Millionaire Success Factor List

[Light]

This is straight from the Millionaire Mind, by Thomas J. Stanley, which is quite literally a gigantic study/survey done of countless Millionaires. When asked about all the factors that contribute directly to their economic success, here are the most common answers in rank order. 

 

1. Being Honest with People

#1 (tie) - Being well disciplined

#3 - Getting along with People

#4 - Having a supportive spouse

#5 - Working harder than most people

#6 - Loving my career/business

#7 - Having strong leadership qualities

#8 - Having a competitive personality

#9 - Being well organized

#10 - Having an ability to sell my ideas/products

#10 (tie) - Making wise investments

 

Right off the bat I'll say #1 is shocking. The perception that rich people often get there through manipulation etc. is thrown right out the window. Integrity is #1!

 

Discipline, yes, sure. Getting along well with people. I can see that. 

 

Having a supportive spouse... is as high as #4. 

 

That is pretty crazy. I can see now why most of us get irritated along the journey when our dating lives don't work out. 

 

Working Hard, #5. Yep. If you can outhustle people you win the day, which in fact is higher than loving your career itself!

 

Leadership, Competitive Personality, Being Organized, Salesmanship and Making good investments round it off. 

 

Thoughts? Surprises? By the way, Luck ranks at #27, which is pretty much close to dead last. 

[Athena]

Very interesting!

Yes, the supportive spouse is worrying being that I don't want to re-marry just want a boyfriend damn it!  (But seem to be in a city of commitaphobes) When was this polled?  Maybe today 

that has changed a bit?  Or has it?  I mean, today might it be more a case of just being in a happy, committed relationship but not necessarily married? I don't know.

Anyway as you say, I am very surprised by some of these, especially at the end the "Leadership, Competitive Personality, Being Organized, Salesmanship and Making good investments round it off."  OK THIS REALLY surprises me as these as the things we are lead to believe are the top qualities!

In a way, the people skills being at the top makes a LOT of sense.

I have a friend, for e.g. who has done some workshops with two people more well-known than him, even though he IS knowledgeable about his subjects and witty.  But he's very VERY social and makes connections quite easily.  My point is, I THINK see there is this whole thing about being a "Solopreneur" But what IF being an entrepreneur even though you'll do MOST of the work yourself, sure, but what if good or great people skills can make it easier to get people to help you and you help them and therefore that helps with some skills gaps?

Does that make sense?

OK here's an example:

Someone has great social and communication skills, gets on well with others.

And they make a connection with a publisher or someone who can get them a venue to speak at etc.

I keep thinking that the ability to market the crap out of yourself and your products and or services and make it sound like the sun shines out of your ass and hype your

stuff to infinity is the way to make cash, that's what a lot of people seem to be doing.  But salesmanship is not THAT high on the list.  Interesting find, Light, VERY interesting indeed! 

[Light]

Oh it's changed with spouse because this was taken in 2001. It can be a boyfriend, I am sure. The vast majority of successful millionaires are still committed to a girlfriend or married. There's some type of commitment. In Real Estate, my work got a lot easier when I started to work with a stay at home mom to handle my phone calls, etc. The male-female supportive dynamic is the best compliment to make things work. Notice that it says "Supportive" spouse, though. If you have a boyfriend or husband that doesn't contribute, it won't do you any good. This book actually has multiple chapters dedicated to what questions you should ask your spouse before going with it. 

 

Now the issue really is it's in rank order. Which means... having a supportive spouse is somehow important than having a career you love. This is what I found crazy. 

 

Hmm. Getting along with people might be as simple as dealing with conflicting personalities within your own business. Most millionaires are working with others, and if you can't deal with conflicts, you can't run a successful business. It's negotiation skill, which is closely related to sales skill but not quite... as Integrity is still the surprise #1. (And really, face it, there's a good amount of sales skill that's just making the product look better than it really is). I think at the end of the day it makes your business operate in harmony, like a family working together, which is what's making it work. 

 

I agree with Connections and people making things easier for you. It happens.