You work hard but don’t grow rich…Why?

 1.   You quit before you even try

People lose out in life because of these 4 reasons: Being myopic to opportunity, looking down on opportunities, lacking understanding and failing to act quickly enough.

Before I founded Alibaba I invited 24 friends to my house to discuss the business opportunity. After discussing for a full two hours, they were still confused — I have to say that I may not have put myself across in a clear manner then. The verdict: 23 out of the 24 people in the room told me to drop the idea, for a multitude of reasons, such as: ‘you do not know anything about the internet, and more prominently, you do not have the start-up capital for this’ among others.  There was only one friend (who was working in a bank then) who told me, “If you want to do it, just try it. If things don’t work out the way you expected it to, you can always revert back to what you were doing before.” I pondered upon this for one night, and by the next morning, I decided I would do it anyway, even if all of the 24 people opposed the idea.  Looking back, I realise that the biggest driving force for me then was not my confidence in the internet and the potential it held, but more of this: “No matter what one does, regardless of failure or success, the experience is a form of success in itself.” You have got to keep trying, and if it doesn’t work, you always can revert back to what you were doing before.

   Jack Ma, Founder and CEO of Alibaba

2.You live above your means

I know many people who even with substantial earnings are broke. They live above their means which makes them poor. They live paycheck to paycheck even though it may not look like it.

That said it’s what you make, but what you spend. Live below your means unless you’re prepared to make sacrifices to owning a home which is one way of building wealth of you’re paying a reasonable price based on your market.

Having multiple streams of money and have your money work for you instead of working for it ensures financial freedom. That’s when you’re really rich. That’s why the wealthy get wealthier. They work smart by setting that up over time. Usually this entails having some type of job, perhaps doing work on the side or setting up their own business while having a steady paycheck and benefits. They also work hard for many years typically and have a short/long range plan.

     Marc Roth, Founder and CEO at Energy Network,LLC

3.   You have one source of income or unrelated sources of income

You won‘t get rich without multiple flows of income. That starts with the income you currently have. Increase that income and start adding multiple flows. You want what are called symbiotic flows. Do not just add disconnected flows. Instead, find other ways you can add income to the job you already have. My video guy does advertising for me — and after proving himself, he started making advertisements for those connected to me. He didn‘t start a doughnut shop.“

       Grant Cardone, CEO, Cardone Capital

4.You try to use shortcuts

There are no shortcuts. NONE. With all of this craziness in the stock and financial markets, there will be scams popping up left and right. The less money you have, the more likely someone will come at you with some scheme. The schemes will guarantee returns, use multi-level marketing (like GNLD), or be something crazy that is now “backed by the government”. Please ignore them. Always remember this. If a deal is a great deal, they aren’t going to share it with you.

I don’t broadcast my great deals. I keep them all to myself. The second thing to remember is that if the person selling the deal was so smart, they would be rich beyond rich rather than trolling the streets looking to turn you into a sucker. There are no shortcuts.

Mark Cuban, serial entrepreneur, investor and owner of the Dallas Mavericks

5.You do not invest right

What you do with the money you get, little or a lot, determines how much it grows or doesn’t. I have seen people who earn very little, put their money into assets that appreciate and over time, they reap big. I have also seen people who earn a lot, use the money on buying lifestyle goods and once the source of the money diminishes, they diminish as well. So, put money into things that make it grow, so that in the future your money continues to come whether you are working or not.

6. Your mind is not in the right place

The choices people make affect their spending and investment decisions. It‘s also about mental conditioning, and this is ingrained over time. If you are used to bad saving and spending habits, this will reverberate through all the financial aspects of your life, so even if you make more money, your wealth does not increase. Grit is another, a key driver for success or otherwise, which equally ties in to your state of mind. How much you can endure and how hard you are willing to work depends on how clearly you can envision your future and what it will take to get there, and how you have framed your goals in your mind.

 Nixon Yebei, CEO, Peak Insights

 7. You have not accepted that you are in a bad place

Have the right mindset. You need to have a mind of acceptance, meaning you readily admit that there is a problem with your current financial status that needs to be fixed. You also have to have a positive mindset, that it is a solvable problem. Failure to do this means failure to take control of your personal finances. Do not take it as your employer’s responsibility to pay you more. It is up to you to do what it takes to improve your financial situation. Also, practice self-control, to prevent non-mindful financial practices such as impulse buying.

   Wahome Ngari, CEO of Personal Finance Academy