Rich secrets … businesswoman Angela Vithoulkas says persistence is a key to riches / File
SO you want to make a million bucks? Unless you were born with a platinum spoon in your mouth or you’ve watched your numbers come up in a dream lottery win, then you’ll have to earn it.
Sure, the mega-rich may have some breaks in life and gone to the right school, but more often than not they created their own destiny through hard work, self-belief, discipline and an over-riding competitive drive that makes them work seven days a week.
Most of the stinking rich never switch off their business brain and that is their secret.
A hard slog
The secret of most successful entrepreneurs is not that they are super-smart, but have an incredible capacity for work.
Most successful business owner still work seven days a week, even when they have made their millions.
Take Gerry Harvey, for example. The furniture and electrical king even turned his favourite holiday spot at Byron Bay into a luxury resort and his love of horses into the ultra-successful Magic Millions horse auction.
Angela Vithoulkas owns the Vivo Cafaacé Group with her brother Con. It has three coffee shops in Sydney’s CBD, plus a catering business.
Vithoulkas starts her average 15-hour work day at 4am, Monday to Friday.
But even this blonde dynamo doesn’t think she has “made it”.
“I have not conquered the world and that is my goal. Retirement is not my goal, nor is it part of my strategy. I know retirement can be viewed as a sign of success but my mum is 70 years old and still puts in a 50-hour week,” she says.
“Our secret – be fearless if you dare. This is the time follow through on your ideas that your gut has been screaming at you to do.
“Reality check though – jumping off a business cliff is exhilarating and sometimes its your only choice, but always have plan B contingency, that’s business.”
Build networks
It is incredible how many of Australia’s most successful business people are old friends.
John Singleton and Gerry Harvey backpacked together through Europe and went on to take the Magic Millions horse auctions on the Gold Coast to become a $250 million annual event. Networking can sometimes be a pain and a waste of time, but having influential friends is always an asset.
Harvey believes that people either have a business brain or not.
“When I was 19 and 20, I didn’t spent too much time with people who were my age. I spent time with people of 45 and 55 and sucked their brains all day because I could see no point in talking to another 22-year-old who knew nothing.
“I would go straight to anyone who had brains who had done well in the world and suck their brains day and night. My wife (Kate Page, managing director of Harvey Norman) is the same, she is a natural and always had a business brain,” he says.
Harvey was an early businessman: By the age of six in country NSW he was setting rabbit traps before school, skinning the animals and selling the fur.
“Even when I was kid, I was thinking up ways to breed chooks and sell them, or selling flowers. It doesn’t matter what it is,” he says.
“Surround yourself with the right people.
“I am turning 70 next month and I am still on a mission. It is not about the amount of money I have made, it is more about what you achieve and I am still trying to pull things off.
“The advantage I have now is the backing I have behind me, the money from my organisation, which you cannot do as a loner. That’s where I get the kick and get the adrenalin flowing.
“You don’t necessarily think about the $100,000 or $1 million you just made but it’s the fact you did it.
“It’s all about achievement. I’ve tried to analyse it over the years and good competition makes me even sharper. If you get that the money follows, so chase the deal.
“If you think ‘I want to make a lot of money’ that is just a want, and if you are just money-hungry it won’t work for you.
Read the rest of the secrets to becoming rich in today’s Your Money liftout.
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