Forget everything you've been told about making money because the money advice you've been given so far is exactly what has kept you from becoming wealthy. I'm talking about all that soft advice, like "save every penny you get," "don't aim high," or "don't do that; it's too risky. " And sure, while the people who have given you this advice may still have meant well, it is this exact line of soft thinking that has kept you from reaching your full potential and becoming a multi-millionaire.
The truth is, you don't build an empire by being soft and playing it safe; you do it by being bold, decisive, and yes, brutal. So in the next 20 minutes, I'm going to show you exactly how to stop playing by these outdated soft rules that have kept you from wealth and the real rules that you should replace them with—the ones the wealthy use every single day to build massive fortunes. Now, this might make you uncomfortable, but that's good; growth doesn't come from staying comfortable.
Three years from now, you could be waking up in your dream home with a stunning view, complete freedom, and more money than you ever thought possible. So let's not waste another second. Here are the 10 brutal rules of wealth.
**Rule One:** Don't chase money for the sake of money, or you'll make no money. I know it might sound counterintuitive; after all, isn't the whole point of building wealth to make money? But stick with me because this is one of the most effective and important rules.
The reality is that the wealth-building journey isn't easy. The journey is filled with challenges, pain, frustration, and setbacks that will test your patience and resolve. Most people will give up, and when they do, it's not because the challenges are impossible, but because their motivation doesn't go beyond the sake of money.
If your motivation is shallow—if you're chasing money just for the sake of having more of it—then those inevitable setbacks will feel overwhelming. Every challenge will look like a wall you can't climb. You'll suffer, and eventually, you'll quit.
But when your purpose is deeply meaningful, when it goes beyond financial gain, it transforms the entire journey. Your purpose becomes an anchor, something that keeps you steady and focused no matter how stormy the waters get. So what's your why?
Is it to build a legacy that secures your family's future for generations? To create something that changes the world? Or maybe it's about breaking free from that job and allowing yourself to live life on your own terms, doing what you want when you want.
Whatever it is, your why has to be bigger than just wanting a bigger bank account. When you've got that why, it changes everything; it gives you the energy to push through hard times and the clarity to keep moving forward when most people quit. And that's why this rule is so critical.
So don't chase money for the sake of money, or you'll make no money. You need to find your why—it's not optional; it's the driving force that will make all the rules we cover so much easier to follow and to succeed with. **Rule Two:** Money is a game; learn to play it right.
You need to understand that money is a game—nothing more, nothing less. And like any game, it has rules and strategies that let some players dominate while others struggle. The game of money is actually a lot like chess.
In chess, it's not just about pushing all your pieces forward and hoping for the best; instead, it's about thinking ahead, planning your moves, and understanding how each piece works in harmony with the others. The best players win because they understand the strategy and play the game in a calculated way. The money game works the same way in that it's not just about working endless hours, but about playing with the right strategies and rules.
When looking at some of the grandmasters of the money game—Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett—you'll notice something key: these guys aren't just working harder than everyone else; they're also playing smarter, using the right strategies and rules. And that's what lets them win the game of money. **Rule Three:** Accept small losses for big wins.
You need to learn to accept losing—not because losing is a good thing by itself or that it's fun, but because every loss is a lesson that puts you closer to winning big. Most people play not to lose, but that's not how winners play. Winners play to win big, even if it means taking a few hits and small losses along the way.
Think about venture capitalists. They know that out of ten investments, seven might fail completely, two might break even, and one could return 100 times their investment. Now, you don't have to take on the massive risks that venture capitalists do, but you do need to be willing to take on smaller risks.
You have to accept that taking the risk of small losses is necessary to get the big wins, and it's exactly those big wins that bring real success and wealth. Look at any successful entrepreneur's past; behind their biggest wins, there's usually a graveyard of failed projects. But really, those weren't even failures; they were more like tuition paid for the knowledge that led to their breakthrough.
Every failed business move taught them something crucial about what works and what doesn't. Every setback showed them exactly what to avoid next time. So accepting small losses for big wins is not gambling; it's strategic thinking.
Every failure is really intelligence gathering. Every setback teaches you something that the comfortable and complacent will never learn. **Rule Four:** Speed wins.
Always think back to the last time you hesitated. Maybe it was. .
. a brilliant idea, a chance to seize an opportunity, or a decision that needed action. But instead of moving forward, you paused.
What happened? Did that pause lead to success, or did it drain your momentum and let the opportunity slip through your fingers? In nearly all cases, it'll be the latter one.
