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Last Updated on July 26, 2021 by Tyler Clark
Here are the top 50 rapid fire facts about millionaires I uncovered as a high end personal trainer while training millionaires for decades.
The list is full of fun and interesting findings and many valuable business and life tips. I hope it helps you on your path to making more money and improving many facets of your life!
The list includes the books they read, how they spend their money, a day in the life and many of their key personality traits and characteristics.
Let’s have a look at the first question..
1. Are they forces of nature?
Yes, insane power, drive and passion.
2. Are millionaires nice?
All of the ones I trained were. They were very giving and outgoing people in general.
3. Are they like us?
No. They know how to relate to us but they’re not like us. They tend to be more driven and determined than the average person.
4. Are they all geniuses?
No. They’re of normal intelligence most of the time. They were all had good street smarts though. They were also intuitive, especially when it came to business. Granted a lot of this could have been developed during their business careers.
5. How did they get so rich?
There are many reasons for this but I believe the main one was a desire for a better and bigger life. They wanted to “go for it” in a really big way. They also consistently chose business formats that had the potential for big money. They did so on purpose and if you want to copy them, be sure to do the same.
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6. How did they handle the pressure?
I think in the cases of my clients, they were absolutely fine with pressure. They were ok with playing on a level with a bit more pressure. Some people are happy with the pressure of a $60 thousand dollar job, others with $600 thousand dollar enterprise and others are fine dealing with a $600 million dollar job.
7. Were they fun?
Are you kidding?? They were TONS of fun! Those are the stories I wish I could tell. Out of respect, they will remain secret forever. But yes, even the basics of going golfing, trying super cars, getting tickets to big sports events, there were all kinds of great times.
8. Do they all live in mansions?
Some yes and some no. In general, many of them lived in very nice homes. These weren’t average homes and the furnishings inside were also quite nice.
9. Did they have a twinkle in their eye?
Haha, this is a great question. If you want to talk energy, the millionaires had a twinkle in their eye and fire in their belly. All of them were intriguing people with a sparkle for life.
10. Did they get rich by fluke?
Absolutely not. I’m sure some people do but all of my clients had worked for their money. Many of the other trainers I knew had the same findings. It was really rare to meet someone who had “gotten lucky” and made millions. I don’t think I ever personally met or knew someone that fluked becoming a millionaire.
11. Had they struck gold more than once?
To coattail on the previous question, though the millionaire hadn’t fluked, they certainly knew how to repeat success. Some of them had struck gold or “made it big” multiple times. This kind of proved that their systems and approaches to business were no fluke at all. They had a winning plan that could be replicated for success multiple times.
12. What were some of their most powerful traits?
Two powerful traits I saw were:
1. The ability to create something. They would find a new angle on an old business or a spot an opportunity that nobody else was taking advantage of.
2. The ability to coordinate something. Like a business or a start up or a group of people.
It was super rare to see both these qualities in one person.
We routinely see a Steve Jobs and a Steve Wosniak. There’s a creative person and more of a managing or technical person.
I only worked with a handful of people that had both of these qualities.
They had both the creative side and the managerial side. Interestingly, I feel the managerial side is more valuable. The creativity is far less important when it comes to making money.
For more on this, see my article: Will Your Million Dollar Idea Make You Rich?
13. Were they great leaders?
Yes. They were great leaders but they were also great team players and could step back and let other people take the helm. It wasn’t about always being the leader for them. They were happy and in fact encouraged others to take the lead and grow.
I feel like that was really fulfilling to them to see someone else grow and be able to lead.
They were also great leaders in their businesses because they excelled at business. It’s not tough to lead someone if you’re very good in a certain area.
If I’m a really good golfer, I should be able to give some good basic advice to less experienced players. That being said, in the end, they were all great natural leaders period.
14. What was the most fun thing you did with them?
This is an ongoing answer as I still keep in touch with some of my clients. I’d say the most fun thing was getting to know them as people on the golf course or when they’d forget their shoes and we’d just go for lunch instead of doing the training session.
Don’t get me wrong, I love training clients but, it’s a fun surprise to break up the routine here and there.
15. How did they feel about school?
Most of the millionaires I trained had at least a degree. Some had more difficult degrees such as business and engineering. They all had a base of standard education. They had nothing against further education but I know they felt more education was not necessary to go further in business.
They didn’t feel a masters degree or a doctorate would’ve made them wealthier or better at their vocations. They felt that being in the business world and learning their business better was the key after having completed their formal educations.
16. If they lost all their money, would they be able to get it back again?
Yes and I believe they would be able to get it back again in many different settings. They knew how to fish so to speak, so even if they started a different business, I believe they would’ve been able to become wealthy once again in various new arenas.
