Some people say knowledge is power. I have not found this to be true at all. If it were so, then university professors would be very rich and powerful. They have access to more information and knowledge than most of us, yet the vast majority of them live from pay cheque to pay cheque. Many of them have never been out in the real world to discover what it’s really like to build a business and create wealth. The fact is, that you must act on your knowledge for it to become powerful.
After I finished school, I went on to study accountancy and economics at university. I had grown up in a business environment and worked part-time and during my holidays while I was at school and university. As the university professors taught the model of perfect competition and other theoretical models, which bore no resemblance to the real world, I remember becoming increasingly frustrated and wanted to quit university on many occasions. My father, who had left school at 15, encouraged me to continue till the end, which I did (reluctantly). That taught me a valuable lesson, namely that you must persist until you succeed.
While I was at university, I came across this quote by Theodore Roosevelt which still has a prominent place in my office today:
“The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at the worst, if he fails, at least while daring greatly . . .”
After university, I went on to work in an accounting practice for three years and qualified as a chartered accountant. I progressed through the ranks faster than the average graduate and had prospects of a bright future ahead of me. Much to the amazement of my colleagues and superiors, I resigned the day I qualified. While they were busy clambering over each other in a desperate bid to climb to the top of the corporate ladder, I knew where I wanted to be. I wanted to be in the arena - actually playing the game of life, taking risks and enjoying the spoils; rather than just recording how other people made money. I wanted to be an entrepreneur and investor myself.
If you look at most successful entrepreneurs, you’ll find that it’s not superior intelligence, talent, education or resources that sets them apart. In fact, most self-made millionaires are surprisingly ordinary and often devoid of remarkable prowess.
Many of them have failed in business several times before they achieved their greatest successes.
The most stunningly successful entrepreneurs seem to share one special quality . . . they are profoundly stubborn! Or to put that another way, they are persistent and they take action . . . and then they are more persistent and they take more action! They persist until they succeed! In order for you to build multiple streams of income, you must adopt a mind set that you will persist until you succeed.
About Hans Jakobi
Hans Jakobi is an educator, author and investor. He is the author of six best-selling books including,
How To Be Rich & Happy On Your Income which is available at:
www.supersecrets.com and the presenter of the Super Secrets® to Wealth do-it-yourself real estate home study course. Join Hans Jakobi’s FREE Super Secrets® Online Newsletter
© 2002 Hans Jakobi. All rights reserved worldwide
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