Editor’s note: Below, Mark shares a story that changed the way he thought about one important question…

Is it still possible to get wealthy in America today?

Lesson 2 expands on that exact idea—and challenges some of the assumptions people quietly carry about opportunity, timing, and what it really takes to build wealth now.

If you’ve ever wondered whether the “seven figures in seven years” promise still applies in today’s environment…

This is the lesson to watch.

My Dinner With Matthew

By Mark Morgan Ford

At least once a month, someone I hardly know invites me to lunch or dinner. Most of these invitations come from people who used to read my Michael Masterson essays on entrepreneurship in Early to Rise or my books on business and marketing for John Wiley & Sons.

I almost always demur because I have little spare time and no space in my calendar for new deals, clients, partners, etc.

But recently, I got a different sort of invitation. It was an email. Matthew had my email address, he said, because I had given it to him after I’d given him an award at an Early to Rise function. For the life of me, I couldn’t remember him or the award presentation, but I checked with the woman who was running ETR at the time, and she confirmed his story.

I asked him what he wanted to meet about. (Secret hermit that I am, I was hoping we could have the discussion by email.) He said he didn’t want to tell me. “I want it to be a surprise,” he said. “But don’t worry, I’m not trying to sell you anything.”

“You have to give me more than that,” I said.

“I want to buy you a steak and tell you a story,” he replied. “It’s a great story, and you are one of the leading characters. It is a story that will definitely make you happy.”

“This guy is good,” I thought. I suspected he had read the book John Forde and I wrote on copywriting called Great Leads. In that book, we identify and explain six archetypal sales leads. The “secret lead” was one of them, and he was employing it on me with considerable skill.

We met at Quality Meats on 58th Street in Midtown Manhattan. Having forgotten the event of our first encounter, I worried I wouldn’t recognize him. But as soon as I stepped foot into the crowded foyer of the restaurant, he came over and greeted me with a hearty handshake. He was very happy to see me, and that made me happy to see him.

He led me to the bar, where he introduced me to the maître d’, who offered me a glass of champagne and told me that he had reserved us the “best table in the house in the quietest part of the restaurant.” He said it was the table that Donald Trump and his son sat at several times per week. He pulled out a chair and told me that it was “The Donald’s” chair.

It was all so… cinematic. Almost embarrassingly so. But Matthew was bubbling with enthusiasm. I could see that he was eager to tell me his story. And at this point, I was eager to hear it. But before he did, he had the good manners to inquire about my life and my family and so on. Then he summoned the sommelier and insisted I choose the wine, and then we ordered our meals.

After our waiter cleared the first course, he told me the story. It turned out to be quite a story, indeed.

Matthew’s “Aha” Moment and Jump to Action

About six years ago, he told me, he read one of several essays I had written for Early to Rise on the subject of procrastination. In that essay, I had made the point that sometimes people take themselves all the way to the 20-yard line of some goal and then stop there, paralyzed by fear.

I don’t have the essay before me now, but I recall I had written something like:

So that’s what he did.

His idea was a good one. As a city worker, he had noticed a business opportunity that was invisible to everyone but him. When a truck driver gets in an accident, the company he works for is subject to a lawsuit. If the trucker is driving with a suspended license, he 

The problem is that the driver could have had a perfectly good driving record when the company hired him but could have gotten into trouble and had his license suspended just days before his accident.

His idea was to create a database, tied into the motor vehicle department, that could provide truck companies with up-to-the-minute statuses on all their registered drivers. He had been thinking about this business for years and had even worked out in his mind many of the kinks.

He had even researched and created a list of truck company owners who might want to use such a service. He was on the two-yard line but had not taken a step in two years.

“After I read that essay, I picked up the phone and called everyone on my list. I made 10 phone calls and got eight appointments.”

“That’s great,” I said.

“That was great, but what is even better is that I just sold my business for $8 million.”

“Wow!”

“And as far as I’m concerned, I have you to thank for that.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. You did it yourself.”

“I know what I did,” he replied. “But it all began with making those phone calls. And I know for certain your essay motivated me to do that.”

Wealth Within Seven Years Is Possible

I’ve previously referenced my book, Seven Years to Seven Figures. In that book, I argue that it is possible to develop a seven-figure net worth in seven years or fewer. I based my theory on my own experience starting dozens of multimillion-dollar businesses over the years and the experience of about a dozen people I had mentored. Some of their stories comprised chapters of the book.

I didn’t have a great deal of data to support my theory and didn’t feel the need to look for it. In writing about entrepreneurship, I had decided that I would tell the truth I knew from experience, not create theories based on data compiled by academics I didn’t know. My idea—that seven figures in seven years was possible—came from reflecting on the actual growth of the businesses I’d started or mentored.

I had done it. So had others I knew. I believed it was possible. And I believed I could help people who wanted to replicate the experience.

The book was well received, but there were doubters who challenged my argument. “You can’t get wealthy in America anymore,” some of them said. Others said, “He and the people he helped might have done it, but there’s no hope for the average guy.”

But here I was, having dinner with someone I didn’t know and didn’t mentor but who had read my book and had created a multimillion-dollar fortune in fewer than seven years.

I was so happy for and proud of Matthew. And I was grateful to him, as well. After all, he was living proof of my book’s basic proposition: That despite all of our country’s economic problems, you could still become wealthy in a relatively short amount of time.

When I put away my Michael Masterson pen, I retired the idea of writing about business and entrepreneurship. After writing several thousand essays and a dozen books, I felt I had said everything I had to say on those subjects. But this dinner with Matthew changed my mind.

One of the programs you will be getting as part of the wealth-building curriculum we’ve developed is called “How to Start a Million-Dollar Business for $25,000.”

It will comprise 12 essays designed as consulting sessions. The idea was to replicate the experience you would have if you were starting a new business and I was your personal consultant.

If you are in business now or are considering getting into business (even a part-time business), this program should be helpful. The first topics will include:

I leave you with the following thoughts, thoughts stimulated by my dinner with Matthew:

And make sure you watch Lesson 2 now. 

All the best,

Mark

P.S. You can believe that the opportunity to build wealth in America has passed.

Many people do.

Or you can look at the evidence—real people, real businesses, real outcomes—and decide that it is still possible.

Matthew didn’t wait for better conditions. He didn’t complain about the economy. He picked up the phone.

Lesson 2 explains why that still works.

Watch it today.