75 Impeccable Business Advice from 39 Billionaires

Are you an entrepreneur or a small business owner? Are you seeking business advice that will help you start a business? Do you want to become a billionaire in your lifetime? Do you want to build a successful business and become a successful entrepreneur? Do you want to learn what it takes to make a million dollars and become a millionaire in less than a year? If your answer to any of these questions is yes, then read on.

Today, I will be sharing with you some small business advice from the billionaires. Some of these billionaires are drop out billionaires but they have one thing in common, they all built successful businesses. So if you are ready to learn, then sit back and read on as I share with you 75 impeccable advice from 39 billionaires.

75 Impeccable Small Business Advice from 39 Billionaires

• Richard Branson – Virgin Group

1. “As much as you need a strong personality to build a business from scratch, you also must understand the art of delegation. I have to be good at helping people run the individual businesses, and I have to be willing to step back. The company must be set up so it can continue without me.” – Richard Branson

2. “To be successful, you have to be out there, you have to hit the ground running, and if you have a good team around you and more than a fair share of luck, you might make something happen. But you certainly can’t guarantee it just by following someone else’s formula.” – Richard Branson

• Ingvar Kamprad – IKEA

“Waste of resources is a mortal sin at IKEA.” – Ingvar Kamprad

4. “Ten minutes are not just one-sixth of your hourly pay; ten minutes is a piece of yourself. Divide yourself into ten units and sacrifice as few of them as possible in meaningless activities. Most things still remain to be done.” – Ingvar Kamprad

• Carlos Slim Helu – Telmex Corporation

5. “When there is a crisis, that’s when some are interested in getting out and that’s when we are interested in getting in.” – Carlos Slim Helu

• Aliko Dangote – Dangote Group

6. “To succeed in business, you must build a brand and never destroy it. One competitive advantage I had when I ventured into manufacturing was my brand “Dangote,” which I diligently built in the course of my trading commodities.” – Aliko Dangote

7. “Manufacture, don’t just trade. There is money in manufacturing even though it is capital intensive. To achieve a big breakthrough, I had to start manufacturing the same product I was trading on; which is commodities.” – Aliko Dangote

• Oprah Winfrey – Harpo Studios Production

8. “Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another stepping stone to greatness.” – Oprah Winfrey

9. “Follow your instincts, that’s where true wisdom manifest itself.” – Oprah Winfrey

• Orji Uzor Kalu – Slok Group

10. “A good businessman must have nose for business the same way a journalist has nose for news. Once your eyes, ears, nose, heart and brain are trained on business, you sniff business opportunities everywhere” – Orji Uzor Kalu

11. “A good businessman sees where others don’t see. What I see, you may not see. You cannot see because that is the secret of the business… the entire world is a big market waiting for anybody who knows the rules of the game.” – Orji Uzor Kalu

• John D. Rockefeller – Standard Oil

12. “There’s no mystery in business success. If you do each day’s task successfully and stay faithfully within these natural operations of commercial laws which I talk so much about and keep your head clear, you will come out all right.” – John D. Rockefeller

13. “The ability to deal with people is as purchasable as a commodity as sugar or coffee and I will pay more for that ability than for any other thing under the sun.” – John D. Rockefeller

• Bill Gates – Microsoft

14. “The most meaningful way to differentiate your company from your competitors, the best way to put distance between you and the crowd is to do an outstanding job with information. How you gather, manage and use information will determine whether you win or lose.” – Bill Gates

“You’ve got to give great tools to small teams. Pick good people, use small teams and give them great tools so that they are very productive in terms of what they are doing.” – Bill Gates

• Larry Ellison – Oracle

16. “If your cash is about to run out, you have to cut your cash flow. CEOs have to make those decisions and live with them however painful they may be. You have to act and act now; and act in the best interest of the company as a whole, even if it means that some people in the company who are your best friends have to work somewhere else.” – Larry Ellison

“When you innovate, you’ve got to be prepared for people telling you that you are nuts.” – Larry Ellison

• J. Paul Getty – Getty Oil

18. “The man who comes up with a means of doing or producing almost anything better, faster or more economically has his future and his fortune at his finger tips.” – J. Paul Getty

“In times of rapid change, experience could be your worst enemy.” – J. Paul Getty

