The Hard Truth About Becoming a Millionaire in Today’s World

So you want to be a millionaire—are you ready to do what it takes? Let’s face it: the odds aren’t in your favor. Less than 1% of people make $1 million a year, and fewer sustain it for five years or more. But here’s the good news—it’s possible. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to change your financial future, today’s episode is about what it really takes to build wealth in a system that isn’t set up for everyone to win. We’ll talk about the importance of living well below your means, creating smart habits, and avoiding the pitfalls that keep so many high-income earners from staying wealthy. Making more money doesn’t guarantee success; managing it does. Even if you’re working a minimum wage job, you can start small—saving $10 a month or cutting unnecessary expenses—to build the discipline that wealth requires. For those dreaming of entrepreneurship, I break down why focus is your greatest ally. Trying to juggle multiple streams of income before mastering one? That’s a recipe for failure. Mastery, not distraction, leads to real success. And for those in service-driven careers, remember this: prioritizing your financial health doesn’t mean abandoning your purpose. It ensures you can continue making an impact without sacrificing your future. The path to wealth isn’t just about numbers; it’s about mindset, discipline, and making tough decisions. Whether it’s cutting back, starting a side hustle, or finally creating a budget, the time to act is now. You’re one decision away from changing your life forever. Key Takeaways: Wealth starts with habits: save first, live below your means, and prioritize financial health. Entrepreneurship requires laser focus—master one lane before diversifying. Even in service-driven careers, financial planning is essential for long-term security. One decision, made today, can completely alter your financial trajectory. It’s never too late, and there’s always a way forward. I believe in you. Let’s make this the moment you take control of your financial future. God bless, and max out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Ed Mylett?

  So hey guys, listen, we're all trying to get more productive. And the question is, how do you find a way to get an edge? I'm a big believer that if you're getting mentoring or you're in an environment that causes growth, a growth-based environment, that you're much more likely to grow and you're going to grow faster. And that's why I love Growth Day. Growth Day is an app that my friend Brendan Burchard has created that I'm a big fan of. Write this down, growthday.com/ed. So if you want to be more productive, by the way, he's asked me, I post videos in there every single Monday that gets your day off to the right start. He's got about $5,000, $10,000 worth of courses that are in there that come with the app. Also, some of the top influencers in the world are all posting content and they're on a regular basis, like having the Avengers of personal development and business in one app. And I'm honored that he asked me to be a part of it as well and contribute on a weekly basis, and I do.

• 0:45Ed Mylett?

  So go over there and get signed up. You're going to get a free, tuition-free voucher to go to an event with Brendan and myself and a bunch of other influencers as well. So you get a free event out of it also. So go to growthday.com/ed. That's growthday.com/ed. I hear so many small business owners say the exact same thing. They just never have enough time in the day. Well, I measure time differently. I've compressed, condensed, heck, I've bent time. My first day is 6:00 a.m. to noon. My second day starts at noon and goes till 6:00 p.m. And my third day, 6:00 p.m. to midnight. I now get 21 days a week. Stack that up over a month, over a year, over five years, and my life's completely different than it would have been otherwise. And if you want to win as an entrepreneur, you have to compress your time too.

• 1:30Ed Mylett?

  And you definitely can't afford to waste it waiting weeks on a big bank for capital. Your best bet's to work with my friends at Cardiff. They know how to compress time for entrepreneurs. They get your business approved in minutes and funded the very same day. They're America's favorite small business lender, and for good reason. Over 20 years in business, over 12 billion deployed to small business across America. Stop letting bank delays slow down your momentum. Head to cardiff.co/ed. That's cardiff.co/ed. Cardiff.co. Real growth, fast funding. Cardiff, borrow better.

• 2:08Ed Mylett?

