Graham Cochrane (00:09.324)
Most people think getting rich is simple, work harder, hustle more, grind longer. But what nobody tells you is that hard work won't make you wealthy. Some of the hardest working people I know are still stressed about money, while other people who honestly seem almost lazy are the ones building real wealth. And it's not because they're smarter. It's not because they got lucky. It's because they're playing a completely
different game. So in today's episode, I'm going to break down five principles wealthy people understand that most people never learn. And if you apply them, you can stop trading hours for dollars and start building wealth the way it actually works.
Graham Cochrane (01:21.324)
Now, just to be clear before the comments explode and you email me and message me and say, Graham, you're ridiculous. I don't mean lazy as in sitting on the couch. I mean the kind of person who refuses to work 80 hours a week and instead builds value in the marketplace with leverage and creates long-term wealth. So no, I'm not saying be lazy.
I'm saying that rich people don't rely on effort. They rely on leverage. You can't build wealth on effort. There is a real limit. You could build a nice income on effort, to build real wealth, it is not about hard work. It can't be. You just look at the math. The Jeff Bezos, the Elon Musk's, the billionaires of the world.
The David Greens, if you don't like those guys, because some people say, they're the David Greens of Hobby Lobby, who gives most of his billions away every single year. You don't create billions of dollars a year by working harder than everybody else and out working. No, you have to use leverage. And most people don't understand this. So what I want to do today is show you five principles that leveraged people follow and
that wealthy people follow. Because these are the things that actually create wealth. If you pay attention to wealthy people, there are clues, there are patterns. Everyone's life is different, everyone is different, and not every wealthy person is worth emulating. I'm not saying that. We'll get to that in a minute, just hold your horses. But you gotta understand that this is not complicated.
To build wealth in this world is actually not complicated, but you must stop doing what you're doing that's not working and try something new. And what I want to do is give you five principles that if applied will make you wealthy. And it'll feel almost lazy. And that might feel weird for you. I live in America, and in America there is a strong hard work ethic. And I think it's beautiful. I'm not against hard work, so don't mishear me. But hard work will never make you rich.
Graham Cochrane (03:40.522)
It just won't. Hard work will make you tired. That's what hard work will do. It'll help you sleep well at night knowing you did some good hard work. That's a good thing, but it'll never make you rich. So let's unpack what will actually make you rich, what will actually build wealth. And the reason why you want to build wealth is because your family deserves it. Because you deserve it. Because your community deserves it. Because the charities you want to support deserve it. Okay?
Let's start there because I actually think that's the first and most important place to start. And here's principle number one to create wealth is that you need to stop believing that money is evil. I might do a whole episode on this because I just feel like we could talk about this for hours. But I actually have done an episode on this being one of the most misquoted and misinterpreted verses in the Bible. In 1 Timothy chapter 6, people think the verse, by the way, is
Money is the root of all evil, but it's not. The scripture actually says, for the love of money, not money, the love of money, two very different things, is a root, not the root, one root, of all kinds of evil, not all evil. Words matter. So when you study the scriptures, look at the actual words in the Hebrew and the Greek, depending on which testament it is.
The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. It's not that money is evil or that money is the root of all kinds of evil or that money is the root of all evil, which is what people say. No, no, not. Evil is the root. Evil people do is what causes evil things to happen, not money. So I got that whole video if you want to go watch that, that's great. But most people actually believe that money is evil.
I know that sounds weird and you might be like, I don't believe money, I'd like some more money. Maybe, let's just hold it there. I think this is a subconscious belief that most people have and I know it's one for two reasons. One, I get to interact with a lot of really cool people who are trying to build wealth in their businesses and grow their businesses. I'm a business coach, that's what I do every day. And what I find out in coaching conversations is,
Graham Cochrane (06:00.238)
you don't actually have a business strategy problem, you have a money mindset problem. And there's two dominant money mindsets that will hold people back. And one of them is a scarcity mindset, which we'll get into in a minute. It's a, you could call it a poverty mindset, scarcity versus abundance. That is huge. And most of us have it. The other one is the money is evil mindset. And you know you have a money is evil mindset.
When you judge wealthy people, you resent wealthy people, you say things like, well, they must have done something bad to get that money, or they don't deserve that money. If you say anything like that out loud or in your heart, I mean, it's okay, we can be honest. Have you ever said anything like that? He doesn't need billions of dollars. He should just give that money away, okay?
