Episode 384: Millionaire Status: From Zero To Wealth Hero
In this episode, Adam Stott and Inga Grigaitiene explore the multifaceted journey to becoming a millionaire. Adam delves deep into the mental and strategic milestones that shaped his path to financial success, beginning with the crucial first step: making a definitive decision. Inga shares her reflections, providing a relatable perspective that resonates with individuals at various stages of their entrepreneurial endeavors.
Adam and Inga discuss the essential elements of mindset, discipline, and continuous skill development required for financial success. Becoming a millionaire is not solely about accumulating wealth but also about evolving into the best version of oneself —a perspective that can transform one’s approach to personal and professional growth.
Show Highlights:
- The journey to becoming a millionaire starts with a clear, unequivocal decision and a set timeline.
- Evaluate your current situation and determine if your current ‘vehicle’ aligns with your financial goals.
- Growth requires constant self-improvement and skill development in areas such as leadership, marketing, and sales.
- Have a guiding goal that drives all your decisions and actions, ensuring you stay on track toward your ultimate objective.
- Focus on becoming the best version of yourself, as financial success follows personal and professional development.
Links Mentioned:
Get your Business Growth Secrets SUCCESS PLANNER for FREE and profit like a pro: https://adamstottplanner.com/free-book47315172
Adam’s website: https://adamstott.com/?el=Pod
Watch the Episode on Adam’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/adamstottcoach?el=Pod
Connect with Adam on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adamstottcoach/?el=Pod
Join Adam’s network on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-stott-coach/?el=Pod
Coaches, consultants, and business owners – lower your marketing costs, increase ticket prices, and get more high-ticket clients: https://3daybrandbuilderworkshop.com/start-here?el=Pod
Transcript:
Please note this is a verbatim transcription from the original audio and therefore may include some minor grammatical errors.
[00:00:00] Adam Stott: How do you become a millionaire? That is the topic. of today’s episode of Business Growth Secrets. Let’s dive in. I hope you enjoy. You want to be a millionaire? Make a decision to be a millionaire. Then put a timeline on it. Put a deadline on it.
[00:00:14] Inga Grigaitiene: I was working, you know, all the time, you know, really hard, you know, trying to achieve what I wanted to achieve.
[00:00:21] Adam Stott: I’ve made that decision. I’m now going to follow through on the decision. Can’t you have support? No. You make the decision.
[00:00:31] So, hey everybody. Welcome back to Business Growth Secrets. Really happy to have Inga back with me, you know, amazing previous episodes. So really looking forward to what we’re going to discuss today. I know you’ve got some questions. So first of all, how you been doing?
[00:00:45] Inga Grigaitiene: I’m amazing. I know that after first episode, you know, do you know how many calls I received?
[00:00:50] I could not believe, you know, what the branding gives, you know, the, Oh my gosh. Yes. But, you know, the thing is now, you know, because you you achieved a lot in the life. So I do have a role model and how did you become from, how did you, could you tell me a little bit about your journey? How to, if I will ask, you know, how to be a millionaire, probably this question would sound, wouldn’t sound right, but how to get no, all right okay.
[00:01:17] How maybe let’s put it like that, you know, can you share some few key strategies, you know, and the actions you took. took to achieve, to become where you are to be a millennia.
[00:01:31] Adam Stott: Okay, great. So that’s a very good question. So we’re going to have to unpack that.
[00:01:36] Inga Grigaitiene: I know you are big.
[00:01:38] Well, I don’t mean you big, but you know, you are massive. You know, your business is massive. You know, everybody just seeking, you know, everybody just. wants you to, you know, to teach them, to lead them, you know, because people calling me now, you know, and saying, how did you achieve that? You know, how did you get there?
[00:01:56] You know, and I’m really proud, proudly can say, you know, Adam taught me.
[00:02:01] Adam Stott: Brilliant. Well, let’s try and unpack that great question. So if someone was watching this now, a lot would depend on what their starting point was. I have written an entire book on this subject, which is called Millionaire Success Secrets, what the steps are.