  Welcome back to the show, everybody. So you want to be a millionaire, huh? Well, let's talk about that today. You know, one of the most popular topics on our show, and I only cover it three or four times a year, is money. And so we're going to talk about being a millionaire today, and even making a million dollars a year. And what that really looks like, what's really going on in the world and in the United States specifically. And whether or not it matters, and I know a lot of you, as we start the show today, say money isn't everything. Of course it's not, which is why I only cover it three or four times a year on the show. But we're going to cover it today, and I want you to stay in there, and I don't care whether you're a school teacher, a bus driver, a CEO, a professional athlete, a stay-at-home

• 2:50Ed Mylett?

  mom or dad, a wealth manager, stay in here with me today, because we're going to talk about wealth. Specifically, we're going to talk about becoming a millionaire. But so many of you asked me to look at making a million dollars a year. And so we're going to talk about that today, and hang in there, even if you don't make a lot of money, or you do make a lot of money. So let me give you some statistics, first of all. Let's look at this millionaire thing, which isn't what it used to be. And if you're not on track to do that right now, and you're in your 30s or 40s, you're more than likely going to retire broke. Actually, you're more than likely never going to stop working. You're never going to retire. If you are not at least on pace to be a multimillionaire in your retirement years, if you're 30 or 40 years old now.

• 3:33Ed Mylett?

  So there may be a necessity for you to begin to look at a second income, or a way to make more money, or certainly at the way you spend and earn money. So let me give you some stats. Over the last five years, the population of millionaires in the United States has grown 35%. That's nearly twice as fast as China's. The US is now home to 30% of all of the world's millionaires, which is up from 35% back in 2018. The divergence, though, of top wealth in this country is getting wider and wider. The US, by the way, has about 10,9850 centimillionaires. Those are people worth 100 million or more, which I'm honored to be one of. There's only 9,850 of them in the United States.

• 4:19Ed Mylett?

  China, by the way, only has 2,352. So the US has a giant chunk of the people in the world worth 100 million dollars a year or more. Let me give you some stats here, they're gonna blow your mind, just hang in there, because it's fascinating. The top 5% of all earners in the United States make at least 290,000 dollars a year. So, if you make 290,000 dollars a year, you outearn 95% of the people in the United States. Now, I know the vast majority, that means, of people watching this today, do not make 290,000 dollars a year, it means probably 5% of you do. So in 2021, annual wages rose fastest, guess for who? The top 1%. In 2021, the top 1%'s wages went up 9.4%.

• 5:05Ed Mylett?

  The top 0.1% went up 18.5%. So that means, successful people are becoming more and more successful. They must know something, some would say, "Well, the system is rigged in their favor", or "They learned how to rig their own lives for success in this system." No matter how you see it, the bottom line is, the top 1% income went up almost 10% last year, and the top 0.1% went up almost 20%. What's incredible, by contrast, though, well, those in the bottom 90%, they actually saw their real earnings fall by 0.2% in 20 and 21. Let's just settle in on this. The top earners, top 1%, are up 9%. Top 1% of 1%, 1/10th of 1%, are up 20%.

• 5:52Ed Mylett?

  Everybody else, the bottom 90% saw their wages drop with inflation. Workers in the 90th to 99 percentile, so the bottom 10% earners, experienced real losses in 2021. Here's some stats. The top 1% earned 14% of all wages earned in 2021. That's twice as much as they did in 1979 when they were earning 7% of all the money. So of all the money earned in the economy in the United States, the top 1% earned 14% of it. Double what it was in 1979. The bottom 90%, the bottom 90, earned just 58% of all wages. So there's a disparity here between those that are flourishing in the system and those that are not.

• 6:38Ed Mylett?

  The lowest share on record since 1979 for the bottom 90%. See, in 1979, to give you an example, the bottom 90% earned about 70% of the money, so it was within range. Now, it's just a little more than half. So, the bottom line is this. Wages for the top 1% and the top 0.1% have skyrocketed. 206% for the top 1%, 465% for the top 0.1%, while the wages of everybody else have grown just 28%. I'm throwing a lot of stats at you, let me just make it simple. The top 1% since 1979 are up 206%. The top 1/10 of 1% are up 465%. Everybody else, up just 28%.

