How to make a million

When I was younger, I remember always telling myself, I want to be a millionaire by the age of 30, that was my goal. I didn’t know how I was going to do it and I didn’t know why I wanted to. All I knew is that it was the most important thing to do in my life. I look back now and think I was crazy, there are things in life much more important than money. Whilst I don’t see anything wrong with anyone having this as their goal, it's important to understand this “mission”.

My Mum, who is the wisest and most influential person in my life, used to make me stop and think whenever I made statements or declarations. She used to always make me pause to think of the reason behind it; to really understand why I wanted to do certain things.

So, when I used to say to her, “I want to make a million” or “I want to be a multi-millionaire", she used to ask why.  I would always say “I want to look after you Mum”. I wanted to give her a perfect life, everything she may want. Mum would smile and say "that’s nice", then tell me that she has no requirement for anyone to make a million to look after her.

My mum explained that’s not what life is about, life is not about chasing money.  She would tell me that our family, our ancestors, never chased money. Any wealth acquired by family members was never sought. I didn’t understand what she meant. I used to just say “okay Mum” and then carried on trying to work out how to make a million.

Every time I made this statement she would give me hints to prompt me to think about why I felt I needed this money.  The truth is I didn't need a million, no-one needs a million to survive.

You should never make making a million your aim in life. If you look at your life right now, answer honestly, is a million essential to your wellbeing?

The fact is, you will find that the majority of people who become multi-millionaires or even billionaires may not have made it a focus to become that.  The resulting millions were a by-product of whatever their true focus was.

For example, if we look at the singer Beyonce, her focus was to become a dancer which then led to singing.  She was a child when she started to dance and sing. She wanted to perform. She did not sit there as a young child with ten business or sales books planning to make a million, she wanted to dance and sing. The millions she has made is a by-product of what she enjoyed… performing.  She made millions because people wanted to pay to watch her perform.

The football player Pele was arguably one of the best football players that ever existed.  In the era he was playing, the amount of money he received may well be turned down by a reserve team player today.  If he were to play football in this era, he would earn millions. His goal was to play football, he loved the game. The money he earned was a by-product of what he was doing.  You see, people try and chase the millionaire status and find that they don’t make a million. Millions of pounds or dollars is not to be chased, whatever it is you are passionate about is what you should focus on.

If you make your sole focus to become a millionaire, you will soon find out that you are not in control of whether you can achieve this or not.

Why are some football players millionaires and others are not?  Why are some singers millionaires and others are not?  People do not control whether or not they make money, central banks are the ones that can do that! People can only control what they do; what they are passionate about. It’s the consumer that decides whether they make money. You can buy a house and value it at a million, but it is only really worth a million if someone is prepared to pay a million for it.