The 17 best money rules for building wealth over time

You can win at making money. No, I don't have a way for you to get rich quickly or a multilevel marketing program that you can join. I don't have a course or an e-book for sale. Making money has a set of unspoken rules and principles, just like any other game. I've spent more than 100 hours researching the ways to make money that I've used to increase my income and net worth.

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To be wealthy, you need to have a growth mindset. A fixed mindset has killed more financial dreams than lack of talent ever will. If you don't believe that you can get rich, you never will.

If you can't handle $1,000, you can't handle $10,000, either. It's not about how much money you have but how you think about it. No matter what tax bracket you're in, how you think about money is still important. Change how you think about money to change how you handle it.

Your life will be more stable if you only have one source of income. But the second income will change the way you think. And your life will change because of your third source of income.

If you think like an employee, you won't make money. A person who thinks like an employee trades time for money, asks for permission to make things and begs for a raise and a promotion. The time of employees is rented out for money.

Instead, spend more time thinking like a business owner. Others only see problems, but entrepreneurs only see business opportunities. They don't wait around for instructions. They don't ask for permission, but sometimes they ask for forgiveness. They are in charge of their own money.

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Your income will never grow faster than how fast you learn. My business keeps growing the more I learn. When I stop putting money into my own growth, my business will fail. Most people die by age 30, but they don't get buried until they are 70.

You don't rise to the level of your financial goals; instead, you fall to the level of your financial systems. First, you set up your money systems. Then your financial systems force you to do things.

You don't need permission. Starting a business is easy because there are no gatekeepers and even less in the way. I started a niche consulting business that makes six figures with just a laptop, WiFi, and half a brain. No one told me I couldn't do it. I just did it. You, too, can.

Think like a business investor. Take small, calculated risks that don't have a lot to lose but a lot to gain. You don't know which risks are worth taking. But you can improve your chances of winning by giving it more tries. The biggest risk is not taking any. Use your money to buy more time for yourself. "The only thing that makes a person rich or poor is how they spend their time." — Robert Kiyosaki.

Most people know that they are a mix of the five people they are closest to. But they still choose to hang out with losers who are bad with money. Most people know that their bosses don't care about them at all. Still, most will be very loyal.

Making your first $10 online validates your skillset. Your market is proven when you make your first $100 online. When you make your first $1,000 online, your business model is proven. When you make your first $10,000 online, it proves that you can grow.

Also read: You Can Learn Anything with These 10 Mental Models

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Keep an eye on your spending, but focus on making more money. After a certain point, cutting costs doesn't help as much as it used to. Most of your time and effort should go toward making more money.

Use leverage and scale to your advantage. With leverage, your time isn't tied to what you make. Scale separates what you do from what you earn. With enough leverage and scale, you could make thousands of dollars every month by writing a blog post for an hour.

After you have leverage, you should work on getting a wide range of skills. A large number of skills will beat a small number of skills. Combine disparate skills to provide unique value at scale. In addition to being a good management consultant, I can write interesting blogs, post on social media, and speak in public. Because not many people can do the same thing, I was able to start a consulting business that makes six figures in just six months.

If you're not making money with WIFI, you're making a big mistake with your money. "4.9 billion people are using the internet. Can you find four jobs that would pay $70 a day? If so, you have a business worth $100,000. "It's not simple, but it's not as hard as you might think," writes Justin Welsh.

Once you've won, you should know that you can stop playing. If you make more money, your money problems will go away. It won't help you feel better or make your relationships better.

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