That is a giant red flag that you believe money is evil. You think it's, it's just not fair that he has more than you have. No, you believe that inherently that person is evil because they have lots of money. Because if that person were poor or that person didn't have a lot of money, you would not think those things about them. You're equating something, their wealth, their balance sheet, their net worth, their income statement, whatever, you're equating something about their money
with them as a person, as if those things are related and they're not.
Let me be as clear as I possibly can. How much money a person has or does not have has nothing to do with the character of their heart or who they are. It has nothing to do with it. And you could argue me till you're blue in the face and I will say you're wrong. It has nothing to do with it. Money is a neutral tool. I'll go one step further. Money is actually a good thing because that's what the Bible says.
Graham Cochrane (07:58.072)
God intended his people to be blessed not in just health and relationships, but in material abundance. You see it in the book of Genesis. God literally put gold in the garden. Why would he put gold in the garden if not for a visual representation of their intended purpose to have opulence and wealth, have more than enough? God blesses Abraham with wealth. He blesses Isaac with wealth. He blesses Jacob who becomes Israel with wealth.
He, like, God's people, the pattern was when they're blessed, one of the ways, not the only way, money isn't the end all be all. That is not what I'm saying. God, this is not a prosperity thing. This is not a God wants you to be rich thing. That's not what I'm saying. This is how this gets twisted. What I'm saying is money is a good thing. And can't we all agree that money is a good thing? Why is money a good thing? Because money is powerful and power is a good thing. Do you want to be powerless? No.
God wants you to be powerful. You want to be powerful. Do you want your children to be powerless, have no power in their life? No, you want them to have autonomy and power. And so one form of power is money. Money buys food. Money buys shelter. Money buys safety. Money buys medication. Money buys education, which creates opportunities for bettering your life. Money is
Good, full stop. It's not neutral. It's not evil. It is good.
Graham Cochrane (09:31.629)
Now.
That is a point I'd like to make. Money is good. It's not even neutral, it's good.
Can money become dangerous? yeah. Yeah. The Bible talks about this as well, by the way. There's a lot of warnings from Jesus, from the Apostle Paul, about the dangers, watch out, of wealth. That's where people want to go. Let's go back to 1 Timothy chapter 6. This is not the whole point of this episode, by the way, so we will move on from this, but we have to start with the mindset before I give you the four practical principles.
Timothy, excuse me, Paul is writing to Timothy in 1st Timothy 6. Paul's a pastor writing to a younger pastor talking about, hey, how to deal with problems in his congregation. Because can I get an amen that if you've got people you're serving, you've got problems, right? And so Timothy's got problems with his people at his church and Paul's trying to give him advice. And he says, hey, warn the rich in your congregation about this. And he has a few warnings that money can be a trap. The desire to become wealthy can be a trap that can lead you into a lot of
painful experiences, you'll pierce yourself with many pangs. He tells the rich people in Timothy's congregation to not put your trust in wealth, but put your trust in God who gives you all things richly to enjoy, including wealth. He tells them to be generous with good works, ready to share. So there's a lot of warnings about wealth, because can wealth lead you astray? Absolutely. The pursuit of money, just like, get this, the pursuit of sex can lead you astray.
Graham Cochrane (11:08.608)
Is sex a bad thing? No, it's not. It's a wonderful thing. It's actually biologically designed by God for procreation, for enjoyment, for intimacy, for connection, for deepness, for physical health. So sex, we can't say sex is a bad thing, but can the desire for sex lead you into doing stupid things and creating pain in your life and the life of others around you? Absolutely. Can people become addicted to sex? Absolutely. Right?
Is food a bad thing? No. But can the desire for food, which is a good, healthy, noble, God-given desire, lead you to pursue food in an unhealthy way where it brings you pain in your body, pain in other people's lives, it leads you to addiction and all kinds of—yes, even food. So, can we all agree that there can be things in life that are actually good
But there are warnings around them if mishandled can create pain. Absolutely. It's just like fire. Right? Money is just like fire. Money, like fire, fire can warm your house in the winter. can keep you warm in your house. It can cook your food. Right? Fire can also burn your house down and kill you. You gotta be careful. So I will not be foolish or ignorant to say that there are no warnings around wealth.
But can we stop saying that rich people are evil? Can we stop saying that money is evil? And we don't say it out loud and directly. Well, we kind of judge rich people. I'm gonna get to that in one more second. But at our core, if you're not wealthy yet, one of the number one reasons why is you because you at a subconscious level believe that money is evil. And therefore, if you had too much of it, then you would be evil according to that narrative that you believe. And you don't want to be evil, I don't think.
