How To Make Your First Million Dollars [11 Awesome Tips]
How to make your first million dollars? A million dollars in its own right is not a big number, but it is a symbol of success. Most people have not ever seen a $1,000,000 in their bank account. However, there is nothing that says you cannot! It is not an impossible feat to achieve!
It’s worth noting though that this is not the norm. In most cases, such people had to work really hard and for an obscene number of hours daily, making numerous sacrifices that the average person cannot to reach that success in such a short time.
If you want to learn how to make your first million dollars, you’ve come to the right place.
How To Make Your First Million Dollars?
- Follow IEVOLVE Wealth’s “10 Good Ideas Are Better Than 1 Excellent Idea” Philosophy
- Eliminate Self Doubt, Hesitation, & Inaction
- Handle Money As An Entrepreneur Rather Than A Consumer
- Focus On “Helping” Not “Earning”
- Take Advantage Of Multiple Income Streams
- Set Income Goals & Track Your Progress
- Use Our 10 Ways To Make Money Fast
- Use The Money You Already Have, To Make More Money
- Leverage Debt For More Earnings
- Don’t Get Too Attached To Any Investment
- Keep Learning & Educating Yourself
But, first let’s take a look at what the numbers say so that we can get some perspective on the goals at hand.
A Million Dollars In Numbers
Learning how to make your first million dollars over 12 months means you need to earn $83,000 a month over and above your own living expenses.
That means you need to earn a daily average of $2,778.
To make it in 1/2 a year you’d need to make approximately $6,000 daily on average. I would like to propose an alternative approach so that the numbers make more sense to an average person who want to earn their first million while still having a life other than their business.
If you split these over 3 years that would mean you need to earn just under $1,000 per day.
That is a more reasonable expectation, is it not? Will you make that from day one? If I am being honest, unless you have a genius idea that goes viral overnight, its a highly unlikely possibility.
That is not a grim perspective. I am just setting your expectations and frame of mind towards a more realistic scenario.
You may not make $3,000 or even $1,000 daily when you first start, but that doesn’t mean you won’t be making more than that daily with time.
Once you average those numbers out by dividing your total earnings by the period you’ve been doing the work, you could even find you’ve earned more daily than either of these numbers.
Listen, I made a commitment to myself and my readers when I set out to start making these articles that I will be totally honest with you guys.
That means I won’t ever sell you false dreams or feed you B.S. ideas that are not achievable by the average Joe or Jane.
These daily averages are achievable in even 6 months.
People have done it, but they’ve had to work super hard for longer than usual hours. They squeeze themselves financially, and sacrifice so much to reach that goal.
Maybe you are one of these people and ready to not just make such a commitment, but also stick with it. But let’s face it not everyone is capable of doing that! It will for 99% of the people take at least a few years.
11 Tips On How To Make Your First Million Dollars
Alright so now that we’ve set the expectations and know what we’re getting into.
Below is a list of 11 tips explaining how to make your first million dollars?
- 10 Good Ideas Are Better Than 1 Excellent Idea
- Eliminate Self Doubt, Hesitation, & Inaction
- Handle Money As An Entrepreneur Rather Than A Consumer
- Focus On “Helping” Not “Earning”
- One Vs. Many Income Streams
- Setting Income Goals & Tracking Progress
- 10 Ways To Make Money Fast
- Using Money To Make More Money
- The Right Way To Leverage Debt For More Earnings
- Don’t Get Too Attached
- Grow Your Mind To Grow Your Business
Now let’s get right into the details of how to make your first million dollars with each of these tips.
1. 10 Good Ideas Are Better Than 1 Excellent Idea
Most of us spend all our lives looking for that one idea that will act as the goose that lays golden eggs and very few of us find it. Let’s be practical for a moment here, would you rather spend all your life looking for that million idea or come up with 10 ideas worth $100,000 that you can start earning with today? Which one do you think is more practical, realistic, and easier to achieve?
Grab a notepad right now and start brainstorming ideas…
You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Why waste your time trying to come up with something new that doesn’t exist. You don’t even know if it will gain traction! Instead, you’d be better off looking at 10 things that are already proven to succeed and are in demand and just do them better. Here’s a quick example…
One of my income streams is a luxury used cars showroom in one of the wealthy countries in the Arabian gulf. My partner is a British expatriate residing there. He saw a gap in the used cars market. He simply made some tweaks to how such a business is conducted and marketed! Today his showroom is one of the top 10 in the market and it took him less than a year to achieve.
