Okay, now we're getting somewhere! By this point, you can probably agree that inheriting money, winning the lotto and getting a high-paying job are realistically not how to become rich. So what about freelancing or working for yourself?
The short answer is yes, you can become filthy, stinkin' rich by being self-employed.
But…(there's always a but)
Don't just close your browser and say, Now I know how to become rich: I'll just start a business! Instead, you need to start a very specific kind of business: one that can be leveraged. Let's delve into what that means by looking at two examples.
Example #1: Jessica
Jessica owns a website design company. She's the sole employee and has several clients who pay her to help with their online presence. While she gets paid very well for what she does, Jessica can't seem to earn more than $10,000 per month. She would love to make more money, but she simply does not have the time to take on more projects. Jessica takes pride in her work and wants each client's website to be absolutely perfect. She worries that working with additional clients would lessen the quality of her services.
While earning $10,000 per month is certainly enough for Jessica's lifestyle, she has one major problem: she hasn't taken any time off from work in months. She hesitates to take a vacation because her clients might require her services while she's gone. If she doesn't give them what they want and when they want it, they might take there business elsewhere. Jessica feels stuck and can't seem to find a way to grow her business without tending to it everyday.
Example #2: Shane
Shane also owns a website design company. However, he knows very little about designing websites. Instead, he employes three other designers who do the work. Shane also has a marketing manager who drives business to the firm though internet advertising. Because of its marketing and volume of staff, Shane's company can take on over a dozen projects each month. As such, it earns over $20,000 every two weeks. Much of the revenue pays for salaries and overhead costs, but the rest is used to hire more designers. Shane knows that more designers will equal more sales, so his goal is to add a couple of more members to the team every so often.
After a couple of years Shane's company has established itself as a real brand. Customers love the quality of its work and business keeps rolling in. Shane continues to reinvest most of the earnings into hiring and training more website designers, and he soon has a staff of 30 people. The firm is earning $600,000 per month and he is getting paid handsomely.
Since the business is growing so quickly, Shane knows that he can't be everywhere at one time. So, he hires three managers to take on many of his responsibilities. This way, he can focus on what he does best and can leave the rest to his team. Shane's goal is to eventually have the managers completely run the company while he collects dividend payments from it.