So you will subconsciously sabotage yourself the moment you get some money. I mean, think about it. Have you had a windfall? Have you had a really good month or a year or, you know, you got an inheritance or something random? You got a big tax refund. Where did that money go?
Graham Cochrane (13:25.358)
Did you have a business that was somewhat successful, but then the moment you got your most successful year, the business kind of went down a little bit and you could, this is, this is some of the gay Hendrick who wrote the big leap calls the upper limit problem, by the way, you get right to the limit of whatever amount of money or success or whatever it is that you feel comfortable with at a subconscious level. And the moment you get right above it, you self-sabotage to bring yourself right back down because
You have a story, you live in a world and you may not even realize it in which if you make too much money, you're evil and you don't want to be evil. So therefore you limit how much money you receive, how much money you pursue, how much money you'll waste money, you'll put in a bad investment, do whatever at a subconscious level because you don't want to be evil. Let's say once and for all, rich people are not greedy. Are there some greedy rich people? Sure. There's some also greedy poor people and they steal stuff.
that doesn't belong to them and they want stuff that doesn't belong to them. Greed has nothing to do with how much money you have and how much money you have has nothing to do with greed. So are there some rich, greedy people? Sure. But rich people by and large are not greedy. Money corrupts. No, it doesn't. It can, but money doesn't inherently corrupt. I believe money magnifies who you are. If you are a good person with a little bit of money,
you will be a more magnified good person with more money. If you're an evil person with a little bit of money, you'll be a more evil person with lots of money. Money magnifies who you are. So money does not corrupt, it magnifies. And wanting wealth is not selfish. Wanting wealth is the most natural thing. You should want wealth.
I don't know you personally, so I'm going to go out on a limb and say, I believe you are a good person. And therefore, I want you to be wealthy. Because I want all the money in the world to be in the hands of the good people, not the bad people. So I actually think wanting wealth for myself and for you is a good thing because otherwise the evil people are going get the money. And they might get it through illegal means. Of course, there's evil people all the time doing shady stuff.
Graham Cochrane (15:38.508)
I don't want them to have all the money. I want you and me and all the good people in the world to have the money, don't you? Because people who are good with money can do good. Money is power. So let's get money in the hands of good people. So you've got to stop believing that wanting more money or wanting wealth is bad. This is really hard for Christians because we've been taught so much garbage in the church and by our spiritual fathers and mothers who don't know how to read their Bibles, who are just literally living out
a cultural narrative because this is the final thing I'll say about believing money is evil and then I'm going to move on to the four principles very quickly that are more practical.
Our culture propagates this idea that wealth is evil and people who have money are evil. And we do this through our stories we tell in books and in movies. We do this in media. We do this in politics. So in politics, it's we need to tax the rich and give the money to the poor because the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer, which is kind of true, but kind of not true. OK, investors are getting richer. People who own investments, which we'll talk about in a minute, as they should.
You should become an investor. Stop complaining about people who have wealth and start becoming a wealthy person. It's not the government's job to be Robin Hood and take somebody's wealth. It's the most evil thing you could do. I have my opinions and I think they're based off of facts, but we can say that for another day. But the government is propagating this idea that the wealthy people are evil. Now, they're wealthy themselves and they won't apply that to themselves, but they'll say that to you to get you to vote for them. So we got government saying it in movies.
Who are the bad guys in movies? Business owners, rich, wealthy business owners. They own a corporation, they have an office at the top of a really big building, right? I just watched the latest reboot of Superman on the plane last week going to Hawaii. And Lex Luthor, right? The classic bad guy in all the Superman movies and comics. There he is in Luther Corps, the top of his building in Metropolis City, his big name. He's this evil, rich dude.
Graham Cochrane (17:42.712)
They're always the bad guys, the rich business owner. Okay, so our movies do it, our books do it, our culture does it, social media does it. Do rich people do some dumb things sometimes? They bring on the hate themselves? Absolutely, but can we just set that aside? That's not the point. So building wealth is a good thing. I would say at worst it's neutral, at best it's good. Money is simply a tool.
in the hands of a good person, it becomes a force for good. And unless you, and until, let's just say until, because I believe you can change, even today, until you fix your beliefs about money, you will always self-sabotage your financial growth. You don't get rich by hating wealth. And most of you hate wealth. So let's stop doing that. Money isn't evil. The moment you realize money is good, and I deserve to be wealthy, and I'm not evil if I get wealth, now,
Now you are free, that block is removed. Now you can do these next four things and I will fly through these a lot further, quicker. Principle number two to create wealth. Create more value than you consume. Wealth is built on one simple equation no matter how you like to build it. Value out is greater than value in. And what I mean by this is poor people focus on two things on the side of the value chain. Poor people focus on what can I get?
