Becoming a High Income Earner When You Don't Have a Dime.
Most young males dream of having loads of money, a garage full cars and toys, and hordes of women that are attracted to them for their looks and their success. This article is going to lay the ground work for it what it takes to go from earning little or nothing to becoming a high income earner.
This is not something that can happen over night nor is this some get rich quick scheme. It's practical advice that you can start taking today to invest in your future. It won't have all the answers but it will be a start because even the longest journeys begin with one step.
As with all things in life, luck also plays a role in financial success, but as the saying goes lady luck favors the bold. I hope to inspire you to action with this article so that you start taking small steps that over time can lead to financial success and transform you into a high income earner even if you're broke today.
What is a High Income Earner?
A lot of jobs or businesses will give you the ability to earn a decent income but only some will really allow you the opportunity to earn a high income which I characterize as anything over $130,000 USD. You might not agree with this number you might think its high you might think its low but I'm basing on the median salary of United States most expensive cities. Then I'm adding an additional 30%. An income of $130,000. Also for the whole of the united states if your annual income is above $75,000 you are considered to be in the top 10 percent of earners.[1]
An ideal income is truly in the eye of the beholder. How you live your life your lifestyle and how much you can save really determines whether or not you consider yourself high income. While for this article over $130,000 is considered high income. High income to you can mean $75,000, $500,000 or more. The reality is you need to figure out what is enough for you and set that as your barometer for the bottom of what you want your income to be.
My personal bottom is $300,000. More than I've ever made but not unobtainable in mind and I would love to earn even more than that. After making a quarter million dollars a year you realize it's a lot of money, especially when you no longer make it. But, you also realize it's not a whole lot of money.
With that money I didn't have a Lambo, I didn't have an enormous house, what I did have was the ability to go anywhere I wanted, invite friends out even if they were broke since I could always pay the bill. Eat out at fancy restaurant several nights a week and take multiple vacations a year.
The truth is it doesn't matter how much money you make if you don't manage it properly it doesn't matter if you make 50k or 500k if you spend everything you make you will never achieve total financial freedom.
In conclusion High Income is relative. What is high income to you today might not be so in a few years and vice versa. Now that we have quasi defined what high income is (a personal goal) let's discuss some ways we can achieve that.
Job Vs Business to Become a High Income Earner
There are three main ways of becoming a high income earner. The most obvious is through your job. Secondly you can become a high income earner through starting or buying a business. Finally You can become a high income earner through a combination of both. I'm going to discuss the pros of cons of each approach and will conclude with my opinion on what I believe to be ideal.
Job
A lot of jobs exist that can push you into the high income earner bucket. Some of these jobs are obvious others are not. There are several ways to achieve high income status with a job. You can literally start from the bottom and work your way up. This can happen in many large organization especially if you start young and you have the drive to always volunteer for extra shifts, take optional trainings and be vicious in asking for opportunities that require managing anything. This approach is great when you start young. You want to learn the ins and outs of the business and work your way up as high as you can go.
This technique works better with medium to large companies. Great companies to try this approach are the likes of UPS, FedEx, Costco, Target, Procter and Gamble, Chipotle, most airline, and really any large corporations.
The pros of this approach is that it's very low risk. You start young you get a job worse case scenario you have a job with good job security but don't really crack that high income potential. Best case you move up to the top and become CEO of the company. If you think this is far fetched there are many of examples of this happening if you look around.[2]
The cons of this approach is that you are putting all your eggs in one basket. It will require tremendous energy and it could be many years before you reap your reward.
Another way you can make a high income from your job is to pick a career that pays well. Wether as a professional or a tradesman you can make good money by making smart career choices. I know someone that is an underwater welder and makes over $200,000 per year. Don't ask me how he started this job but I'm sure it was some trade school and a lot of leveling up. Lawyers, engineers, data scientists, plumbers, HVAC technicians even some cops with overtime have the ability to crack that $130,000 per year mark in the right area and with the right company.
The pros of this approach is that the pay will always be there for certain professions or trades. You might have to move around to find an area or company that is willing to pay what you are looking for but once you have the experience and knowledge in that field employers will be looking for you.
The cons of this approach is that becoming a professional might require years of education. A physicians assistant can make over $150,000 per year but it requires a total of 6 years of more school after high school.
