The Ten Roads to Riches: The Ways the Wealthy Got There (And How You Can Too!)

2 IThe

Ten

Roads

to Riches

I

Be warned:

This

road's

not

for the faint-hearted. It requires courage,

discipline, Teflon skin, strategic vision, a talented supporting cast,

and maybe luck.

Those

lacking entrepreneurial spirit needn't

apply-nor

folks who are fear-driven .

No

mistake, it's tough. Few new businesses survive more than four

years.' But starting a business is the American Dream. Succeeding is

the realm of supermen and superwomen.

The

key to success is a novel

twist making what you do

different-the

difference that works.

Are you a person who can't be stopped? Can you, as Phil

Knight would say, "Just do it"? You must be great at your core busi-

ness and the

business

of

business. Vision alone won't do! You need

acumen, charisma, tactical thinking, and leadership skills. I've never

met

a successful founder folks didn't want

to

follow.

They're

just

super.

They

know their

product

cold.

They're

skilled at sales and

marketing.

They

become great delegators.

They

also build a com-

mon

culture into repeated waves of new employees so their firm

takes on a life

of

its own beyond the

CEO.

This

is a tall order.

Before you start down this road, you must answer five critical

questions:

1.

What

part

of

the world can you change?

2. Will you create a new product or innovate an existing one?

3. Will you build a firm to sell or

one

to

last?

4. Will you need outside funding or can you bootstrap?

5. Will you stay private or go

IPO?

PICKING

A

PATH

First

question-what ...