How to Get Rich: One of the World's Greatest Entrepreneurs Shares His Secrets

by Felix Dennis

If you have entrepreneurial flair, then you can go into just about any business and make money.

This is so important, gentle reader. It pains me to think about it. If you wish to become rich, look carefully about you at the prevailing industries where wealth appears to be gravitating. Then go to where the money is! That is where you should focus your efforts. On the ball marked “The Money is Here.”

The magazine business will have faded to a shadow of its former glory within a decade or three. It is a mature business,

few fortunes are made in mature industries,

So what businesses should I have gravitated toward? Computer software, technology and dot com start-ups, cable and satellite television, property, environmental waste clean-up, alternative energy services...any one of these might have created a much larger fortune for me in less time than I took with magazines.

So this is the first lesson in the power of focus. Keep your eye on the ball if you wish to get rich. And do not forget which ball. It’s the one marked “The Money is Here.”

There is no substitute for good timing. There is always luck involved, but it’s often the kind of luck you help make yourself.

This was hack work of the most demeaning kind. But it was fun and we needed the money. Then good timing arrived. Good timing for us, that is.

Our timing had been perfect.

Here is the power of timing.

But what made the timing so good in our case? Three things, I think.

One was the blind luck of

Secondly, we followed our instincts and we persisted with this mad idea, despite our lack of experience or any credentials.

Thirdly, we acted with extraordinary speed.

We put ourselves in the right places at the right time, and we never slowed down from the moment

And what did it all add up to? It added up to focus, following a stroke of luck in the shape of perfect timing.

When good timing is there, you need to cease it and take advantage of that window of opportunity to its maximum

My errors came partly from inexperience and partly from falling into the trap that I mentioned earlier. They also came from lack of focus.

That was a serious error. A loss of focus.

You cannot get rich all on your own. No one can. You have to create, or work within, the right environment.

When enough people share a short-lived delusion, vast sums of money can be acquired overnight.

Here is the wonder of collective short-term delusion writ large.

In the same way, it is almost impossible to build an individual fortune without colleagues, confederates and one or two professionals on board. You will need a lawyer, sooner or later.

This does not mean you require fancy offices and all the accoutrements. Human capital is by far the most important element of your environment, whether you are just starting up or deep into the game. By focusing hard on obtaining that human capital you will vastly increase your chances of becoming rich.

What you need are clever, cunning and adept people.

But why would clever, cunning and adept people work for a mug like you? Simple. There are many clever, cunning and adept people who are risk-averse.

Believe it or not, much, much cleverer people than you will come and work f...

You do not need to be clever. You do not even need to be that adept. You need only a little cunning and massive determination to become rich.

Providing you can pay much cleverer but risk-averse people properly, and promote them and lead them in such a way that they are all rowing in the same direction,

but separating the wheat from the chaff is harder.

Your employees, your colleagues, your suppliers and your customers are all human capital. Choosing among them is an art form. Yet creating the right environment in which money can be made is essential. I repeat, you can’t do it on your own.

It takes effort, experience, focus and skill. If you get it right, you will become rich with an ease that will astonish you and everyone who knows you. If you get it wrong, you will be running around like a headless chicken for a year or so and then you will be bankrupt. And you will deserve to be.

Here are a few discoveries I have made over the years about staying focused when choosing employees or suppliers.

1. Never choose an important employee or a key supplier alone.

Go further than reading a person’s references.

Make notes. Speak little.

As to speaking little yourself, remember you are being interviewed,

Getting rich isn’t about vendor-customer “partnerships.” And anyway, I have found that good suppliers respect a hard-nosed attitude, providing it’s logical and providing you pay on time.)

5. Pay employees well. Bonus better. Even young children know what you get when you pay peanuts. Monkeys! Your company’s salaries must be competitive.

Bonuses should be more than competitive, they should be tempting, generous and based ruthlessly on meritocracy and delivery. That’s the...

Be alert for “crossovers.”

(All positions in your company, except your own, are temporary.)

7. Only hire winners.

Hire winners or people you believe will become winners. Fire whiners and moaners swiftly.

You are trying to create an environment where making money is on everyone’s mind most of the time. Losers and whiners usually have other priorities.

Ignore your prejudices, likes and dislikes. Easy to s...

Likes and dislikes should not come into it. Loyalty, effectiveness, honesty, integrity and stamina are crucial.

Cleverness and cunning can be useful. Professionalism is vital.

Promote from within when you can.

10. Don’t leave senior employees in any job too long.