Introduction

BEING A MILLIONAIRE. We've all had the dream. Picking the winning lottery ticket. Discovering a long-lost Rembrandt painting in the attic. Or perhaps, learning that the Nigerian prince who emailed really is wiring you millions of dollars. No more debt or worries; just Lamborghinis, yachts, and magnums of champagne. But, while most people idly daydream about living the lifestyle of the rich and famous, many people just like you are actually doing it. I have tried to synthesize the most important lessons and knowledge that I have gained over the last three decades into 12 truths that make success possible for anyone. While these truths aren't taught in any business school, they are the foundation for wealth creation in the digital age. This book was written to be your indispensable guide for starting a business, growing a company, or creating a better life for you and your family in this post-pandemic, technologically interconnected, globalized world.

Today, there are a total of 16.5 million millionaires around the world who have amassed an astonishing $63.5 trillion. What is even more amazing is the fact that a new billionaire is created every 48 hours. Think about that for a moment: Every two days a new billionaire is enjoying a life you can only imagine.

Now ask yourself, how did you spend yesterday and today? Are you any closer to your dreams of financial freedom? Or did you trade another precious day of your life for a job that you don't like? A job that will never provide you the lifestyle and independence that you so fervently desire. A job that pays you just enough not to quit, but not enough to live in the style you deserve. Be honest with yourself: Are you truly living life or just paying bills until you die?

How can you break out of this pernicious cycle?

In the history of mankind, it has never been easier than now to become financially independent and spend more time enjoying life with friends and family. The reasons for this massive accumulation of new wealth are simple. With mobile phones and the internet making our world more interconnected, and 7.6 billion potential customers just one click away, you only have to be right for a nanosecond to make millions. The right product or service, at the right time, and you can amass wealth to support your family for generations.

So, the real question is: If all of these millionaires and billionaires have the same 24 hours in a day that you do, what are they doing differently than you? How did they find the opportunities that eluded most people? How can you learn to see the world as they do?

The vast majority of the world's billionaires didn't come from wealthy families or positions of power. Most did not go to top Ivy League universities. And none of them sat at home waiting for the Publisher's Clearing House van to arrive. The honest truth is that most of today's wealthy are no different than you or me. If you would have told me when I was growing up in a row home in Philadelphia that dozens of the people I work with would become billionaires, I would have asked you what you were smoking. Yet, when I first worked with Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Paul Allen, Richard Branson, David Geffen, Reid Hoffman, Elon Musk, Brock Pierce, Eric Schmidt, and dozens of others, they hadn't yet attained the wealth that made them internationally famous. But what they had discovered was the secret path to Future Proofing their careers and businesses.

The secret is: our world is fundamentally different from the one we were taught about in school. All businesses are tech startups. Sustainability is profitable. The 12 truths in this book will shatter the misconceptions readers have on how to make a career and build a business. Warren Buffett built his wealth by slowly saving and investing over decades (he made 99 percent of his wealth after the age of 50), while social media star Kyle Jenner will be a self-made billionaire by 22. Kyle grew up digital savvy while Buffett still refuses to use a smartphone. Which world do you want to live in?

The 12 truths in Future Proofing You are not about luck or astrological signs. They are surely not about grinding it out for 40 years, clipping coupons, and counting your pennies. The truths are all about leveraging a positive attitude in a highly interconnected world. Attitude is something each one of us can learn to enhance and control. You already have within you the power to become a millionaire. You've just never been shown a proven process to follow.

School was designed to get you to fall in line and get a job in someone else's company. Your natural curiosity was shackled into conformity. This book will help you break out of the employee mindset and teach you the 12 truths every twenty-first-century entrepreneur needs to embrace in order to achieve success. Most of your life you have been told to get the safe and steady job by people who had given up on their dreams years before you came along. How is that advice working out for you so far?

There is another way. The simple truth is that self-made men and women just look at the world differently. Where most see problems, Future-Proofers see unmet needs. Where most are afraid of failure, they embrace it and harness it. Those striving to achieve don't worry about what others think. Every billionaire's name that I just dropped was at one point along their journey written off as crazy or foolish. Lastly, where most are afraid to ask for help, a Future-Proofer seeks out mentors to speed them on their journey.

Future Proofing You will walk you step-by-step through the process of attaining wealth and mastering your own life by shattering the misconceptions that hold most people back. This isn't a get-rich-quick scheme, and I am not trying to sell you anything. I want you to succeed for a very selfish reason: Our world needs more entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs are the backbone of a free and stable society. No democracy can survive without a thriving middle class, and entrepreneurs are our job creators. They solve societal problems and are rewarded for the risks they take. I love living in a world that gets better each year. Each new innovation that creates a Future-Proofer also makes our lives more productive, fun, and rewarding. Airbnb, Waze, and Uber started as half-baked ideas from individuals who believed in themselves. I have had the privilege to work with some of the most successful billionaire innovators on the planet. With this book, I am paying what I learned over the past three decades forward so as to enjoy the astounding innovations that the next generation will create.

How Do You Go about Future Proofing You?

You will only need two things to achieve lasting success and a seven-figure bank account. They are not money or connections. Success doesn't require a college degree nor a high IQ. You don't even have to live in a major city or first-world nation. There are just two things that every self-made woman or man must possess in order to succeed, one of which this book will provide and the other one you must bring with you to the Future-Proofing process.

The only requirements for becoming Future Proof are insight and perseverance (as you will learn in the following chapters, everything else can be hired). Insight is all about finding opportunities and learning how to quickly capture the value created by changes in our society. We are living in an era of endless innovation where each new app, device, or service creates a new void upon which an insightful entrepreneur can quickly amass wealth. Wealth that can last generations can now be attained in the shortest time ever in history. My friend Brock Pierce, who Forbes magazine lists as one of the richest cryptocurrency billionaires, didn't invent Bitcoin. But Brock had the insight to leverage this innovation and make hundreds of millions of dollars in just a couple of years (with no employees, capital, or investors). Social media influencer Tom Bilyeu couldn't find a healthy good-tasting protein bar to help his family lose weight, so he and his friends made one in their kitchen. A couple of years later, Quest Nutrition was a billion-dollar company. Insights are the light that guide you down the path to success. As you will soon discover, the opportunities for success are all around you. You just have to learn what to look for and how to capture the value you create. Future Proofing You is the torch to illuminate your path.

While techniques for uncovering insights will be taught in this book, perseverance comes from deep within. You must make a personal commitment to see this journey through to the end. No one is going to hand success over to you. It must be earned. You will also learn how to bolster your perseverance by discovering your purpose. Becoming future proof doesn't happen overnight and it won't be easy. For many, it will take longer than a year, but the moment you commit to Future Proofing You, is when the journey begins. As the ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu wrote, "The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step." Only you can take the first step (and since you are reading this book - you are already on your path to prosperity).

But you won't have to walk this road alone. Your perseverance will be aided by the stories and techniques of other millionaires who have made the journey before you. As they share their trials and tribulations, you can acquire tools for coping with setbacks and...