accepting your mistakes, learning from them and growing out of it to survive are part of a successful entrepreneur’s journey.
Upon a research I made, I found out that the most common mistakes entrepreneurs make is basically behavioural. Your lifestyle can depict your success.
John Rampton, an entrepreneur.com contributor confirmed these behavioural mistakes entrepreneurs make in one of his article and I have selected ten of such mistakes I believe is standing between the successes of every entrepreneur.
Below are the 10 major mistakes standing between you and your first million as an entrepreneur;
1. Not thinking the right way.
As Napoleon Hill discovered in his landmark 1937 book Think and Grow Rich, wealthy individuals think differently than the average person. After interviewing 1,200 of the wealthiest individuals in the world, self-made millionaire Steve Siebold agrees with Hill’s findings. They include:
- They believe poverty is the root of all evil.
- They recognize that selfishness can be a virtue.
- They have an action mentality.
- They acquire specific knowledge.
- They dream about the future.
- They follow their passion.
- They enjoy challenges.
- They use other people’s money.
- They focus on earning, not saving.
- They know when to take risks.
In short, if you want to become a millionaire, start changing the way you think about money and success.
2. Being too concerned about perfection.
Here’s one of the most important and valuable lessons I’ve learned in life –nothing is perfect. The sooner you accept that, the sooner you can move forward instead of being stuck in one place.
Related: 10 Causes of Business Failures
If you’re starting a business, the more time you spend perfecting your product or service, the more time your competitors have to tap into your market and take away potential customers. Don’t hesitate to experiment. Get to market as soon as you can. You can always work out the kinks later while you’re still making a profit.
3. Spending everything you make.
You just received a fat six-figure check. It’s tempting to go out and buy a luxury car. The thing is, wealthy people know how to live below their means, as opposed to spending everything that they just made. Many wealthy people, such as Warren Buffet, live in modest homes and drive practical cars.
4. Setting unrealistic expectations.
While the wealthy definitely dream big, they also set realistic expectations. They’re well aware that they’re not going to become millionaires overnight. It takes a lot of hard work and patience to achieve their goals.
As any marathon runner will tell you, you can’t expect to run 26 miles without the proper training and conditioning. Review the progress you’ve already made and where you’re headed.
5. Following others blindly.
It can be incredibly beneficial to seek mentors or read words of wisdom from those who have struck it rich. The thing is, what worked for them may not work for you. For example, launching a company like Apple or Microsoft may not work today. So, following how Jobs and Gates became successful step-by-step isn’t going to help your subscription-based cleaning service.
Understand what works for you and your business and how you can be successful in that industry.