[00:02:16] And I’ll try and unpack this in a nice condensed format. So the first thing you need to understand, let’s say, first thing you need to do is make a decision. And that decision is that you want to become a millionaire. That is the first thing you’ve got to do. And you’ve got to say to yourself,
[00:02:33] Inga Grigaitiene: can I interrupt you?
[00:02:34] Yeah, of course.
[00:02:34] Adam Stott: Yeah,
[00:02:35] Inga Grigaitiene: but it’s really scary to think big. Wasn’t you scared at the beginning to be, to have this in you? ingredient in your mind, you know, that I wanted to be a millionaire. Wasn’t you scared to think that at the beginning?
[00:02:51] Adam Stott: Was I scared to think that at the beginning? Was it your
[00:02:54] Inga Grigaitiene: plan to be a millionaire?
[00:02:56] Adam Stott: Yeah. Yeah. I, when I was 16 I remember I clearly wrote out you know, what I wanted to do and what I wanted to accomplish. And I had that in a little book. I remember my brother and one of his mates finding it and teasing me a lot about this subject, you know, and the thing is, I made that decision that’s what I wanted.
[00:03:15] And the thing is, I made that decision young now. It doesn’t matter how old the person watching this is now, they can make that decision. And if they make that decision, that’s the first step. I really believe for me, that’s the first step. And I think that’s the first step for everyone else because why?
[00:03:33] Cause this doesn’t happen by accident, right? And it is a journey. And to be honest with you, it is a lot of hard work, right? To get to that stage that is difficult. It’s tough. It’s hard. But if you make that, when I made that decision, it was just like, That’s what I’m going to accomplish. And that is it.
[00:03:51] That’s my goal. And that is the same with anything that the, any type of decision you want, you make a decision and then you travel towards that destination. So that’s the first part. So step one, I would say is you make a decision. That’s what you want. Step number two is interesting enough. We kind of had a brief discussion on the last episode where I said, you have to know where you’re starting from.
[00:04:12] So what we need to look at is where are we now? And when we look at where we are now, we have to look at. You know, is the vehicle that I am currently in taking me towards this goal or not? Now, what does that mean? Well, if you made a decision that you want to be a millionaire and you are working five days a week in McDonald’s, and if you don’t change, you’re not going to achieve that goal.
[00:04:43] It’s going to be very unlikely. Do you make sense?
[00:04:46] Inga Grigaitiene: It makes, but it means, you know, you have to change your mindset. The thing is, you know, the, if you’re working in the McDonald’s, right, your mindset is different because you’re serving the customers. And as you always saying, you know, if you are in the room with Millionaires with five millionaires, you know, it’ll become six.
[00:05:04] But if you’re in McDonald’s, you, I don’t want to hang around
[00:05:07] Adam Stott: with Big Macs all day. Yeah,
[00:05:09] Inga Grigaitiene: yeah, exactly. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. And the thing is, Believe me, I’ve been
[00:05:14] Adam Stott: there because this is a reality is I worked at KFC. But, and I was around twisters every day and I did get fat.
[00:05:20] Inga Grigaitiene: Did you?
[00:05:20] Adam Stott: Yeah. Yeah. I put some weight while I was there.
[00:05:22] Inga Grigaitiene: Alright. Okay. . But
[00:05:25] Adam Stott: the point of what I’m trying to say is yes,
[00:05:28] Inga Grigaitiene: that what I’m trying How did you change the mindset? You know, that, how did you change your mindset? You know, that you, what did you get? You know, because if you, I was working, you know, all the time, you know, and if I work was working, you know.
[00:05:40] really hard, you know, trying to achieve what I wanted to achieve.
[00:05:45] Adam Stott: It starts with a decision. So let’s go through this, right? It just starts with a decision. Let’s say I made a decision that I want to get in better shape this year. Right. I put it off for half the year pretty much, but then I was like, right, enough’s enough.
[00:06:00] I’ve made that decision. Now I’m going to follow through on the decision. So I said, where am I right now? I take stock of where I am, right? Not really in good shape, you know, put on a little bit of weight, not feeling great of energy. You have to have support. No. You make the decision. And then I said, well, what do I want to do?