• Warren Buffett– Berkshire Hathaway

20. “In the business world, the rear view is always clearer than the wind shield.” – Warren Buffett

21. “Somebody once said that in looking to hire people, look for three qualities; Integrity, intelligence and energy. If they don’t have the first, the other two will kill you. You think about it; it’s true. If you hire somebody without the first, you really want them to be dumb and lazy.” – Warren Buffett

• Henry Ford – Ford Motor Company

22. “The competitor to be feared is one who never bothers about you at all but goes on making his own business better all the time.” – Henry Ford

23 .”A business absolutely devoted to service will have one worry about profits. They will be embarrassingly large.” – Henry Ford

• Henry Ross Perot – EDS

24. “Business is not just doing deals; business is having great products, doing great engineering and providing tremendous service to customers. Finally, business is a cobweb of human relationship.” – Henry Ross Perot

“If you see a snake, just kill it. Don’t appoint a committee on snakes.” – Henry Ross Perot

• Ted Turner – CNN

26. “Do something. Either lead, follow or get out of the way.” – Ted Turner

27. “Managing isn’t that difficult, you just have to score more runs than the other guy.” – Ted Turner

• Michael Dell – Dell Inc

28. “Don’t spend so much time trying to choose the perfect opportunity, that you miss the right opportunity.” – Michael Dell

29. “Recognize that there will be failures, and acknowledge that there will be obstacles. But you will learn from your mistakes and the mistakes of others, for there is very little learning in success.” – Michael Dell

• Steve Jobs – Apple Inc

30. “Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R&D. It’s not about money. It’s about the people you have, how you’re led, and how much you get it.” – Steve Jobs

31. “To turn really interesting ideas and fledging ideas into a company that can continue to innovate for years, it requires a lot of disciplines.” – Steve Jobs

• Donald Trump – Trump Organization

“Experience taught me a few things. One is to listen to your gut no matter how good something sounds on paper. The second is that you are generally better off sticking with what you know and the third is that sometimes, your best investments are the ones you don’t make.” – Donald Trump

33. “It pays to trust your instinct.” – Donald Trump

• Jeff Bezos – Amazon

34. “If you’re not stubborn, you’ll give up on experiments too soon. And if you’re not flexible, you’ll pound your head against the wall and you won’t see a different solution to a problem you’re trying to solve.” – Jeff Bezos

35. “Things never go smoothly.” – Jeff Bezos

• Sam Walton – Wal-Mart

36. “The secret of successful retailing is to give your customers what they want. And really, if you think about it from the point of view of the customer, you want everything: a wide assortment of good quality merchandise; the lowest possible prices; guaranteed satisfaction with what you buy; friendly, knowledgeable service; convenient hours; free parking; a pleasant shopping experience.” – Sam Walton

37. “Appreciate everything your associates do for the business. If people believe in themselves, it’s amazing what they can accomplish.” – Sam Walton

• J. K. Rowling – Harry Potter Series

38. “Never be ashamed! There’s some who will hold it against you, but they are not worth bothering with.” – J. K. Rowling

39. “Anything is possible if you’ve got enough nerve.” – J. K. Rowling

• Ray Kroc – McDonald’s

“If you’re not a risk taker, you should get the hell out of business.” – Ray Kroc

41. “When you’re green, you’re growing. When you’re ripe, you rot. Are you green and growing or ripe and rotting?” – Ray Kroc

• Mark Cuban – Broadcast.com

42. “Do your homework and know your business better than anyone. Otherwise, someone who knows more and works harder will kick your ass.” – Mark Cuban

43. “Make your product easier to buy than your competition, or you will find your customers buying from them, not you.” – Mark Cuban

• Larry Page – Google

44. “But you don’t need a huge company, just a computer and a part-time person. So you don’t need to have a 100-person company to develop that idea. You can do it in your spare time, you can really work on ideas and see if they take off — rather than trying to raise tons of money, millions of dollars for an idea that may or may not work. And once you have the product and people are using it, it’s very easy to raise investment.” – Larry Page

• John Johnson – Johnson Publishing

45. “My management style is based on the art of communication. For communication is an art, not a science. It is an emotion, not a statistic. And the best communicators know instinctively that to communicate effectively you must bypass intellectual centers and tap into the deepest fears, hopes and emotions of your audience.” – John Johnson

