Being one of the financially savvy entrepreneurs seems ever more elusive to those of us firmly in the middle class. Debt is hard to climb out of and it sometimes seems like the world is set up against us.
But that’s not necessarily true. Sure, having more money makes it easier to get ahead, but many successful entrepreneurs started out just like you.
While no two entrepreneurial success stories are exactly the same, we can learn a lot from the habits and secrets of all different successful leaders.
With that in mind, we reached out to a wide array of financial leaders and financially savvy entrepreneurs to see how exactly they were able to succeed in generating wealth for themselves and their businesses.
Make Before You Save
“Don’t worry about how to save money. Instead, spend more time thinking about how to make it. Think about how to leverage your talents. When you work harder, you actually spend less on yourself—there’s no time and you don’t want to break the flow. Save money by focusing on making more.” – Tim Draper, Founder of Draper Associates.
Save Up
“Saving and tracking your finances is one of the easiest ways to increase your wealth. You need to step back and examine your spending habits and figure out where you can make changes. Things like coffee, lunch, and gas, add up over time. Seriously, track these for a week and you will be surprised. If you are spending $15 on a sandwich and $10 on gas daily then you might want to switch to a bagged lunch and a subway card.
You can then take those savings and put them into a stock or portfolio. You might miss the lunch and specialty coffee, but making it a payday treat or a once-a-week splurge will make you appreciate it so much more. Use a financial tracker if you can, especially if improving your credit is one of your goals.” – Sean Byrne, Founder and CEO at Sweetkick.
Use the Internet
“The internet is one of the best places to generate wealth on the side. If you have a side hustle or hobby, try finding a way to turn that into a revenue-generating activity. There are so many people and companies willing to pay. For instance, if you love food, start posting your recipes and creating content centered around them.
You can reach out to cooking ware companies that align with your content and promote them for a cut of the commission. There are apps that will connect you to people who are interested in buying whatever service you might be selling. A few bucks here and there might not sound like much, but that’s groceries, or dinner out, or your electric bill for doing something you might have already been doing.” – Chandler Rogers, CEO at Relay.
Check out Stocks
“It is definitely an investment to get into, but if you can learn how to do it you can make $100,000 easily without working that much. I’m not saying you will make that if you are already working a full-time job, but just dedicating 30 minutes to an hour a day to playing the stock market is a great way to boost your income and create long-term wealth.” – Staci Brinkman, Founder and CEO at Sips by.
Get Real About Real Estate
“You can make a killing by investing in real estate. Start young (or as soon as you can) and start buying properties and renting them out. Cities are down right now, but they will pop right back up as Covid concerns start to decrease. Now is the time to buy. I bought a house when I was 26 and leased out the other two rooms to friends who were getting out of college.
I essentially lived rent-free and all the costs of ownership were covered by my roommates. Buy an apartment in an up-and-coming city and rent it out or list it on Airbnb. Look at how much people are making off of houses they bought in Atlanta or Nashville ten years ago before those places started booming. Start scouting and buying up while you can.” – Amy Keller, Co-Founder and CEO at FAVES.
Be a Nomad
“Consider the digital nomad lifestyle. I’m writing this from Bali, where my expenses are significantly lower than in America. If you work overseas for at least 330 days annually, you may qualify for the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion—meaning you don’t pay taxes on your first $110,000.” – Cameron Fous, Founder of FOUS4Trading.
Make Something Consumers Are Craving
“If you can develop a product that people are interested in, you will be set for life. Of course, that is always the difficult part. What you can control, however, is focusing on making your product as great as possible and letting your true intentions shine through. People can pick up on that sort of thing and will reward you with their business.
Your product will sell itself without advertising if you cater to your customer’s needs. Keep your business model open so you can continuously evolve and innovate to stay ahead of the competition that is stuck in a pattern of rigidity.” – Rachel Blank, Founder and CEO at Allara.
Sell Your Expertise
“If you are an entrepreneur, chances are you are an expert in something. That means people would likely pay for that expertise if you market it correctly. Try setting up a newsletter or online course to teach people something they might be interested in. People want to hear how business leaders found success.
Teach others how to do whatever it is that you have done. Once you have a base, those emails are as good as gold. Keep them in your ecosystem and make money doing very little work. The dream!” – Cesar Cruz, Co-Founder at Sebastian Cruz Couture.
Change Your Money Habits
“Don’t borrow money that you won’t be able to afford to pay back. That includes charging items to your credit card that you can possibly pay off. If you borrow money, make sure the terms are right and that you can make money investing it.
My mother has a bunch of money on credit cards but she has a perfect credit score. Why? She’s always looking for a 0% promotional rate and transferring high balances to pay less interest on what she owes. That’s not rocket science. It’s just good, old-fashioned financial savvy. You can do it too.
It also pays to be proactive. Savvy people routinely set aside 10% of their paychecks for a rainy-day fund and have emergency savings accounts if their business slows down or clients don’t come through with their bills on time. Set up automatic payments on all your bills and don’t fall victim to late payments.” – Hector Gutierrez, CEO at JOI.
Invest in YOU
“Realizing your own self-worth is paramount. Self-worth is net-worth. If you don’t value yourself, you will actually lose money by wasting cash on things you don’t need because you are trying to fill some sort of void. Most people are spending money on material things because they are not feeling fulfilled at their job.
They are seeking the immediate gratification you get from seeing that package at your door when you come home from a long day of work. Don’t take a promotion for more pay if it pulls you further from your dreams. Follow your heart. Ask yourself what it is that you need to do in order to find fulfillment in your work life. Make a plan to get there and never look back. You won’t regret it.” – Karl Hughes, CEO at Draft.dev
Now that the secrets of financially savvy entrepreneurs have been shared, use them to boost your business and take it to the next level.