“Set yourself a goal of progressively doubling the amount you pay yourself from your business.” This is the advice given by futurist and entrepreneurship guru, Roger Hamilton, on wealth creation.
Roger is the CEO of an entrepreneurship training company called Fast Forward Your Business. As the product of a Chinese mother and a Scottish father, he combines both Eastern and Western thinking in the strategies he teaches.
I was fortunate enough to attend his recent two-day seminar in Johannesburg (part of his global roadshow) and thought I’d share with you some of his insights.
An experience with debt
Roger recounts that when he was in his mid-twenties, he had a publishing company in Papua New Guinea. He came home one day to find his wife outside his home, clutching their newborn baby and screaming at a tow crew, who were in the process of towing away their motor car. The reason: Roger had not been making the car repayments. He’d been so focused on the business that he’d ignored his finances and slipped into debt.
His wife advised him to think about any advice he’d previously been given which he’d not heeded. Roger remembered that he’d had a mentor who had recommended that he set a goal of progressively doubling the salary which he paid himself. He decided to try this technique, doubling the money he received from his publishing company each quarter. The outcome was the beginning of his wealth-creation journey.
How to get there
- Entrepreneurs, as soon as possible after initiating their start-up, must separate their finances from their business finances.
- Setting a goal of doubling one’s salary requires your business to grow. Continually making growth top of mind, acts as a motivator for both you and your team.
- People in a growth-focused environment become creative in finding ways to meet the targets, particularly when the goals are a stretch. They also develop foresight about how to make the growth possible in the future.
In Roger’s case, he reached a stage where he realised that his publishing business would no longer be able to achieve the increasing targets without extending its services. This spurred him on to diversify and launch events as part of his offering. Today he has a virtual global business mentoring entrepreneurs both offline, online and at his Bali resort and soon-to-be-launched South African entrepreneurship institute.
If you’d like to hear more about Roger Hamilton’s Wealth Dynamics, I’m sharing this audio with you:
