(Akiit.com) When you see someone speeding down the road in a fancy sports car with their music turned up to the max, what do you think? A lot of people would envy that person, some would think he’s an idiot, and others would probably tell themselves that person doesn’t deserve the wealth he has. While many of us slave away at jobs to make ends meet, others in the world make their money while they are sleeping or playing with their thumbs at a comfortable desk in a high-rise office.
That’s the kind of disparity between the common working population and the rich. While most people look for jobs, some people look for employees to work for them and do monotonous tasks while they sit and gather up money. But let’s think about this for a moment, are they super wealthy due to their skill, willpower and passion for their business, or were they just plain lucky? In this article, we’ll dive into the qualities of someone who is super rich and 
demystify the difference between being lucky and being wealthy.
Being in the Right Place at the Right Time
Let’s face it, some people were just born at the right time. Whether they were born into a wealthy family and took over their parent’s business or if they were born at a time when a new market was emerging, being at the right place at the right time plays a huge part in becoming super rich. A lot of people would call it luck, and they’d be right to just say there was a divine power or being watching over someone in order for them to gain that wealth, but approximately 65% of the world’s richest people are actually self-made millionaires.
How is that possible? Aside from being at the right place at the right time, these wealthy individuals have something in common: willpower. When the stars align, miracles are allowed to happen and in the case of these billionaires, they were born at the right time to take advantage of a new industry, but they also had the passion and willpower to succeed. Take Bill Gates for example. As the co-founder of Microsoft, he and Paul Allen paved the way for modern computing thanks to their Windows operating system which at one point had a 95% market share. With their iron grip on the computing and technology worlds, they could do whatever they please, charge whatever prices they wanted, and make as many changes as they wanted to their operating system.
A much older example would be the Rockefellers who had a monopoly on America’s oil during the late 1800s. They were born at a time when the oil industry was booming and at one point, they had approximately 1.5% of the United State’s entire economic output, which puts their net worth at roughly $340 billion if it was equivalent to today’s economic status. That’s four times the amount of Bill Gates who is currently the richest man in the world. However, setting up your own oil business isn’t easy and there aren’t many opportunities that pass by. You can check out Oil & Energy Investor here if you want more information about the latest and oil trends, but you have to be at the right place at the right time to take advantage of these types of goldmines that are waiting to be discovered.
Going Viral
On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have going viral. Think about those people who post videos on Twitter or YouTube and suddenly amass a huge amount of money due to their content being shared. For example, Justin Bieber is a globally known pop star that has amassed a huge fortune through his music. However, many people don’t realise that he started posting videos on YouTube at the age of 12. This lead to his ridiculous claim to fame and it didn’t take long until he became a globally recognised superstar.
YouTube’s most-subscribed content creator, PewDiePie, currently has over 50 million subscribers on his gaming-based YouTube channel and is the highest-paid currently on YouTube. His channel started early in 2010 after dropping out from the prestigious Swedish university, Chalmers. His parents refused to support his endeavours so he supported himself by selling Photoshop art and working at a hot dog stand. Although he had little money, he created gaming videos that eventually went viral, giving him the success that he has today. He spent most of his money on equipment to record gaming footage and worked on his over-the-top persona which slowly became popular with YouTube viewers.
Although both Justin Bieber and PewDiePie amassed their fortunes thanks to YouTube, there’s no doubt that they are both hard working individuals with years of experience despite their young age. Despite going viral, they were both able to continue working hard and perfected their craft to a point that they were not only viral sensations, but successful businessmen. Going viral has a lot to do with luck but, much like winning the lottery, you have to know how to spend the money you make when you go viral in order to continue your success instead of overstaying your 15 minutes of fame.
Summary
Becoming rich isn’t easy unless you count winning the lottery. But even then, how do you sustain yourself as a rich individual instead of spending all of your wealth? If you were born into a rich family and use your parent’s money instead of making your own, then that’s eventually going to come to an end and you will have to take over the business at some point. If you win the lottery, you have to find ways to sustaining your wealth and investing it into something that will continue making you money such as a business. If you go viral, then you need to understand how to capitalise on that temporary success to ensure you have a long-lasting business plan. Becoming rich is the easy part, but maintaining your wealth is the tricky bit.
Staff Writer; Paul Golden