Editor’s note:
Lesson 5 tackles something a lot of people quietly believe:
That making money is about being smarter than everyone else.
Mark disagrees.
In this lesson, he makes a very direct point: Developing a Money Maker Mindset has nothing to do with intelligence.
It has everything to do with how you observe the world… how you respond to opportunity… and how you train your mind to think.
The Importance of Developing a Natural-Born Moneymaker Mindset
By Mark Morgan Ford
A man observes evergreens growing along the roadside and thinks that they look pretty, covered with snow. Another man sees the same trees and thinks, “These trees would look good in people’s living rooms at Christmas. I wonder what they would pay for them?”
The first man has an ordinary mind. The second, the mind of a natural-born moneymaker (NBMM).
In The Prime Movers, Edwin A. Locke provides some interesting insights into the way moneymakers think:
He argues that an active, inquisitive mind is a hallmark of the successful entrepreneur. The most successful entrepreneurs in history, he says, had this sort of mind.
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Thomas Edison: He was a “virtual thinking machine. Almost until the day he died, his mind poured forth a torrent of ideas, and he might track as many as 60 experiments at a time in his laboratory.” |
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Steve Jobs: He bombarded people with his ideas—his investors, his board of directors, his customers, his subordinates, and his CEO. |
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Henry Ford: “He threw himself into every detail, insisting on getting small things absolutely right… But he never lost sight of the ultimate, overall objective. He had a vision of what his new car (the Model T) should look like. From all the improvisation, hard thought, and hard work came a machine that was at once the simplest and the most sophisticated automobile built to date anywhere in the world.” |
Take my friend Bernard…
I have a friend, an émigré from Manchester, England, who has this kind of moneymaking mind. I have known him for more than 20 years. During that time, he has started at least a dozen successful companies.
Every company he forms, it seems, becomes successful quickly. He has become a wealthy man and enjoys a wealthy man’s lifestyle, but his interest in making money has never waned.
In that respect, he is different from me. I became wealthy by making plans and working my ass off. And once I made more than I needed, I stopped paying attention to it.
The Thrill of the Moneymaking Game
Bernard made his money effortlessly. Or so it always seemed. And he continues to make money, because he really enjoys the process.
He makes money not just by starting successful businesses and investing in real estate but by buying and selling exotic cars, boats, antiques, and expensive watches.
Every time I see Bernard, he is driving a new car. One month, it’s a Bentley. The next month, it’s a Ferrari. He buys slightly used cars and enjoys them and then turns them over for a profit. He has become an expert in barter and countertrade. He never pays full price for anything. He knows how to get the best price for everything. And he loves the game.
Bernard may not have my net worth, but he’s got more than enough for the rest of his life, and he seems to enjoy making money much more than I do. He’s a natural-born moneymaker.
I admire that about him. I like talking to him about all his recent deals. His excitement gets me excited. It also embarrasses me when I discover that he pays a fraction of what I pay for just about everything.
What if you don’t have the mentality of a natural-born moneymaker?
(Go here to learn more about this in Lesson 5.)
I’m convinced that people like Bernard have special minds. Like Edison, Jobs, and Ford, he thinks differently than I do.
Raw intelligence is not the issue. Guys like Bernard are smart, but I don’t think that he is any smarter than I am. And anyway, if it were a matter of intelligence, Einstein and a slew of other geniuses would have been wealthy men.
Part of what we will be doing in this and future essays is to understand how Bernard and other natural-born moneymakers think so we can incorporate their best thoughts and habits into our daily routines.
The Normal Mindset vs. the Natural-Born
Moneymaker Mindset
To get started, here are some observations I’ve made from studying my NBMM friends and from reading about great wealth builders like Jobs, Edison, and Ford.
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A “normal” person is concerned with protecting his ego. When dealing with a problem he doesn’t really understand, he pretends that he understands the contributing factors and doesn’t try to find out what anyone else thinks. A NBMM asks questions incessantly. He has no ego when it comes to learning. He knows that knowledge is power. |
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A “normal” person has a consumer mentality. He looks at a hot new product and thinks about how he would like to own one. A NBMM has an entrepreneurial mentality. He looks at it and thinks, “How can I produce this or something similar in my own industry?” |
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A “normal” person is wish-focused. He daydreams about making gobs of money. A NBMM is reality-based. He is always analyzing his own success and the success of others and wondering how he could learn from it. |
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A “normal” person, when confronted with a challenging idea, thinks of all of the reasons why it might not work. A NBMM sees the potential in it and disregards the problems until he has a clear vision of how it might succeed. |
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A “normal” person resists change. A NBMM embraces it. |
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A “normal” person accepts the status quo. A NBMM is always looking to make things—even good things—better. |
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A “normal” person reacts. A NBMM is proactive. |
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A “normal” person looks at a successful business owner and thinks, “That guy’s lucky.” Or “That guy’s a shyster.” A NBMM thinks, “What’s his secret?” And “How can I do that?” |
You can start your mental transformation to a natural-born moneymaker mindset by studying this list and assessing your own impulses. Be honest. Identify the habits you don’t have and try to develop them. Rather than thinking of this process as work, think of it as fun.
I urge you to watch Lesson 5 now.
All the best,
Mark
P.S. Some people are natural-born moneymakers. Most are not.
The difference is mindset.
If you are willing to examine how you think—and change it—you can dramatically improve your financial future.
But you must be honest with yourself.
Lesson 5 is where that work begins.
