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How to Get Rich in the Digital Economy: 8 Proven Ways to Reach There in 5 Years or Less

And the most important thing is your Mindset.

By Flavian MwasiPublished 2 years ago 17 min read
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No one was born with a silver spoon in his/her mouth. Everybody came with nothing into the world.

It's just that some people like to believe that if you were born in a rich family, you have a greater advantage, but the truth is that you don’t—especially in the digital age.

The rest of us who were born into poor or middle class families only have to work a little harder and a little smarter to catch up with our rich counterparts who were born into rich families.

However, all of us must be trained in extensive ways to create, manage, maintain, and grow wealth. Otherwise, our wealth will not last even one generation.

Mindset

Getting rich has little to do with the specific methods to implement and become rich, and more to do with a change of MINDSET.

In fact, getting rich comprises of 85% mindset, and 15% skills, methods and systems to create, manage, and maintain wealth.

There are practically thousands of methods you can implement online and offline to get rich, but if your mindset is wrong, it’s like water down the drain.

What is mindset?

Mindset is a set of beliefs, cultural norms, and philosophies that influence our thinking and general attitude towards life. For example, some cultures or religions believe that it's not right to get rich.

With this kind of mindset, getting rich is impossible.

Some cultures believe that getting rich is a matter of destiny or luck. This mindset cannot get you rich, especially if you were born in poverty.

Basically, getting rich requires a major change of MIND, about the way we think about money, success, prosperity, wealth, and life in general.

Getting rich has more to do with the programming of your sub-conscious brain, and less to do with your education.

The conscious mind consists of all the sensory information, thoughts, memories, feelings, and wishes of which we are aware of at any given time.

The subconscious (or unconscious) mind is a reservoir of all the memories, beliefs, perceptions, observations and sensory information gathered from all of our present or past experiences of which we’re currently not aware of but can be recalled back to our conscious thought.

The subconscious mind controls our thoughts, actions, behaviors and habits, and may define the quality of life we are destined to live. Interestingly, the subconscious mind controls 90% of our consciousness compared to only 10% of our conscious mind.

The good news is that the subconscious mind can be trained to think along the kind of mindset you want. A mindset change involves reprogramming of your brain’s subconscious mind.

Self-Belief

Do you believe in yourself?

Do you believe it’s even possible?

Do you believe you can do it?

Do you have the faith to do it?

These are some of the questions to ask yourself if you are to achieve the goal of getting rich in 5 years and hit 200k USD by the age of 30.

Invest in Self-education

I know you have a college degree, or even an MBA, but this is not enough to make you rich. School education can help you survive–maybe get a good job in a reputable firm, but this will only help you survive the Covid-19 pandemic.

In fact, in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, maybe it’s high time you started thinking of ways to mitigate against the effects of the pandemic like salary cuts, layoffs, and job loses.

If you work hard, maybe you can even get a mortgage to buy a house, which doesn't belong to you until you make your last payment after 15 years, maybe more, get a car loan, and take your children to good schools, but by the end of the day, you're still working for a boss who treats you like a slave.

The problem with this situation is that you'll never get out of debt, so you're gradually drawn into a vicious cycle known as the rat-race.

Self-education can literally free your mind, awaken your creative mind, make you rich, truly liberate you from debt and overdependence on employers, exalt you to be your own boss, and put you in a place where you’re happy to be.

Do you know that when the rich want something, they buy it in cash? That's because they've set up a system that literally works for them, makes money for them, and buys goods and services for them when they want them.

The specific science to get rich is not taught at school, because it clashes with the science of getting rich.

Why?

Because our education system was conceived for a different era, and designed by rich people to provide unlimited labor supply to their industries in the economic circumstances of the Industrial revolution.

Although many things have changed, including scientific advances, and the technological factors and concepts that drive the economy, the mindset hasn't changed one bit.

Children are still taught by their parents and teachers, “go to school, study hard to get good grades so that you can get a good job in a reputable firm.”

Although those reputable firms don't exist anymore, many students still believe they can get good jobs in reputable firms.

Ironically, college fees have continued to skyrocket over the years, and you wonder why parents continue to send their children to these institutions.

In other words, the school system does not train industrialists and entrepreneurs. If you want to become an entrepreneur, you must make a major mind shift from an employee (someone who works for an industrialist) to an employer (someone who creates jobs). This requires a major mindset shift from an employee mindset to an entrepreneur mindset.