What do I get? How much money can I make? What's my paycheck gonna be? How much are you gonna pay me per hour? How much is my salary gonna be? Can I get a raise? How much can I get? Right? And they also focus on how much things cost. What's the price? What's the price? What's the price? So both of those are consumption language. Follow me here, right? So if you live in a world where you're so focused on what you...
get paid how much you're gonna get paid, that's focused on consumption. What do I get out of this equation? You're telling your boss or the place you work, how much am I gonna get paid? That's all I care about. Okay, and how can I get paid more? Maybe I'll skip to this company so I get paid more, right? That's very self-focused. I understand why you want to get paid more. Don't mishear me, but do you see that as consumer focus? It's all about you.
Graham Cochrane (20:06.188)
And then in the spending realm, poor people are focused on what's the price tag. Well, how much does that shirt cost? How much do those shoes cost? How much does that dinner cost? How much does that plane ticket cost? How much does that coaching program cost? Right? It is all about consumption. They want to consume more and spend less. Okay? But that's not how you become wealthy. Right? That is poverty mindset. is scarcity mindset at its finest. Rich people focus on
Production. They focus on what they can produce in the world and what a thing they might invest in produces in the future. Poor people focus on consumption, rich people focus on production. So to become rich in this world, you have to produce value for someone else. Okay? The only reason people give me tens of thousands of dollars and hundreds of thousands of dollars
Right? Is because I give them so much more value in return. That was the only reason why would someone give me, like I just signed up another $100,000 client, why would somebody give me $100,000? It doesn't make any sense. Unless I'm giving them something worth a lot more than $100,000. Right? If I can help them create a million dollars this year in their business,
then they're happy to give it to me. But the only reason they're happy to give it to me is because I have demonstrated through my own businesses and my clients' businesses that I can create value for them. So the way to become wealthy is you have to actually be the most generous person you know. You actually have to focus on other people rather than yourself. You have to show the marketplace
if you're a business owner or show your employer, if you're an employee, that you are a person of value that creates value for others. You have to be a producer. Does this make sense? That's the only reason people throw money at you. It's the only way opportunities will come to you. This is so simple, but nobody thinks like this. So the more problems you can solve for people, the more money you'll make. The more people you can serve, the more money you'll make. So if you're able to add a lot of value for someone and solve an expensive problem, that's great. Now go solve that for more people.
Graham Cochrane (22:31.97)
This is why you want a YouTube channel. This is why you want to blow up your personal brand. You want more people to know about the value you can create. The more problems you solve, the more people you serve, the more value you can create, the more income and wealth you will attract.
Money follows value, period, always, full stop, period. Do you want more money? I would like more money, Graham. Then create more value, produce more value. Do you want more money? Then stop thinking about how much things cost and think about how much things can produce. Again, we'll get to that in a minute. Everything follows the word value. So, the reason why
Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, is one of the most wealthy people in the world, is because he created something valuable. It makes no sense to me why people hate on Jeff Bezos, but they love their Amazon two-day free shipping or one-hour free shipping prime now. They love their incredibly fast AWS servers that they don't realize their entire business and...
70 % of the internet is running on that Amazon is paying for and creates. Yeah, you can't hate a person who just created a lot of value for you. People who hate on Apple or hate on Tim Cook or anybody at Apple or whatever, they'll hate on them publicly by posting on their Apple iPhone that they couldn't live without. Like, think about how ridiculous this is. The people that started to hate on Elon Musk when he was
part of Doge and was partnering with Donald Trump and it was really a political statement. I got people, my office is in a building downtown and there's a parking deck. I don't know how many Teslas are in the parking deck that have a I hate Elon sticker or a line with a, zero with a line through it over Elon's name. Like you hate Elon, but you're still gonna drive his car. Give me a break. If you really hated him, you would give up your Tesla, but you're not, because you love your Tesla that Elon created.