46. “I’m convinced that the only way to get ahead in this world is to live and sell dangerously. You’ve got to live beyond your means. You’ve got to commit yourself to an act or vision that pulls you further than you want to go and forces you to use your hidden strengths.” – John Johnson

• Li Ka Shing – Hutchison Whampoa

47. “Broaden your vision, and maintain stability while advancing forward. That is my philosophy.” – Li Ka Shing

48. “Businessmen must move with the times…the correlation between knowledge and business as the key to success is closer than ever.” – Li Ka Shing

• Mukesh Ambani – Reliance Group

49. “I think that our fundamental belief is that for us, growth is a way of life and we have to grow at all times.” – Mukesh Ambani

“The organizational architecture is really that a centipede walks on a hundred legs and one or two don’t count. So if I lose one or two legs, the process will go on and the growth will go on.” – Mukesh Ambani

• Philip Knight – Nike

51. “Good campaigns define who you are. We have to get consumers’ attention. We don’t have six months to check with focus groups.” – Philip Knight

52. “Our job is to wake up the consumers. If we become predictable, that’s not waking them up.” – Philip Knight

• Pierre Omidyar – E-Bay

53. “Build a platform – prepare for the unexpected…you’ll know you’re successful when the platform you’ve built serves you in unexpected ways.” – Pierre Omidyar

54. “Be an enzyme – a catalyst for change. As a slogan, I don’t know if that’s ever going to be right up there with Ich Bin Ein Berliner, or “I Have A Dream,” but there’s a lot of truth to it.” – Pierre Omidyar

• Ralph Lauren – Polo

55. “Your vision is very important. You should know whom you’re selling to, what your marketing and advertising says about you, and whom it’s speaking to. Me personally, I don’t try to please everyone. I understand who I am selling to and I work towards that vision all the time.” – Ralph Lauren

56. “It’s about broadening your scope through history and living your life. Tune in and pay attention.” – Ralph Lauren

• Rupert Murdoch – Fox Broadcasting Corporation

57. “In motivating people, you’ve got to engage their minds and their hearts. I motivate people, I hope, by example – and perhaps by excitement, by having productive ideas to make others feel involved.” – Rupert Murdoch

“The world is changing very fast. Big will not beat small anymore; it will be the fast beating the slow.” – Rupert Murdoch

• Craig Newmark – Craiglist

59. “Sometimes you gotta be fast so you don’t waste the time of others.” – Craig Newmark

60. “Follow through with basic values, and remember to provide good customer service.” – Craig Newmark

• Dave Thomas – Wendy’s

61. “What do you need to start a business? Three simple things: know your product better than anyone. Know your customer, and have a burning desire to succeed.” – Dave Thomas

62. “Take care of your business and your business will take care of you.” – Dave Thomas

• Gerry Schwartz – Onex Corporation

63. “We’ve got customers. We’ve got suppliers. We’ve got employees. We’ve got unions. We’ve got communities. We’ve got all of these things that go into making up whether a business succeeds or fails.” – Gerry Schwartz

64. “Investments are like trains, and if you miss one, don’t worry because another one will come down the line.” – Gerry Schwartz

• Walt Disney – Disney

65. “You are dead if you aim only for kids. Adults are only kids grown up, anyway.” – Walt Disney

66. “Tomorrow can be a wonderful age.” – Walt Disney

• Barry Diller – Expedia

67. “The world is changing. Networks without a specific branding strategy will be killed. I envision a world of highly run companies without room for all the overhead the establishment networks carry.” – Barry Diller

• Giorgio Armani – Armani

68. “Remember that, in the end, the customer doesn’t know, or care, if you are small or large as an organization – she or he only focuses on the garment hanging on the rail in the store.” – Giorgio Armani

69. “In this business you can’t have a destination, an arrival point. Otherwise your competitors will overtake you, or you become complacent.” – Giorgio Armani

• Craig McCaw – McCaw Cellular

70. “Changes occur because there’s a gap between what is and what should be.” – Craig McCaw

71. “Filling a need that others aren’t addressing has always been a focus of the companies that I have been involved with.” – Craig McCaw

• Leslie Wexner – Limited Brands

72. “We are poised for accelerated future growth and we need the depth and breadth of leadership to achieve it.” – Leslie Wexner

