Secrets of the Millionaire Mind

WEALTH PRINCIPLE:
Never have a ceiling on your income.
This rule also applies to personal service businesses, where, 
again, you generally get paid for your time. That’s why lawyers, 
accountants, and consultants who are not yet partners in their 
firm—and therefore don’t share in the business profits—make 
a moderate living at best.
Suppose you are in the pen business and you get an order 
for fifty thousand pens. If this were the case, what would you 
do? You’d simply call your supplier, order fifty thousand pens, 
send them off, and happily count your profits. On the other 
hand, suppose you are a massage therapist and you’re 
fortunate enough to have fifty thousand people lined up 
outside your door all wanting a massage from you. What do 
you do? You kill yourself for not being in the pen business. 
What else can you do? Try explaining to the last person in line 
that you may be running “a little late,” as in their appointment 
is Tuesday at 3:15, four decades from now!

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I’m not suggesting there’s anything wrong with being in a 
personal service business. Just don’t expect to get rich anytime 
soon unless you create a way to duplicate or leverage yourself.
At my seminars, I often meet salaried or hourly wage em-
ployees who complain to me that they’re not getting paid what 
they’re worth. My response is “In whose opinion? I’m sure 
your boss thinks you’re being compensated fairly. Why don’t 
you get off the salary treadmill and ask to be paid based fully 
or partially on your performance? Or, if that is not possible, 
why not work for yourself ? Then you’ll know you’re making 
exactly what you’re worth.” Somehow, this advice doesn’t 
seem to appease these people, who are obviously terrified of 
testing their “true” value in the marketplace.
The fear most people have of being paid based on their 
results is often just a fear of breaking out of their old condi-
tioning. In my experience, most people who are stuck in the 
steady-paycheck rut have past programming that tells them 
this is the “normal” way to get paid for your work.
You can’t blame your parents. (I guess you can if you’re a 
good victim.) Most parents tend to be overly protective, so it’s 
only natural for them to want their kids to have a secure 
existence. As you’ve probably already found out, any work that 
doesn’t provide a steady paycheck usually produces the 
infamous parental response “When are you going to get a real 
job?”
I remember, when my parents asked me that question, 
thank goodness my reply was “Hopefully never!” My mother 
was devastated. My father, however, said, “Good for you. 
You’ll never get rich working on straight salary for someone 
else. If you’re going to get a job, make sure you get paid on 
percentage. Otherwise, go work for yourself !”

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The Wealth Files - 127
I too encourage you to work “for yourself.” Start your own 
business, work on commission, get a percentage of revenue or 
company profits, or get stock options. Whatever your vehicle, 
make certain you create a situation that allows you to get paid 
based on your results.
Personally, I believe just about everyone should own their 
own business, be it full-time or part-time. The first reason is 
that by far, the vast majority of millionaires became rich by being in their 
own business.  
Secondly, it’s extremely difficult to create wealth when the 
tax man is grabbing almost half of everything you earn. When 
you own a business, you can save a small fortune in taxes by 
writing off a portion of your expenses for such things as your 
car, travel, education, and even your home. For that reason 
alone, it’s worth having your own business.
If you don’t have a brilliant business idea, not to worry: you 
can use someone else’s. First, you can become a commissioned 
salesperson. Selling is one of the world’s highest-paid 
professions. If you’re good, you can earn a fortune. Second, 
you can join a network marketing company. There are dozens 
of excellent ones, and they have in place all of the products 
and systems you need to get started immediately. For just a 
few bucks, you can become a distributor and have all the 
benefits of owning a business with few of the administrative 
hassles.
If it resonates with you, network marketing can be a dy-
namite vehicle for wealth. But, and this is a big but, don’t think 
for a minute that you’re going to get a free ride. Network 
marketing will only work if you do. It will take training, time, 
and energy to succeed. But if you do, incomes in the range of 
$20,000 to $50,000 per month—that’s right, per month—are 
not uncommon. In any case, just signing 

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Secrets of the Millionaire Mind
up and becoming a part-time distributor will give you some 
excellent tax advantages, and who knows, maybe you’ll enjoy 
the product enough to offer it to others and end up making a 
nice income to boot.
Another option is exchanging your “job” for a “contract” 
position. If your employer is willing, he or she can hire your 
company instead of you to do basically what you’re doing now. 
A few legal requirements have to be fulfilled, but for the most