Graham Cochrane (24:43.286)
What are we doing people? The reason these people that we say we don't like, we hate on them. The reason they're so successful and rich is because they've created immense value in the world. I'm not saying you have to like these people. I'm just saying there's a reason why they're wealthy. They've created value in the marketplace, okay? my gosh. if you want to be wealthy, stop hating money. Stop believing that money is evil and people who have money is evil.
and start focusing how can I create immense value for somebody. You do that, you will become more valuable, people will give you more money.
Now might be a great time to tell you that the best way to make more money, if this is resonating with you, then the best way to make more money, especially as a business owner, is to not again work harder, but to create a simple system that grows faster than you can work. And so I created an entire new book. My latest book's called The Effortless Business. It's all about how to build a high income, low maintenance business in life. And all it does is teach you how to design the system.
to build a million dollar a year business working 20 hours a week or less. If you like what we're talking about and you're like, this is the year I wanna stop working so hard and start earning more and enjoying my life, pick up a copy of the book. I'll link to it in the show notes and the YouTube description below. You can go to effortlessbusiness.com. It's the only place you can buy the book, by the way. So don't go to Amazon, it's not there. Don't go to Barnes and Noble, it's not there. My other books are there, not this one. Go to effortlessbusiness.com and pick up a copy today. All right, principle number three.
delay gratification instead of choosing debt.
Graham Cochrane (26:25.538)
I don't know how else to tell you this, but rich people don't do debt. Now, I know you're going to drop a comment and say, Graham, there's billionaires that take out mortgages. There's companies that are really wealthy that have loans on their balance sheet. I get it. OK.
but there's rich people have mortgages on their properties, I get it. Hear me out. They are the exception, not the rule. Number two.
they can afford to borrow. And this sounds crazy. The only people that can really afford to borrow are rich people who have plenty of assets to pay it back. Especially on a property, if you take out a mortgage on a property, you aren't technically balance sheet in debt. On an accounting side of things, you're not in debt because you could have a million dollar property with $800,000 of a loan against it.
You're not in debt. You're you're net worth $200,000 on those two things. Right. The property's value outweighs the mortgage. It's a secured asset. Right. It's a secured loan because it's a loan tied to an asset. That's not real debt. I would argue, though, that most wealthy people don't even carry mortgages and they just buy properties cash. I live here in Florida. And I was reading a recent article about the real estate report for Tampa Bay, in particular, the region I live in, real estate for 2025.
And it's amazing to me how many cash purchases of houses there were. And the most of them happened in the Tampa Bay area in Pinellas County, which is the county right across the bay where all the beaches are. Clearwater Beach, St. Pete Beach, Treasure Island. All these beachfront properties, outside investors are coming in from New York, from LA, from China, from Russia, from all over the world. And they're buying beachfront property cash. They're not borrowing money because rich people don't need to borrow money. Okay.
Graham Cochrane (28:20.056)
They're buying cash, tens of millions of dollars in cash. That's what rich people do. They pay for things in cash. Poor people use debt. They use debt to pay for their vacations on a credit card. They use debt to pay for their college education, which is a pretty bad investment, by the way. It's really hard to argue to me that college has a good ROI on it, period, even if you paid cash. It becomes insanely stupid to borrow money to go to college for most people. And yet that's what poor people do. That's what most Americans do.
Poor people borrow money for their cars. Well, Graham cars are expensive, not cheap cars. but I don't want to drive a cheap car. There's your problem. We borrow money for weddings, which makes no sense. We borrow money for everything. Houses? Now, buying a house for the mortgage is the only thing I wouldn't scream at you at because, going back to my first point, it's not real debt. It is a secured loan. You could always sell the house to wipe out the debt.
assuming you put a down payment down, right? So a mortgage makes a lot of sense. That's not real debt to me, but I don't have mortgages either. I'm just saying. The reason poor people stay poor is because they go into debt and debt makes you a slave. Proverbs says that the borrow is slave to the lender. It doesn't say the borrow is a sinful, evil person. It just says it's just a positional statement. You are contractually obligated to pay it back.
You're not free. You get paid and that money ain't yours. Part of it belongs to a bank. You've agreed to that for the next 30 years or however long. So it's a positional statement. You are a slave if you're in debt. You don't have to act like that. Maybe you don't feel like that. It just is the truth. But why would somebody choose debt? Because they can't delay gratification. Now, don't... I understand. Before you yell at me, I'm not trying to be harsh. I'm just trying to be clear, okay?
