Wealth is not how much money one has; it is what one has when all the money is lost. Acquiring wealth is like catching butterflies. If one uses a butterfly net, they may fly away, but if one cultivates a garden full of attractive flowers, they will keep coming back again and again, on their own.
This sounds like the saying that if you give a fish to another person, he will have food for a day, but if you teach him fishing, he will have food forever.
Speaking at a workshop on 'wealth creation' in Mumbai recently, Roger Hamilton, consultant and coach with XL Result Foundation in Singapore, said, "Time is the most important investment one can make to create wealth. Moreover, success also depends on what field one chooses and the kind of people that one gets surrounded with."
Hamilton emphasises on having a focus on areas in which one has natural strengths. This not only creates wealth, but the whole process becomes pleasurable. One can put the same thing in a different way.
"Do what you like and like what you do." While explaining the process of creating wealth, Hamilton referred to a few people who are adored for the way they created wealth like Narayana Murthy, Amitabh Bachchan, Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and Ray Kroc.
According to him, the whole of Asia is a sunrise region. Wealth existed in Europe 200 years ago. It then flowed to USA and now it's the turn of Asia. India, with its human assets (engineers, four times more in number, than USA) is becoming the focus area. A time may come when investment vehicles in India would be overtaken by the amount of money coming in.
Many people fail in their ventures. But Hamilton points out that every aircraft that crashes cannot be faulty. Maybe the fault is with the pilot, which if overcome can result in a smooth take-off and a successful journey ahead. Thus, Earning is closely related to (L)earning.
Hamilton's wealth creation matrix categorises successful people into 'creators' (innovation), 'system focused people', 'accumulators' (who reinvest), 'traders', 'dealmakers' and 'stars'.
Each one of them is good in his area, but may fair badly in other areas. The key to creating wealth is LUCK -- right Location, Understanding of opportunities, Connections and Knowledge.
Hamilton has business interests in real estate, publishing, event management, franchising and training. He is currently working on a resort management project in Bali.
He prefers to invest only 'time' in India, for the moment.
Ultimately, one can trace the roots of success to the ancient Indian teachings from Bhagwad Gita, which includes Sankhya Yog (book of doctrines), Karma Yog (virtue of work) and Dnyan Yog (the path of knowledge). Perhaps, the gist of all things lies in action -- at the right moment and at the right place.
Hamilton's wealth creation matrix
The wealth matrix by Hamilton dwells on the natural inbuilt strengths that every person has. Many times, people in one part of the matrix are unable to generate wealth if they try to enter any other part of the matrix.
On the one end of the matrix are people who possess skills, creativity or an analytical approach. At the centre of the matrix are 'creators' (wealth from products) who bring things into existence and earn money from them. Bill Gates of Microsoft is an example.
These people bank on innovation. Very closely related to them are 'stars' (wealth from personal brands) who possess special skills. Amitabh Bachchan is one such person. Stars may not do well if they try to make money from some other activity (trading, for instance).
The other related point on the matrix is 'mechanics' (wealth from system) who are system focused people. Ray Kroc of McDonald's is a perfect example, according to Hamilton.
On the other end of the matrix are three totally different kinds of people. They bank more on timing and trading, rather than skill or innovation.
At the centre of this part of the matrix are 'traders' (wealth from trades) who have their ear to the ground and are good at judging the timings. They don't create anything, but make a fortune by buying or selling at the right time at the right place.
Another category is 'dealmakers' who earn wealth from deals. On the other side of traders exist 'accumulators' (wealth from appreciation). These species of moneymakers reinvest their money and are consistent about it. Warren Buffett is perhaps the best example from this category.
In between these two extremes of wealth creators lie 'multipliers' and 'magnifiers'. Multipliers believe that a particular activity can happen without they being present physically.
Hamilton gives an example of a person who controls a fleet of trucks and containers in Europe, while sitting in Singapore. This, naturally, does not become his core activity. Magnifiers are those who feel that a particular activity cannot happen well without their presence.
Finally, the crux of the matrix is to identify what category of wealth creators one falls in and then invest time and create a network of the right people around that idea, which comes to us naturally. Once that is achieved, wealth creation becomes fun.
Happy moneymaking!