Another example on a much bigger scale on how to make your first million dollars successfully and quickly. Apps like UBER, saw a gap in the taxi industry and created an app to solve it. I once read somewhere the story that the founder couldn’t find a taxi one night and decided to solve that problem once and for all. (not sure if that story is true, but this is exactly where the inspiration to most ideas comes from, an unfulfilled need)
So looking for that genius idea is not necessarily the way how to make your first million dollars!
2. Eliminate Self Doubt, Hesitation, & Inaction
This idea is not just how to make your first million dollars, this is something you need to live by in every aspect of your life. These 3 aspects of every human’s character and self-preservation mechanisms are not only redundant but also paralyze you and limit your life. How many guys lost the girl they thought was the one because they doubted themselves and instead of taking action kept hesitating until someone else came and whisked them away, before he could even build up the courage to go talk to her?
The same applies with business!
I’ve personally been guilty of this. Over the course of my life I have had many a great idea. Ideas, that I didn’t have the courage to take action on. Or even try to find financing for! All because I doubted that anyone would believe in it. As a result, all of them were done by someone else. I lost all the potential earnings I could have made from them.
Today, I don’t let anything hold me back. I have somewhat become impulsive. I take risks like I have never taken before! Granted, I still make some bad decisions. However, what matters is the end result, where is the scale tipping? Am I still making more from this approach than I was when I didn’t? YES! As you begin to make mistakes and see that the result wasn’t so bad. That no you didn’t actually go bankrupt and despite a few mishaps. The income from the successful choices cover and exceed the financial losses from said mishaps. This is how to make your first million dollars, then the next, and so on.
3. How To Make Your First Million Dollars By Handling Money As An Entrepreneur Rather Than A Consumer
Over the past few decades billions have been spent by businesses, banks, and brands all over the globe. The goal? Change our social programming! Today the majority of humans living in this day and age have a consumer mindset, nay, ideology. We spend money on useless things that we don’t even have a need for just to be “trendy” and “up-to-date”. This mindset, is certainly not how to make your first million dollars! This ideology has gone way too far! People today are willing to get in debt and risk their financial stability just to own the latest iPhone, laptop, car, etc.
Despite having a fully functioning older version that does the job almost as good as the new one. This phenomenon was dubbed “instant gratification”.
The entrepreneurs who succeed don’t buy into these shenanigans!
They invest their money in what they need, if it won’t increase their income, then they don’t spend a penny on it. This is of course unless they “REALLY NEED IT!” that the need for it justifies rationally the loss they will be enduring by buying it. This is not to say that you need to be stingy or cheap, it just means not to buy emotionally and impulsively as that’s not how to make your first million dollars. Delay taking the purchase decision, and think it through well. Ask yourself do I actually need it? Does that need justify the cost? Can I do without it? Can I opt for a downgraded version? Are there cheaper alternatives?
Every single cent that you save is more money that you can put towards investing in something that will grow your wealth rather than shrink it. Obviously growing your wealth is how to make your first million dollars!
4. Focus On “Helping” Not “Earning”
Almost everyone asking how to make your first million dollars is making a huge mistake in the process. The question in its own right is a justified and reasonable one. However, the mindset that is behind it is slightly misguided, because it focuses on the earning part exclusively. When was the last time you saw someone getting money in exchange for nothing? Even winning the lottery requires buying a ticket. The word itself “earn” indicates someone deserving something, like earning respect, you don’t get it you do things that entitle you to be respected, and by definition they have earned it.
So what exactly am I blabbing on about here? And what is the relation between this and how to make your first million dollars? You need to shift your focus from the money towards something more noble, helping people. A car helps you get from one place to the next easier, a phone helps you communicate and connect with someone directly wherever they are and faster, something that was unimaginable before phones existed. They HELP you achieve something. Take this article for example, it will include 1000s of words, that took effort, time and a lot of thought…
I could easily charge you for this information, and I would if my focus was exclusively what money I would make. Yet here you are reading it absolutely free, why?
Because deep-rooted in my ethics and value system.
I am obligated to help people if I have the means to do so. Does that mean you have to work for free? ABSOLUTELY NOT! Let’s take you as the base example to really drive this concept home, because its really important. You are reading this article now, hopefully you have found it helpful, if not others will. People who find it helpful foster a relationship of trust, especially when they go try this stuff out and see that it’s really helped them.
Now back to you, if I’ve helped you, once. Then twice. And once again trice! Eventually you begin to see that I am consistent and find that you can count on me for solid, straight up, no B.S. advice. Chances are, I’ve already gained you as a client. If, hypothetically speaking, I were to offer one-on-one consulting sessions? Wouldn’t you be more likely and willing to invest in it? This is considering that, you already know and can trust that you will make it back and more.