As has been suggested by some people in this thread, there are many methods to reach the goal of getting rich in 5 years. By rich you mean hitting around 200k USD (per year?) by the age of 30.

Most of the methods mentioned here can still work, but others have been overtaken by time, events, and technology.

For example, the Internet has turned our world upside down. It has literally transformed our lives in major ways never before thought possible. We utilize the Internet in practically every aspect of our daily lives from communicating with our loved ones, to ordering pizza, purchasing a television, sharing a moment with friends around the world, or getting hitched. With the Internet, you can practically bring the entire world to your bedroom.

Prior to the Internet, if you wanted to keep up with the news, you had to practically walk to the newsstand first thing in the morning to get a copy of your local edition to know what happened yesterday.

Today, with only one click of a button, the news are delivered right in your smartphone. The services are delivered to you instead of you going to look for the services.

Information is POWER.

The key to becoming rich in the 21st century is to leverage the power of information.

One thing is for sure: people who make a lot of money don’t spend a very long time in school. They spend most of their time learning a specific skill that makes them a lot of money quickly. They have no time spending years studying accounting and law, medicine, quantum physics, biochemical engineering, or nanotechnology, only to come out of college and start looking for a job that doesn’t exist. I’m not saying these subjects aren’t useful and shouldn’t be studied. Far from it. Definitely these subjects have their place in society.

All I’m saying is that the ways to make money are not rocket science.

And the key to getting rich faster in the information age, is to embrace and leverage information as fast as possible.

Before we go any further, let me impress upon you, the power of information and the technology that drives it. I recently stumbled upon a report of the 10 richest people on the planet, also known as “The $100 Billion Club”.

Ironically, 8 out of the 10 richest people on the planet, are in the Technology industry. Only 2 are in Diversified or Consumer industries.

[In fact, all the 8 richest people are directly or indirectly involved with the Internet.]

[Of the 10 richest people, only one inherited his father’s wealth and decided to diversify into other directions. All the 8 technology-centric billionaires started from scratch.]

What this means is that, we now know where to begin if we want to get rich in 5 years or less.

Now that we’ve narrowed our search, we don’t want to lose focus by trying our luck elsewhere in agribusiness, healthcare, insurance, financial services or green energy. We know that these are also profitable businesses, but they take long to grow, besides being capital-intensive.

The big advantage with technology, and the Internet in particular, is that you can start small and gradually grow your business to multi-million dollar status within a relatively short time. And you don’t have to wait until you know everything before you can start. You can apply any little knowledge you have, and literally start making money almost immediately.

The key to getting rich on the Internet is the speed of learning and how to create profitable web properties, digital assets, audiences and communities fast.

Let me quickly explain what these things are:

Digital Assets

Digital assets consist of software, e-books, web applications, mobile apps, video games, tools, subscriptions, blockchain apps, and digital currency. Their values can appreciate or depreciate depending on downloads, popularity, trend, innovation, and demand.

The reason Facebook and other social networks earn billions of dollars in revenue, is because they control billions of monthly active users. For a small fee, they can allow you access to their rich database of users depending on how much money you have.

Google and YouTube earn billions in revenue through advertising from the millions of active advertisers who use their platforms to promote their brands, products and services to generate leads.

Web Properties

Web properties or digital real estate, are what you might refer to as real estate in the brick-and-mortar world.

They consist of websites, blogs, Vlogs (YouTube, Vimeo, BitChute), and social media. Their value can appreciate very quickly, or depreciate as quickly, depending on various factors such as web traffic, subscriptions, audiences, and demand.

I hope we’re getting somewhere with this. Not that I’ve mentioned anything spectacular you haven’t heard before, but it always depends on the way you’ve heard it.

Don't feel overwhelmed because there's much more to learn. In fact, congratulations, if you’ve reached this section. This shows you’re serious. I’d encourage you go all the way to the end because there’s some interesting information for people who are serious.

Am afraid the Internet is evolving at lightning speed, which means we can't just ignore it, and we can’t possibly learn everything there is to learn in our entire lifetimes.

Therefore, the best way is to choose one particular niche or area of focus and zero-in on it.

Niching Down

Practically everything you can do in the real world, you can also do on the Internet. However, just like it is practically impossible to do everything under the sun to succeed, it is also impossible to do everything on the Internet and succeed.

