Two Ways to Become Rich

In a free enterprise system, getting rich is everybody’s dream. Some want to become rich for the amenities and the trophies wealth offers: lavish houses, luxury cars, elegant yachts, expensive clothes, dining extravaganzas in the best restaurants in town, and traveling to exotic destinations. Others want to become rich for the financial freedom, the independence, and the security wealth provides: the freedom to spend more time with friends and family and to explore their full potential; the independence to work when they want as much they want, without a boss over their head; and the security, the peace of mind that comes with the creation of a safety net against the uncertainties life saves for them and their families down the road. A third group lusts to become rich for the power and fame wealth brings. A fourth group wants to become rich for the opportunities wealth offers to contribute to society, to indulge philanthropy and help the poor and the needy, to build things that will last beyond this life. But how can one make this dream come true? How can one become rich? What does it take?

In the old industrial economy, people became rich the “company-builder way,” by setting up large companies and having other people work for them. That’s how the “King of Steel” Andrew Carnegie amassed his wealth in the last quarter of the 19^th century. He built the largest steel company in the world and had scores of people working in his steel mills under the close supervision of legendary managers like Bill Jones and Henry Clay Frick who didn’t hesitate to use force to make sure that workers pursued Carnegie’s dream rather than their own. The “King of the Automobile,” Henry Ford (NYSE:F) followed a similar path. He, too, created a large corporation where thousands of people worked in his T-model assembly lines under the close supervision of scores of upper, middle, and lower-level managers within the “scientific management” model invented by his engineer Frederick Taylor; and so did the “King of Oil” John Rockefeller and his Standard Oil Corporation, employing legions of workers in drilling, pumping, refining, and shipping oil.

In the new post-industrial economy, people become rich the “business-builder way,” by building business rather than companies, by helping other people work for themselves, build their own business, become rich, and make them richer in the process. That’s how Silicon Valley scientists-entrepreneurs became rich. Frederick Terman, Robert N. Noyce, Gordon E. Moore, William Hewlett, and David Packard (NYSE:HPQ) amassed their fortunes by helping other high-tech scientists-entrepreneurs amass theirs. Venture capitalists like Ned Heizer, Jim Markkula, Bill Drapper, Eugen Kleimer, Tom Perkins, and Andy Bechtolsheim became wealthy by serving as financiers and mentors to high-tech start-up entrepreneurs. Andy Bechtolsheim helped Larry Page and Sergey Brin become rich by launching Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), a venture that turned him rich, too. In a few years, he saw his $100,000 turn into over billion dollars! Boston’s Route 128 business builders followed a similar path. Georges F. Doriot and the investors of the Boston-based American Research and Development Corporation (ARDC) became rich by making rich Ken H. Olsen, founder of high-tech start-up Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). In a few years, ARDC’s $70,000 investment in Olsen’s DEC turned into $350 million. Microsoft (NYSE:MSFT) founder Bill Gates and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) founder Steve Jobs amassed their own fortunes by helping scores of engineers and marketers become entrepreneurs, who in turn helped other engineers and marketers become their own entrepreneurs, work at their own pace often in their own place, sharing the risks and the rewards with him. Ray Kroc became rich by creating a franchise organization—McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD), helping franchisees build their own business; making money for themselves and for Ray Kroc in the process. Multi-level marketers Richard DeVos and Jay Van Andel became rich by sharing their business experience and expertise with others and helping them build their own business network, others who in turn helped the next layer of people to build theirs, and so on.
©Mkimya Ent.