[00:06:17] Well, I want to be this way. I want to feel like this. And now I know where I want to be. I’ve made that decision that I want to be there. I then have to, you’ve got to have the discipline to follow through. So the first thing I did. Is I realized that I’m, you know, there’s things I’m really disciplined in that and focused on and there’s things I’m not like getting up and going to the gym in the morning is not something that I personally Who supported you through
[00:06:40] Inga Grigaitiene: this young journey?
[00:06:41] Was your mom always behind you? You know, because I know your mom. Well, I know his mom. I know she’s lovely lady. Absolutely. Very bright. Very, yeah. Sophisticated and everything. You know that. Yes. Was your mom who supported you? Was a mom who Yeah.
[00:06:54] Adam Stott: No it’s,
[00:06:56] Inga Grigaitiene: and this is the thing about,
[00:06:59] Adam Stott: but then you get, this is what I was saying about the gym example.
[00:07:02] So I get a personal trainer and then that personal trainer holds me accountable. And now I’m exercising. And now I’m getting no, this is now, oh no, this is like recently. It’s just another example of a decision. But basically you have to make a decision. It’s the same with any decision. Well, I wanna start a business, or where are you right now?
[00:07:18] Where in order to start the business, you need to do what you gotta do. You gotta go make it happen. Where do you want this business to go? And everything basically starts with a decision. So I think you have to make that decision. And then you have to travel towards the decision that you’ve made.
[00:07:33] . Now the support, you’re right. Comes along the way. But you, the decision has to come internally from you on the last podcast episode that we talked about, this is the exact pattern that you had. You said, I want my life back. I’m not going to work 77 hours a week. I’ve got to do something different to get something different.
[00:07:53] I’m not going to carry on working like this. So you made that decision and then you travel towards where you want it to be. See that’s how you start to create change. Now, a lot of people. Don’t make the decisions out of fear, like you said, out of self-doubt a lack of confidence and all these different areas.
[00:08:12] And that’s okay. But what they then have to do really is just two paths. You know, if, and I’m not telling any, anyone at all that they should wanna make that decision. If they do great, and I wish you the best of luck. And if you don’t, that’s okay too. Because what you should do is you should live the life that you want to live, you know, for me.
[00:08:32] That was the life that I wanted to live. When I made that decision at 16, this is the thing. When I made that decision at 16, I had no idea how to do it. I was completely naive and ignorant to the challenge of what I was attempting to do. So I had no idea, frankly. I didn’t have the skills. I didn’t have the tools.
[00:08:54] I didn’t know how I was going to get there. And frankly, probably a bit delusional, but the difference is I made the decision anyway. And then I worked the rest out and I, as I went along and that’s when I got the support. So that’s when I started to develop myself. So I’d like to try and step it out a little bit for those, everyone watching the podcast, so I can give them the practical steps which means almost have to give you more of a story.
[00:09:18] I’ll give you very quick highlights, right? I made a decision at 16. I want to become a millionaire. I carried that decision with me. That drove my thinking. My actions and the things that I did throughout my career. So for example, I worked and I’ve write about this in the book. I worked at Ford for three years.
[00:09:35] I loved it there. I had an amazing time. I had amazing friends. I enjoyed what I did, but I knew if I stayed there, I wouldn’t achieve my goal. So I moved on. That’s what I did. So, so what I’m saying is that decision was guiding what I was doing and it was, and this is often talked about. So in corporate companies and large companies and in good small companies, what they have is they have what they call North Star.
[00:09:59] So North Star. is, you know, the fable of the three wise men follow the star to find Jesus, right? Now the North Star of the business, sorry, the North Star is something that corporate businesses have in place. And what it does is it guides their decisions. So this decision for me that I made was my North Star.
[00:10:23] Every other decision I made along that journey was to get to the goal. I didn’t know how I was going to get there, but I was following the start. I’m
[00:10:30] Inga Grigaitiene: pinching that from you.
[00:10:31] Adam Stott: Yeah.