There are situations where people are put in really bad tough situation and they had to borrow money for a medical emergency for something. I get it. You weren't in a position financially to be prepared for that. Maybe in the future you will. That's why I try to not spend all my money I make. I try to save up money just in case something really expensive happens so I don't have to go into debt for it. But let's just say you weren't there yet. Something bad happened when you're really young. You're still building up your savings. get it. Life happens. It's a mess. I'm not saying you did anything wrong. I'm just saying in most situations though, people get into debt.
Graham Cochrane (30:45.986)
because they won't delay gratification in most situations. Medical emergency, I get it, you do what you gotta do. I would do the same thing and I would find a way to get out of that debt eventually and then try to get my pills itself in a position where I wouldn't need to borrow money for a medical emergency moving forward.
But that's not most people. Most people in America, where I live, are in debt. Their slaves will not become wealthy because they have debt. And the reason they're in debt is because they just can't wait. They're just not patient.
They want whatever else has, they want the latest iPhone, so they put it on a credit card. They want to go on that cruise, so they put it on a credit card. They want a nicer car, even if they're like, well, it's not a BMW, it's a nice Toyota. Yeah, well, nice Toyotas can cost you $30,000. You don't need to spend $30,000 on a safe, reliable vehicle, but you want a new one with a backup camera and Apple CarPlay that's wireless. Okay, I get it. But that's your choice. You couldn't delay gratification. I drove a 2000 and I don't know.
2003, excuse me, 2003, I do know Dodge Neon, silver Dodge Neon stick shift. It was probably 15 grand when we bought it in 2003. I drove that thing for 10 years. was embarrassed to date me when I bought that car. We literally joked about this the other day that she cried, Shay does not cry. She cried when I told her I bought a Dodge Neon. And it surprised me back then and it surprised me now. like, babe, why did you cry? She's like, I think I was just embarrassed to be dating a guy.
I was driving a Dodge Neon. I was like, my gosh, I thought you were more mature than that. But it was, it's a pathetic car. But I saved up and paid cash for it back then. And I drove it for 10 years because it's all I could afford. And I drove a 1996 Ford Explorer that my grandfather gave me when he died.
Graham Cochrane (32:37.102)
Actually, even worse, he gave it to my younger brother, but then my younger brother gave it to me because he couldn't have a car at college for his first two years. So we were driving old, paid-for cars for the first 10 years of our marriage until I was able to buy a nicer, used car. And then eventually a new car and then some nice new cars. Now I drive really nice cars. But we pay cash for them. But I couldn't pay cash for them back then. I was willing to wait.
That's what's made me rich. I was willing to wait. I was willing to rent a really small old 1950s apartment when I was first married with Shay that cost half of what rent cost in our whole city because I was willing to not, I was willing to wait on living in a nice apartment. I wanted to live in a nice apartment that had a gym and a pool and it was in nicer area of town. I lived in an older, not as nice area of town, but we saved a lot of money. I was able to wait.
Wealthy people are able to wait. Poor people are not. Middle class people are especially not. Middle class people are the ones that get in the more trouble because they can qualify for loans so they can go into debt for nice things so they can look like they're rich, but they're not. Your neighbors are not wealthy, statistically. So discipline beats income. It doesn't matter how much you make. This is why you, bro, you could be making $500,000 a year and you're not rich. You just have a big income.
but you have a big out go as well. So you ain't making any money.
Does this make sense? I get richer every year because I keep my money.
Graham Cochrane (34:15.628)
Okay, it's not about what you make, it's about what you keep. So delay gratification, don't go into debt. but that sounds hard. Yeah. That's why we should applaud wealthy people and not demonize them because they did something that most people aren't willing to do. They delayed gratification so they could become wealthy later. Okay. And am I saying don't have fun along the way? No. Am I saying you got to wait till you're in your 60s to enjoy life? No.
You think I'm waiting to my 60s to enjoy my life? No, I just got back from a week long trip to Hawaii in an insanely expensive hotel and we flew Delta One premium first class lay flat seats there back. Those are $10,000 airline tickets because I want to enjoy my life friend, but I have money now and I didn't have that kind of money 10 years ago, but I had the kind of money I had then and I spent that.
My lifestyle is commiserate to the amount of wealth I actually have, not exceeding the wealth I have. Does this make sense? Okay. Principle number four, we gotta wrap this up. Invest early and regularly.