17. Were they good at a lot of other things?
This is a good question. They were typically good at a few other things. They weren’t off the charts like they were in business but they did have a few other talents. Some of them were good at golf, others were good at things related to their business such as investing or math, problem solving and other qualities that could be developed in business.
All of them were of superior intellect to a certain extent too so that gave them a leg up on the average population.
As a final part to this answer, they were all fantastic communicators. Razor sharp communicators. This made them funny, interesting and very comfortable to talk to. I can’t overstate their communication skills enough.
18. Were they Competitive?
Oh yeah. They were all competitive and enjoyed a hearty challenge in their business careers and in their personal lives. I think they needed something to be challenged with. I get the feeling that they might have been a bit bored with a regular job and an average existence.
19. Did they ever face real adversity?
They faced incredible adversity. Sometimes the adversity was a big motivating factor. Because many of the millionaires were playing the game on a bigger stage, some of the inherent pitfalls were also bigger.
Fortunately, they were able to persevere for the most part. Maybe the takeaway here is to keep fighting if it’s worth it. I’m not training the ones who didn’t make it through so I can’t fully answer this question.
20. How about the clothes?
They had some really nice threads for the office and a night on the town.
I learned quite a bit about clothing and how a custom tailored piece of clothing could cost over a thousand dollars. Don’t even get me started on what a pair of shoes cost. You also get the idea that professionalism was important. If you can’t get your act together with dressing yourself, how are you going to handle this massive contract?
The other funny thing with the clothing was borrowing items for my own little events.
Sometimes, I was even given clothes from clients including the millionaires. I remember a BOSS suit that a dear client lent me for an occasion but as I type this, I can’t for the life of me remember what it was. Perhaps the suit itself was more memorable.
21. How was working for them?
I’d seen a lot of interaction between my clients and their employees over the years and I was basically an employee for them.
They were great.
I would say fair, firm and supportive. They were very well skilled in this role and I think that’s why a lot of people enjoyed working for them.
22. Were they in shape?
This was a mixed situation. I will say they all got in better shape.
Health was becoming more important to them and they were fortunate enough to be able to spend time and money on it. If I could offer any advice to the start up business person, take your health seriously during your career. Put things in place regarding your food and activity.
Stock healthy food options at work or at home and have some exercise equipment around your desk so you can move around a bit if you can’t get to the gym. Good food is premium fuel and exercise is a form stress release and tension for the body.
Once you’ve made all that money, you want to be able to enjoy it so take care of your health during the process.
23. Family life
Somewhat in opposition to my early beliefs, the millionaires had very typical family structures. I thought they would’ve had to drop everything and just work 24/7 and have no husband, wife or kids but this wasn’t the case. Almost all of them had spouses and children and normal family dyads.
Though I think you can be fine without a support or family system like this, I think it did help them in their businesses to have a steady foundation at home.
24. Working hours
Their working hours were sometimes incredibly long. Some were working literally from when they woke up to when they went to bed. Imagine your entire day is strictly business. This went on in some cases for years.
Granted, the payoff was big and it wasn’t for decades. I discuss this in more detail on the blog but yes, the short answer is that the hours were crazy for periods in their lives.
25. Were they all super alpha humans?
No. I feel like we often imagine millionaires to be these flashy, perfect skinned, super people when in reality, they’re much more like us. Looks, style, great teeth and an amazing personality aren’t requirements for making money.
I should probably say that my clients weren’t gremlins either?
Though they weren’t super humans, I will admit they had a certain sheen to them which I believe came from their drive for success. They’d fought hard for their positions in society and that gave them a bit of a glow for sure. They were good at hiding it under the radar though so you had to look for it.
26. Were they gurus?
Yes. They were gurus at business. The business guru is a multi faceted one. You need to do all kinds of different things under the business umbrella.
If you’re asking if they had singular mastery of one area or something like a pro athlete? I would say not really. They weren’t people who were so exceptionally gifted at soccer that it made then rich or a master of one Zen with thousand mile understanding of the world.
You could say they were gifted at business but at least this can be learned by a great many.
27. Another key ability
Able to strike their own path.
You need some independence if you’re going to set forth and start your own business. Are you comfortable standing by yourself and betting your future on your own merits?
If you said yes, that’s great because you absolutely must be able to do so. Though many businesses are started in partnerships, there are just as many that are started with one person.
They don’t call it a sole proprietorship for nothing.
28. Did they have guts?
Yes they did and I really think this is a must for making millions.
You’ve got to have the guts to:
a) Go for it in the first place.
b) Push it hard enough and long enough to reach these levels of enterprise.
c) Never quit even though you get hit with all kinds of setbacks.
Guts were really important. You’re playing against a lot of skilled entrepreneurs in the world and they’re all fighting for your customers. If you don’t have the fortitude to join in and battle for the win, how are you ever going to become a success?
29. Did they work harder or smarter?
I’ve written an article on this and I feel it’s a really important piece to help you understand where to focus your energy.