[00:10:32] Inga Grigaitiene: My decision will be there and no, my goal will be there. Yeah. And I will, yeah. Thank you. You know, I’m taking, I’m, you know, we’re talking, you know, but I’m still learning, you know, I’m writing, taking notes.
[00:10:43] It’s just like every single nugget.
[00:10:46] Adam Stott: Now when you study business deeply which you are, and and many, I’m sure many people that are listening are doing that as well. You will hear about Northstar in corporate culture. There’s other language for it. So someone might call it a big, hairy, audacious goal.
[00:11:03] A BHAG, right? Now that BHAG Jim Jim Collins in Good to Great talked about the BHAG, which is the Big Hairy Audacious Goal, right? And the purpose of this is this Big Hairy Audacious Goal is where you want to be. Now you might zigzag, you might go around, you might even go backwards at times, but as long as you keep following, The star, the big hairy audacious girl, you end up being where you wanted to be.
[00:11:27] Now, where coaching can come in is they can just keep helping you on the track. So these are the steps. I would say, make a decision. You want to be a millionaire? Make a decision to be a millionaire. I’m going on this journey, right? And now you’ve made that decision, then put a timeline on it. Put a deadline on it when I did that, I said, I want to be a millionaire by the time I was 30.
[00:11:46] I remember telling two good friends that I worked with Ford at one sat next to me, one side called Brad, one called the other side, Terry. And I told them this, they both laughed, but I said, well, I’m going to be, and I love these guys. They’re great guys. Yeah. No. And they will probably remember that they love, but you know, actually, I think I, when I spoke to Brad once about, he goes, Oh, I thought you’d do it, you know, I thought he was going to do it, but anyway, my mom, that, that made me help me make the decisions to move forward and go and do what I wanted to do.
[00:12:16] And then what happens is then you assess your vehicle as you go along. So when I made that decision. I knew that I had to keep upgrading to get there. I knew that the version of me that was a millionaire had to be a lot better than what he currently was because, so that meant I just had to keep upgrading myself and I keep having to get better.
[00:12:37] So that’s when I moved on from Ford. I moved on from BMW and that’s why I started my first business age 25. Because I’d set that deadline. I wanted to be a millionaire by 30. I thought, well, unless I start my first business, I ain’t going to hit this goal. So that’s why I did it. And like, literally then I did it and I had no idea what I was doing when I started my first business.
[00:12:55] I didn’t know anything. All the things we talk about, I had no idea. I knew nothing. I was useless. I was naive. I made loads of mistakes. I had a lot of issues.
[00:13:03] Inga Grigaitiene: You’re still calling that mistakes, you know, but that is, was not mistakes. That were learning. Well, I could have done things
[00:13:09] Adam Stott: better. better and I could have done it faster and I could have learned from other people’s mistakes, which I didn’t do that.
[00:13:14] You know, the best thing that I could have done. It’s
[00:13:15] Inga Grigaitiene: learning, you know, this failure is you fail when you stop failing, you know, you, you lose something, you know, when you, I don’t know that, but mistakes are good, isn’t it? You learn
[00:13:26] Adam Stott: from the mistakes. We do, but. I don’t know if you’ve heard the saying, a wise man or woman learns from their mistakes.
[00:13:33] Yeah. But a genius learns from other people’s mistakes.
[00:13:36] Inga Grigaitiene: So you’re a genius?
[00:13:37] Adam Stott: No. No, I’m not saying that. I’m actually saying the opposite, that I had to learn from my mistakes, because I made so many. And that’s why it took me so long. Right? Well, I can do, you know, that. But by the time I was Agree to
[00:13:51] Inga Grigaitiene: disagree because you are always, you know, you, in my eyes, you’re very wise and you’re learning from others as well.
[00:13:57] What the, you know, you’re trying I do now. Now,
[00:13:59] Adam Stott: now that’s my priority. Is to make as least mistakes as possible and to get the right people around me to constantly give me the guidance that I need. So that’s why, you know, I spend a lot of time with Sarah, I spend a lot of time with a lot of smart people to help me to do these things.