Now imagine the opposite: What if, instead of hesitating, you acted immediately every time a great opportunity came your way? Sure, not everything would always go perfectly, but you'd always keep moving forward. And by always moving forward and fast, you wouldn't just increase your chances of making those opportunities work; you'd also open doors to new ones faster, doors that wouldn't exist if you had waited.
This is also a rule that billionaire Jeff Bezos understood and used a lot early on to amass his fortunes. You see, when he started Amazon, he followed the principle of making decisions with just 70% of the information he'd ideally like to have. Why?
Because waiting for perfect information wastes time, and in the race for success, wasted time is a luxury you can't afford. So Bezos moved fast, made decisions, and adapted along the way, and this rule allowed him to build momentum and achieve massive growth and success. So the faster you act, the faster you will learn, adapt, and uncover new opportunities.
And remember that moving quickly won't just help you succeed with the opportunities in front of you; it will also create a fast, continuous flow of new ones. Remember, speed wins. Rule five: Saving won't make you rich.
Be willing to spend. Saving money won't make you rich, and being overly frugal can hold you back more than you realize. Now, don't get me wrong; I'm not saying you should waste money on things you don't need or that you should spend money recklessly.
But here's the truth: the people who actually become wealthy aren't focused on pinching pennies. Think about it; most people treat money like treasure they need to guard at all costs. They save, budget, and avoid spending wherever they can, but they are never actually the ones who become wealthy.
Because the ones who build real wealth understand that it's not just okay but necessary to spend significant amounts of money on themselves. Wealthy people know they need to invest in their skills, their knowledge, their health, and their networks. They see investments in personal development as a necessity, not a luxury, and they realize that it is the highest return on investment possible.
Now that investment could be hiring a mentor who can compress decades of knowledge into months, or paying for access to a networking event where one connection could completely change their trajectory, or enrolling in a course that helps them take the next step forward. Every dollar you spend on yourself, that's either for learning, coaching, or health, isn't just money spent; it's not an expense; it's an upgrade, an investment in your future earning potential. So stop thinking of money as something to keep locked in a treasure chest under your bed.
Instead, see it as a tool, and while you shouldn't waste it on unnecessary things, use it to grow your knowledge, build a stronger network, and improve your health. Rule six: You need a daily battle plan. If you're not waking up with a battle plan, you're in trouble.
Winners don't wake up wondering what they should do today; they wake up with a battle plan already locked and loaded, a clear, intentional roadmap for the day ahead. Why? Because without it, you're setting yourself up for failure.
Here's the thing: most people go through their days with vague goals and intentions. They tell themselves, "I want to make $10,000 this month. " It sounds motivating, right?
But here's the problem: goals like that are nothing more than wishful thinking without a solid plan to back them up. Because if you always wake up with that big, vague goal in mind, you'll find yourself drifting through the day, jumping from one thing to the next without clear focus, and before you know it, the day's over. The $10,000 goal is still sitting there untouched, buried under distractions.
The day is gone, and you've made no real progress. This is the trap most people fall into. They think that big, vague goals and intentions are enough to get them where they want to go, but without clarity and direction, that's just a dream.
Now let's flip it: imagine you wake up with a clear battle plan. The night before or first thing in the morning, you've already written down your specific, needle-moving actions—not "work on my business," but something like "outline three client proposals" or "set up a system to automate X process. " These are tangible steps that directly move you toward your bigger goal.
Suddenly, your day has a purpose. You're not just reacting to whatever life throws at you; you're attacking your goals. Every task you check off feels like a win, and those wins add up.
When you repeat this process day after day, those big goals, whether it's hitting $10,000 or even $100,000 in a month, eventually stop being just dreams, and they become your reality. So don't go through days with vague goals wondering what you should really do. Instead, create battle plans, attack your goals, and start stacking those wins.
Rule seven: Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful. This is a quote by Warren Buffett, one of the most successful investors alive, with a net worth of around $150 billion. What he means by this quote is that you shouldn't follow the herd but instead do the opposite.
Take the dot-com bubble of the late '90s and early 2000s. At the time, everyone was pouring their life savings into overhyped internet stocks. The media was buzzing with excitement; stock prices were soaring, and it seemed.
. . like there was easy money to be made, but Buffett saw the situation for what it was: too good to be true.
So instead of jumping on and following the crowd, he bet against the market by placing money on put options, essentially betting that the bubble would burst. And burst it did. When the dot-com bubble crashed, Buffett had positioned himself to profit from the fallout.
