Make your first million by doing these 5 things

When you think about making a million dollars, does it seem like a far-fetched goal? Is it something you want to accomplish but just can’t picture happening? This was the case for my friend Ryan Moran — until his 26th birthday, when he made his first million dollars. Today, at 28 years old, his business generates roughly $500,000 per month.

I was curious what shifts took place that allowed someone so young to go from dreaming of making a million dollars to becoming a multi-millionaire in just a few short years. He told me me, “Making your first million is easy — if you do these five things.”

1. Surround yourself with people who will stretch your mind.

Since Ryan was a little boy, he has dreamed of owning the Cleveland Indians. Now in his 20s, he realized that in order for him to turn his dream into a reality, he would need to come up with roughly $500 million. For most people, the though of having $500 million liquid to buy a professional sports team is way beyond the range of what is possible. It was for Ryan too — until he started surrounding himself with people who already played at that level.

He explained that, “You can imagine what it will take to accomplish that type of a goal and by having people at that level as your advisors, they can tell you exactly what you need to do. It may be just a subtle shift in one part of your business, but suddenly what you thought was potentially impossible becomes realistic.”

It was that concept of demystifying the impossible that inspired him to host a live event that would bring the people who inspired him together with the goal of helping the next generation of entrepreneurs.

What is your dream that is so big that the thought of accomplishing it seems impossible — and maybe even scares you? Do you think you would be more likely to accomplish it if you had a group of advisors who were already playing at that level? If so, take action on forming relationships with them, and let them guide you the rest of the way.

2. Re-frame the impossible.

As you surround yourself with the right people, you will need to work on upgrading your mindset. Part of this will require you to recognize your limiting beliefs and re-frame those thoughts. Ryan shared, “When you feel like something is impossible, recognize that it’s just the story that you are telling yourself that makes you perceive it to be impossible and not the action itself.” Then it is just a matter of rewriting your story.

To rewrite your own story, ask yourself, “What are the things in my life that scare me and stop me from taking action? Is it the action that really scares me, or is it a false perception that is holding me back? How can I take action and move through it in spite of that fear?”

3. Deliver unexpected value.

Your ability to increase your income hinges on your ability to deliver unexpected value. Most people think the only way they can add more value is by working harder or exchanging money. This is thinking too small. You deliver unexpected value through the connections you can make, the time you can allocate and the problems you can alleviate.

Big opportunities open up when you building relationships with the right people, invest your time in your highest leverage activities and are a person who solves problems. Break out of the old mindset of thinking that you have to work harder or find a higher-paying job, and start developing the habit of incorporating these three things in your everyday life.

4. Choose your customers wisely.

The easiest way to fast-track your path to a million is to charge more for your products and services. However, when you tell someone to raise their prices, they often push back and say that the market doesn’t allow for that type of increase. This is where you have to choose your customer wisely.

The price a customer is willing to pay is directly tied to the amount of value they receive. If your services deliver a 10 percent sales increase to company that does $1 million in revenue, then you brought $100,000 in value. If you deliver the same 10 percent increase to a $100 million company, your value is exponentially higher. Would the first company pay you $250,000 for your services? No way. Would the second? It is quite possible.

Sometimes what stands in your way from exponential growth is not you or your product. It’s the customer you are targeting. Ryan learned this lesson the hard way. For a few years he had been teaching his business model to people who wanted to start their own companies and was charging $1,000 for this information. A few years later, one of his students was teaching the exact same content but targeting a different group of people charging $100,000!

Ryan realized that he approaching his target market trying to get as many of they to say “yes” as possible, instead of positioning himself as a solution to the elite segment of his market and aligning his pricing accordingly.

The result? He found a select group that was willing to pay 50-times more than his original rates. You will find your path to a million dollars a lot easier if you choose your customers wisely.