- First, it’s not one or the other.
- Second, there’s a third option (which we won’t get into right now).
- Third, it’s how you combine them. Working hard is a waste of time on the wrong project or job. Working smart is better but only if it’s the right kind of smart. Working hard on something smart is good but that’s still not enough.
What you really want to do is work hard on getting smart people to work hard and smart for you. Easy enough?
30. Did they invest their money?
Yes, pretty much all of my clients invested in either real estate, the stock market, back into their businesses and or all of the above.
It was in varying degrees depending on their interests.
Some did it a great deal, others did it very little. None of them were world class investors and it was their businesses that made them wealthy, not investing.
Investing was a bonus for them in most cases.
31. How did they get rich?
Business. It was mostly business. That’s what made them rich and that was what kept making them richer.
The business itself made them money and then there were extraneous things attached to the business such as real estate that also added to their wealth.
32. Did they start out wealthy?
No. This website is focused on self made millionaires. Though I include fun stuff from many of my client sessions, the business advice is gathered solely from people who became millionaires on their own accord. They could not have been born wealthy or taken over an existing company or anything of that nature.
All of the millionaire clients I discuss had low to middle class beginnings.
33. Were any of them more than multi-millionaires.
Yes.
34. Did any of them ever go broke?
NO, not to my knowledge.
35. What do millionaires do every day?
They go to work for the most part. And because they do such a good job at work, they tend to either enjoy early retirement or continue to work for enjoyment. In many cases, they continue to work in some capacity as they still have interests in their vocations. See tip #50 for a day in the life of a millionaire.
36. Do they have any regrets?
I don’t know but I would imagine some. I never really asked them about this. It’s a very personal question and as a result, I feel it’s best left private, unasked and unanswered.
37. What books do they read?
I literally wrote an article on this called The Top Ten Millionaire Books I saw In Action First Hand. Find out the top books they read, some of which were pivotal in making them millionaires and multi-millionaires.
38. Why don’t millionaires pay taxes?
They pay taxes.
They pay way more taxes than you or I.
They simply try to make use of tax laws that help them reduce their tax payments because they pay so much money in taxes. Many of these reductions in tax payouts can be achieved through real estate tax benefits.
In general, I wouldn’t worry about the tax benefits of being a millionaire. I would worry about getting to a position where you can benefit from such tax laws in the first place. These laws very greatly of course from country to country and I have absolutely no idea what they are.
39. How do millionaires manage their money?
They manage it often and as carefully as they can with help from professionals. This can be a full time job when you have sizable amounts of money.
40. Will millionaires give me money?
Not likely. I used to think about this all the time. This guy has buckets of money, why can’t he share the wealth? “Yo, lemme see the money!” Alas, such is not the case. To learn more about why this is the case, check out my article: Will a Millionaire Give You a Million Bucks? to learn the details.
41. Are Millionaires Happier?
That’s a really good question. I wouldn’t say the money made them happy if that’s what you’re asking. Happiness is tricky to quantify. If you want to read one of the best books ever on happiness, I would highly suggest Tal Ben Shahar’s Book, Happier. It was recommended to me by a brilliant Doctor I trained.
As for whether money makes you happier, I think it more so gives you extra time and utility to work on your happiness.
The millionaires were also very positive people to begin with so I wouldn’t say they struggled with happiness per se.
They were optimists.
Not dreamers but definitely optimists.
42. How do millionaire spend their money?
Some of them had gone through all the toys. Italian cars, lavish vacations, trips all over the world and incredible homes families and friends furnished beautifully.
That being said, once they’d been through all the toys, the spending became more selective. If it was something they wanted and valued, they’d spend the money. In general, they never over spent compared to their wealth.
Dare I say that once you’ve had all the toys, the effect wears off a bit?
That tended to be the case. It’s also difficult if you knock your side view mirror off your Ferrari and have to wait two months to get a new one from Italy.
Regardless of what they ended up spending on, they had the ability to spend on pretty much anything they wanted. This is a nice feature when you don’t want to stay at the one star hotel for the night.
43. Do millionaires become billionaires?
This is a whole other level of attack. You might see someone at this level who’s been able to run and or develop multiple successful companies. They may also be involved in real estate which is one of the areas where the leverage and numbers can get really big.
It’s such an extreme to attain in a lifetime that there also needs to be some good timing on your side. I’d say further that you need to not only play in the league but now, you need to be one of the star players. Not an easy level to attain but, never say never.
I knew of people like this through clients and my understanding was that they were working literally all the time. Literally-all-the-time.
44. When do millionaires wake up?
Ah yes, the early bird question..
All you have to do is get up early and you’ll get rich right?
I wish!
In general, the millionaires all got up in the morning between 6 and 8am or a bit later. This had basically nothing to do with why they were wealthy.
