(photo courtesy of zazzle.com)
Imagine seeing YOURSELF on the cover of Time Magazine or maybe YOU prefer Fortune Magazine or maybe in a future Joking Gorilla Billionaire List. It doesn't matter, the important thing is YOU imagine. Imagine YOU'RE reading about YOUR success and new billionaire status today.
“[Insert YOUR Name Here] is now one of the world's richest individuals. He/She built an empire covering the whole gamut of the computing industry. He/She is worth a cool $29 billion. He/She built an amazing array of cool products that redefined how we use computers, mobile phones and other computing devices... etcera... etcera... etcera...”
Now, snap out of it!
This is how YOU did it.
First move, be born to unknown parents. It might help if YOUR last name is hard to spell, common or unknown. (Think Gates. Allen. Ellison. Jobs. Wozniak. Zuckerberg. Page. Brin.). YOU get the point.
Second move, study until college then drop out. In the last 50 years, billionaires especially on newly-created industries like computing, software engineering, mobile communications, the Internet, etc. usually dropped out of college to pursue a great idea. (Gates. Ellison. Jobs. Wozniak. Zuckerberg. Page. Brin.). YOU do need to finish high school though. We still have to encounter a billionaire who's a high school drop out (If YOU know one, let's hear it!). This probably means YOU do need to master reading (comprehension), writing and speaking skills as well as knowing a little about history, algebra and physics.
Third, think and pursue a great idea that can change the world. Now comes the hard part. It's easy to say this. It's even easier to put this on a piece of paper and call it a business plan. But execution is key. Almost all the new-age billionaires started their startups on their own dime. They had to invest something themselves first. The best indicator if YOU have a great idea? There's none. If YOU believe in something so strongly and are willing to pursue it then YOU'D probably end up a billionaire. But that's a BIG IF. Remember, Edison did fail ten thousand times before perfecting the light bulb mechanism. And he didn't end up a billionaire but his name will live on forever. And Col. Sanders did get the door closed on him almost 2,000 times before getting the secret formula right for KFC. And even Kung Fu Panda had to fail many times before learning the secret of the dragon warrior.
Fourth and the final step, execute with uncanny precision. Gates hit it big when Microsoft licensed their software program to IBM and built in great functionality (yes guys, at that time Windows was cool and cheap) to it. Ellison when he got a big contract from the government and by focusing on the server market first. Jobs when he got fired from Apple. Sorry, that's not it. Jobs actually did it in two spades (or is it three?): with Apple, he made an amazing product (Macintosh, others) that the world adored and with Pixar, he built a different kind of movie/animation house. And with Apple again with the iPod and iPhone. Larry Page and Sergey Brin did it by creating an amazing search engine they called Google. Google continues to redefine the marketplace. Zuckerberg built a site for social interactions – he built a great one, cool functionalities, amazing design and easy sharing of files – photos, videos and links. Facebook is like the iPhone of social networking – it looks great, YOU can do almost anything with it, and it's not so expensive – it's actually FREE. Design Matters. Design in Outlook. And Design in Process.
Let's recap then:
1 FIRST MOVE, BE BORN TO UNKNOWN PARENTS. This is so true, it will motivate YOU to become known.
2 SECOND MOVE, DROP OUT OF COLLEGE. So far, that's how the current billionaires did it.
3 THIRD MOVE, DEVELOP A GAME-CHANGING IDEA. That will do it. Provided YOU succeed.
4 FOURTH MOVE, EXECUTE! Now this is the hardest part, but this is key.
There is in fact a fifth step. We'll let YOU figure that one out. There are clues in this article. But that deserves another post. We believe Guy Kawasaki has written extensively about that subject.
Let us know what YOU think the fifth step is. Email it to people.hungry [at] gmail.com.
P.S.
If all else fails, YOU have the following choices (in no particular order):
Marry a billionaire (YOU have to be a really hot!)
Marry into a billionaire's family (YOU have to be smart.)
Marry the ex-billionaire's spouse (Make sure they got at least a billion dollars after the divorce.)
Get YOURSELF adopted by the billionaire or the family (YOU have to be cute!)
Have any other ideas? Email it to us and we'll post them.
