So when we think of wealth (the top 1%) in this country often we think of movie stars and professional athletes, sometimes we think of tech founders and often we think of wall street. Wikipedia and government reports show that the top 1.5% of US households earn about $250,000 per year which according to many politicians is supposedly rich or on a path towards wealth. So with that as the backdrop to the definition let’s jump in to what the top 1% of earners in the US are doing in order to earn that amount of income so as to join the well known 1%.
An article from the Wall Street states this about the top 1%, “We know from other research that, by rough estimates, 90 out of 100 men and women reaching this income level are self-made with little to no inheritance. Almost all have college degrees. Men dominate the field, and almost all own or started their own business or work as an executive for a large business.” So 90% of them are self made and almost all own or started their own business which of course is no surprise to me, often we think of celebrities and others well known in the media, but the vast majority of the top 1% of earners in this country are entrepreneurial business owners.
In this world of value creation we are all compensated fairly or unfairly on how big of a problem we solve, for example: if I’m hungry and go to a restaurant to find food, the restaurant employees may be compensated a small hourly wage because many people are able to solve that problem. On the other hand if I need hernia surgery there are many fewer humans capable and instructed to be able to successfully perform such a surgery. So if we want to join the top 1% then we need to be able to solve big problems. The good news is that there are plenty of problems that you can solve without having to go to 8 to 10 years of college and another 4 years of 80 hour per week residency training. In fact with the technology and spread of the internet it has never been easier to create a product or service that can be sold online to 1,000’s of potential customers and earn sufficient income to join the top 1% of earners in America.
Bottom line if you wish to join the top 1% of earners in the US you need to create businesses that solve problems, those businesses can provide a product or service that solves problems, just to give you an idea of how easy it can be, a few years ago, in the early 2,000’s a guy was asked by his best friend who was getting married, to give a best man speech at his wedding celebration. He had no idea what he was going to say, so he read some books and did a lot of thinking on the subject and gave an incredible speech. Then he took everything he learned and put together an e-book for $19.99 and put it on a simple website. He literally sold 1,000’s of that e-book, then he did one for the bride’s maids, mom’s, dad’s and others who had to give speeches at weddings, he did all of this with very little technical knowledge and even today continues to earn incredible money from this one e-book. That one creation put him in the top 1% of earners. So go and create!
