World, Writing, Wealth discussion

Sure, there are top executives seeing 5-,6- even 7 digit numbers in their salary slips, top sportsmen, top movie stars. Not many of those.
But as general rule to earn really big money, you usually need to go 'indie' and open your own biz, exploit the work of others.
Or maybe not.
What do you think?

But as general rule to earn really big money, you usually need to go 'indie' and open your own biz, exploit leverage the work of others.

^_~

I don't think you have to exploit the work of others (although this is how a lot of money is made), but you gotta be at the right place at the right time :)

Marie wrote: "I don't think you have to exploit the work of others (although this is how a lot of money is made), but you gotta be at the right place at the right time :)"

Short answer: No. Taxes are way too high.

Mehreen wrote: "Taxes are way too high...."

BTW, if and when you become very very rich, you often decide exactly how much taxes you are willing to condescend to pay and no one does you much -:) My own observations, supported by some studies

Nik wrote: "Mehreen wrote: "Taxes are way too high...."

BTW, if and when you become very very rich, you often decide exactly how much taxes you are willing to condescend to pay and no one does you much -:) My..."

You would have to get to that stage first.

Yep, and probably not from work -:)

Tim wrote: "at the start they did work long hours..."

If they didn't retire, they might still continue with the long hours, as biz is rarely a recreation at any stage and once you are sucked in, you sometime forget about other things in life, except maybe - opening off-shore bank acc. -:)

Sounds like they've retired. Any of them plans to write a memoir in between properties and golf? -:)

Yes, you can get rich if you can see an opportunity that others cannot see, and you get bit of luck, and you do everything right, and you don't suffer untimely catastrophes. Bill Gates is a classic example - his saw the need for small scale computers, which would need operating systems. His was by far not the optimum available, but he got lucky with IBM, and the took advantage of some other aspects of the computer environment (e.g. Apple wanting to control its own stuff) and then there was no stopping him.

But for one piece of bad luck, I could have got rich !! We had the possibility of effectively mastering the high temperature plastics environment, but when at our most vulnerable, the government, which owned the basic resource, reneged on a contract and somehow placated the stronger partners we had. You cannot do anything to stop that, but it did give me a strange experience as a Director of two subsidiaries of a major multinational. If nothing else, that is raw material for my futuristic novels.

Ian wrote: "Yes, you can get rich if you can see an opportunity that others cannot see, and you get bit of luck, and you do everything right, and you don't suffer untimely catastrophes. Bill Gates is a classic..."

Yeah, but that's entrepreneurship rather than work on payroll, an 'indie' route. Sure, it's the prime supplier of self-made super-rich.
I read 'breach of contract' the way you describe it and normally you should be entitled to damages, but you probably know all that and checked your options.....

Nik wrote: "Ian wrote: "Yes, you can get rich if you can see an opportunity that others cannot see, and you get bit of luck, and you do everything right, and you don't suffer untimely catastrophes. Bill Gates ..."

Damages is an interesting concept, but at the time in New Zealand, lawyers did not take on contingency, and suing the government is extraordinarily expensive. We had done all the pilot development work, marketing, etc, and we were very deeply extended financially. The concept needed an IPO at this stage, but how can you do that when you have to admit you have no raw material, and all you have financially is extended debt?

Nik wrote: "Yep, and probably not from work -:)"

Nope!

Tim wrote: "I have friends who are self-made multi-millionaires. They did start from nothing and at the start they did work long hours, but as they made money they just got cleverer. They employed people to do..."

Some people punted with $10 and hit the jackpot. *Lucky Bastards*

Lotsa people work hard. Working smart, though. That's the money-making jam, right there. Imho.

I hear that a lot and on the surface it makes sense but it lacks detail. What? Like move onto another company that will pay you more? Don't overwork b/c then you'll be getting paid less per hour? Move Up the corporate ladder? Get onto high visibility projects?

Hmm. I can only speak from a BeYOBoss perspective cuz... *grins sheepishly* ...I haven't worked a regular J.O.B. in years hahaha!!

Working hard: Doing everything yourself (I'm totally guilty of this *sigh*). Doesn't matter how much skill or talent you have cuz at the end of the day, you only have 2 hands and 24 hours, eh?

Working smart: Leveraging the efforts of others. Is there someone better equipped to do a certain task more efficiently than you? If so, then they *might* be worth paying to do it cuz it frees you up to do what you're actually good at.