5. Invest for the long term.

So many people go for the fast and easy win. While this may work for some, you will find that results come a lot faster when you invest for the long term. I’m not just talking about stocks and real estate. I’m talking about how you spend your time, the people you hire, the relationships you build, the products you develop and the structure of your company. These are all investments.

As Ryan tried to grow his business, he realized many of his struggles were because he was making decisions based on short-term results. Then he made a conscious decision to focus on what would be best for the long-term focus. As a result, he was able to attract better clients who he could actually serve and add real value to, which allowed him to raise his prices. This was when he broke the million-dollar mark.

How much money are you leaving on the table because you are not planning out far enough and laying the foundation for long term success? Incorporate these five steps, and you may find that making your first million is easier than you originally thought.

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How to make millions from tomato farming

Kirinyaga County is an agriculturally endowed land with breathtaking rice fields on the Mwea plains and dense, lush tea and coffee plantations on the upper sides, which neighbour Mt Kenya forest.

The picturesque is complemented by patches of blossoming horticultural crops in many parts of the county where farmers who have invested adequate resources in tomato, vegetables and French beans are reaping fortunes. One such farmer is Githaka Nyingi, a young man minting serious money in his locality from tomato farming, just three years since he ventured into it.

When he talks about income verses cost from tomato farming, you can easily get carried away as he explains how you can make over a million shilling in profit from an acre of tomato in four month’s time. He has a rider though: “Lucrative tomato farming entails precise planning and timing in addition to months of hard labour for one to have quality fruits at time of high demand.” If you have travelled along Kerugoya-Kutus road in recent days, a short distance from Karia shopping centre you must have noticed tens of tomatoes packed in boxes ready for the market.

Youthful farmers On both sides of the road, acres of tomato plants stand out as youthful farmers, disappointed by poor returns from maize, have ventured to the fruit’s planting. Nyingi is among them and he has perfected the art of farming tomato profitably. Prices of tomatoes keep on fluctuating due to market forces of demand and supply and this is what has discouraged some farmers from venturing into tomato farming.

To farmers who rely only on rain to farm tomato, their crop matures at a time when supply is so high that prices fall to a low of below Sh1,000 per box occasioning losses to farmers since the crop’s management is costly. After observing tomato market behaviour, Nyingi rented a piece of land near a water pond to avoid reliance on rain-fed agriculture so that he times his tomato to mature when demand is high.

“Farmers in Mwea and Laikipia are favoured by even topography, less diseases and pests, and plenty of irrigation water hence their production costs are lower. They farm in large scale and when their crops mature they flood the market. During rainy seasons, they are unable to take their crops to the market due to poor roads condition and that is when my crop is at climax,” he says.

Nyingi initially worked in the tourism sector with East Africa Canvas but after the 2007/08 post-election violence, he quit. During the breaks he would plant a quarter or an eighth acre of tomatoes in his small piece of land but did not put much attention to it hence the earnings were not significant.

Best practise In 2013, he was inspired by the money farmers in Mwea were making from tomatoes and he rented an acre piece of land and set aside money to adequately manage the crop, employing the best agricultural practices. This entailed choosing hybrid seeds which are costlier than the conventional ones used by most farmers in the area and planting them in small polythene bags, which is labourious compared to planting on a seed bed. Nyingi says hybrids offer better disease resistance, higher yield and possess other improved traits.

According to him, the advantage of growing tomato on polythene bags instead of seedbed is that the later get ‘shocked’ during transplanting hence the first flower dries up. “I spent Sh150,000 tending the crop and found demand high such that I sold each box at between Sh4,500 and Sh6,000. I made sales worth Sh1.4 million from 220 boxes. I was motivated because I had never made such money in my life. I decided to concentrate on tomato farming,” he says. Currently, Nyingi has mature tomato crops in his one and quarter acre farm.

When his tomato hit the market early this month, a box was going for Sh6,000 but as more tomatoes from other farms ripen and enter the market, price has fallen to Sh4,000 and is expected to plummet further. He spent Sh250,000 tending the crop and if all goes well he expects to make sales of Sh1.6 million and Sh1.3 million profit in four and half months.