73. “Express is well into the process of substantial transformation and is providing itself as a significant dual gender, high quality apparel brand. While much work needs to be done, we believe the opportunities for growth across our brand are significant.” – Leslie Wexner

• Carl Icahn – Billionaire Investor

“In life and business, there are two cardinal sins. The first is to act without thought and the second is not to act at all.” – Carl Icahn

How to Become a Billionaire

Do you want to learn how to become a billionaire in 10 years or less? What would you do if you had a billion dollars? If I were to present you with a step by step plan on how to be a billionaire (as told by the self made billionaires), will you be willing to learn? If your answer to the last question is yes, please read on.

“We are self made, or never made.” – Dr Sidney Newton

I am Ajaero Tony Martins, an entrepreneur, investor and founder of this blog. For many years, i have been teaching entrepreneurs how to start a business and today, I want to share with you a practical step by step approach to becoming a self made billionaire. Sincerely speaking, I know I am not qualified to teach you how to become a billionaire because I am not yet one but on the other way round; It’s my ultimate dream to become a billionaire in my lifetime and I have been taking mentorship lessons from these billionaires. So it’s these lessons I have received that I want to pass across to you.

“If you can count your millions, you are not a billionaire.” – J. Paul Getty

Since I am on a journey to become a billionaire; I think it’s worthwhile I share with you my plan and the steps I intend to take to achieve that goal. I want to clearly state that all I have now is just a dream, a strong will and a plan to become a billionaire; nothing more, nothing less.

Now What Does it Take to Become a Billionaire Fast?

After understudying the lives of billionaires such as Bill Gates, John D. Rockefeller, Henry Ford, J. Paul Getty and Aliko Dangote; I came to a conclusion that it takes nothing special to become a billionaire. After all, most of the richest people in the world today were school drop out billionaires. To become a billionaire, all you need is a dream, a strong will and a fast plan. Once these three things are in place, the journey has commenced.

“It is my utmost desire to become a billionaire in my life time and also give away billions of dollars. I don’t think any paid employment on earth can help me achieve that dream. If I become a billionaire in my life time, I will just be another self made entrepreneur on the list. But if I don’t; I will die knowing I gave that dream my best shot.” – Ajaero Tony Martins

How does one become a self made billionaire Fast?

My answer is I don’t know. There’s no outlined format, path or pattern to becoming a billionaire. In the book “Rich Dad’s Guide to Investing,” Robert Kiyosaki highlighted that there several ways to become rich. He stated that you can become rich by inheritance, by being a crook or by marrying someone rich.

Well, I see some truth in the statement above. The Walton family today are billionaires; thanks to an inheritance from the founder of Wal-Mart, Sam Walton. There are also billionaire drug lords and ladies; who acquired wealth by crooked means and there are billionaire sports personalities and stars like Tiger Woods and Jay-Z. Now in retrospect, there are those who marry for money; that is why the media is occasionally filled with stories of billion dollar divorce lawsuits.

“I think it is a man’s duty to make all the money he can, keep all that he can and give away all that he can.” – John D. Rockefeller

So how do I intend to become a billionaire? I don’t know. All I can say is that I intend to become a billionaire the same way my mentors and models such as Warren Buffett, Aliko Dangote and Larry Ellison have done it. I intend to apply the same strategy they applied.

“If you want to successfully go up the mountain, ask the man who has gone through it to and fro.” – Zen Master

How long does it take to become a billionaire?

If you observe the entrepreneurial path of successful entrepreneurs; you will come to understand the fact that there was no set time or guarantee that they would emerge billionaires. These successful entrepreneurs just started the journey, maintained focus and one day, they emerged billionaires.

“Of the billionaires I have known, money just brings out the basic traits in them. If they were jerks before they had money, they are simply jerks with a billion dollars.” – Warren Buffett

So how long will it take me to become a billionaire? I don’t know because I might never get there. It took Aliko Dangote approximately 30 years to become a billionaire and emerge the richest black man in the world. It took John D. Rockefeller 25 years of oil drilling and distribution to become a billionaire. It approximately took 10 years for Bill Gates, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Jerry Yang and David Filo to become billionaires. But Mark Zuckerberg became the youngest billionaire in the world in less than five years.