Think in terms of making a million trusting clients who will loyally come back to you for the help.
Whether you earn money from them or not is irrelevant. These clients will refer you 10 each and multiply the number of clients you have. Then the number of people you help will grow, and eventually the millions will come in. This is how to make your first million dollars! At least the only morally sound, and ethical way. If I have 10 million monthly viewers to my blog, and earned $1 per 1000 views of an ad on my site that’s up to $30,000 per ad and if I have 3 ads that’s already the $90,000 monthly making me over $1,000,000 per year.
This is just from adsense ads, if we factor in affiliate commissions, consulting fees, and if I create courses here, we’re talking millions upon millions per year. You see how important this actually is? Plus you have the added benefit of having a purpose in life, a cause, making people’s lives better no matter how small the footprint you leave in the world, it still counts for something!
5. How To Make Your First Million Dollars (One Vs. Many Income Streams)
You may think this is an obvious choice and doesn’t require an entire section about it. You’d be surprised at the number of people who get this wrong. Many people think, let me focus, let me do what I do best, right?
WRONG!
One income stream is so limiting on how much someone can earn, the limit it puts is unfathomable. Focusing on one business also implies being actively involved, that’s why it requires your focus. My friend you have 24 hours a day, do what you will, the number of hours in a day will not increase. Again this is not how to make your first million dollars!
Getting actively involved in a business is literally leaving money on the table.
I am one of the people that believe strongly in passive income and the benefits it offers, but that’s a topic for another day! I will just say if you earn money while you sleep, while you are on holiday, while you are laying on your couch with a fever, or out with friends is less restrictive of how much you earn from a business. If you want to find out how to make your first million dollars and do so quickly, your earning needs to be independent of your availability and this will help when we get to what I am about to say in point 10 of this article.
So let’s talk many income streams, how easy do you think it will be to earn close to $100,000 per month from one business? How long do you think it will take to reach that number?
In contrast, how hard would it be to earn $10,000 each from 10 income streams?
Will it take as long to reach that milestone in each business than say the $100,000 from the previous example? Is it beginning to make sense? This is exactly why a job is not going to make you a multi-millionaire, because it is a single income stream. Keep your job, that’s OK if this is what you want, there are many rational reasons why you would want to do that, I’m not going to argue about that here.
However, don’t make it your only income stream. Use part of your salary to start something even if its a blog or a small business online in your free time. Your job could still be one of the ways how to make your first million dollars!
With time the small business will grow and stabilize to the extent that it runs itself.
You then take part of your income from both your job and business and start a third income stream and so on. I wouldn’t recommend start multiple businesses at once if you have a job, in most cases jobs are demanding and will drain your life force away, having more than one additional business at startup stage while having a job is not realistic and will be way to demanding. I want you to be able to stick with this long-term and getting drained earlier on before seeing the results and reaping the fruit of your labor is not what we are shooting for here, is it?
If you are free, like a housewife/husband with no kids, you can afford to split your day over multiple startups with easy and still manage to function as a human with a life outside of business.
6. How To Make Your First Million Dollars By Setting Income Goals & Tracking Progress
Beside the obvious “fail to plan, plan to fail” cliche there is much to consider when planning and setting goals. So how to make your first million dollars with income goals? Well! When you are setting your income goals, make sure that the goals you set are realistic, achievable, and attainable. Setting unrealistic and somewhat impossible goals is going to offer you no more than disappointment and failure at every step of your journey. That is definitely not the kind of journey any of us would like to have.
Think in terms of a more valid cliche “how do you eat an elephant?” on piece at a time. Make your income goals bite-sized and over shorter time-frames. This will help you in more ways than one, first of all you progress better and don’t get intimidated by the HUGE goal that you hesitate to take action on it. Secondly, achieving a goal is a fantastic motivator to keep you moving forward and along the journey will act as the fuel that drives you towards your next goal.
You need to keep tracking your progress!
Imagine a ship captain operating a vessel with no compass and radar, how likely are they to reach their destination without running the ship aground or losing their way and ending up somewhere else? The same concept applies to you tracking your progress, you need to monitor it closely to make sure you are heading in the direction that you’ve set your course towards and make tweaks to your trajectory along the way to make sure you are constantly on point.
7. 10 Ways To Make Money Fast
There are hundreds if not thousands of ways how to make your first million dollars, but as we mentioned in the first tip, why reinvent the wheel? Why not take the things that have already been proven over and over again to deliver the result you are looking for and focusing your efforts there?
