Would you be glad to be called “the b-word”? “Billionaire,” that is.
The idea of being a billionaire seems so big, lofty, and audacious. When most people think of billionaires, they probably think of a news article accompanied by a picture of an older white man on a yacht, as in these gems: “Tesla CEO Elon Musk got $4.5 billion richer overnight” and “The mysterious billionaire’s superyacht which shows the way forward for future travel at sea and on land.”
Can we just point out that the latter article is in Country Life’s “Big boys’ toys, trips & tips” section?!
What about big girls’ toys, trips, and tips? Let’s face it, in our society, the word “billionaire” immediately brings up a male image. And this makes sense when you look at the statistics. Of the 2,153 billionaires in the world, only 244 of them are women as of April 2019.
It’s time for more women to become billionaires. It’s time for women to be talking about building billion-dollar companies, real estate portfolios, or whatever other legal vehicle that will earn a billion dollars. Now is our moment to state that we can in fact do this, without getting crazy looks or stares or being told to start small.
You have express permission to talk about your billion-dollar plans. If you’re dreaming about becoming the next Oprah Winfrey or Sara Blakely, we’re rooting for you. And not only are we in your corner, but we’ve created an action plan for you to go after the “big B.”
Dream Big and Think About Disruption
Most self-made billionaires aren’t afraid to completely reimagine an industry or a process. Think about things that you use every day. Are any of them or any of their industries ripe for disruption?
Can you think of ways to use under-utilized resources or repurpose products or services? Is there waste being created in one industry that could be gold for another industry? For example, look at how ClassPass saw unbooked classes as an opportunity for disruption.
Know Your Numbers
Once you have the vision, it’s important to get your financial plan in place. How is your idea going to generate a billion dollars? How much capital will you need to make it happen? How long will it take?
So many aspiring entrepreneurs are great with ideas and high-level planning, but they don’t know how to put together a financial plan that will help them achieve their goals.
Putting it bluntly, you don’t stumble on a billion-dollar business — you plan for it. You create spreadsheets and models that demonstrate how you’re going to get there.
If you’re not sure where to start, take a course on Udemy or Coursera to learn how to create financial projections. It’s important for you to at least understand the numbers. From there, you can always hire a financial professional on a site like Upwork to refine your projections.
Build a Badass Team
Executing a big idea requires an A-team. You’ll need top talent across multiple disciplines, from legal to marketing. Read books like Topgrading by Bradford D. Smart or The Ideal Team Player by Patrick M. Lencioni to learn how to attract, recruit, and retain top talent. Develop your leadership skills so you’ll know how to effectively manage your team.
It’s also important to think about building a board of advisors. Your board should include people who have already done what you want to do. They will be there to support you, push your thinking, and make sure you hit your financial targets.
Get Your Mind Ready for the Grind
There’s no sugarcoating it: Building a billion-dollar company will require you to operate in beast mode most of the time. It will mean late nights, early mornings, empty bank accounts (at times), highs, lows, and everything in between.
The grind can be mentally and physically taxing, but people don’t seem to talk much about that side of it.
When you’re building something big, it helps to have a practice to keep your mental health strong. Whether you embrace yoga, therapy, or another practice, you must make time to break away from the endless to-dos to focus on yourself.
And don’t be afraid to talk about your billionaire goals! We need more women just like you playing big in this world.
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