Wealthy people get wealthy because of two reasons, statistically. They're entrepreneurs and they're investors. Now, you can be the exception. There was a study that they did recently of people who have a net worth of $5 million or more. So not income, but mean, they have access to $5 million right now in their bank account, in their investment account, in their property. $5 million they could get their hands on right now or more, right? 95 % of those people were entrepreneurs.
So the data tells us that the most sure way to become wealthy is to become a business owner. And that's why I wrote this book, The Effortless Business, because this is the best way to have a business that doesn't steal your life. It actually gives you life and prints you money. So I would say become a business owner. But you don't have to. There's another 5 % of those $5 million net worth and beyond people that were just employees. It is absolutely possible. I'm just saying it's faster and little bit easier for most people to build a business. So to build wealth in America, become a business owner.
Graham Cochrane (36:24.038)
and or become an investor. And I want you to be both. So the business owner creates the big income.
Then you have to become an investor, you have to become an owner, you can't spend all that stuff, right? You want to then take some of that profit and reinvest it into other asset classes, namely other businesses through stocks, and I would say buy index funds, don't stock pick. You have no idea what stocks are gonna be worth in five years, nobody does. The smartest people on our planet cannot accurately predict what stocks are gonna go up or down.
year after year after year. They get lucky a couple years in a row, they can't accurately predict it. So buy index funds, meaning you buy all the stock market. You own all the horses in the race instead of trying to pick one to win. So buy other businesses, index funds, stock market, buy real estate. Those are the two escalators to wealth, stocks and real estate. Yeah, you can buy bonds. Yeah, you can buy Bitcoin. Just know that Bitcoin is speculative, just like gold.
Bitcoin is kind of like a digital gold. Now the technology is not like gold. The technology is pretty fascinating. And I Bitcoin will be very useful in the future, but Bitcoin only is worth what someone else is going to pay for it. That's why it goes up and down. The stock market, could argue, people say, well, stocks are the same. No, the stock market is built on the value of a company just like yours and mine underneath that represents that stock.
smart people trying to create more value in the marketplace to create more wealth. The reason stocks go up is because they represent businesses that are creating more value in the marketplace, which goes back to principle number two, create more value than you consume. So that's why you wanna own stocks and you wanna own real estate because it's really the land that the real estate is on and land is finite. And so real estate's only gonna go up. so getting rich isn't about getting lucky.
Graham Cochrane (38:14.36)
It's not about one lucky break. It's not about playing the lottery. It's not about waiting for that one killer investment. If you do that, you're not an investor. You're a gambler. I don't gamble. I take sure bets. There's two surest bets. And the last couple hundred years in most countries are stocks in real estate. Like you don't even have to guess. I can tell you straight to the face that 20 years from now, houses are gonna cost more and the stock market is gonna be worth a lot more.
If for no other reason than because of inflation. Right? So it's as good of a guarantee as you're get. The key is time and consistency. Most people make the mistake of waiting until they have extra money to invest. You can't wait. You need to start now because the one thing you can't get back is time. And the time, the compounding nature of money over time is the most powerful thing you're gonna find.
outside of your ability to create value in the marketplace for people. I started investing at age 22 when I got my first job and I had my first 401k. I started buying stocks and I was making $2,500 a month. $2,500 a month. I started investing and it might have been hundred bucks a month. You need to start investing. Even small investments made early become massive because of compounding. So the wealthy understand that time is a secret weapon.
and they understand that consistent investing is the key. It's a habit, it's a muscle, it's a lifestyle. Be an investor, not, I invested in something one time, be an investor and invest consistently starting today, right? Well, Graham, I'm in debt. Don't wait to get out of debt to invest. I don't agree with that at all. Start investing today, even if it's 50 bucks a month, because you have to, see how much of this is identity? You have to be a person
who is an investor. You have to be a person who avoids debt. You have to be a person who delays gratification. Right? You have to be a person who creates value. These are all like identity statements. I am someone who creates value, more value than I consume. I am someone who delays gratification and avoids debt. I am someone who invests early and often. I am an investor. I'm a value creator. I'm a gratification delayer.
Graham Cochrane (40:41.656)
I'm a debt-free person. Those are powerful identities that if you take on those identities, you're gonna become rich. Your future self will thank you. Don't be discouraged by the small amounts now. Start now, it will compound.
And then principle number five really makes principle number four about investing early and regularly work. And that is ignore the noise.
