Momentum Podcast: 23

10 Habits of The Self Made Billionaire Part 1

by Alex Charfen

Episode Description

Individually self-made billionaires look fundamentally different. When we compare one against the other, it's hard to see what makes them similar, and easy to see what makes them eccentric and unique. Through obsessive research of successful people throughout history, I developed the 10 Habits of the Self Made Billionaire. I was able to confirm and get even closer to the results these patterns created in my professional career when I worked side-by-side with and consulted with individuals who went from somewhat humble beginnings to 10 figure wealth and massive contribution. The secret is, self-made billionaires are just like you and I, only with the habits that create success. The good news is, you can adopt these habits as well, and you don't have to be a billionaire.

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Full Audio Transcript

I'm Alex Charfen. This is the momentum podcast for Entrepreneurial Personality Types, created exclusively for empire builders, game changers, world makers, shot takers, and creators of all kinds. Those among us, who can't turn it off and don't know why anyone would want to. We challenge complacency, destroy apathy, and obsess about creating momentum, so we can roll over bureaucracy, and make our greatest contribution. Sure, we pay attention to their rules, but only so we can bend them, break them, and then re-write them, around our own will. We don't accept our destiny, we define it. We don't understand defeat, because you only lose if you stop, and we don't know how.

While the rest of the world clings to average, and strives desperately to maintain the status quo, we are minority, the few, who are willing to hallucinate, there could be a better future. Instead of just daydreaming of what could be, we endure the vulnerability and exposure it takes to make it real. We are the evolutionary hunters, clearly the most important people in the world, because entrepreneurs are the only source of consistent, positive, human evolution, and we always will be. This is episode 23. The Ten Habits of Self Made Billionaires.

In my career, I was privileged and have been privileged to work side-by-side with some of the most successful people in the world. Self made billionaires. People who have created more wealth, than any of us could possibly spend in our lifetimes. In my research, my obsessive reading of successful people, I was able to see that, those who are successful among us, have habits, have perceptions, ways of looking at the world, that are unique to those create massive levels of success. I wanna share these with you.

I think some of 'em might surprise you. Some of 'em might seem logical. Here's what I want everyone who's listening to know. Every one of these habits, of self made billionaires can be adopted by you, today. You can experience the success, the influence, the affluence that you've always known, you should have by following the most successful among us.

Let me start. The first habit, is simplicity of purpose. Billionaires are billionaires because what they went about building an empire, they were highly focused on a highly specific objective. All their effort and energy was dedicated to driving forward in pursuit of that clearly defined purpose. Let me give you a few examples.

Henry Ford. What he did in the world was massive. He changed just about everything. His purpose, democratized the automobile. Make it available for everyone. Bill Gates has such wide reaching and wide ranging influence today. His original purpose? Put a personal computer inside every home in America. And Steve Jobs. Well, Jobs just wanted simplicity and design, and elegance and design, and things that we would use every day, and change our perceptions of the world. He is such an incredible definition of simplicity of purpose, because he reset the bar, in not one, but a half dozen industries. The entire Apple product line would fit on my office desk with room to spare. That is simplicity of purpose.

You, as an entrepreneur, the take away should be, keep your purpose simple, and succinct. Any complexity will result in you and your company chasing too many outcomes. Try to be able to describe your purpose in one sentence, for the benefit of your team, your customers, your partners, yourself, and the movement you serve.

Habit number two is similar. Simplicity of plan. Billionaires are not known for having highly detailed, highly elaborate plans. In fact, they can usually describe them easily. Take Herb Kelleher, the founder of legendary, low cost people mover, Southwest Airlines. Often quoted as the only profitable airline in the world. Herb didn't use complicated numbers, or ingenious technical secrets to turn the airline industry on his head. His plan for Southwest was simple. Three tenants. Get the wheels up, and get 'em down. Have fun, and be the low cost airline. These painfully simple tenants are the foundation to the most profitable airline in history, and they can be yours.

Keeping things simple, helps everyone on the team, not just key leaders. Focus on the activities that will be most impactful to the success of the company. All you have to do is fly on Southwest to realize the difference and what it means, when you have simple tenants, compared to other airlines.

Your takeaway from this habit, your plan will follow your purpose. Both must be simple, clear, and actionable. Think of it this way. Make both of them easy to understand, and impossible to misunderstand.