Originally I wanted to cover them in detail here but I realized it would make this article insanely long, so I decided to just list them briefly here then went ahead and created a detailed article about it that you can find it here or by clicking on any of them to take you to the article. Don’t worry it’ll open in a new tab so you won’t lose how far you’ve reached in this article so far.
Here’s the list in no order of preference for your reference of 10 income ideas on how to make your first million dollars…
- eCommerce Stores
- Online Publishing
- Real Estate
- Renting Out Assets
- Flipping Assets
- Stock & Forex Trading
- Affiliate Marketing
- Consulting Services
- Social Media Influencing
- Cryptocurrency
8. How To Make Your First Million Dollars By Using Money To Make More Money
This concept is something I’ve touched on in various parts of this article without really pointing to it directly. On of the best answers to the question “how to make your first million dollars” is by using your money to make more money. That’s the way wealthy people make and grow their wealth. We spoke about the consumer mindset earlier this is the mirror opposite of that. You don’t spend the money you earn on consumable products instead you reinvest it back into your income streams or startup a new one with it!
I don’t think this section requires much explanation, whenever you have access to money don’t just think about what you want to spend it on, make it a regular practice to save part of whatever money you get your hands on and/or invest it into channels that can generate you even more money.
I know this is common sense!
However, I also know that I spent the first 2 and half decades of my life spending every penny that came into my pockets on worthless stuff. No matter how big the amount of money I had saved or earned, there was always something I wanted to buy that would leave my pockets empty. If you too feel like money burns a hole in your pockets like I used to, stop immediately. It took me losing my job to realize that, I didn’t listen to everyone who advised me, please, please, please do yourself a favor and don’t ignore this advice like I did many years ago.
Yet again that’s not how to make your first million dollars!
Until this day when I sit and reminisce on how much I’ve made and spent in my life, today I would have multiple millions sitting in an interest bearing bank deposit or at least more properties and businesses.
9. The Right Way To Leverage Debt For More Earnings
I’ve spoken about this concept in other articles, this concept is one of the best kept secrets of the top 1% who own most of the wealth in this world! I came across it by chance, through a friend who manages some wealthy Arab Royal Family members’ global property investments. So listen up close, if you want to find out how to make your first million dollars, what better way to do so than by learning from the obscenely rich?
They never touch their capital in any investment. How you may be wondering? All their wealth is locked into long term interest baring bank deposits. These deposits generate “profits” at regular intervals, this is the money they use to spend on their exuberant lifestyle as well as finance their investment projects. The former is pretty straight forward but how does the latter work?
They take out a loan guaranteed by their deposit. The amount they request never exceeds a fraction of their deposit. They pick a loan provider who charges a smaller interest percentage than the percentage they accrue from their deposit. That way they are still in profit even after paying off the loan.
They then simply pay off the loan installments from the profits their deposits generate.
That is one way to leverage debt to keep the scale tipped in your favor. Another way how to make your first million dollars is by leveraging debt like big businesses do. I’ve had the privilege of working with a massive telco with a huge global footprint. When they converted their internet infrastructure from copper to fiber optics? They celebrated doing it without taking a single cent from the bank in the form of a loan. This confirmed to me a very important and well-known concept that I had studied in university, the concept of leverage.
Large businesses do not need a loan to update and expand their business, yet they do take out loans all the time. Big businesses have very solid reports and projections that help them understand what the future most likely holds for them. They know how much they are likely to earn and can clearly foresee disaster years ahead.
Based on that knowledge they assume the worst case scenario of the projections and then take out the loan they need accordingly.
All while arranging the payment plan to match with a fraction of their expected income in the said scenario. That way they ensure that they never miss an installment and are always able to pay up in time. You may think, how is this any different to you taking out a personal loan, the same philosophy applies. Here’s the difference, let’s assume you embark on buying a house with a mortgage loan. If you are like 99% of the people living in the world, you intend to pay it over 30 years.
The problem is that the accumulated interest over these 30 years exceeds the appreciated value of the house (basically your profit). In 30 years time, you own a home, that unless you are really lucky, if you sell it at the 30 years mark you are still at a loss. Big businesses don’t make that mistake, they may buy a property using that loan but they either never intended to live in it (plan to rent it out) or if they will move into it (like an office) they would be able to generate income from the business conducted within it that after 30 years they are still in profit after all the interest is paid off.
Does it makes sense now why this is on a “how to make your first million dollars” article?
Cool, let’s move on!