Most people never get wealthy because they're distracted. Here's what you're distracted by. Trends. NFTs, Bitcoin, short term rentals and Airbnb are hot right now. no, they're not hot right now. Now it's, you know, it's this, it's that, it's raw land, it's this. Dude, trends. Ignore the trends. Ignore get rich quick schemes.
Until Jesus comes back and makes the new heaven and the new earth, there will be a new get rich quick scheme and it'll be different. Because those are appealing because we all want to get rich quick, but that's just noise. Here's other noise, comparing yourself to other people. This is why I hate social media. I hate social media because it is a is a giant festering ground for comparison.
and comparison will destroy you. And then chasing the next not shiny thing. The noise will kill you in business. Again, I keep talking about the book, because this will literally change your life, the effortless business. One of the biggest things that makes my business work, I work five to 10 hours a week. I make millions of dollars a year. The number one reason I'm able to do that is because I literally block out every other distraction.
Graham Cochrane (42:36.416)
I don't know what's happening in the news half the time except for the important news that you'll eventually find out. I don't follow people on social media anymore. I just can't, I can't even get on social media. I literally have a 15 minute time limit on my phone for all social media per day. I don't listen to people's podcasts even though I have one. I don't know what everyone's doing. And that gives me so much more time and so much more energy to create this show for you, to run the 10K Offer Challenge and
blow people's businesses up with that, to write books. Like my third book, people are like, my gosh, you wrote a third book, you just had your second one a year and half ago. Yep, because I got time, because I'm not listening to the noise. If you want to have a successful business, shut out the noise, shut out the outside world. Well, that's being irresponsible. I don't think so. I think it's irresponsible to sit on your phone all day like most people do. What are you doing with your life? So what I would say is wealth requires focus.
I've heard, I think Rory Vadin said this, you know, he likes to push back against the idea that to become wealthy, you should diversify your investments. And he says, no, don't diversify, concentrate. And he's absolutely right. To become wealthy, focus, concentrate on one thing. If you're a real estate investor, just be really good at that. If you're a keynote speaker, become really good at that.
If you're a coach, become really good at that. If you're an influencer on the internet, become really good at that. A lot of ways to make money and become wealthy. But pick one thing and focus on it. Become really, really good at it. Concentrate your effort on one thing to create wealth. Then once you make wealth, diversify it to protect it and grow it. I make all my money in my business that's very concentrated. I don't keep it in my business. I take profit out of it.
every single month and I put it into multiple thousands of stocks, multiple pieces of real estate. I have money in private equity. I lend money to private lending to other people. All kinds of things, right? Diversify the wealth once I've created it. But you need to create wealth first before you worry about diversifying, right? You need to create wealth first, so just focus. So all I would say is pick a proven path.
Graham Cochrane (44:55.864)
Pick a business model that you like, pick an industry that you like, pick a skill set that you can use to create value in the world, and then here are the four things you need to do. Right? Create value, live below your means, invest consistently, and stay patient.
Graham Cochrane (45:18.232)
That is so boring, but it is so powerful. I've become a multimillionaire by being incredibly boring. I don't have really anything interesting to say. If I go to a dinner party and the people are talking about all their great stock picks, I got pretty boring. I run a business that generates millions of dollars and I invest that money in index funds and I buy real estate and I put
savings and savings accounts. I live below my means. I don't have any debt.
It's boring, but it's powerful. Remember, wealth is built quietly, not loudly. If you see someone loud about their wealth, they're probably not really wealthy. It's the quiet people that are generally wealthy. So, review these things for you. Principle one, stop believing that money is evil. Principle two, create more value than you consume. Three, delay gratification instead of choosing debt. Four, invest early and regularly. And five, ignore the noise. Remember,
Hard work doesn't make you rich. Now hard work is not a problem. Hard work is a good and noble thing. But it's hard work without these principles that keeps people stuck.
I know way too many people who are working way harder than me who will never be as wealthy as me. I'm not better than them. They're just missing one or all of these principles and I don't want that to be you. So if you live by these five rules or these five principles, you won't just earn more money, you'll actually create wealth that lasts. Think leverage. How can I leverage the gifts God's given me
Graham Cochrane (47:05.974)
How can I leverage the platform I have? How can I leverage the time I have, which is very short on this earth? How can I leverage the education I have? How can I leverage the moment I'm living in in history to generate more wealth? Because you deserve it. Your family deserves it. The people that you can influence and impact and give to deserve it. So go do it, my friend. Become wealthy.
stop working so hard. I hope this bless you today and hope to see you on another episode real soon.