Another way to look at it is that, you cannot possibly specialize in every aspect of the Internet.

Therefore choose one area that interests you, learn everything about it, and plunge right in without fear or hesitation.

One thing to know is that no matter how much you procrastinate, overthink, research, or analyze, you will still make mistakes or even fail.

Here are 8 proven ways to make money in the digital economy and get rich in 5 years or less:

1. E-Commerce

You have no doubt heard about Amazon, eBay, and Alibaba. These are the largest and most profitable e-Commerce sites on the planet. These e-Commerce sites have made their founders so much money, that they’ve literally retired earlier to pursue other interests. Jeff Bezos wants to build a community on Mars. Pierre Omidyar has practically retired from eBay to pursue other interests like news media and film production. Jack Ma has retired from Alibaba to live a quiet life in his rural home while pursuing other interests.

The Internet has levelled the playing field. Today, literally anyone can open an e-Commerce store and share in the millions of dollars being made each year in this lucrative industry.

When you consider living in a global economy, the inexpensive cost of setting up an online store, and the low transaction costs, it's easy to see why e-Commerce websites are thriving.

Selling hammocks, for example, has been a trending business on eBay, while there was a vibrant community of hammock fans on Reddit. With this in mind, you may launch an online store that sells hammocks manufactured from locally produced materials or imported from China.

Typical niche e-Commerce businesses outsource goods from local manufacturers and even as far as China, and then drop-ship them directly to customers anywhere in the world via traditional shipping and delivery companies.

Typically, an e-Commerce drop shipping business can earn 7 – 8 figures a year.

2. Blogging

By far, the quickest way to become rich on the Internet is to start a blog. It’s not easy, however, and you need to consistently create content that a large audience are enthusiastic about. Besides, you’ll need to do it consistently for at least 1 – 2 years to start seeing any meaningful results.

However, the revenue potential of blogging is quite high. That explains why new blogs are sprouting up on the Internet each day. The trick about blogging success is to be on the first page of Google and other search engines. This can be achieved by performing search engine optimization (SEO), which you can either do yourself or hire a SEO expert to do it for you.

You can monetize a blog in various ways including Google AdSense, affiliate marketing, display Ads and subscriptions. Bloggers can earn up to 7 figures a year.

You can create your own blog for as little as a few dollars. Your blog should ideally be about something you know a lot about or are enthusiastic about.

You can also diversify your revenue by selling educational content and courses.

3. Vlogging/YouTube

As you would expect, people are increasingly getting bored with plain text. Video (Vlogging) is the future of content.

YouTube is currently the world’s most popular video sharing platform and has become the second most used search engine after Google. Every month, there are more than a billion users who take advantage of the multimedia giant to watch videos from their favorite YouTubers.

Earning money with YouTube can be an incredibly lucrative method if you’re willing to invest the time and effort into this avenue of passive income. As with traditional blogging, you can monetize a YouTube channel in several ways including YouTube Ads, affiliate marketing and endorsements.

To monetize a YouTube channel, you need to have 1,000 subscribers on your YouTube channel. You also need 4,000 Watch Time hours on your channel over the last 12 months. YouTubers make between $3 and $5 per 1,000 video views (CPM).

[Cost per thousand (CPM), also called cost per mile, is a marketing term used to indicate the price of 1,000 advertisement impressions on one web page.]

Almost anyone can launch a successful YouTube channel and start talking about any topic they feel passionate about.

It's not uncommon for “YouTubers” to earn 7 – 8 figures each year.

4. Digital Publishing

You may think that there’s no money to be made in digital publishing, but think again.

The digital publication of e-books, digital magazines, and the development of digital libraries and catalogues are all examples of electronic publishing. It also has an editorial component, which entails editing books, journals, or periodicals that are primarily intended to be read on a digital device.

Selling books online is how Amazon started at first, but today, everybody is carrying a ton of e-books and audio books in their smartphone.

When you think about it, who doesn’t read books, including young kids? In fact, some kids have more books than grown-ups.

Digital publishing is a multi-million dollar industry. Typical digital publishing businesses make 7-figures a year or more.

5. Mobile Apps

According to Statista, there are 3.8 billion smartphone users in the world today, which means 48.16 percent of the world population owns a smartphone, compared to 2 billion computers including servers, desktops, and laptops.

