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The smart way to make money


About DJC

The older I get, the less I know and the more inquisitive I get.

Unfortunately, despite a lifelong search, most of the answers elude me. That said, I love to ask the questions and fuel the debates that will ultimately lead us all to a better understanding of the big issues in life, the universe and everything.

They say that we spend 98% of our lives in our head. I for one would like to use that time as effectively as possible.


Here's the tip, becoming wealthy involves much more than hard work.

I am not driven by money, but I always want to maximise the return on my investments.

Solve problems to accumulate wealth.

Solve problems to accumulate wealth. Picture: Shutterstock

I know that working hard is usually necessary to accumulate wealth, but hard work in itself doesn't make people wealthy. In fact, it involves much more than simple hard work.

Selling time is seen by many as a way of becoming wealthy, but no matter what your hourly rate, no one can sell enough time to create wealth. 

Some people are out there hunting for that big idea, the one that, once implemented, will make them wealthy. They think of the likes of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, viewing them as people who saw the big idea or opportunity and capitalised on it. There is some truth and merit here. But opportunities are difficult to identify. As Steve Jobs said, people do not know what they want, making it very difficult to identify opportunities that those people will pay for.

While people don't know what they want, they do know the problems they are having. Solving these problems is arguably the smartest way to accumulate wealth. We all have problems that we want fixed and many of us are prepared to pay a solution.

An entrepreneur who has impressed me is James Dyson. 

One day while watching his wife vacuum clean, Dyson noticed how difficult it was. In response, he picked up a pen and paper and began listing all the problems she was having in using the heavy, clumsy old-fashioned vacuum cleaner, and all the issues she confronted trying to clean the carpet, couches, curtains and hard floors.

He then set about solving each and every one. When he had done that, he built and launched the first Dyson vacuum cleaner. It was a revelation. And while expensive, it sold really well, but Dyson was not finished. He looked at the machine he had developed and identified new problems that he duly solved, before launching mark II.

This occurred over and over until the Dyson of today, the world’s best-selling vacuum cleaner, was developed and made him a very wealthy man. Dyson then applied that approach to a number of other items, from hair dryers to wheel barrows.

The truth is, the situation was not a lot different with Steve Jobs and Bill Gates.

Steve Jobs was continually solving consumer problems. These ranged from the difficulties associated with the clumsy Walkman, which he replaced with an iPod, to the problems associated with navigating a computer, which he solved with a mouse.

Bill Gates solved a problem IBM had relating to the need for an operating system that would enable them to get into the personal computer market.

Stop looking for opportunities and start looking for problems, because those problems are the real opportunities.

How many times each week do you get frustrated with something? How many times each week do you encounter a road block that needs to be eliminated? How many times each week do you say to yourself; ‘someone should really fix that!’ or ‘there must be a better way of doing that!’

Perhaps you are that somebody!

The chances are, you are not the first person to encounter the problem and frustration. Chances are, many other people have thought  ‘there must be a better way of doing that!’ Chances are, they have behaved just like you and moved on without taking action.

James Dyson saw an everyday set of problems, solved them and became a wealthy man. Perhaps you can do exactly the same.

There are everyday problems all around you just begging for a solution. Which ones are you going to solve?

And if you want to do some research, don’t look for opportunities, look for problems. Don’t ask people what they want. Would anyone have known that one day they would want a smartphone before Steve Jobs gave us one?

Ask people what problems they are having and then sell them the solutions. 

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