[00:14:15] And really the completion of that, From 25 to 30 years old was ups and downs, working hard, lots of errors, lots of, you know, all these different things happening. And by the time I was 30, I did hit that goal. Now at the time I was 30, I didn’t have a million pound in the bank, I don’t think, but I had a couple of million pound in net worth at that time.
[00:14:35] And then eventually by the time I was about 31, 32, I had over a million pound in the bank for the first time, which was, which depends on what your definition of a millionaire is, right? Whether you. Base it on net worth, or whether you base it on liquid cash, depend on what your definition is. And I did it.
[00:14:52] And then and then what’s quite funny, not funny. What’s quite ironic is that once I’d hit that it took me a little while. To re find a new North star, because actually I ended up going in a different direction and this is when I found coaching and speaking, it felt like a cycle completion because I’d had that goal for so long that when I did it, it’s like, what do I do now?
[00:15:21] And I kind of got into that place that I didn’t have a North star guiding me. And I think I encountered some problems and challenges because of that and ended up making a few more mistakes. But then I had. Then you have to create your next North Star. So when you finally find your North Star, you have to reset and you have to say, where am I now?
[00:15:39] Where do I want to be? You make a new decision, you go on a new journey, and you build new skills.
[00:15:45] Inga Grigaitiene: So talking North Stars, you know, the, what is nice, you know, probably you’re the guy What is Atlantis guy? You know that you are seeing stars and giving stars to others, showing the stars to others to follow, you know, the star, you know, that is really nice.
[00:16:05] What I would like to say, you know, that is really good what you’re saying, because as I said in previous episode you taught me. To love again, to fell in love again, what I felt in love is before, you know, I’m talking business and yeah that’s nice, you know, that, that’s nice from the, you know, bottom of my heart, you know, there’s just, I’m feel that, you know, that, and it’s really good that you’re sharing that with us.
[00:16:34] So you’re saying that mindset is really important for the people, right? Discipline, mindset. Mindset,
[00:16:42] Adam Stott: focus, discipline you know, never stopping until you get to where you want to go. A kind of your critical elements and what I would layer on that just to add some practicality because there’s hopefully that’s very helpful for people listening, but then the practicalities of that are is what you have to do is you have to be constantly monitoring what’s holding you back.
[00:17:04] You have to constantly almost be shedding your skin, your weaknesses. If you’re a bad manager, you go get. If you’re a bad leader, you’ve got to get better at leading. If you’re a bad marketer, you’ve got to get better at marketing. If you’re a bad salesperson, you’ve got to get better at sales and you’ve got to shed your skin and you’ve got to build skills because the thing that makes people wealthy is skillset.
[00:17:26] And that is what builds you towards wealth. And that is the game. That is the training. You’ve got to be training your mind constantly, sharpening up, Constantly, you know, that I would say to people go deep on these things, find out what’s holding you back. What is the skillset that is holding you back?
[00:17:46] People don’t like doing that. I like doing that. I like going, right. I need to get better at this and I will immerse myself in the thing I need to get better at in order to get to the next stage. So how do you know what is your thing? So someone that’s watching, how do you know what’s stopping you? Is the thing that you’re afraid of.
[00:18:04] If you’re afraid of speaking. That’s hurting you, right? If you’re afraid of selling, that’s hurting you. If you’re afraid of marketing, that’s hurting you. If you’re afraid of people letting people in, building relationships, that’s hurting you only you who’s watching and, you know, know what you’re afraid of, but that is an indication of what you should be working on.
[00:18:25] Inga Grigaitiene: That’s nice. You know, the I know you own many podcasts talking about that, but do you have some question you never was asked, you know, about how to achieve millionaire, you know, status and you know, you would like people to ask and you would like to give this one of you advices, you know, that what you would, what’s your main advice?
[00:18:52] Piece would be to the people who would like to become millionaire, is the, do you know what I’m talking about? ? You know, do you know what I’m asking? You know, the, because I really would like to know just one single piece of advice, you know, how to get on the path to become a millionaire.
