A lot of people want to get rich but struggle to even know how to get there. While the definition of rich varies for everyone, whether you strive for a mansion, or a life of leisure, wealth isn’t just going to come to the average person without a plan.
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Finance expert Ramit Sethi has a lot of practical experience in this arena, having built a fortune through multiple businesses. In a May issue of his “Rich Life Insiders” newsletter, he explained the one excuse that might be holding people back from getting rich and offered five tips to overcome it.
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The Excuse That Stops You
One of the best and “most flexible” ways to build a “rich life,” Sethi wrote, is to start a business. Yet most people stop themselves before they even get started, he said, by using one excuse: “I’d love to but I just don’t have time.”
He suggested that people are sending themselves dual messages by claiming they want “freedom, autonomy and money” and yet still chaining themselves to a calendar. The claim that you don’t have enough time “kills most new businesses before they ever get off the ground.”
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It May Take Less Time
The excuse often isn’t even true, he suggested, because starting a business can take less time than you think. Sethi shared an example from a man named Will Ryan who followed Sethi’s “Earnable” program to start a business.
Ryan wrote that he kept putting off starting a side hustle that he’d been thinking of for over two years. He had a full-time job, a young child and was sure he didn’t have time.
Only six weeks into Sethi’s program and Ryan has already found the time to build his side hustle into a revenue-earning venture.
Sethi explained, “Will had every reason to keep stalling: full-time job and a new kid. But he decided to stop worrying… and start.”
Sethi offered five tips to break free from the “I have no time” excuse and start your business.
1. Just Get Started
Sethi pointed out the realistic truth that if you wait for things in life to “calm down,” you’ll probably never get started. Sometimes you just have to leap. Sethi built his first website “in a middle school computer lab” and kept going. He said that baby steps give you forward momentum.
“And once you’re in motion, something funny happens — you start finding time you swore you didn’t have.”
2. Follow a Proven System
Sethi said that all you need to be successful in business is “a proven system” that tells you exactly what to do, step by step. Naturally, he suggested his “Earnable” program is that system — it is his newsletter, after all. However, if you find another one that works better, you should leap on that one instead.
You want to look for programs with milestones and processes mapped out for you so you can just focus on taking action.
“With a proven system, you can skip the guesswork, dodge the time-sinks, and actually make real progress — in weeks, not years,” he wrote.
3. Put Time on Your Calendar
Back to the first point about not having enough time, Sethi said that you can’t leave time up to chance, for sure — you have to be disciplined and schedule it.
He schedules everything on his calendar, not just big appointments, but every meeting, event or important task that needs his attention.
“You don’t need huge chunks of free time to make progress,” he wrote. Even a 30- or 60-minute block once or twice a week can go a long way toward your goal.
“The act of putting time on your calendar helps you remember to do important things AND helps prevent less-important tasks from filling up your time,” he wrote.
4. Leverage Scripts, Templates, Worksheets and Checklists
You don’t need to reinvent the wheel, Sethi reassured. “Especially when that wheel is wobbly, misshapen, and built out of bad YouTube advice and outdated Reddit threads.”
Instead, borrow from what works. Sethi’s program comes with more than 50 “bonus guides,” scripts, templates and checklists that will break things down into easy steps.
5. Don’t Worry About Being Perfect
Lastly, Sethi said that many aspiring business owners think they need “the perfect idea” to get started, followed by perfect pricing, a perfect website and the perfect social media presence.
“It’s not true!” he insisted. He said that if he had waited to get everything right, he would still be waiting around “trying to decide on a font.”
When he started his program, “I Will Teach You To Be Rich” 20 years ago, he admitted that he didn’t have a carefully crafted idea. He just wanted to share what he had learned about personal finance.
“I was clueless about pricing, my website was embarrassingly bad, and I wasn’t on social media at all. But I still managed to build a multimillion dollar business.”
So, if you’re ready to take Sethi’s challenge and give up your excuses, you might just find you have a lot more time than you think for a good enough business idea that could make you rich. The first step is showing up.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Ramit Sethi: Stop Using This Excuse If You Want To Get Rich