45. What’s millionaire’s shortbread?
Millionaire’s Shortbread also known as Caramel Shortbread is a confectionary biscuit that often comes in a rectangular or circular shape according to Wikipedia. They say it’s composed of a biscuit topped with caramel and milk chocolate.
To the best of my knowledge, it’s the only dessert named after millionaires.
Here’s a recipe from the Times: Millionaire’s Shortbread.
46. What millionaires should I follow to grow my business?
You should follow the principles of millionaires in general and then you can follow millionaires in your industry.
In sports, we try to find elite athletes that are similar in size and stature to the athletes we’re developing.
We want to find someone just like them who’s participating at higher levels of competition.
You can do the same with your business.
See who’s doing a slightly better job in your industry.
If you’re an online food blogger, look for someone in the same space running a larger food blog. Don’t look for a giant corporation that’s running a massive interface. Stay in your lane and figure out who’s down the road a little ahead of you.
47. Will what a millionaire did still work?
The principles and the business may still work.
The principles will still work for sure. I really do believe that they’re timeless.
As for the business, many of the businesses still work. The danger lies in the seizing of opportunities.
For Example:
If we take the stock market, there are many top traders who discuss finding small opportunities to profit from. They profit from these little inequities they find in the corners of the markets. For a period of time, they can take advantage of these money wells but eventually, the market swallows them up and the opportunity runs dry.
The same thing happens on the net when someone tells you they’ve been buying pool toys on Alibaba in bulk and reselling them on Amazon. By the time they’re telling you, the profit margin has likely faded or completely disappeared.
The good thing is that the principles remain. If you want to copy something, copy the principles and the overlying approach.
Follow the principles while you’re waiting for the opportunities and then you’ll be better poised to take advantage should those opportunities arise.
48. Did the Millionaires become misers?
No, in fact it was quite the opposite. As they got older, they became more giving. Their focus shifted to younger generations and helping more people. They were all very giving people and I saw more of this as they enjoyed their later years in life.
This cat looks just like a cat I used to know quite well. Great picture. Most of the millionaires had pets.
49. How quickly can you become a millionaire?
This really depends on a lot of factors. I think the two quickest ways are going into business and investing with investing being the quickest way. Investing is also an incredibly high risk option and business is certainly not without it’s risks as well.
Whatever way you do, plan to pursue millions with clear knowledge that it will not be easy or without challenge.
Making a lot of money is a special thing too so if you do, cherish what you’ve made, don’t feel as though it will be easy to make it again.
50. What’s a day in the life of a millionaire?
Wake up in a good bed. A kick ass bed! Then go downstairs in your lovely home and eat what you want. Enjoy your family and head of to work if you so choose.
You’ll probably get there in a used car but it won’t be a lousy used car. It’ll be a nice used car and, it probably won’t be that “used” in most people’s eyes.
Then you go for lunch and lunch can go much longer than if you were a Doctor or a Lawyer because you don’t have to get back to work. Unlike the Doctor or the Lawyer, work works without you, so stay a little longer for lunch!
During lunch you may bump into a few buddies or friends that also have this awesome life and you may ask them to join you. If you get back to work, great. If you don’t, no matter because you don’t have to.
Now it’s on to dinner. Have it at home or go out. There are a lot of choices when you take price off the table so think wisely.
It’s not an easy decision.
I’d often learn about all these fancy restaurants in town from my clients and think “Yup, not going there!” lol.
Once you’re done dinner, the night is yours. Head out on the town or head out on a private jet to another town for weeks on end if you’d like.
Whatever you decide, know that your options are plenty. Do with them as you wish.
You can pick and choose until your dying days for you are a millionaire.
Bonus Tip #51: Does it take a lifetime to get rich?
NO! I feel this is such a terrible thought we have engrained in our heads.
We keep applying the standard timeline of retiring at 65 years with a bit of money to live on.
Try changing these timelines.
Think what you would do on the side if you wanted to retire in 20 years, 10 years or even 5 years. What would you do differently? What would you change?
The millionaires had boundless minds and very different timelines from the general population.
Let your mind open itself to the possibilities of finding wealth sooner and you’ll start to come up with different ideas and approaches.
Changing your mindset and how you approach making money is a great place to start.
It all starts with the simple thought of change.
Thus concludes our list!
Bonus Tip #52: In your opinion, what’s the best way to follow the millionaire footsteps?
In my opinion, the best way would be to start an online business platform.
This is one of the most consistent ways I’ve seen people make larger amounts of money like the millionaires are. This isn’t solely limited to finding a niche or starting a blog.
A platform can consist of many different online enterprises including membership sites, ecommerce sites, blogs, educational sites and alike.
the key word here is platform. I feel the word gets us thinking about something a bit bigger than a side hustle and it has some teeth.
It sounds like something you create to do genuine business with.
Best of Wealth,
Tyler.
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