• 7:23Ed Mylett?

  That means the income gap's growing. I think I've illustrated the point. On an annual basis, the bottom 90% wages have grown only 0.6% a year, which is not even close to inflation. So we're falling behind, 90% of us are. There's no really such thing as the bottom 90%, it's just everybody. So, here's what's really interesting. It's a great article in CNBC that I'll put up on the screen on YouTube, and it doesn't matter if you're on audio, I'll just tell you what the article says. It says the average Americans thinks they have to make a million dollars a year in order to be wealthy. They think they have to make $1 million a year. Well, that's interesting because less than 1% of all people make more than $1 million a year.

• 8:08Ed Mylett?

  Now, and that'd be cool to do at once, wouldn't it? The odds are 99%, you're not going to make a million dollars in a year. By the way, how many people do you believe make a million dollars five years in a row? So it becomes their income. Do you know what percentage of people do that? 0.1%.

• 8:28Ed Mylett?

  0.1% of all people, only 80,000 people in the United States, have actually made a million dollars a year, five years in a row. 80,000 people out of a country of 370 million. Now, of those that make the income five years in a row, you ready for this? If you take out hedge fund managers, fund managers, venture capitalists, you're now to less than a quarter of 1% of people. If you take out professional athletes, it's even lower. So now you're talking about 24,000 people, somewhere between 24 and 50,000 people, under the age of 60, make a million dollars a year consistently in the United States.

• 9:11Ed Mylett?

  So you can't even fill up the average football stadium in the United States with people under 60 years old who aren't in those fields that make a million dollars a year. You're talking about 24,000 people. So now here's what's crazy. So that's probably not going to happen, although it should be your ambition. I've been privileged and honored that I have made over a million dollars a year in my life for the last 25 straight years. Some years, you know, eight figures and above. And so I'm, I'm lucky, blessed, and I know some things that have put me in that group. Here's what's interesting about making that money. For people that make $500,000 a year and up, they're four times more likely to file bankruptcy than people that don't. For people that make a million dollars a year,

• 9:55Ed Mylett?

  they're eight times more likely to file bankruptcy than someone who does not make a million dollars a year. So I don't know that income is correlated to wealth. In fact, a lot of people, by the way, and I know that more people make this money than it shows up on tax return because people don't claim all their income. These are people with net incomes.

• 10:13Ed Mylett?

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• 10:56Ed Mylett?

  Go to ro.co/mylet to see if you qualify. That's R-O dot C-O slash my let to get started on Ro. For side effects of GLP-1 medications, including boxed warning, go to ro.co/safety. R-O dot C-O slash safety. So when I end up buying the island, we had to do all of our outdoor decorating, and I spent a fortune in the first half of the place. And I'm like, I don't want to do this anymore, but I want the best stuff. And that's where Wayfair came in. My wife wanted to get this new garden bed, and Wayfair was the place that offered the perfect solution. Wayfair also helps you create a home that stands up to real life with quality products, great value, and trusted reviews. Wayfair verified products are hand-vetted by product specialists, use a 10-point quality inspection system. Here's all I can tell you. The stuff has lasted over time.

• 11:41Ed Mylett?

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• 12:18Ed Mylett?

  One of the things on social media that drives me crazy is so many people think so many people make millions of dollars. So you hear, well, XYZ guy made three million dollars last year, she made three million dollars. They haven't paid, you haven't taken account, that was their gross. You haven't taken account their rent, their employees, their insurance, their legal, all the overhead that comes with it, their inventory in some cases. Also, this big thing on social media, so and so exited their company for 50 million, or 500 million, or a billion dollars. That doesn't tell you anything. You don't know, number one, what percentage of the company they owned, you don't know how much debt they had. You don't know how many people they had to pay off that are other shareholders or investors. You don't know what they paid in taxes. And so oftentimes, I've had people that have been on my show, to be, this person exited their company for 100 million,

• 13:01Ed Mylett?

  and I know this person doesn't even have 2 million dollars in cash. So this whole money conversation online and anywhere right now is very bizarre and perverted, and isn't always telling the truth. Turns out that most of the people don't make a million dollars a year. Especially if they don't run a hedge fund, or they're a fund manager, or they can throw 25 touchdowns a year, or dunk a basketball. So who are these people that make 200,000 dollars a year and more? Like, what do they do when you break down the tax returns? So some of them are very successful executives at companies, or even high-end executive assistants. Here's what they all are at that level, really great at what their job is.

