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8 principles to help you navigate wealth creation:
Last week I shared The Ladders of Wealth Creation, a step-by-step roadmap to building wealth.

You can read the thread here:




Today I'm breaking down the principles to help you move up the ladders:
1. Extra time and money need to be reinvested

New ventures cost money. That means if you want to move up the ladder you need to be saving and investing rather than buying the latest gadget.
2. You can skip ahead, but you still have to learn the skills from each step

If you jump from a salaried position to launching a SaaS app, that’s moving from ladder 1 to the top of ladder 4 in a single move. That’s really hard. Every skill now needs to be learned up front.
3. Apply your existing skills in a new way to build wealth

My friend Patrick worked construction. He spent nights & weekends using those same skills to turn his small garage into an apartment. Now it’s a product making him money every month on Airbnb without requiring his time.
4. Use an earlier rung on the ladder to fund the next one

One downside to jumping ahead is that it often costs money before you will get money back.

Because he did the work himself, Patrick’s studio renovation only cost $10k. While it’s a great return, $10k is a lot up front.
In the same way Patrick’s biggest obstacle to his next airbnb unit is initial capital to get started through buying property & materials.

That’s where the early rung on the ladders can help.
You might stay at your software job longer to build your nest egg. Or pick up extra shifts as a bartender to help save for your next set of building materials (which is what Patrick did).

Often it requires extra work on one rung of the ladder to fund the jump to the next one.
5. Moving between ladders often means a decrease in income

While income usually increases as you move up a ladder, it often decreases when you jump between ladders.

In 2013 I earned $250k selling ebooks. My income had steadily increased for the previous few years.
I decided to jump from selling ebooks to starting SaaS—one of the most difficult rungs on the ladder.

My income plummeted when I focused on ConvertKit.

How long do you think it took to get back to the previous high?

5 years! I didn’t earn over $250k in a year again until 2018.
Despite the short-term drop in revenue, starting ConvertKit was a massive increase in wealth. Not only do I earn more every year, but the company now represents 98% of my net worth.

Before you jump ladders save up money so you can ride through the dip in income.
6. It also doesn’t have to be “all or nothing.”

You can start a blog while still helping freelance clients. Or code on the side to get a head start on your software project.

A side project is an incredible way to bridge the gap and cover the dip as you move between ladders.
7. Each step is easier with an audience

While the dip will be frustrating, imagine that instead of making the leap alone you had dozens, or even thousands of people cheering you on at each stage.

Each person following your journey & eager to help you make the next step.
Does that sound too good to be true?

It’s not. It’s called an audience.

By sharing your journey publicly—and inviting friends, family, and complete strangers along for the ride—you will create your own fan club who are actively rooting for your success.
When I started ConvertKit I did it as a public challenge to hit $5k in revenue in 6 mo. I blogged the journey every week.

While I didn’t hit my goal—working in public meant I had 100s of people offering to help with advice, intros, & more.

Audiences are an incredible cheat code
8. It takes longer than you think, but the results can be incredible

My friend’s grandma passed away a few years ago at 90 yrs old. When she was 60 her husband passed away, leaving her alone.

She was financially secure through 2 paid off houses, but still had a long life ahead.
She loved cute little houses & decided to buy 1 to rent out as a new hobby. A couple years later she bought another. Then another.

When I met her she was 80 years old and in the 20 years since she started, she had acquired more than 25 cute little homes throughout Idaho.
Combined they turned into a real estate empire with great monthly cash flow that she rolled into buying the next property.

What had started as a hobby to pass her time and distract from loneliness turned into a real estate empire worth well over $5 million.
Consistently reinvesting time and money into wealth creation—rather than lifestyle inflation—can have incredible results if you do it long enough.

What started as one house per year turned into an empire.

You can do the same with consistent investments over time.
If you want to learn more, read the original essay on my blog:

nathanbarry.com/wealth-creation/

You can also follow me @nathanbarry to learn more about audience building and wealth creation.
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