Tending tomatoes to yield such money requires great effort right from preparing nursery to harvesting. Nyingi advises farmers to mix soil and manure in equal ratio then plant two seeds per polythene bag and then apply water.

Though one seed per bag is enough, the extra one is meant to replace those that fail to germinate or get spoiled during transplanting. An acre of tomato requires seven tonnes of manure which he buys at Sh21,000 from farmers in Mwea, Kitengela or Laikipia. In the nursery, one must water them in the morning and in the evening daily for the first week and afterwards in the morning only until they are about 25 days old.

“I transplant them between the 23rd and 25th day before the roots have firmly attached themselves to the bags. The land is ready at that time. This is by ploughing to loosen the hard pan, applying manure and burying it lightly with soil. I dig trenches 3ft apart while the spacing from one plant to the other is one and half feet,” he explains. The secret He applies a teaspoon of DAP fertiliser per tomato at planting, then waters twice per day by pumping water from the nearby Karia ponds until it rains.

After three weeks, he applies a tablespoon of DAP and 17:17:0 fertiliser in equal ratio per plant and another three weeks later he adds 17:17:0. Spraying using relevant sprays at the right time is also essential for flowers and fruits to keep diseases, worms and blight at bay. He says tomatoes also require support using stakes when they are one month old. The major challenge he faces is a viral disease locally known as kathuri which is characterised by plant withering such that it gives forth tiny fruits.

There is also the yellowing disease identified by yellow leaves, which hampers fruits from growing big.

“Some diseases are incurable while others require expensive chemicals. Spraying is labour intensive and expensive. As my tomato grow I spend Sh10,000 on spraying. I must also be there to ensure there is correct mixing of chemicals,” he says. He usually plants seedlings on February 1 so that the crop can be ready at May and the next crop on August 8 to time the crop for December.

Nyingi also farms French beans but he says they are not as profitable as tomatoes. To safeguard his future when he might lack the energy to farm tomatoes, he has planted 150 bushes of batian coffee which is also blossoming and promising to bring good returns.

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5 Simple ways to make sure money doesn't cause your Divorce

5 simple ways to make sure money doesn't cause your divorce

You might have noticed how much that stress can affect your own happiness as well as that of your spouse.

Chances are, you've been stressed about money before. You might have noticed how much that stress can affect your own happiness as well as that of a partner if you were in a relationship at the time. If so, you might have also tried to avoid talking about these money issues because you were afraid it would ruin your relationship.

Instead of trying to avoid talking about such an important part of life, however, maybe you can try following this advice on how to talk about the money from Dr. Craig Israelsen.

1. HALT

Follow the HALT principle. If you are Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired, you might find it more difficult to communicate what you really need or mean. So before discussing anything of importance, such as money and finances, consider how you are feeling.

2. Prepare

One way to help you feel at ease when you talk about money, you might try preparing ahead of time. Figure out with your partner a good time to talk about some the concerns you have and then do some preparation beforehand. You might feel less stressed if you review your budget before your discussion so you can bring up some specific points.

3. Be kind

When you begin your communication, focus on kindness in communication. A great way to do this is to keep your partner's interests in mind. Don't focus too much on what you might want–consider what your partner may need.

4. Look at the glass half full

During your conversation, focus on what you can do with the resources available to you instead of what you cannot do. If you think only about what you don't have you will only feel discouraged. Instead, if you think about what you can do, you will be able to set realistic goals for yourself and your partner and have something to look forward to.

5. Keep track

Finally, at the end of your discussion, set new goals andput together a budget, if you don't already have one, to keep track of your goals and have something to remind you of what you can have. It might surprise you how rewarding the feeling of accomplishment can be when you reach your goal, even if it is something small.

If you follow this advice you may soon find that talking about money does not have to hurt your relationship, but is a great way to draw closer together as you set goals together and work as a team to accomplish them.

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