I recently watched a series called Money Revealed.  It was a series of interviews with entrepreneurs in which they talked about money and the secrets to gaining wealth and success.  Most of the people have a favorable view of entrepreneurship and free markets.

The people being interviewed included Robert Kiyosaki (Rich Dad Poor Dad), Patrick Byrne (CEO of Overstock.com), and John Mackey (co-founder and CEO of Whole Foods), just to name a few.

There were many less well-known people too, and they offered great perspectives.  I particularly liked some of the contrarian aspects, such as whether it is wise to invest in a 401k plan, a topic I have touched on before.

In one particular interview, the person pointed out that you gain wealth by helping people.  In other words, your gain isn’t somebody else’s loss.  It is actually the opposite.   As long as you are helping people honestly and non-coercively, then the more you gain, the more you are helping people.

I watched most of the interviews, but they were available for free for only a short time. You can buy a package where you can have all of the videos, plus some bonus interviews.

There were definitely some common themes amongst the successful entrepreneurs.  This is typical in life though.  The paths are different, but the successful people tend to have certain characteristics, or they tend to do certain similar things, which are usually somewhat basic.  This is true with things outside of business too.

One common trait amongst entrepreneurs is that they aren’t afraid of failing.  But I say that with a caveat.  It is relatively speaking.  A successful entrepreneur may be afraid of failing to some degree, but they are more afraid of not doing something.  In other words, their fear of failing to be successful trumps any fear of failure in the short term.

Another common trait I see is that entrepreneurs push through the moments that are hard. No matter what kind of business you are in, you are going to hit roadblocks.  They will be frustrating.  The key is to find a way to get through (or around) the roadblocks.  You keep pushing when most everyone else would have quit.

Hard Decisions, Easy Life

In the very last bonus interview with Tucker Max, he said something to the effect that making hard decisions leads to an easier life, while making the easy decisions leads to a harder life.  In other words, sometimes you have to put in the time and effort up front in order to make things much easier on the back end.

This could be true with many things in life.  If you take the easy way out in parenting when your child is young, you may end up paying for it every single day thereafter.

It could be true with having a pet.  If you work hard and train your dog when he is a puppy, then you will more likely have a great dog that you can enjoy.  If you don’t put in some upfront work, then the dog will just always be getting into trouble and not listening.

And so it is with business.  If you build up your skills early on, they will compound.  It is like compounding interest on your money (which is another good example).  If you set up a business that generates income and doesn’t require as much of your attention once you put in the work, you can profit for a long time. You make the hard decisions (time and effort) early on, and your life will look comparably easy.

There are people who work 8 or more hours a day doing hard work.  Many of these same people will tell you that starting up a side business is too hard, or they just don’t have the time.  But if you step back and look at the big picture, what is really hard?  What’s hard is getting up every morning, 5 days a week, to go to a job that you don’t like for the next 40 years.  Now that is hard.

Learn the Real Lesson from These Teachers

When it comes to investing, I like to point out that Warren Buffett gives advice in doing the opposite of what he did to become wealthy.  Buffett says to invest in index funds and hold for a long time. Yet, he did just about the opposite in order to become the wealthiest investor on the planet.  He purposely picked specific companies to invest in where he saw great value and long-term growth potential.

In watching the Money Revealed episodes, I found a similar theme, except they weren’t telling people to do the opposite of what they did.  However, if you observe closely, many of them made their money in a different way than the message they were preaching.

In the first day of interviews, Robert Kiyosaki spoke about wealth, investing, real estate, etc.  It was good stuff. I know some people have been critical of Kiyosaki, saying that he is a phony.  His “rich dad” seems to be more of a montage of people he knew and experiences he had.  Regardless of what you think of him, most of what he says regarding wealth building is true and helpful.

But the bigger point I see is that Kiyosaki largely got wealthy because of what he taught.  It is the books he has written, and it is the seminars that are put on because of the popularity of his books and his brand. I certainly think real estate investments played a significant role in his wealth building, but it is his Rich Dad Poor Dad that is his bread and butter.

In another interview, there was a guy talking about investing using options.  And I’m sure he had some success in doing it. But he sells some kind of course to other people on how to make money using options.  My guess is that he has made more money from selling the course than actually investing in options.  Again, this is just a guess on my part.

To be clear, I am not being critical of these people at all.  I think the interviews were fantastic.  I just want others to understand how they truly made their money.  Sometimes the best lesson is not explicitly stated.  You have to reveal it yourself.

I also don’t want you to think that there is not valuable information in what they are teaching. There is a joke about infomercials selling wealth-building courses.  They will teach you how to get rich by selling a course in teaching others how to get rich.  There is some truth to it, but I don’t want you to think that everything like this is a scam. The people that sell these types of courses tend to be great marketers.  You can learn a great deal right there.  But even the information that is being sold is often quite valuable.

It is a good idea to listen to people who have made it, assuming that is where you want your life to go.  You should listen to the content, but you should also observe what they are doing (and have done) to make it big.

One other common characteristic amongst the great entrepreneurs: They are all great marketers.