Everyone Can Be a Millionaire

Before I even begin, let me first share the context of this episode. There are so many people struggling financially in America, which used to include us. I did not come from money. I have never made a lot of money. I am not currently a millionaire. "Ken, why are you teaching this topic?" In a matter of speaking, I am teaching it through my podcast. But the real credit goes to my friend Greg Shepard of Dallas Maids. His interview called "Sail Around the World" was a powerful example of how to think and solve problems in your business. Several months ago, I had the opportunity to hang out with Greg in Dallas for a few hours. Greg is a millionaire, many times over. He is very modest, so I clearly won't share his numbers. I will, however, share his mindset on money and becoming a millionaire. It was the simplest and most believable path I've ever heard to attaining wealth. His mindset is not unique. In fact, most money guides and gurus teach it already. Greg taught me 3 simple steps that every single person can take (no matter where they are from) to attain wealth during their lifetime. And that's the key  word... "lifetime". Wealth can be overnight and fast, but not usually. The prevailing mindset now on wealth now is that it's lucky and immediate... right place, right time. It's the lottery mentality. Greg taught me a powerful lesson that day in Dallas. I started implementing it and teaching it to my kids. Now I want to share it with you. This will rock you with its simplicity.

What do you need to create wealth? Let's reference the late, Napoleon HIll. You need to "Think and Grow Rich". There is a mental mindset you need to have on work, time, and money that allows you to conceive ideas that you can take action on. You need to believe that it is possible because without belief, you won't take the level of action required to convert an idea into wealth. You also won't be able to attract committed people to your vision that will help you accomplish it. John Maxwell says this. "A leader that lacks confidence has a team that lacks commitment." A strong mental mindset will produce the ideas. Strong ideas with action will build your belief. Results from your action will increase your belief. Increased belief produces confidence. This is where we need to get to. Now, I'll tie this back to my favorite quote in "Think and Grow Rich". "Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve." I love this quote... always have since the first time I read it in 2002. Now that you have a basic premise of what it takes to create wealth, I'll share Greg's very simple and practical advice that he has followed in his life.

There are 3 steps to building wealth. Everyone can do these 3 steps. Therefore, everyone can be a millionaire.