• 13:43Ed Mylett?

  If you're gonna be, take the corporate route, you have to be great. Okay? You have to be great. Many of them are in sales. They're in persuasion. They help people make decisions by buying things. Real estate, life insurance, automobiles, things of that nature, pharmaceutical sales. So many of them are in sales. I'm talking about now, by the way, minus athletes and fund managers. Several are attorneys and doctors. For most of us, we're not going to law school, we're not going back to medical school, but they're in the group as well. And then the vast majority of the remaining people. Are entrepreneurs.

• 14:28Ed Mylett?

  They have found a way to solve people's problems. They've started businesses. None of them were born entrepreneurs. Most of them had jobs before they started the business. Most of those people have failed in multiple businesses before they became successful in the one they're now pretty successful in. I can tell you this, all of them have faced adversity. All of them had fears. All of them had people in their family telling them they were crazy. All of them have had people tell them they're not going to win. All of them have had people root against them. All of them have had somebody hurt them. Most of them have had somebody steal from them, lie to them, take from them, and use them.

• 15:13Ed Mylett?

  And they won anyway.

• 15:16Ed Mylett?

  See, there has to be a point in your life where you go, I'm not going to be a statistic. My family is not going to be a statistic. And if you really love what you do, but you want to provide for your family,

• 15:30Ed Mylett?

  then get a career that can provide and do what you love as your hobby or your pastime, or go get enough money, say, that you can dedicate all your time to doing this other thing. I am not suggesting in any way, shape, or form

• 15:44Ed Mylett?

  that what you're doing doesn't work. I, I, uh, my middle sister is a Christian school teacher. I would be crushed if she ever did anything other than that for a living. I just would. But her husband, who has a nice corporate job, also has an entrepreneurial hustle as a podcast. Okay? And so somewhere in there, they've got a game plan. They also started saving money in their early twenties because they were clients of mine in the financial business. But they started a savings plan. They've got lots of equity in their home. They have found a way to live extremely below their means. And so there is a path for everybody. There's a path for working people. There's a path for entrepreneurs.

• 16:29Ed Mylett?

  There's a path for salespeople. There's a path. You have to find yours. You have to become committed to a plan. You have to get a strategy down. If you are going to be in a career that does not pay you a lot of money, then you've got to be great with your money. You're going to have to be very disciplined. You're going to have to save. You're going to have to invest. You're going to have to find a way to cut out excess and live below your means. Or you need to start a side hustle in addition to that career. Or your spouse does. Or maybe one of you works on the weekends and earns supplementary income. Unfortunately, the way the system works today is it's almost impossible for two people in a relationship that raise a family and have children with the way taxes work now, with the lack of wage growth that I've told you,

• 17:13Ed Mylett?

  to get ahead unless they are unbelievably diligent with their money. And so if you're going to have those careers that make a difference in other people's lives, but won't make a financial difference in yours, I salute you. I admire you. This show is really for you today. If you're one of these people who wants to get financial increase, well, we've already talked about the different things you need to do, and I will here as we go down the list in a minute. So I want to honor those of you that do work every day that changes other people's lives, and you don't get the appreciation verbally, emotionally, that you deserve, and you certainly don't get the financial remuneration and appreciation that you're worthy of. So it's going to be incumbent upon you to even be more disciplined, more focused with your family. The reason this matters so much is that people who choose these careers

• 17:58Ed Mylett?

  in the service of other people that are not going to also pay a lot of money, they have chosen those careers because money doesn't mean anything to them. It's not a priority. Contribution is. Peace of mind is. Personal growth is. Making a difference is. So these precious people who work in careers where there's not a lot of income, money is not a priority to them. And what I'm saying to those of you that are those people who I admire so much, it needs to still be a priority to you because someday you can't do this job. And when you're done with the ability to do this job you love so much, you have to have enough money saved so that you can live. There's also going to be life happening to you. Mom or dad's going to need some help. Kids are going to need some help. Cars are going to break down.