“Twenty years and $40 billion; they seem like good round numbers.” – Michael Dell

“I was worth about over a million dollars when I was twenty-three and over ten million dollars when I was twenty-four, and over a hundred million dollars when I was twenty-five and it wasn’t that important because I never did it for the money.” – Steve Jobs

So if it’s your goal to become a billionaire in your lifetime, then just start the process and forget about the time it would take to get there. After all, Entrepreneurship is a journey, not a destination.

“The most important thing is to enjoy yourself and continue to work. Life is a journey, not a destination. That’s also true in business; your objectives keep moving.” – Thomas J. Burrell

How to Become a Self Made Billionaire

1. Start with a dream

“I intend to be, the richest man in the world.” – Howard Hughes

“It does not take money to make money.” – Robert Kiyosaki

Becoming a billionaire begins with a dream. One of the free gifts given to us by our creator is the gift of imagination. It costs nothing to dream but most people don’t dare to dream and those who do, dream small.

“People who dream small dreams continue to live as small people.” – Rich Dad

“Aim for the highest.” – Andrew Carnegie

On several occasions, I have shared my dream with friends and all I got were fingers pointing at me saying; “you must be a joker.” Do statements like that deter me? My answer is no. I still continue to dream big and pursue that dream vigorously. If becoming a billionaire is your lifetime goal; then allow your mind to wander; dream big and shut your ears to critics.

“I always knew I was going to be rich. I don’t think I ever doubted it for a minute.” – Warren

“You are nuts and you should be proud of it. Stick with what you believe in.” – Trip Hawkins

“All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake up in the day and find out that it was vanity. But the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes to make it possible.” – T. E. Lawrence

2. Develop the billionaire’s mindset

“If I lose a billion dollars, I will have it back in less than five years.” – Henry Ford

The second step to becoming a billionaire is to develop the mindset of billionaires. Do you know that the thinking capacity of millionaires differ from that of billionaires? To become a billionaire, you must develop your mindset to accommodate that status. You must think big and you must also increase your capacity to handle the corresponding risk.

“You must take risks, both with your own money or with borrowed money. Risk taking is essential to business growth.” – J. Paul Getty

Becoming a billionaire means being willing to risk failure; you must also bear in mind that achieving any worthwhile goal in life requires sacrifice. You must see possibilities in the actualization of your dreams and ultimately, you must train your eyes to see opportunities disguised as problems; you must see opportunities others don’t see.

“Someone asked me, ‘how can I find a good business opportunity? I replied, ‘go and look for adversity.’ If you can handle adversity, you will find opportunity. Adversity and opportunity are two inseparable twins.” – Ajaero Tony Martins

“A good businessman must have nose for business the same way a journalist has nose for news. Once your eyes, ears, nose, heart and brain are trained on business, you sniff business opportunities everywhere. In places where people see a lot of obstacles, I see a lot of opportunities.” – Orji Uzor Kalu

“If you want to go broke; go it big. I will prefer to lose a billion dollars than to lose a million dollars.” – Ajaero Tony Martins

3. Increase your business skills

“Skills make you rich, not theories.” – Rich Dad

Increasing your business skills is essential to the entrepreneurial process. In fact, becoming a billionaire requires more than just business skills. It require financial intelligence, strong intra personal skills and investing skill. Making money is a skilled act; making money is all about utilizing your acquired entrepreneurial skills.

“The ability to sell is the number one skill in business. If you cannot sell, don’t bother thinking about becoming a business owner.” – Rich Dad

4. Develop a fast business idea

“There are fast ideas and slow ideas, just as there are fast trains and slow trains. When it comes to money, most people are on the slow train looking out the window watching the fast train pass them by. If you want to become rich quickly, your plan must include fast ideas.” – Rich Dad

From my personal point of view, this is where the work begins in the entrepreneurial process to becoming a billionaire. To achieve your dream of becoming a billionaire, you need a fast business idea; accompanied by a fast plan.

“All achievements, all earned riches have their beginning in an idea.” – Andrew Carnegie

Now what do I mean by a fast business idea and a fast plan? In previous articles, I stressed the point that the world is filled with brilliant ideas but the world lack seasoned entrepreneurs. This is why I emphasized you increase your business skills before ever starting a business; the world is filled with brilliant ideas.

