IEMING.com

Finally, I am able to make time to start blogging again. Sorry for the brief hiatus.

In light of giving a quick closure to my previous topic, “Do you fit the profile of a billionaire?” that is long overdue, I would like to conclude my thoughts in this single post! Since it was my fault for being MIA, I will try to spare your long-term memory. Hopefully, by starting with the profile trivia would help!

Let’s start by rolling with the 1st profile…

• Breaking away from a successful family tradition

  Born to a prosperous family farm in Dearborn, Michigan, Henry Ford was groomed to continue his family business as a farmer. At that time, agriculture was the main crop of the economy and being a successful farmer sounded like a secure future. However, Ford disliked farm work, instead preferring to tinker with machinery. Not letting his comfort zone to deter him from pursuing his passion, at the age of 18, he left for Detroit to become an apprentice machinist. After working his way up to become a chief engineer at Thomas Edison’s Edison Illuminating Company, Ford decided to setup his own company. Despite his innate engineering talents, Ford failed twice. On his third try, he finally managed to establish what is now known as Ford Motor Company.
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I am really surprised by the number of responses I received. Then again, I am even more surprised by the variety of guesses. (If you don’t understand what this means, check out this posting.) Without any analysis, this is really a democratic way of saying that nobody really knows which profile favors you to become a billionaire.

Without further ado, please allow me to reveal the name behind each profile. Let’s see how many of them you guess it right.

1. Breaking away from a successful family tradition
   Henry Ford
   Founder of Ford Motor Company

2. An adopted child and a college dropout
   Steve Jobs
   Co-founder and CEO of Apple Inc.

3. A poor immigrant and a high school dropout
   Li Ka Shing
   Chariman of Hutchison Whampoa Limited Company

4. A bitter childhood
   Oprah Winfrey
   Talk Host of “The Oprah Winfrey Show”

5. Born with a bad gene
   Richard Branson
   Founder and CEO of Virgin Group

6. Single parent living off welfare
   J.K. Rowling
   Author of Harry Potter Book Collection

7. Taking an unpopular vocation
   Guy Laliberté
   Co-founder and CEO of Cirque du Soleil

8. Son of an orthodontist and a money-manager
   Michael Dell
   Chariman and CEO of Dell Computers

9. Son of a local stock broker
   Warren Buffett
   Chariman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway

10. Member of the royal family
    Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud
    Member of Saudi Royal Family

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!!! All of them are actually billionaires. Statistically speaking, the first seven candidates are lucky if they don’t become part of the statistics. Now, they are not only self-made billionaires, they are also life changing agents to millions of people around the world.

• How do they do it?
• Where do they come from?
• Why do systems misjudged them?
• Which major I need to take to join the billionaire club?
• What makes it possible for them when I can’t even make ten million bucks?
  ……..

I am sure many of similar types of questions start to linger around, which is what prompted me to start this series. After spending some time to study their life story, I learnt that they never actually plan to become a billionaire. In fact, during their period, being a millionaire is more than enough. Instead, what I observed is that they all understood three basic tenets of life; when they do master them, they achieve life success beyond their wildest dreams. In other words, each of us who reads this post today is a potential billionaire.

To avoid information overload, I will share their secret sauce in my next post. See you again soon.