• 18:43Ed Mylett?

  Emergencies are going to happen. And so precious, beautiful you who's dedicated your life to other people.

• 18:51Ed Mylett?

  You should continue to do that. But this idea that you could ignore money altogether, if I can say this as a friend, is irresponsible. Because what you will do is you'll spend your entire life caring for other people. And when you most need to care for yourself and your family, the government's not going to be there. The government is not going to be there. That pension you have is probably not going to be there or promised. And so you've got to take the steps right now to make money a priority outside of your career. So that someday you don't have to worry about it. If you just get a good budget, a good plan, a good savings program, a good person to help you, that's trustworthy. Then you can put all that stuff on autopilot and you can continue to do what you do for a living, serving other people and living in the peace and harmony and contribution that comes with that.

• 19:34Ed Mylett?

  But what you can't do is just say, "It's not a priority to me at all." I know too many people who spent their lives changing other people's lives, but never paid any attention to their own, get to a point in their life where they can't do that job anymore. And they're scared. And they're destitute. And you will have helped when you retire someday, way too many people to have to live like that at that age. It's not fair. And unfortunately, other people aren't going to do this for you and the government's not going to do it for you. No matter what political party you vote for or believe in, neither one of them are going to care for your family like you need it cared for. Or you in retirement. And you certainly can't wait around to trust that they will 10, 20, 30, 40 years from now.

• 20:18Ed Mylett?

  So you need to get a game plan of saving some money now and reducing your expenses. And I know you're saying, "Ed, you don't know what it's like at my income level." I do. I lived on minimum wage for many years. Okay, I made less than six figures many years. Many years. I made less than $50,000 a year. Many years ago. And I know what that's like. And so, but I found a way to save money then, just in case I never made a lot of money. And so, please, everyone listening, and those of you that plan on making a lot of money, well, we gotta get our act together because we know not that many people really make a million dollars a year. So let's look at who they are and what we need to do to be like them.

• 21:00Ed Mylett?

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• 21:45Ed Mylett?

  Download the Quince app for app exclusive offers or go to quince.com/ed for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada and the UK too. That's Q U I N C E dot com slash ed. So is there room to do it? 1 million percent yes. I talk about how to do that on the show all the time. I'm actually qualified to talk about it because I've been doing it for 25 years. I've made eight figures a year for the last 17 or 18 straight years. Not seven, eight figures a year. And so do I know about this stuff? Yes, I also know a bunch of people who make a lot of money that are broke. So what are the things that matter then about what I'm talking about today?

• 22:26Ed Mylett?

  These are the real stats and don't buy into this someone so exited, they exited, they exited. That doesn't tell you anything. That's, that's like preying on people's ignorance going, oh my gosh, they sold their company for a hundred million dollars or 300. You don't know anything beyond that. You don't know if it was a staged buyout, how much of it was cash, how much of it was in stock, when they get it, how much went to shareholders, investors, debt? You don't know any of that stuff. Right? And a lot of times not all that money's upfront, then there's taxes.

• 22:56Ed Mylett?

  So what am I saying? I'm saying get clear on what you want. And I could tell you some of the fundamentals. You have to live extremely below your means if you can. So I think one of the reasons I've been able to generate a pretty good income in my life. I don't say that to brag to you. I say that to say that I'm qualified. I say this to you because, listen. When I was making minimum wage, working at an orphanage, I still opened up a forced savings account in a mutual fund for $25 a month. No matter what I've ever made, I have paid myself first. I have tithed and I've paid myself first, then I paid the other things. So if that meant I had to go without a cable TV back in the day, which would be equivalent to Netflix now, I went without it.