Any idea can take you to the place of your dreams but if becoming a billionaire is your priority, then any idea is not enough. You need a fast business idea. A fast business idea is an idea that’s hot in demand; an idea that’s in line with the growing trend. A fast idea solves a very critical problem and most times; fast ideas are always the pioneer solution to people’s problems or needs.

As an illustration to prove the importance of developing a fast idea, I will share with you the following stories. Early 1900, there was a growing demand for oil throughout the world and entrepreneurs such as John D. Rockefeller and J. Paul Getty took advantage of this growing demand; and they became billionaires. When the demand for affordable means of transportation came up, Henry Ford took advantage of it and became a billionaire; so also did Cornelius Vanderbilt.

“I have no complex about wealth. I have worked very hard for my money; producing things people need.” – J. Paul Getty

Aliko Dangote saw a growing demand for commodities in Nigeria and he positioned himself as a fast solution provider; today, he is not only a billionaire but also the richest black man in the world. Computers came as a trend and Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Larry Ellison, Ted Waitt and Michael Dell developed fast ideas to take advantage of this trend; and they ended up becoming billionaires.

“I’m the NO 1 developer in New York. I’m the biggest in Atlantic City, and maybe we will keep it that way.” – Donald Trump

The internet came as a trend and Larry Page, Jerry Yang, Steve Case, Jeff Bezos, Pierre Omidyar and Mark Zuckerberg developed fast ideas to take advantage of the trend and they became billionaires. So if you want to join this list of billionaires; you need to develop a fast business idea. Now how do you develop a fast idea? I don’t know, but a great way to start is to ask yourself the question; “What is the next coming trend? Will it be biotechnology, alternative power, genetic engineering or something else? Only time will tell.

How to Become a Billionaire Fast

5. Find a business coach or mentor

Let me divulge a secret to becoming a billionaire to you. If you are mentored by a billionaire; chances are high that you will end up a billionaire. I have seen young entrepreneurs perform excellently simply because they are being mentored by billionaires. So when looking for a business coach or mentor; find one that’s a billionaire already or has direct access to billionaires

“Seek advice on risk from the wealthy who still take risks, not friends who dare nothing more than a football bet.” – J. Paul Getty

A good way to go is to seek business mentors who are Venture Capitalists, investment bankers, Angel investors and deal makers. Getting a business coach from any of these fields will do you good and you will learn tremendously from their wealth of experience. Now how do you break into this circle of great men? My answer is I don’t know. All I can say is to repeat what Winston Churchill said:

“He who must dig will surely find a spade; where there’s a will, there’s a way.” – Winston Churchill

6. Start a business

“To build wealth today, you must be in your own business.” – J. Paul Getty

What has starting a business got to do with becoming a billionaire? My answer is everything. Take a look at the successful entrepreneurs who are billionaires; take a look at the school drop out billionaires of this world like Larry Ellison or Bill Gates and you will observe a pattern. They all built mega businesses and those mega businesses made them rich. To make you understand the point I am trying to buttress, take a look at the list below.

How Billionaires Made their Money

• 1900 – Andrew Carnegie made his money from steel – $475 million
• 1910 – John D. Rockefeller became a billionaire in oil – $1.4 billion
• 1920 – Henry Ford became a billionaire in the auto industry – $1 billion
• 1940 – Howard Hughes became a billionaire with military aircrafts, contract, tools and movies – $1.5billion
• 1957 – J. Paul Getty became a billionaire in oil – $1 billion
• 1962 – Henry Ross Perot became a billionaire with EDS – $3.8 billion
• 1970 – Sam Walton took Wal-Mart public and became a billionaire – $22 billion
• 1980 – Ron Perelman made fortune as a Wall Street deal maker – $3.8 billion
• 1990 – Jerry Yang founded Yahoo! – $3.7 billion
• 2008 – Aliko Dangote became the richest black man in the world as a manufacturer – $3.3 billion
• 2010 – Mark Zuckerberg became a billionaire with FaceBook.com – $6 billion

“Build wealth as a byproduct of your business success. If wealth is your only objective in business, you will probably fail.” – J. Paul Getty

So if these men became billionaires simply by building businesses; then there’s surely a door way to becoming a billionaire through entrepreneurship. Even Warren Buffett, the acclaimed richest investor in the world made his money as an entrepreneur, by building and leveraging Berkshire Hathaway. If you are already in business, then develop a fast plan, stay focused on building your business and keep learning. You will surely hit your goal even if it takes a long time.

