Back in 2005, I didn’t even have a savings account. Worse, the only way I knew how much I had was when I went to an ATM and made a withdrawal. I was putting $25 a month into a mutual fund because that’s all I could afford. I was newly married, and knew absolutely nothing about money.
How to become a millionaireGetty
But now I’m a millionaire. How did it happen?
There are about 10 million millionaires in the U.S. which means only about 3% of Americans make the cut, and I wanted to be one of them. To do it, I had to develop five key relationships that are common to most millionaires. But there was also another group I knew I had to avoid.
Let’s look at the five positive key relationships first, then hold the negative one to the end.
1. First You Need A Coach
Let’s start by defining what a coach is. I’m a big fan of Michael Jordan, and I absolutely love his definition:
“A coach is someone that sees beyond your limits and guides you to greatness.”
That’s what everyone needs!
When I started working as a financial advisor I worked for another advisor who was a million-dollar producer. That’s a coveted title in the financial advisor universe, and he was pretty much my first coach. Whenever I had questions, he was my go-to person.
But one day he confessed something that surprised me: he had hired a coach.
When I started my own firm, I remembered what he said, and decided to hire a coach of my own.
My first “coach” was joining The Strategic Coach program, by Dan Sullivan. It was a business coaching program for entrepreneurs, which was exactly what I needed.
It wasn’t cheap. In fact, it was somewhere around $9,000 per year. And I was in it for five years. When I started, I had no idea if it would work. It was a true leap of faith, but in the end, that leap paid off many times over.
According to Forbes contributor Dede Henley, a career coach “A coach will nudge you out of your comfort zone and give you straight feedback without worrying about whether or not you like it. A coach is a thought partner in really powerful ways.”
There are different ways you can hire a coach. One is to join a group program like I did, but you can also do a one-on-one. However you set it up, it’s one of the essential relationships you need to develop early in your life if you want to become a millionaire.
2. A Mentor
This is probably the most common relationship millionaires develop. But there’s a big misconception that it needs to be an in-person arrangement. It doesn’t. You can get mentoring from blogs, YouTube videos, and books.
My earliest mentors were popular successful authors, like Robert Kiyosaki, Dave Ramsey and Tim Ferris. In each case, their books gave me the inspiration, ideas, thoughts, and willingness to want more from life.
I once did an interview with writer/blogger Jeff Goins, who revealed seeking mentors. As a result, he went from making $30,000 per year in a nonprofit, to making $150,000 in six months. He did it by seeking out another blogger who had achieved what Jeff wanted to achieve.
That’s the basic concept of a mentor. It’s someone who’s one or two steps ahead of you, and can show you how to get where he or she is. It can be difficult to find a suitable mentor, especially if you’re brand new in a business. You’ll need to find a way to add value to your mentor’s business, and also to work on his or her schedule.
I’ve used several mentors over the years, depending on the specific business venture. For my blog, I worked with Ryan Guina and Jim Wang (who sold his first blog for several million dollars), and they helped me move my own blog onto the fast track.
When I wanted to get my books published, I worked with author and motivational speaker Ben Newman. He showed me how he got his books published with Wiley, walking me through all the steps. In the speaking arena, I worked with professional speaker Grant Baldwin. I recorded my speeches for him, so he could tell me what I was doing wrong, and what I needed to do to improve my delivery.
The point is, you can hook up with a mentor for just about anything you want to do. It’ll enable you to reach any goal a lot faster than the usual trial-and-error treadmill.
3. A Sherpa
This is someone who has crossed the $7 million mark and can guide you, and is willing to meet with you and talk with you and show you and guide you about how they did it.
When I opened my own business, I didn’t have the financial advisor who guided me when I was an employee. I had to find coaches and mentors to help me grow my business. As my business grew, I was able to get to know and sit down with some amazing people who guided me forward. They were willing to peel back the curtain of their businesses, and show me how they were doing it.
Michael Hyatt was both a mentor and a sherpa to me. I was in a mastermind group with him. He had a multi-million dollar venture and he showed me the ins and outs.
Josh Axe was another sherpa for me. He had an amazing multimillion dollar online business, and when I first met him his goal was to eventually sell it for $1 billion (you read that right – billion not million!). But he’s since increased that to $3-$4 billion. And this guy is only in his mid- to late-30s. He’s so laser-focused that it’s not a matter of if he’ll achieve that goal, but when. One of the most important lessons he taught me is me how he says “yes” to some projects and “no” to others. That’s one of the most underrated disciplines in business.
If you want to become a millionaire, you’ll need to find some sherpas to help you find your way there. 4. A Battle Buddy
This concept was introduced to me during my nine years in the Army National Guard. A battle buddy is someone who’s going to be there for you no matter what. Most importantly, they’re going to speak truth when you need to hear it. This person is not a cheerleader who will cheer you on no matter what, but rather someone will give you praise when it’s deserved, and slap you around when you’re about to make a mistake.
A battle buddy will keep you grounded, and remind you where you came from, what you stand for, and what’s important to you. He or she helps you avoid getting distracted by the chase for money, while putting your family and friends aside.
Put another way, it’s someone who keeps you from becoming obsessed with money to the exclusion of all else. That’s important because the last thing you need to do is get lost on the way to becoming a millionaire. Money’s important, but it can’t be the only thing that matters.
5. A Mastermind Group
A mastermind group is something like an intentional peer group. It’s made up of largely like-minded people who are in similar (but not necessarily identical) paths in life. Some members of the group may be a few steps ahead of you, while others are a few steps behind. Each bring their own unique talents and insight to the group.
According to Forbes contributor Stephanie Burns, “Once you are involved in a mastermind, that feeling of “being alone” while running your business is gone. The other members of the group turn into business advisors of sorts and vice versa.”
The purpose of being in a mastermind group is to surround yourself with people who are “in it with you”, at least indirectly. They know what you’re dealing with, including your challenges and struggles.
For example, if you’re an entrepreneur, you’ll want to be in a group of other entrepreneurs. They don’t have to be in exactly the same business, which isn’t even a bad thing. As an entrepreneur, you’ll eventually be in different businesses, and your group members will be there to help.
The advantage of a mastermind group is that it gives you an opportunity to pick other people’s brains. You can run ideas by the group to see if they make sense. You can ask if an idea you’re considering is worth trying. Being part of the group gives you people to go to to share ideas when you’re not sure what to do. And as they discuss their ideas, you may stumble on some new opportunities. It’s synergy at its finest.
Now let’s move on to the one type of person you need to avoid…
…The Blue Falcon
This is another term I learned in the Army. A blue falcon is someone who sets out to ruin you. They don’t care about you, they just want to continually tear you down. They’ll even remind you of your past mistakes, and every great idea you had that didn’t work out.
There’s only one way to deal with blue falcons: you have to cut them out of your life! If you don’t, they’ll drag you down, which is their basic purpose.
I’ve had a ton of blue falcons in my life, and I had to tune them out and just get them out of my life. People like that are toxic and can ruin you. They make you think small, probably because they do. As the saying goes, misery loves company, and you don’t need that kind of company if you hope to become a millionaire.
Final Thoughts on Five People You MUST Have in Your Life if You Want to Become a Millionaire
I never would never have achieved millionaire status if it wasn’t for these five key relationships. The people, the conversations, the wealth of information, is worth a lot more than $1 million.
Do you have these key relationships in your life? If you don’t, do what you need to get them into your life. Figure out what you need to do to get a coach, a mentor, a sherpa or a battle buddy on your team, or to join a mastermind group. They’re the most important steps to reaching millionaire status.
Most people don’t know about them and how important they are. And that’s probably why there aren’t more millionaires.