On the other side of the coin, as tradesman, it might be difficult to find that high paying job if you are in a low paying area of the country. You will also have to invest some time and money on a trade school. Overall trades schools are a pretty good choice as opposed to going to college. Especially if you are going to college for something that no employer cares about like history of indigenous Amazonians. If you go that route anything short of phd is going to be pretty useless for your job prospect.
Final con is that going to school especially college and getting a degree does not guarantee that you will land the job you want or that high income salary. So you need to be smart about your career choices and make sure it's something that you have some aptitude towards and that employers actually care about.
Business
Being a business owner can make you enormous amounts of money. There are many businesses types for many different types of people. Businesses that people never think to own or operate are usually some of the most lucrative. Think Porta Potties or septic cleaning. You might have never though that some of these business generate millions of dollars of revenue annually.
There are other small businesses or side hustles that might be a little easier but be a good jumping point for something bigger. For example you can find free furniture on Craigslist, refurbish it yourself and sell it for a profit. If you have other skills like copy writing, web development or graphic design which are all very digital you can start small as freelancer on sites like Upwork, Freelancer, Writer Access and many more with very little risk. Some of the best paid freelance copy writers are making over $150 per hour and have raked in more hundreds of thousands of dollars in a few years. This is an easy way to start making some money with out leaving your current job.
If you have more knowledge in the trades like carpentry, HVAC, plumbing or skills as an electrician you can start a business based on your knowledge and provide your services when you're not at your regular job. You can start by putting ads on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace and providing your services on the weekends. This could eventually lead you down the path of having to much of your own work where you might have to quit your job to take care of your customers and make even more money. In the future I will write an article about what it takes to manage, grow and eventually sell a business like this.
If you are already established and have some money in the bank you can a buy a business that is for sale that might be struggling. With the right management, marketing and team you can turn an slightly profitable business into a money printing machine. locally in my part of the world I started seeing a particular company buying up old diners and turning them into a new class of Spanish restaurants. They realized the changing demographics and catered to a new group of people and became wildly successful. Buying an existing business might be more difficult to do because it requires a lot more capital but its always an option once you have some savings or investors which I will talk about in another blog post.
In the grand scheme of things the way to maximize your profit potential especially if your job prospects are not great is to own and operate a small business. There are plenty of small businesses that easily net the owner 6 figures. Approximately 45 percent of businesses have over $100,000 in sales.[3] That might not sound like much but if this small business is a one person operation creating ads for customers, then his entire sales revenue is his profit.
Hybrid and Conclusion for Taking Steps Towards Becoming a High Income Earner
Going hybrid is probably the ideal way to go for most men. You have a job that pays the bills keeps the lights on and allows you to save some money but also work daily (at-least during weekdays) towards building your side hustle that can hopefully turn into a full blown business someday.
What I would recommend is to try your hand at a few things first. See what resonates with you the most but then stick to it and give it all you have on your free time.
Too many of us spend our days after getting off of work surfing Facebook, checking Instagram, watching Youtube or playing video games. None of those activities are going to improve your lot and they certain will not improve your income potential.
Start brainstorming, start working and create your side hustle today. In one of my next blog post I will go into details of a few side hustles and help you get up and going. However, don't wait for me... If you have an idea go for it and get started! Something as simple as delivering Hookahs to college dorms can turn into a multi million dollar business. [4]
I currently run a small business Home On Call and this blog believe it or not could be the source of another revenue stream with time. None of them are none of them are crushing it right now but already Home On Call is making me enough money to pay my rent. Should I ever loose my job I at-least have a roof over my head and the potential to earn more if I decide to stop working and focus on that business full time.
Home On Calls current monthly traffic value. Very small right now but does not take into account what I get paid by my clients.
In conclusion you have the potential to become high income earner. Whether you get the right job or start the right business or a combination of the two will be based on you, your drive and also on some luck. Start today and follow me while I grow my business help you grow your business and reach our full wealth potential.
Sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affluence_in_the_United_States#Income_as_a_metric
- https://www.businessinsider.com/ceos-started-entry-level-at-company-2019-7
- https://www.businessknowhow.com/money/earn.htm
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GoPuff#:~:text=goPuff is headquartered in Philadelphia,typically sold in convenience stores.