I’m a Self-Made Millionaire: You Won’t Regret Making These 6 Money Decisions

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When Steve Davis, CEO of Total Wealth Academy, won a national sales contest at his job only to return from a sponsored vacation to a big salary cut, he soon realized that his path to success wouldn’t be built on anyone’s back but his own.

The self-made millionaire has learned a lot in the three decades since he quit his last formal job to pursue his own financial path.

Here are the money decisions he doesn’t regret, which he recommends to others.

Not Depending on a Job

Davis used to believe that the way you got rich was to get a job, climb the corporate ladder and hopefully, get higher and higher pay. It might seem counterintuitive, but Davis said, “The most important decision I ever made, money-wise, was to get out of depending on a job as a wealth builder.”

He added, “Now, when I say this out loud, it sounds silly. You’re waiting for people to retire, quit or get fired, so you can move up into their position — that’s not a good business model.”

When he got his pay cut, rather than thinking he had to find a better job, he thought, “I can’t ever have a job again.”

He explained that the median income for an American family is around $75,000, but the median bills for an American family are closer to $85,000. “There’s a major disconnect in the assumption that you can save your way to success, to becoming a millionaire. I decided I needed a side hustle I owned and controlled, and that’s why I chose real estate.”

Adopting a Mindset of Responsibility

His early steps to success didn’t involve a lot of actual money moves, because, he said, “I didn’t have a bunch of money to move. It was more of the psychology of becoming an entrepreneur: taking responsibility for my financial future, not putting it in the hands of a corporation.”

Personal responsibility has been key to his success, he said. “It’s not the government’s job or a corporation or your parent’s job to make you rich. Nobody is going to make you rich but you.”

He adopts an attitude that “anything that’s in my life is my fault, good or bad. If it’s bad, I’ve got to change it.” In fact, he insisted, “You want everything in your life to be your fault — that way, you can change it. If it’s not your fault, you can’t change it.” 

Asking for Help

Another important stage on Davis’s path to financial success, which he called “an epiphany,” was recognizing what he didn’t know. “I was an arrogant kid, but I had a humble moment, and I said, ‘I’ve got to get help.'”

He called the decision to get help one of the most important of all. “I’m 59, [and] I’ve never asked for help I didn’t get. Steve Jobs said the same thing right before he died.”

Since Davis didn’t know a lot of people who were doing what he was doing, he bought books and tapes and took courses on investing in real estate. “A lot of people are afraid to ask for help. Others feel they have to do it themselves. Get help; it’s a team sport.”

Not Caring What Others Think

Davis knew that quitting his job to start up a business he had no experience in would likely draw the negative opinions and judgments of friends and family. He knew he’d have to find a way not to let that derail him.

“I remember the day I stopped giving a crap what other people thought,” he said. “That was a life-changing moment. It was the realization that I had to stop caring, because I was going to do things other people would think was crazy, and I was going to hear the naysayers. I wanted to prepare.”

Of course, the naysayers had very little to say, because before long he was making more money wholesaling houses than he ever did at his job.

Buying Income-Producing Assets

Once he started to have the money to really invest, one of his best money decisions was to start buying income-producing assets.

“I decided not to speculate in the stock market, but buy real estate and then made the decision to move from single family homes to apartments once I had enough money to buy an apartment.”

He found, too, that commercial real estate has more financial benefit than residential. “The power of commercial property is you control its value; with residential, you go off comparable sales.”

For example, a home in a subdivision is worth whatever others in that subdivision sold for, he explained.

“With commercial, I can buy a five million dollar property, manage it correctly and turn it into ten million by managing it more effectively, increasing rents [and] adding laundromats and other amenities to increase the value,” he said.

Not Blaming Others

Another of the big lessons Davis has learned in his years of working for himself is that blaming others halts your own growth. He takes a cue from finance expert Gary Vaynerchuk, who he quotes as having said, “If I’m parked at a red light and someone hits me from behind, I’m going to go, ‘Damn it, I should have left ten minutes early.'”

“Blaming paralyzes you,” Davis said, suggesting it doesn’t get you to financial success. “When I get arrogant — and everybody does — I stop growing, and I can sense it.”

At the end of the day, Davis said, financial success does not have to be complicated. “Simply go out and find someone who has the results from your life that you want and imitate it.”

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