Want to make money? Then go and get a job at the Royal Mint. They are the only ones that are allowed to make money in this country, the rest of us can only exchange things for it.
This is a serious point. We use this phrase “making money,” without thinking too much about the meaning. Businesses do not make money. They create something of value, then exchange this for money. The difference between what the product/service cost to make and the price the customer paid is the profit – the bit they “make.”
Every time money changes hands in the marketplace, something of value has been created. If you want the money to make its way into your wallet, you have to create something of value for the amount you wish to receive.
If you want to earn a million pounds, you either have to create something really big for one person (worth a million pounds to them) or lots of small things (worth a pound to them) for a million people. Most people find somewhere in between.
A crucial difference in the way people think is between the scarcity mindset, and the abundance mindset.
Those that have the scarcity mindset believe that there are only a limited amount of resources on the planet, and we have to fight it out. If someone has more, that means someone has to have less. This is called a zero-sum game in Game Theory (worth reading up on).
However, the abundance mindset believes that there are an unlimited amount of resources – because we can create more from less. They don’t see other people as competitors, but potential partners – and money as a reward for creativity.
If you look at the World we live in today, and compare it to 1,000 years ago, it is impossible to say that we are not much wealthier on average.
The scarcity mindset usually leads to an obsession with money, but (paradoxically) a lack of it. If you focus on the “making money” aspect, you will get distracted by every business/investment opportunity that will come along. Without a non-financial “big picture” to work towards, you won’t have a direction and focus.
People that have making money as their number one goal usually get dragged into gambling, and questionable business practices, simply because they concentrate on asking the question, “what am I getting?” rather than, “what am I giving?”
Focus on creating something of great value to other people – something they would be willing to exchange money for. Only then, will the money start to appear.