• 23:41Ed Mylett?

  If that meant I had to make my lunch to bring to work, so I didn't blow $10 or $20 a day on lunch, I would do that and save that money. And because I started those habits young, or at some point I started them, as my income went up, I stayed the same way. One year I made multiple six figures and I was living in a $700 a month apartment, just saving the money. And so what I think most people underestimate is to the extent that you should live below your means. And I know it's very vogue on social media. Spend all your money, invest all your money. These are typically people that have never been wealthy. Or are wealthy temporarily, like those people I just told you, that are seven to 10 times

• 24:24Ed Mylett?

  more likely to file bankruptcy, even though they make a million dollars a year, even though they make a half a million dollars a year, because they have absolutely no money concepts. They do not understand the truth. So this idea of get all of your money out of the bank, invest all of it, go into debt, that works for a while until it doesn't. So should you invest your money? Yes, should you? I think you should have some that you save, some that you invest. I think some of it should be very conservative. And I think for the vast majority of people, they're like, Ed, I'd just like to shave off 200 or 300 bucks a month if I could. And what I'm saying to you is, if you could shave off $50 a month now, if you're on minimum wage, or $25 a month. $10 a month. Somehow, start the habit of what a wealthy person does.

• 25:06Ed Mylett?

  That as your income grows and you keep that same habit, you cannot be one of these statistics and you can actually get wealthy. Because the truth of the matter is go around your town, okay? Go around town. There are people retiring with some dignity. There are people retiring comfortably. And I know one of your dreams of your life is to someday be able to travel, someday be able to give more to your church, someday start your foundation, someday be able to retire your parents. And by the way, many of you listening to this are at an age where someday, maybe now, but certainly in the future, you may be caring for your children and parents at the same time. And right now, you're having a hard time just caring for yourself. So it's important that you begin to develop these habits.

• 25:51Ed Mylett?

  Some of them is extremely living below your means. And as you make more money, do not change your lifestyle. Actually save some of your money in cash when you can. And if none of that's possible for you right now, then what are you going to do to start to generate new income? Are you going to be an Uber driver? Are you gonna do DoorDash? Are you gonna start a second business? Are you gonna start a side hustle? Are you gonna get a second or third job? You know, when I was a little boy, my dad worked three jobs. So we were on welfare for a while. And we got off of it. And the way that we got off of it is my dad worked two and three jobs at a time. And I just see, if I can be really candid with you, I just see a lot of people who say they're broke that seem to have a lot of free time on the weekends.

• 26:37Ed Mylett?

  I don't understand that unless it's just like you're hoping something's going to change. And so there's a season of life where we've got to sacrifice for our future, sacrifice for our children, sacrifice for our parents.

• 26:52Ed Mylett?

  And I just believe in you, so I'm talking to you like a friend today. This economy that we're in, I don't know if it's rigged or not, but I just gave you the stats. Right? So could you get to another $20,000 a year part-time doing something? $50,000 a year part-time? Right? Could you start something part-time that generates no income for three or four, five years? That turns into a full-time, beautiful career? If you're already an entrepreneur, maybe you should have a job to supplement your entrepreneurial journey. You know, it's not a secret that when I started out as an entrepreneur, I had so many ups and downs. I had to go back and get jobs at night. I stocked shelves in a grocery store three years after starting my business.

• 27:36Ed Mylett?

  Because we went backwards and I was gonna go broke and I wasn't gonna give the business up. So I'd work in the day in my business and then I would get dressed and I would go to work and stock shelves in a grocery store at night. Did I have less sleep? Yeah, it was a season of my life. I was laying the foundation so that someday I could get on a podcast and go, hey, I've made a million dollars since 25 years and eight figures since then. And so although that sounds a little maybe, I don't, I hope it doesn't. Like I'm bragging, I also stocked shelves. I also had two and three jobs at a time. I've also had businesses fail. I've also lost a house. I've had a car repossessed before. So I know what that's, I've had my power turned off multiple times. I had my water turned off. Water.

