At first glance that headline might suggest I’m talking about supermodels or those who use their looks to earn money. As it just so happens however, further reflection reveals I am referring to brainpower. For one thing, people will pay for your skills, knowledge, and abilities and when you use those particular superpowers you can readily earn money for what you can teach others, for ways you help others improve, or for being able to solve problems for others.

The rest of the sentence, from a big picture viewpoint is leverage the labor of others. Lest you recoil in horror, remember the top five ways wealth is created are: real estate, sales, public speaking, multilevel marketing and (investing in) the stock market. For this exercise I want to specifically call out sales and multilevel marketing (although to some degree, the statement applies to the other three categories as well.)

If you consider that in traditional sales, you can essentially create your own income by your output – more time directed toward sales activities leads to greater commissions – it’s a numbers game. But when you magnify your efforts by those of your sales team your income is multiplied exponentially. Because you are providing leads and other resources for the team, you also get paid when they make a sale.

This too, is the model of multilevel marketing or direct marketing as it is sometimes called. Because you build a successful downline, you will continue to earn a portion of the income from their sales as well. Those at the head of the team, the “Diamond or Platinum” sellers have mastered sales and the art of team building, but more importantly, they have properly trained their team and helped them build out their downline as well so everyone’s sales volume increases. Say what you will about direct sales, when done ethically and correctly, there are fortunes to be made.

And while the intent behind the inclusion of real estate in this list of top five ways to build wealth was more toward the real estate investing model – when you buy and hold real estate you make money each month from rent and again through the increase in value when you sell (called appreciation.) That said, you can also build teams in real estate. Real estate offices are run by brokers and as such brokers make money through commission splits or flat fee arrangement, aka the labor of others. This also applies to property management. Almost all of the property’s operational costs are paid by/billed to the property, including staff salaries and in addition, you are paid management fees for your services.

So, get comfortable with sales. Find something you love and feel good about selling because that is where the money is. Consider again, as I stated in the beginning, wealth is made from the neck up – from your brainpower; that is to say, from your ideas, your knowledge, your skills – so invest in yourself, never stop learning and you will never stop earning. If you can enhance the monetization of your SKAs (skills, knowledge, and abilities) through the efforts of a team your revenue is also enhanced, otherwise known as greatly multiplied.

Take a look at your current business model. Can you rework it by building a team? There are only so many hours in the day and at some point, your income will stall out or plateau. So, aside from residual income (the subject of another blog), teambuilding is the way to go. Reach out if you need some guidance; we’re here to help.