So, naturally, where do you think the most money will be made?

Smartphones of course. Smartphones don’t use a web browser natively, which means the best way to access a smartphone is via a mobile App.

And what do you think these 3.8 billion smartphone users will be demanding?

They'll be looking for smartphone apps to assist them manage their daily lives or play video games to kill time. To develop a smartphone app, you can either do it yourself if you know how to code, or you can work with a software developer to develop your app if you don't have coding skills.

A typical smartphone app can earn upwards of 7-figures a year.

6. Chatbots and AI

According to ChatBot expert, Murray Newlands, “Whereas ten years ago, every firm needed a website, and five years ago, every company needed an app, now every company needs to embrace messaging with AI and chatbots,”

What’s a Chatbot?

A chatbot is artificial intelligence (AI) software that can imitate a natural language discussion (or chat) with a user via messaging apps, websites, mobile apps, or the telephone.

Creating chatbots may appear difficult, but with tools like ManyChat, Chattypeople, and Chatfuel, you can quickly build a Facebook bot without any prior coding experience.

Chatbots can improve efficiency, enhance user experience, and generally, cut operational costs by up to 80%, so you can see where businesses are going and the opportunity that awaits you in this new technology.

7. Blockchain

No doubt you’ve heard about Bitcoin and Ethereum, the two foremost cryptocurrencies ruling cyberspace. The technology underlying this new phenomenon is known as Blockchain.

Blockchain is a method of storing data that makes it difficult (if not impossible), to alter, hack, or trick the system. Blockchain is a sort of distributed ledger technology in which transactions are recorded using a hash, which is an immutable cryptographic signature.

However, cryptocurrency is not the only application for blockchain technology.

Blockchain technology is also used for the following applications:

  • Secure sharing of medical data
  • Control NFT marketplaces
  • Enable music royalties tracking
  • Secure cross-border payments
  • Real-time IoT (Internet of Things)
  • Operating systems
  • Personal identity security
  • Anti-money laundering tracking systems
  • Supply chain and logistics monitoring,
  • Any application that requires solid security.

Basically, blockchain technology is the biggest thing since the invention of the Internet, and blockchain applications will be in high demand.

As you can see, you can make a ton of money developing blockchain applications. At Silicon Valley in California, new blockchain techs are sprouting up almost on a daily basis, so we can conclude that this could be the new gold rush.

8. Affiliate Marketing Niche Sites

This is cliché. Ok, although you think you know affiliate marketing, what you don’t know is that this is the biggest Internet business model of all time.

Numbers don’t lie – right?

The following are numbers by Statista – a reputable research firm based in Hamburg, Germany:

[Affiliate Marketing spending in the United States from 2010 to 2022]

[The statistic shows the affiliate marketing spending in the United States from 2010 to 2022 in billions of dollars. Notice the growth curve is consistent over the years, but seems to take off from 2021 onwards.]

By definition, affiliate marketing is a simple business model where a website publisher (affiliate), generates leads to an advertiser (merchant), for purposes of promoting a brand, growing a business, or generating sales.

This definition may seem simple, but companies, agencies, and individual savvy internet marketers generate millions of dollars each year doing just this.

What’s the big deal about affiliate marketing?

  • Zero barriers to entry. You don’t have to pour in millions of dollars to start, and it doesn’t matter whether you’re a student or a grandma. All you need is a computer, laptop, or a smartphone with an Internet connection.
  • There’s no inventory involved. You don’t have to deal with thousands of angry customers who haven’t received their goods because they were delayed while being shipped from China.
  • You can start from zero, with little or no capital (I mean it!)
  • You can automate almost every aspect of it. Savvy internet marketers can use AI software to automate everything, leaving the entire thing in the hands of software, and just live like kings.

Now that you know the benefits what’s the catch?

There’s no catch once you understand Internet marketing and all its nitty-gritty marketing techniques like copywriting, SEO, email marketing, social media marketing, native Ads, media buys, PPC, Google Ad campaigns, Facebook Ad campaigns, and a host of other marketing techniques.

Affiliate marketing is a 7 – 8 figure per year Internet business model.

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Disclaimer

The original version of this story was published on another platform.

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About the Creator

Flavian Mwasi

I am a blogger, writer and online entrepreneur, with an interest in artificial intelligence.

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