• 28:20Ed Mylett?

  Imagine that? I'd lost my house, moved into an apartment with my new bride and then our water got turned off. We couldn't cook. We couldn't brush our teeth. We had to get up every morning and go down to the apartment complex shower, the outdoor pool shower. Every apartment complex usually has one by the pool. And I would hold a towel up while she would take a shower and brush her teeth. And then she'd hold the towel up while I'd take a shower and brush my teeth. And then we would walk back to our apartment as everybody else was going out to their job. And everybody in our apartment complex knew I wasn't providing for my family. And actually during that time, she had two jobs to support me as an entrepreneur. These are the things we do in order to change our family's future, to have generational wealth, to never have the world have their thumb on your family again.

• 29:04Ed Mylett?

  So I just want to encourage you as a friend. Every week I'm very uplifting and encouraging on the show. But every once in a while, three or four times a year, I like to do a show and go, here's where we're really at. Where are you really at? Right now, as you listen to today's show, how much money do you have saved? Could you go two or three years without working right now? If your parents needed you to float them forty or fifty thousand dollars in an emergency right now, could you do it? What if you and your husband or your wife, both cars got broken down right now? Right? Is college money safe for your children? And if they're not going to college, they help them start a business? Are you on pace to have three million dollars saved for retirement? So you can retire at the same level of life that you are at now? Not traveling, not something beautiful, not owning a jet or a ship,

• 29:49Ed Mylett?

  just sustain your current lifestyle. Are you on pace for that? And if none of that's true, what are we going to do about it? Right? And let's just face it, and here's what I think.

• 30:01Ed Mylett?

  I think you know what you need to do about it.

• 30:04Ed Mylett?

  See, you're one decision away from completely changing your life. One decision. And I have an inclination, a hallucination, that you might know what it is. Maybe it's that you need to stop spending the money in the places you spend it. Maybe it's that you need a second job. Maybe you're an entrepreneur who needs to get a job. Maybe someone in your family needs to get a secondary income. Maybe you need to just start a hustle and start a business that provides a future for your family. One other thing too, is there's this thing on social media about multiple streams of income. Here's what I believe about that. Most millionaires made their money in one lane first. And then when they became millionaires, they diversified their income. So it's one of those facts that's not true.

• 30:48Ed Mylett?

  Now, what I do believe in multiple streams is if you have a W2 job, I believe in another stream of income that's 1099. Okay, so in that case, it's multiple streams. There's your job employee W2 money. And I believe you should create another stream over here that's 1099 independent contractor type income. I do believe that. Or if your W2 income is so low...

• 31:13Ed Mylett?

  That you need to start driving Uber or doing something DoorDash or whatever it might be to supplement your income. What I don't believe in is entrepreneurs who are trying to generate four, five, six streams of income, thinking that's the way to get wealthy. And here's why it doesn't work. Because to get wealthy, you're dealing with killers. You're dealing with the best of the best. If you're going to get to these stats where you make a half a million dollars a year, or you make over $290,000 a year, or you want to go make over a million or $10 million a year, you are competing against the best in the world at whatever you do. And if your income, your focus is diversified to three or four other things, and I'm full-time crushing in my industry, I'm going to beat your distracted focus. Right? Imagine this, we're at the top level of professional baseball, right?

• 31:56Ed Mylett?

