INTRODUCTION
I don’t know why you’re reading this book.
Maybe you’re waiting in the airport, and the book cover caught your attention. You’re flipping through this book wondering whether you should pick it up or not. Or maybe a friend of yours gave you this book. Possibly, you’re one of my fans on social media and familiar with who I am.
No. I don’t know why you’re reading this book. One thing I do know is that if you’re reading this book, you want more.
You see, many people are not interested in improving their life in any shape or form. Very often, they feel stuck, as if they don’t have the power to change and accept life as is.
But YOU are different.
You believe in something else. You believe you have the desire to change, the ability to succeed, and that you can be a better version of you.
You believe you have the power to unlock your destiny.
Now, you might have read a lot of different books on success, selfimprovement, wealth, and business already. This book may not be your first “personal development rodeo.” Even though you learn a lot from different books and they teach you many different things, let me ask you a question.
Do you feel deep down there’s still a missing piece? Like you’re putting together a jigsaw puzzle, and you have some pieces, but you never get to see the whole picture?
You’re looking for that missing link. You’re looking for that piece of information that connects all the dots. You’re looking for that key that unlocks everything else for you.
You’re looking for that missing link. You’re looking for that piece of information that connects all the dots. You’re looking for that key that unlocks everything else for you.
If that’s you, then my goal is to give you that key.
I hope that this book will not only give you a new perspective, but more importantly, a road map to implement everything you’ve learned in the past and to connect those learnings in a clear, concise manner.
Chances are, if you’ve read other books, what I’m sharing with you is nothing you haven’t heard of before.
I don’t claim to be a super original thinker. The truth is, I think originality is highly overrated. You can always tell who the pioneer is when they are lying on the ground with arrows in their back.
No, I’m not an original thinker. I’m an entrepreneur. I’m a synthesizer. I take ideas, make them better, and execute them better than most.
Absorb what is useful, discard what is not, add what is uniquely your own.
BRUCE LEE
Most books will tell you to do this and don’t do that; don’t do this and do that instead. That’s not what I’m here to do. This book is here to share with you a new perspective and a system that shows you how to think differently.
My challenge as an educator is to change the way you think. Changing the way you think will alter the way you do things. The exciting part for me is that inevitably the way you do things will force you to produce different results.
Now, there will be information that I share that you may or may not agree with. That’s perfectly fine. Everything I teach comes from my experience, so it doesn’t make it right. It doesn’t make it wrong either; it just makes it my experience.
All I can do is come from my own experience.
I ask that you read this book cafeteria-style. Take what seems useful and implement it. If it works, great—keep it. If it doesn’t work, that’s okay too—throw it away. No hard feelings. That’s how I believe we all should learn.
WHY AM I WRITING THIS BOOK AFTER TEN YEARS OF SILENCE?
In my twenties I published about a dozen books, including a best-selling book that sold over one hundred thousand copies worldwide. I thought that was my last book, and I haven’t thought about writing another book for ten years.
So why am I writing this book? Why now?
People have been asking for this book.
Over the last decade, my mission has been to start a global economic movement by empowering people and developing their High-Income Skills. As I met with my students and fans around the world, I listened to their stories.
I’ve heard countless stories of college students coming out of school, and they can’t get a job. Even though they’ve studied in school for four years, their employers will tell them in interviews that they don’t have enough experience.
So they go back to school and get further into debt; they get an MBA or a second degree and work even harder. Now when they sit across the table from the employer, they say they have too much experience. Sometimes, the jobs they prepare to get will become extinct by the time they get out of school.
So what do you do? They feel handcuffed even though they did what they were supposed to do. It’s not just students who are struggling. Entrepreneurs come up to me and share their pain.
They have trouble getting their products noticed, they can’t get anything to sell, their operating costs are going up, and costs are rising, and there’s more on the line. Technology is lowering the barrier to entry and making the marketplace more competitive than ever.
Overall, it’s just getting more challenging to run a business. Even successful entrepreneurs who have “made it” come up to me and share with me their concerns about staying in business.
They’re not sure if the success they’ve built is going to last or how to sustain their success or how to take it to the next level. New technologies are going to come and wipe out their entire business.
They know social media is powerful, and they know a new way of doing business is emerging, but they’re not sure how to adapt to this change. Now that they’ve achieved a taste of financial success, they understand that the name of the game is not getting rich; the name of the game is staying rich.
WHAT YOU’LL GET FROM THIS BOOK
In my past twenty years of business and life, I’ve picked up key lessons and principles that have helped turn me from a poor Asian immigrant with $150,000 in debt to a leader of a global organization. When I’ve followed these lessons, I’ve succeeded. When I’ve disobeyed these principles, I’ve failed. So whether you want to excel in your career, carve out a path on your own, or build a company that lasts, you’ll find useful ideas here.
First, you’ll get to know me very well. You’ll see how I wasn’t given anything in life and how I was able to rise from nothing to something.
From my journey, one key concept that has guided my philosophy about financial success is the Wealth Triangle. In chapter 1, I’ll introduce you to the Wealth Triangle and why (contrary to popular belief) starting a business is a horrible first step to achieving wealth and success. There are three steps to the Wealth Triangle—and most people do things in the wrong order. I’ll show you the right sequence to achieve the milestones in the Wealth Triangle.
I’ll introduce you to the six universal Wealth Archetypes. These are archetypes and profiles that will help you identify your relationship with money and where you are on your wealth journey. After you get clarity on where you are, you’ll be able to start the first step of the Wealth Triangle.
The first step of the Wealth Triangle is attaining the High-Income Skill that will help you pay the bills. It’s a skill that will help you become recession proof. Most successful CEOs and entrepreneurs didn’t start with a business as their first step; they began with a High-Income Skill. In chapter 3, you’ll learn about the power of a High-Income Skill and why debt problems are skill problems in disguise.
Even with a High-Income Skill, there is a metaskill most people don’t have. That skill is the art of achieving maximum productivity. In chapter 5, you’ll learn how to achieve maximum results in minimum time. This chapter won’t be a chapter on time management—far from it. You’ll see why productivity is selfmastery, and you’ll see how a few simple adjustments to your current routine could multiply your results.
After achieving maximum personal productivity, you’ll learn how to achieve maximum financial productivity. Whether you want to move up in your company, become your own boss, or empower your employees with a powerful skill, this chapter will show you a new brand of sales. You’ll learn about High-Ticket Closing® and how you can close deals and negotiations more effectively without using any slimy, sleazy, or high-pressure tactics.
In chapter 7, we’ll be looking at the second step of the Wealth Triangle—the Scalable Business. You’ll learn about the three pillars of business growth and how to grow your revenues at an exponential rate. Most businesses have one or two pillars working for them, but without all three pillars working in tandem, they are leaving opportunity on the table.
One of the most critical factors in determining the longevity of a business is its profit margin. In chapter 8, you’ll learn how to increase your profit margin by selling at higher prices. You’ll see how it gives you a competitive edge when it comes to advertising, testing and research, and scaling your business.
Lastly, you’ll get a look inside into what I think is one of the most overlooked assets to any business. It’s what I call Social Capital. In today’s age, I believe social capital is even more important than financial capital. It’s the secret behind why a twenty-one-year-old Kylie Jenner was able to become the youngest billionaire in history. If you have a company or a brand you want to grow and sustain, this chapter will give you a framework for expanding your own social capital.
If you’re ready to begin, then flip the page.