For example, I don't do my own books. Why? Cuz I hate doing them. Cuz doing them makes me hate life. And cuz I'm way too reckless. Soooo...

*grumbles* I pay my bookkeeper an arm-and-a-leg every year *grumbles*

"I'd rather have 1% of 100 people's efforts than 100% of my own."

This is smart. I live by this.

Hugs,
Ann

Annie wrote: "Leveraging the efforts of others...."

Sounds like the key factor to me ....

Nik wrote: "Annie wrote: "Leveraging the efforts of others...."

Sounds like the key factor to me ...."

yes, good points. my boss told me that she tries leverage each individual's best skills so that they can be successful and feel good about themselves as well as be productive for her dept and the company.

Alex G wrote: "feel good about themselves"

This right here is EVERYTHING, imho.

In my personal experience, people will do more for a promotion than a raise. Who would've thunk, eh?

Annie, they take the promotion because it opens the door to many more raises, AND it opens the door to power and influence over others. A raise without promotion is as likely as not to be dead-end.

I think to some degree we are encouraged by social stigma that we need to 'climb higher', 'make career', 'earn more' and so on. In my personal opinion we should seek something that we would be content (happy?) with and not what is expected of us. One needs to meet his obligations to feed his/her family, beyond that - I think everything else is facultative. You don't like stress and you want perform something by yourself, rather than manage others, fine! I personally don't think a janitor is somehow inferior to CEO of Fortune-500 corp, nor I'm gonna blame/hate a rich dude for his/her wealth, if s/he's bona fide....

Tim wrote: "If I ever make a million it will be as a consequence of doing something I love...."

Wish and hope it'll come!

Tim wrote: "would any of us (still) be writing fiction dreaming of millions?"

Yes.

#OneWordAnswerDay

@Mr Tim: I write because I have to. My brain starts to rebel otherwise.

With that being said, I AM motivated by money. 100%. But it's NOT the money itself. It's simply the challenge of earning it. I'm more than happy earning a crapload and giving (most of) it away. I just always need to prove to myself that I can do it.

Clear as mud? LOL

Ian wrote: "Damages is an interesting concept, but at the time in New Zealand, lawyers did not take on contingency, and suing the government is extraordinarily expensive. We had done all the pilot development work, marketing, etc, and we were very deeply extended financially. The concept needed an IPO at this stage, but how can you do that when you have to admit you have no raw material, and all you have financially is extended debt?...."

Yeah, many lawyers don't like contingencies. But it's a disaster when you are going all the way with money and effort and then the government doesn't deliver, as commited ....

If we are talking really seriously rich, like really, really rich here are some tried and true methods.

(In no particular order)

[1] Conduct a successful coup and then spend the next twenty years plundering the national treasury while loading the citizens up with an unpayable debt burden. Short sell the local stock market and buy credit default swaps on the national debt. Light the fuse on a social collapse as you fly off in your private 737 jet to a safe haven where you can live out the remainder of your life in unadulterated luxury. Blame the social collapse on those who take charge after you have left, and collect the payouts on the CDS and market shorts. Use a small fraction of your revenue to be declared royalty in your safe haven. Live like a King.

[2] Select Oligarchic parents and out live them and any siblings - collect inheritance. Be deemed luckier than anyone else.

[3] Muscle in on a Mexican Drug Cartel. Demonstrate a capacity for ruthless terrorisation of competitors, and rigorously enforce a monopoly market for your product, or buy a large international bank (sorry I repeat myself). Be seen as the bad guy and laugh it off (because you are very, very rich).

[4] Buy off the legislative, judiciary, and regulatory functions and then co-opt the machinery of government to eliminate your competitors and provide a monopoly market for your own inferior products and services. Be lauded as a philanthropist.

[5] Co-opt the beliefs of religious fanatics to ram legislation through government to ban a popular product thereby creating an underground market that you can ruthlessly control and charge monopoly markets rates. Use a small amount of the massive revenues generated to buy off the legislative, judiciary, and regulatory functions to ensure that the highly lucrative monopoly remains illegal. Buy a small and compliant country with a pleasant climate.

[6] Start a new cult where everyone gives you all their money. Punish everyone who dares to leave the cult, and punish everyone who stays while convincing them that they fully deserve their punishment for not giving you enough money. Use funds to buy a luxury liner to turn into a floating hotel staffed with the best looking and most devoted of the cult members. Declare yourself a sovereign and make your own laws. Write a book declaring yourself a genius and make more money selling multiple copies to every cult member. Live like a king

[7] Build the weapons of the next war and make sure that the war happens. Afterwards, use some small fraction of the revenue of death to fund an award in your name. Get lauded as a philanthropist.