  You and I both are, but you also play the piano six nights a week in a bar, and you also deliver furniture. Who's going to be the better baseball player? I am because I'm full-time laser focused on baseball. And so if you're going to be an entrepreneur, you got to get dialed in on that industry and dominate it, get to seven figures and then diversify. But this idea that I got 200 coming from here, 300 coming from there, 50 from it, that's not how it works. I don't know anybody where that's ever happened before. So it's a fact that's not true. Because to make seven figures, you got to be great, you got to be obsessed. I don't care what the industry is. You got to be so dialed in, laser focused, outworking everybody in that business,

• 32:38Ed Mylett?

  out innovating, out thinking, out strategizing, out energizing, out everything. But if you're doing three or four things and I'm doing that one thing crushing, I'm going to kick your butt. I'm going to win at it. And so you have to get laser focused as an entrepreneur. The only other income stream you should have, other than your main business, if you're not at a million dollars a year at, is some part-time job to supplement this business you're trying to get off the ground. I have done that before. But I can tell you straight up, if you think you're going to do mortgage over here, own a donut shop over there and a dentistry practice over there, someone who's in donuts full-time, someone who's in dentistry full-time, someone who's mortgage full-time, is going to take your candy.

• 33:21Ed Mylett?

  They're going to win because they're laser focused all the time and your focus is diverted, watered down. Once you get to seven figures, that's when you diversify if you're an entrepreneur. And again, I know money isn't everything. I'm proof of that, guys. I'm, I will tell you though, the lack... Of being able to provide for your family can become debilitating, become a great worry. I have many friends that are my age and older that are now facing a time in their life where they're scared. And they're in their late 50s, mid 60s, and they're starting to get scared. Because their earning years are going to run out at some point.

• 34:05Ed Mylett?

  And by the way, the cool thing about entrepreneurship is those earning years. Colonel Sanders didn't start his business till he was in his 70s. Ray Kroc didn't become really successful until his 60s, really successful. Sam Walton, you know, there's all these new young entrepreneurs, which is great. You can become a new and young entrepreneur, but you can also do it older. And there's lots of stories of that. So I just wanted to do a wake up call today. The stats are the stats, right? The gap is getting bigger and bigger between the haves and the have nots. And you could say, well, it's the system. It might be the system, but it is the system. So what are you going to do to win? Right? What are you going to do to change this?

• 34:47Ed Mylett?

  And I would only give you all these stats and say all these things to you.

• 34:53Ed Mylett?

  Because I know you're capable. I know it's possible. I know you can do it. I think you know what the decision is. Maybe it's to stop spending so much damn money. Maybe it's to sell that car you've got and downsize a little bit. Maybe you don't need the house you're in. And maybe it'd be better to downsize a little bit. Maybe it's starting a business. Maybe it's getting a job.

• 35:14Ed Mylett?

  I don't know what it is for you. I don't know. Maybe it's just finally getting a budget.

• 35:20Ed Mylett?

  You know, and maybe if you're a really young person listening to this, it's like, wow, I'm 20 years old. I'm going to start saving $50 a month or $25 a month. Even though that may not seem like a lot, even if it's $10 a month. Okay, I'm going to start the habit of what a wealthy person does. I'm going to start the habit of what somebody provides for their family does. I'm going to do the right thing. Some of you, it's going to decide to live dramatically below your means. Some of you, it's going to be, you're going to start to buy your first real estate property. Outside of the one that you live in right now, you're going to work on that and get some sort of passive income. Or I don't know what it is for you. Some of you, it's going to go, I'm going to pick up a book on money today and just start to learn about it. Some of you, it's to go back and listen to the beginning of this podcast again. And just really get focused. You can do this. We can do this together. I promise

• 36:05Ed Mylett?

  you three, four, five, six times a year, I'm going to do things on this show that's going to help you with your money. I help you with your emotions, your body, your spirituality, your fitness, your personal development, your entrepreneurial journey, your persuasion skills, communication skills, you name it, mindset, we do all of that on this show. We're also going to make sure that everybody okay, everyone here at least has information to be okay financially. And so I know you can make this happen. I know you can create a change. I know it's not too late. It's not. It's never too late. There's always a way out. There's always a solution. There's always an answer. And you can find that answer. All right, everybody, I'm here to support you and tell you the truth, give you the stats, give you the information, and then you make the decision. What's the decision?

• 36:49Ed Mylett?

  You're one decision away from changing your life. What's that decision today? God bless you. Max out.

• 36:58Ed Mylett?

  This is the Ed and Marlin Show.