As a teenager, I had the impulses of a junkyard dog. If someone looked at me the “wrong” way, I started barking. This resulted in many scraps — most of them with bigger and more skillful fighters. I managed to “win” a great many of them, however, because I was able to tap into something inside me that fueled my aggression.
Something like that exists in the realm of wealth building.
I’m talking about something inside you that can transform you into a money-making megalomaniac (MMM).
As an MMM, you will never:
- have another sluggish moment
- feel confused about what you need to do
- doubt your ability to make money — or hesitate to go after it
I have used this secret (I call it the Junkie’s Secret) to fuel my entrepreneurial ambitions in the past and I use it now to motivate myself to write books and make movies. Today, I pass it on to you…
Consider the Humble Coke Addict
Take an ambitionless, aimless young man in his 20s. He’s a high-school dropout, which means he’s functionally illiterate. Having been deprived of a good family, he is also angry. To make matters worse, he’s no “Good Will Hunting.” He’s dumb as a dishrag.
Let me ask you: What is this young man likely to do for a living?
You guessed right. Nothing.
But if he were to work… if he could be forced to work through some amazingly successful government program… how much money could he make?
You guessed right again. Minimum wage — $7.25 an hour or about $50 a day, before taxes.
Now take that same stupid, lazy kid and give him a crack-cocaine addiction.
How much money could he make then?
You guessed it again. He could make a freaking fortune!
In the 1980s, I lived in what is sometimes referred to as a “transitional” neighborhood in Washington, DC. For several years, I had the opportunity to observe the incessant, almost compulsive, money-making activities of junkies. Day in and day out, these uneducated, drugged-out, degenerates would go out into a very unfriendly world and hustle.
They panhandled. They stole. They ran cons of every possible variety. And they made lots of money.
Many of these jokers, according to an article I read in The Washington Post at the time, were making $300 to $400 a day to feed their habits. (These days, they’d probably have to pull in $600 to $900.)
That made an impression on me. I mean, hell! They were making a lot more than I was. And I had two degrees and three jobs.
An Impressive Accomplishment
The more I thought about it, the more amazing it seemed.
These were total losers whose primary desire in life was to numb themselves into a stupor. Yet they were making more money on the streets of DC than anyone I knew who worked in a fancy office.
I had a good idea of how junkies earned their money. But I couldn’t for the life of me figure out where they got the emotional wherewithal to do it.
So I decided to talk to some of them.
It wasn’t hard. A dollar would buy me five minutes of conversation. A dollar and a cup of coffee would buy me 15.
I eventually befriended three of the neighborhood junkies. An old man named George who had once worked for the post office. A young man named Dean who had never worked a legitimate day in his life. And a mother of three named Desiree. (At least that’s what they told me their names were.)
They all “worked” on 14th Street, the main corridor for hookers and drug addicts.
Before I went to work every day, I would walk over to 14th Street and spend a few minutes with George, Dean, or Desiree.
Gradually, I figured out their money-making secret. It was a combination of three very old-fashioned and virtuous habits.
Three Habits of Highly Successful Crackheads
George, Dean, and Desiree worked even longer hours than I did. Back then, I was working 12 hours a day. These three worked every waking hour — 18 to 20 hours a day.
Each of them worked with a single-minded purpose. Although there were moments when they nodded off, 90 percent of their conscious time was focused on getting the money they needed for the next fix. I had a dozen interests and alternate ambitions. They had only one objective.
But the most important difference between them and me had to do with something deeper. Their addiction was much stronger than my ambition. They would do WHATEVER IT TOOK to achieve their goal.
If you study the lives of America’s most successful people, you will discover that they too:
1. worked long and hard
2. stayed focused on one goal
3. made sacrifices to achieve that goal
Read the biography of Andrew Carnegie and you will see these three habits repeated throughout his life. Watch a documentary about Warren Buffett or Bill Gates and you will find the same thing.
It’s something to think about, isn’t it?
Working long and hard is important to success. Having determination and focus is important too. But to achieve really big goals… to climb into a whole new category… you have to do more. You have to have the willingness to do whatever it takes, including things that are risky, uncomfortable, new, worrisome, or even dangerous.
Junkies don’t get the respect they deserve.
Imagine what the addict’s life is like. You wake up on a park bench smelling of urine. You stretch, rub the sores on your face and forearms, and say to yourself, “Up and at ‘em, boy. Today you are going to go out there — to that cold and unfriendly city — and get your hands on six hundred bucks.”
Could you do that? Day after day? I couldn’t. Not unless I was addicted to something.
How to Tap Into the Unappreciated Power of the Junkie
You can have the junkie’s gift. And you don’t even have to smoke crack to get it.
Somewhere inside you a fire is smoldering — the desire to break away from the past, start your own business, and take charge of your future. If you leave this fire alone, it will eventually burn itself out. Your life will slip by meaninglessly. When you die, your dreams will die too.
But if you fan the flames of your desire, the fire will grow. And that will turn you into a money-making megalomaniac.
As a wealth-building entrepreneur, you will be unstoppable!
It is damn hard to get a new venture going. It is difficult because it is different. And because it requires you to go beyond your “comfort zone.”
Take a look at your “to-do” list for today. There is probably something on it that has something to do with that business you’ve been wanting to start. You know it is important to your future. You have highlighted it. Yet you are reluctant to do it.
But if you want to achieve more than you have ever achieved, you have to be willing to do more than you have ever done before. You need to commit yourself, put in the hours, stay focused — and, yes, do those unpleasant but very necessary tasks.
So do this right now. Pretend for a moment that you ARE a junkie and that you absolutely, positively must achieve that goal.
Failure is not an option.
Set aside your qualms. Ignore your fears.
What is it that you would do to succeed?
Got it? Good.
Now ask yourself, “Why am I not doing that?”
Do you have a moral objection to what needs to be done? A fear of failing?
Face your feelings squarely. Think about how they are blocking you. If you do that fully and honestly today, you will have accomplished a lot.
P.S. The “Junkie’s Secret” is one of those things you won’t pick up in business school. But it is an essential trait of any entrepreneur who wants to have a business that brings in life-changing profits. For more of my contrarian, “off the cuff” secrets, come to Info-Marketing Bootcamp this November. I don’t lecture. I share with my fellow success-seekers the tricks I’ve picked up over my four-decade career. Bootcamp is coming up in just a few weeks and seats are going fast…
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