1. Put Time to Work for You - No matter where you are, start here. Get to work and earn as much as you're able to earn. Create a budget and live on less than you earn. Invest as much as you can while you're young. Here's an example that is mind-blowing and we implement this with our kids. They start investing in mutual funds at 13 with the goal to reach $40,000 in their portfolio by age 22. Why? You can start collecting social security in America today at age 62, although waiting until 66 or 70 yields more retirement income. An article in U.S. News reported that the average retirement age in America is 61 in 2022 with that age expected to increase to 66 in the coming decades. Let's set the retirement age for my simple calculation at 62. Let's also assume an average rate of return of 9%. This is reasonable as the stock market has  done better than this over its 100+ year history. This number is all over the board. The person that can invest $40,000 by age 22 can literally stop investing at 22 and let it grow for 40 years to $1.25M. That's insanely simple. Anyone can retire from whatever they do during their career with a guaranteed $1M nest egg as millionaires if they start working, saving, and investing young enough. Our kids start at 13 with a $1,000 investment. Our 17-year-old has been working, earning, saving, and investing for 4 years and is over $15,000 so far.  He can easily invest $6,000 per year from now to age 22 to hit that goal we set when he was 13. Your kids can do the same. You can still do it. It's true that many of us have lost out on the 8th wonder of the world known as compound interest by wasting our seed money over the years. We can still accomplish wealth at retirement. Did you know that the current Roth IRA max contribution is $6,000 per person under 50 and $7,000 over 50? If you are 40 years old and have $0 in investments, you can start maxing your Roth from 40 to 65 years old and have just over $1M. It's not too late. I'll make this even more fun. What if that 22-year-old that saved up $40,000 continued to invest $1,000 per month through age 62? He would accumulate $5.5M! Here are two books you can reference for solid money and time compounding mindset on this first step. Dave Ramsey hits this point all the time. "Your income is your greatest wealth building tool." Check out Dave's book, "The Total Money Makeover" for his simple approach to living below your means, getting out of debt, and building wealth. Thomas Stanley wrote the book, "The Millionaire Next Door". Thomas talked about the traits of UAWs, AAWs, and PAWs (Under, Average, and Prodigious Accumulators of Wealth). The differences between them is not where they come from, but how they view, acquire, and handle money. The UAWs spend all that they earn, while the PAWs live modestly while accumulating money over time and allowing time to work for them. Let me summarize this vital step. Every person listening to this can absolutely complete this millionaire step. Therefore, start here. I followed this from age 17 to 23 and then not again until age 43. I lost 20 years due to a massive accumulation of debt. Don't do that! We're back on track now! And so are our kids!
2. Be the Landlord, Not the Tenant - I loved the simplicity Greg shared this one with. There are so many approaches to investing in real estate. I am not going to go there. I really liked what Greg did because it spoke to the common, everyday guy like me. I could have done this. I should have done this. I can still do this and so can you! Greg was a hard-working computer IT guy after college. While he was single, he accomplished Step 1. He also lived WAY below his means and purchased his first home in his early 20's. Greg worked hard to pay it off over time. By the time he started a family, that starter home was no longer ideal. He could have sold it, but he held the property and rented it out. His family purchased a larger home. They repeated this process at least once more. Greg now owns multiple properties that he has little to no debt on. I don't know how much his properties are worth, but I know his real estate portfolio is over $1M. Greg could sell these properties and re-invest or he could continue earning monthly income from renters, invest the rental income into any of the 3 steps. His portfolio will grow every year and probably be worth nearly double by the time he retires. It's incredibly simple to me and a natural continuation of the first step. I did not follow this! We have rented for all 20 years of our marriage with an average rent of $1400. That's $336,000 in total rent. This makes me want to vomit. That's a house! It's not too late for us. We're working and saving now to start this process in 2023 or 2024.
3. Build Systems & Teams - This is the alluring step that most want to acquire wealth by. In full disclosure, I totally ignored steps 1 & 2 from ages 23 - 43 with the hopes that I'd make it big in a business of my own. I wanted the wealth and freedom of a big business with other people doing the work since I was a kid. I didn't think it was possible, so I went to college to work for someone else. When we started our own business, I wasn't an adequate leader to build the systems and teams required to have the type of company that would produce wealth and freedom. Greg has and I believe it's because of his mindset about money. He took the simple route to becoming a millionaire with steps 1 and 2. This built his belief and confidence that he needed for step 3 to work. Greg started a maid service and worked incredibly hard. He grew it to over a million dollars in revenue in a few years with incredible systems to acquire leads, hire & train employees, and run the office. Greg duplicated his model with 2 other maid services and now has ownership in 3 cleaning companies. Greg has an incredible income and level of freedom as a result of building great systems and teams. You can create this with any product or service. I'm only sharing Greg's experience as this is a cleaning podcast.  Read Robert Kiyasaki's "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" and "Cash Flow Quadrant" for great mindset here. Personally, I ran solo businesses for 20 years. I could never take advantage of step 3 that way. We've recently started the process of building systems and teams. We are on track in this step now as well.

I have been thinking on this conversation with Greg for months. He is not a financial coach or guru. He is an everyday American entrepreneur that understood simple math as a 20-year-old. He understood that he could become very wealthy if he was willing to play the long-game of working hard, creating cash flow, and investing in his future. He understood that most people spend tomorrow's cash today versus invest tomorrow's wealth today. He understood that real estate is one of the best investments you can have and he acquired it. He understood that he needed to create great systems and teams around a simple business model. He did that multiple times. Greg has practiced what he taught me in Dallas and how I share it with you. It doesn't matter where you are. You can become a millionaire if you follow these steps. Go do it.

Check out my interview with the T-Bag Company Founder, entitled "Respectful, Reliable, Responsible with Damon Washington". You can purchase any of the T-Bag products at a 10% discount through the Smart Cleaning School Resources Page at smartcleaningschool.com/resources.