Words: Violet
What’s it like being a billionaire? What makes them tick? How did they achieve such great prosperity? Here are ten common traits that most billionaires have – follow these behaviors and maybe you too will achieve great wealth.
I EGOTISM
This shouldn’t really come as any sort of surprise. You have to have incredible self-belief to become a billionaire – there has never been a billionaire, or even just a very wealthy man, who did not have a gargantuan ego driving them on.
II XYCHROMOSOMES
Around 90% of billionaires (it varies year on year) are male and the majority of female billionaires such as Liliane Bettencourt, Miuccia Prada and the Queen are billionaires through inherited wealth.
III STAR SIGN
Most billionaires are born in late summer/early autumn apparently, so ideally you need to be a Virgo (Warren Buffett) or a Stefan Persson (Libra).
IV BABY BOOMERS
The average age of a billionaire is around the 63 mark, meaning that they were born in the early 1950’s and are part of the post-war, ‘baby boomer’ generation.
V STARTINGYOUNG
The children selling sweets during their break time more often than not go onto be the great businessmen. Most billionaires have an instinct for profit that they developed at a very early age. Warren Buffett and his chewing gum racket at the age of 11 is a prime example.
VI NEVERSAYDIEATTITUDE
Most billionaires have had to overcome great atrophy before becoming successful. Soichiro Honda’s factory was bombed in the Second World War leaving him with very little to work with, he still built Honda into one of the biggest car companies in the world.
VII MASTERINGSTRATEGY
Billionaires became billionaires because of superior business acumen and strategy. Bill Gates is seen as a software designer whose software made billions – actually it’s his business mind that saw him outmaneuver competitors such as Apple in the 1990’s.
VIII BENEVOLENCE
Once you reach the top, you want to help others – that seems to be the thinking of many of today’s billionaires. Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Larry Ellison and Richard Branson are amongst many who have agreed to give away the majority of their wealth.
IX FRUGALITY
Just because they’re billionaires doesn’t mean that they lead opulent lifestyles, quite the contrary in fact. Amancio Ortega, the Zara founder, eats lunch in the Zara cafeteria every day and Azim Premji (Wipro Limited) apparently monitors how much toilet paper his employees use!
X ECCENTRICITY
Billionaires became billionaires by thinking outside the box and daring to do what nobody else would. All successful people are oddballs to an extent, they think differently and do things differently.
By Guy de Vito
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