While others who followed the herd lost big, he was fearful when everyone else was greedy, and he made a fortune by going against the tide. But this principle isn't limited to investing; it applies to business and life in general. That means that when everyone else might be scrambling for the same opportunities, the smart ones are creating new ones.
Think about it: every major fortune in history was built by someone who saw things differently. Jeff Bezos didn't follow the traditional retail model; he reinvented it. Elon Musk didn't just join the automotive industry; he transformed it.
So remember: be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful, meaning you shouldn't follow the herd. Instead, see what others don't and take bold, calculated risks when the crowd is blind to opportunity. **Rule Eight: Your Network is Your Net Worth** Success isn't a solo sport; it never has been and never will be.
Sure, we've all heard the stories of the self-made billionaires, the ones who supposedly climbed the ladder on their own, relying only on their hard work and determination. But here's the hard truth: that's a myth. Every empire, every breakthrough, was powered by a network of people who believed in the vision, supported the journey, and helped push success forward.
The world's wealthiest didn't get there alone. Take Warren Buffett. Yes, he's famous for his relentless focus and sharp investing skills, but his success wasn't just about reading financial reports in isolation; it was also about strategic networking—finding people who could teach him incredible financial strategies and open doors he couldn't access on his own.
Specifically, Buffett sought out Benjamin Graham, an investing genius. Graham wouldn't just go on to teach Buffett valuable strategies; he also introduced Buffett to a network of key players who opened opportunities that changed Buffett's life. This is the essence of networking: one meaningful connection can be worth more than years of grinding alone.
One mentor can compress decades of hard-earned experience into months of guidance. One strategic partnership can unlock opportunities you didn't even know existed. But here's also where most people go wrong: they try to network up, but they do it without offering anything in return.
Let's face it, people don't naturally want to network down. So if you're not a millionaire but want a millionaire to connect with you, you need to do what Buffett did with Graham: give as much value as possible. Offer solutions, ideas, and opportunities.
Show people how you can help them move forward. Over time, people will begin to see you as indispensable. They'll think, "I need this person in my circle.
" And as you keep doing this, and as your network grows, your net worth will grow, too. **Rule Nine: Delegate Everything You Can** Because the truth is, if you're doing everything yourself, you're leaving money on the table. It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that handling everything yourself is the best way to get ahead.
You save money, right? Wrong. In reality, by trying to do it all, you're actually losing money.
Here's why: every task you handle that doesn't directly bring in cash is stealing from your potential. Sure, it might seem like you're saving a few bucks by not outsourcing, but those small, time-consuming tasks are keeping you from making bigger moves. When you're caught up doing everything, you're actually losing out on bigger opportunities—opportunities that would bring in far more than the money you're saving by doing it yourself.
The top earners know this well. They've built their wealth by focusing on what truly moves the needle and delegating everything else. They understand this crucial truth: you don't need to do everything yourself; you just need to focus on the few key tasks that matter most and let go of the rest.
That's how you scale, how you make more, and how you grow faster. So remember this: if you're doing everything yourself, you're leaving money on the table. You'll only make more money as quickly as you're able to delegate.
**Rule Ten: Be Patient with Outputs but Impatient with Inputs** Most people get this backward; they're obsessed with the end result—success, wealth, recognition—wanting it right now. They're impatient for that promotion or breakthrough, and what they don't realize is that focusing on the output is exactly what stops them from achieving anything. You can't rush the results.
Success takes time. The rewards are a natural consequence of the work you put in, not the focus you place on the output itself. So instead of being impatient with the outcome, shift that impatience toward the inputs.
Be impatient with the work, the grind, the hustle, the daily effort. Don't waste all your focus on results; focus on what you can control, which is the effort you put in day in and day out. Money, success, and recognition—it's all a lagging indicator of your daily actions.
Think of it like planting seeds: you can't control when they'll sprout or how many apples they'll bear, but you can control how many seeds you plant. Be impatient with planting the seeds, with the consistent effort, and let the universe take care of the rest. So don't be like most people who are impatient with the outputs; be impatient with the inputs and watch as the outputs start flowing your way.
Now that we've identified your true why that drives your mission and walked through all the ten brutal rules of wealth, you're standing at. . .
A bit of a crossroads: you've learned the principles, absorbed the strategies, and gained the knowledge. But the truth is that knowledge alone won't make you wealthy; it's the key to the door of wealth, but you still have to go forward and open that door. You now have the tools, the mindset, and the blueprint to build the life you've always dreamed of.
The only question is, will you take action using these rules and move toward your goals? You've made it this far; now it's time to turn knowledge into results. The life you want is right there within reach; it's time to unlock the door.