10. How To Make Your First Million Dollars By Not Getting Too Attached?
Most of us are sentimental. We get attached to things on an emotional level! It’s natural, you are not alone. However, if you want to reach that goal of a million in such a short time. Sentiment won’t get you there, sorry! Getting attached is not how to make your first million dollars ever because prevents you from making rational money decisions. Your emotions, are a part of you that was never intended to lead rational decisions.
When I had to sell my Jeep at the time of losing my job. As you already know I wasn’t the money saving type. It was the most difficult decision to make. I, literally, had to pay off its loan or go to jail. If the incentive of ‘not going to jail’ didn’t exist? I probably would have never sold it. Even for much higher than its actual market worth. I was literally in love with the car, it owned a piece of my heart, I tell you this story not just to connect with you on a more personal level.
The story is very relevant to the how to make your first million dollars idea I am trying to drive home here! Imagine having such an emotional attachment to a car. What if it was a business? One that I had put effort in building from the ground up. A business that I had spent many a sleepless night until it became stable. My secure source of income, joy, and pride!
Now imagine someone came and offered me 30x what I earn monthly from it to buy it?
30 times is less than 3 years income if you think of it…
Is it worth all the effort I personally invested in it? Of course not, if I was to think with my heart! But let’s ask the mind…
I have the opportunity to make today what I would have made in 3 years time. Like enough money to start two or 3 new businesses in that time frame. This is considering that now I would have access to the necessary funds. Yet another shift that you need to make. Making mindset shifts is how to make your first million dollars. That’s where not getting too attached to anything becomes a gold mine. Notice how I used the word “too”? We’re human, getting attached is a primal thing. You can’t completely delete that from your genetic wiring!
However, you can suppress it when your greater interest is at stake. Having no attachment what so ever is not natural! Some people are cold by nature. However, to most of us that is not a healthy way to live. It’s like being a machine with no feelings or sentiment.
11. How To Make Your First Million Dollars By Growing Your Mind?
We often tend to lose ourselves. Especially, when we are so focused and hell bound on succeeding in a project or a business! We can forget our own personal growth and its importance and vitality in growing our business! You know how they say “a healthy mind in a healthy body”?
Well that saying should be taken to another level, “a healthy mind = a healthy business”. So what do I mean by all that philosophical talk and how does it relate to how to make your first million dollars?
Well, you may have what it takes to succeed as you are right now. However, you need to keep learning, never stop learning. Ever! The more you know, the better position you are in to make accurate decisions. Ones that are aligned to the success of your business within the times you are living.
I know it sounds like fluff!
But let’s take a look at some businesses we all know. Many of us grew up with as the leaders in their industry and technology at the time…
Nokia, BlackBerry, Kodak… where are they today? The declared cause of their downfall? Tat they didn’t keep with the times and the development in technology.
The real, underlying reason why they didn’t keep up with the times…
In my opinion, is that they stopped educating themselves. They stopped learning what’s new! What technologies are here today and the ones coming up in the future. Customer interest changes, etc.
The result?
They fell behind in the race with the companies that did educate themselves. Look at the biggest and most successful entrepreneurship icons. Many of the people sitting at the top of Forbes 500 list, are known to read on a daily basis.
They learn at least one new thing every single day! Many of these are high-school and university drop-outs. So clearly learning isn’t something they are big fans of.
So ask yourself, why would it be such an important part of their daily routine. Wouldn’t they rather just sit in their swimming pool or Jacuzzi?
Don’t take my word for it!
Start researching these people and looking into their backgrounds and their learning and reading habits yourself. You will find a strong relation between success in people and how much/often they actually read and learn.
Once you’ve realized the importance of learning, and how often learning activities should be in your life, start right away.
Always remember knowledge is power and more importantly knowledge is how to make your first million dollars. Because the ones who know more will always come out on top. No matter what challenges face them on the path to their success.
To Conclude…
So there you have it, 11 ways on how to make your first million dollars in 2020. Now all you need to do is start taking action on what you’ve learned here! I know this has been a long article so I am going to reiterate the points discussed here very quickly. Just to help you refresh your memory. Rather than having to read through it again or scroll upwards to find them again:
- 10 Good Ideas Are Better Than 1 Excellent Idea
- Eliminate Self Doubt, Hesitation, & Inaction
- Handle Money As An Entrepreneur Rather Than A Consumer
- Focus On “Helping” Not “Earning”
- One Vs. Many Income Streams
- Setting Income Goals & Tracking Progress
- 10 Ways To Make Money Fast
- Using Money To Make More Money
- The Right Way To Leverage Debt For More Earnings
- Don’t Get Too Attached
- Grow Your Mind To Grow Your Business
I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts, ideas, suggestion and questions on in the comments section below.