Billionaire habit three. Limit what you tolerate. Billionaires limit what they tolerate. This might sounds callous, but it's actually brilliant. See, billionaires don't put up with things. They don't let things happen. They don't allow interruptions in their lives. They don't even like random things to approach them. Billionaires don't cultivate success from their wants. They extract it from the world by limiting what they'll tolerate. They don't tolerate incompetent, or unhelpful people. They don't tolerate an absence of results. They don't tolerate social pressures. They're willing to embrace the isolation, the solitude, the suffering it takes to build something truly great.

Billionaires are the one percent of people, who tolerate what 99% of us avoid, and generally avoid what 99% of us will tolerate. Think about that. Billionaires are consistently and constantly optimizing their lives, their bodies, their cognitive abilities. Even the chemical balances that they exist with, they are striving to make them better every day. They ask themselves on a daily basis, where am I uncomfortable, and they get rid of it as fast as they possibly can. Billionaires identify and purge, without hesitation, or remorse. That's why their creating the greatest outcomes in our world.

Here's your takeaway. Learn to identify what you're tolerating. This could be everything from uncomfortable clothing to meetings that take too long, to not having the clarity into what your team is doing. Just understanding these, in the context of tolerance, can be empowering to the point of you saying, I will not tolerate what makes me uncomfortable any longer. The faster you shed what you are tolerating, the faster you can move forward, and find momentum in your business, and create even more in your life.

Tenant number four. Billionaires have an absolute reliance on people. This surprises people when I share it, because often we see billionaires as being independent, alone, mavericks, people who could do just about anything, if they wanted to. Billionaires don't just occasionally lean on other people. They absolutely rely on them to make it through each and every day. From personal assistants to the members of the board, billionaires cultivate fantastic professional relationships, so they can rely on them, whenever they need it the most.

Why do billionaires do this? Why not just go it alone? There's a hard truth in the world. No single individual could create the leverage and momentum necessarily to create billions of dollars in value on their own. One person can get the ball rolling, but it takes dedicated teams of people, all performing different tasks, to carry that ball across the finish line. It's the billionaire who asks for, and offers protection and support, because they know that entrepreneurs accomplish almost nothing on our own. We all move forward faster together.

Here's your takeaway. Learn to get comfortable, asking and offering for protection and support to those around you. Understand, this can make you feel vulnerable, but it will provide you with the greatest leverage you can find. In fact, it's often the case, that people around you, want to support you much more than you're asking for.

And tenant number five, the last one for this episode. Billionaires don't just have an absolute reliance on people. Tenant number five. They have an absolute dedication to people. Do in part to their reliance on people, billionaires are obsessively dedicated to the people around them, and most are dedicated to the world at large. This includes customers, and investors, but especially employees, their teams, and the people closest to them. This kind of obsession can manifest itself in a variety of ways. Some billionaires are obsessed with creating the absolute perfect product. Some are obsessed with spreading success and wealth throughout the world. It's all, ultimately about people.

Bill Gates, feared for his fierce temper, early in his career, learned to become a strong and valued mentor of top leaders at Microsoft. Warren Buffet has created one of the greatest fortunes and business empires in history, but only after he recognized the need to develop great leaders and keep them close. When it comes to people that create leverage for the billionaire, this dedication is absolute and unshakable. The important people in a billionaires life, from founding partners, even down to their personal assistants, are always taking care of, and usually asked to stay in their lives for a long time.

Here's your takeaway. As you recognize the value of other people in achieving your goals, find ways to help them develop professionally, and even personally, until your contribution points outwards, especially to those closest to you. It will be difficult for you to sustain growth. When most look at self made billionaires, they see anomalies. They see eccentric people that are just fundamentally different than, the rest of us. What I want to share with you, and what I've just shared with you, in the first half of the ten habits of self made billionaires, is how they truly create success, and just as importantly, how you can use these tenants, to create success as well.

Don't miss episode 25. The second half of the Ten Habit of Self Made Billionaires. And if you haven't yet, download my book, The Entrepreneurial Personality Type, to learn more about self made billionaires, creators, game changers, people throughout history, that mattered to be remembered, because we all have the same personality type, and once we understand it, momentum is ours. Go to freemomentumbook.com right now. Freemomentumbook.com. Download the Entrepreneurial Personality Type, and learn more about yourself, than you ever thought possible. I'll see you on episode 24. The second half of the, Ten Habits of Self Made Billionaires.

Thank You For Listening!

I am truly grateful that you have chosen to spend your time listening to me and my podcast.

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With gratitude,

Alex

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