[00:19:12] Adam Stott: Yeah. So I think the first thing, the mindset part is as much as it’s a money goal, and it sounds like a money goal, you should be focused on the version of you, you become when you achieve that goal.
[00:19:29] So what is the version of you that’s a millionaire? So if you look at it like that, you say, well, the version of me that’s a millionaire is a smarter version, a more focused version, a more disciplined version, a more healthy version of, you know, whatever it is, the version of you that is that’s what you have to work towards.
[00:19:46] So I always looked at it like that, you know, the version. of me that I was when I was younger compared to the version of me that actually got there was somebody that was a better leader, a better speaker, a better marketer, a better salesperson, you know, somebody that was you know, more skilled and another thing that’s what reveals your weaknesses.
[00:20:05] So what version, what is the version of me that looks like that person? So you get into the vision and then you build towards that. That’s what I would say. Thank
[00:20:15] Inga Grigaitiene: you. That is good. You know, and you know, and when you become a millionaire, people with loads of money, you know, the sometimes the slipping of the road, you know, and the, you know, they need more discipline and they don’t know how, what to do with the money, you know, the financial discipline probably, and the balance.
[00:20:37] While enjoying the fruits of efforts as a millionaire. You know that?
[00:20:41] Adam Stott: Yeah. Okay, so I’ll give you a different. I’ll spin it in a different way because actually becoming a millionaire now is not as big, you know, perhaps as what it used to be because there’s more money in the world today than there ever was, you know, it seemed like a big, hairy, audacious girl when I was 16.
[00:20:58] But let me tell you, I haven’t made the decision that I want to become a billionaire. Okay, because I don’t. Right, because I’m not actually that bothered about the money, right? And at one, I’m not bothered about the money. And so that goes a thousand times bigger than the goal of becoming a millionaire.
[00:21:18] And I don’t want to dedicate my life to that cause. So I haven’t made that decision. Does that make sense? Now, if I made that decision, that would be guiding me and that would guide everything that I do. But actually, I’m happy with where I am in life. I’m happy with spending time with my family. I’m happy with the business I run, the people I help and the things I do, that I don’t need something now in my life that is going to take me to a different place.
[00:21:49] And I’m comfortable with that, you know, and I’m happy with that. That’s nice. Yeah. Well, it’s different. But people, when someone’s listening, I say that because. You don’t have to do anything. You do what you want. You know, maybe your goal is that you want to have a 100, 000 business. Maybe you want a million pound business.
[00:22:07] Maybe you want to, you know, maybe your goal is to have three kids and a house in a country. Whatever you want you go and do it. Right.
[00:22:14] Inga Grigaitiene: But
[00:22:16] Adam Stott: make the decision is the point. And then commit to the decision. But you have to think through. I have thought about it at times, would I want to do that? And I’m like, actually, I don’t really.
[00:22:26] And I think that’s really good because that can help guide you. Yeah.
[00:22:29] Inga Grigaitiene: Guide you to, you know, what is nice, you know, when you’re a millionaire, you know, you can be very snobbish and that, but what nice about you personally, you know, you share knowledge, you want other people, you know, to achieve what you achieved.
[00:22:43] That is really nice. Thank you.
[00:22:46] Adam Stott: Well, hopefully this episode. Has helped take you in that direction. And you’ve enjoyed it. Tell us either in the comments or if you’re listening on podcast, Spotify, wherever you are hopefully you’ve enjoyed it. And if you have connect with us, tell us what part that you enjoyed.
[00:23:01] And perhaps if you’re loving the podcast, the way that it grows is through reviews. So go ahead. And if you just take three seconds to five seconds to go and tap the three dots and give us a five star rating, that would be truly appreciated, you know, and we love seeing those reviews come out. Often read them out on the show as well.
[00:23:18] And to acknowledge our listeners and look, we really appreciate your support in the growth and hopefully you found some great value in today’s episode. Thanks for being on Inga. You’re amazing.
[00:23:27] Inga Grigaitiene: Thank you. You know, that, that is really nice. Golden nuggets. You know, that I’ve got, I even took the notes, you know, still growing every single moment.
[00:23:37] Fabulous.