[8] Be the one who defines the monetary system, and architect it to ensure that some portion of the value of everyone's labour ends up as abstract tokens that accumulate in accounts that you control. Over time, use the abstract tokens to buy the real world, once bought - charge everyone rent to live there and kill anyone who complains. Declare yourself as world emperor and kill anyone who doesn't comply with your edicts. Pass the world to your favoured progeny and diss the rest.

I'm sure that there are more methods that I haven't mentioned,

Excellent manual for any wannabe Bill(ionaire), Graeme!
Didn't notice the word 'work' in any of the choices -:) I guess it's neither sexy nor realistic way to riches..
Grotesque as the recipes sound, some of them just take place as we converse here.
But for the sake of balance - there should be also legit ways to become a Bill. Like invent the most ludicrous, addictive and very easily played application with networking option, feed and water it every day to let it grow and then apply subtle but aggressive monetization mechanism -:)

Hi Nik,

All good.

Weirdly, I'm really good at strategy computer games where you have to build up an economy from scratch. Give me a virtual shovel and some driftwood, and I will figure out how to make piles of money in no time. (Tropico or SimCity, anyone?)

Sadly, in real life I don't command a workforce and I don't own any land I could use to build my mini-economy on, so I'm still stuck on minimum wages.

However, this week I plan to do something about that by writing some job applications for better paid work. Must start somewhere, I guess.

Hope it works for you, Kat, and your virtual success will translate into real one!

I used to have a great domain name!

Until I forgot to pay my bill on time and it got deregistered and snapped up by one of those companies who just put useless ads on it and sell it back to you for a few thousand bucks. That was not my lucky day.

Hi Tim,

Yeah, you're right.

Kat wrote: "I used to have a great domain name!

Until I forgot to pay my bill on time and it got deregistered and snapped up by one of those companies who just put useless ads on it and sell it back to you fo..."

Vultures.

Nik, this is another big thought question and since I'm a glass half full kind of guy I'm going with yes you can become seriously rich from work. I'd go into detail but I don't wanna talk around myself lol.

Justin wrote: " I'm a glass half full kind of guy I'm going with yes ... I'd go into detail..."

Nothing wrong with a positive approach-:)
We don't limit the word count here -:)

What do you think?

Heck no, not just from work, physical or mental. It seems to me that there's some alchemy that transforms a worker into a businessman/woman with the arcane knowledge needed to become seriously rich. Some mysterious combination of smarts, education, experience, charisma, determination. I wonder about this every time I see a self-made millionaire.

I'd forgotten about this thread. Just re-reading the above. I do have a cynical sense of humour don't I?

Graeme Rodaughan wrote: "I'd forgotten about this thread. Just re-reading the above. I do have a cynical sense of humour don't I?"

We are here to remind -:)
Cynicism is more realistic than humorous approach to understand the underlying currents of the universe

Scout wrote: "Some mysterious combination of smarts, education, experience, charisma, determination...."

Yep, these too

If anyone thinks they can get rich just by hard work, then why aren't you?

Ok, not rich, but should any full time job, in your opinion, allow for a reasonable/modest life?

I think it should. I see no reason why all citizens shouldn't have a reasonable life

Ian wrote: "If anyone thinks they can get rich just by hard work, then why aren't you?"

It's because the hard work is sabotaged when it comes time to spend the paycheck :D

J.J. wrote: "It's because the hard work is sabotaged when it comes time to spend the paycheck :D "

Often refraining from spending, when everything around encourages otherwise, is harder than the actual work-:)

J.J. wrote: "It's because the hard work is sabotaged when it comes time to spend the paycheck :D "

Often refraining from spending, when everything around encourages otherwise, is harder than the actual work-:)

Well, you said it twice, and I agree. No matter how much you earn, you can sabotage that with overspending. I've always agreed with Ben Franklin: A penny saved is a penny earned.

Good luck living off a penny here and there these days, though :-(

Well, you know that was metaphorical, right? I didn't get it at first, either. It should be "A penny saved by economizing is a penny in your pocket." Earn money, live below your means, save some, don't buy a house you can't pay off in 15 years, pay off loans early, never pay interest on credit cards. These are the ways I saved my pennies and retired early.