“The richest people in the world build networks; everyone else is trained to look for work.” – Rich Dad

7. Assemble a strong business team

A strong business team is vital to achieving your dream of building a business and becoming a billionaire. My mentor, Aliko Dangote; the richest black man in the world once attributed his success to his business management team and if you should take a critical look at his statement, you will observe the truth in its entirety. No successful entrepreneur ever became a billionaire alone; they all have a team of professionals, who are smarter than they are.

“Successful businessmen share the ability to hire people smarter than they are.” – Dillard Munford

Your business management team will really prove vital to you especially in the game of raising venture capital. No venture capitalist or private investor will invest in a business that lacks a strong team. Just as a venture capitalist friend of mine told me in a discussion that:

“VCs would rather invest in a business venture with an average product and a strong management team than invest in a business with an excellent product with a weak management team.”

So whenever a protégé ask me the secret of raising capital successfully, I reply; “Go and assemble a strong business team.” As simple as that answer may be, it’s the ultimate secret to raising capital and eventually becoming a billionaire. Who’s on your team? This is a million dollar question that most entrepreneurs take for granted. So are you still interested in becoming a billionaire; then find a team that will work with you towards the actualization of your goal.

8. Raise capital for your business

“If you owe the bank $100, that’s your problem. If you owe the bank $100 million, that’s the bank’s problem.” – J. Paul Getty

Raising capital is essential to the process of becoming a billionaire. In the points I mentioned above, I emphasized the need to develop a fast business plan and start a business. Now the flipside is that you will require capital to leverage the potential of a fast business idea. You can raise capital by approaching angel investors, Venture Capitalists and private investors with your business idea. But I want to state clearly that there’s more to raising capital than simply approaching investors and asking for money. Raising capital is a process that requires continuous learning; you need to keep learning how to pitch investors. The manner in which you pitch angel investors is quite different from the way you pitch VCs; so you have to learn both.

But ultimately, expect disappointments. A good piece of advice I normally give to my protégés is to tell them to start a small business with whatsoever they have. I believe in thinking big, starting small and finishing big; I encourage them to also do the same. Facebook, Google, Yahoo, Apple and Amazon all started small until the funding came. I also started small and grew my capital base with time, so I expect you to do the same. Start small but think big.

“Despise not the days of little beginning.” – The Holy Bible

9. Take your company public

“Taking a company public is the rite of passage for any entrepreneur.” – Rich Dad’s Guide to Investing

“Unfortunately, we are not a public company. We are a private group of companies and I can do what I want.” – Richard Branson

I don’t believe going public is a key to becoming a billionaire, but since most of the world’s billionaires all started companies that went public; I had to become a believer. The dream of almost all entrepreneurs is to see their company listed on the market. Analyzing the Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Sam Walton and Martha Stewart experience; I think going public is a big leap in your quest to become a billionaire. Think of it as a kind of financial leverage; using other people’s money to grow.

“If you are acquired, a company validates you. If you go public, the market – the world validates you.” – Fortune magazine

Nobody can definitely force you to go public but if it’s a way forward for you, then you better start learning the rudiments of building a company that will end up going public because it is a task that requires great responsibility.

“The new issues and IPO market is just like other businesses. The market is always looking for the flavor of the month. If you want to be very rich, part of your strategy as a business owner is to be building a company the market want, before the market wants it.” – Rich Dad’s Guide to Investing

10. Invest in other businesses

“Once you have made it, you will understand that any business is limited in the challenges it offers. You will want and need other games to play, so you will look for other ventures to hold your interest.” – J. Paul Getty

This is probably the easiest part in the process of becoming a billionaire. Whether you go public or not, your business has the potential to make you a billionaire but to maintain that status; you will have to make a couple of external strategic investments. This is another scene where the need for a business team comes into a play.

“Men of means look at making money as a game which they love to play.” – J. Paul Getty

• In February 1998, Warren Buffett disclosed that he had acquired 130million ounces of silver and stored it in a warehouse. Warren Buffett; at several intervals has made strategic investments in Goldman Sachs, Coca Cola and other companies.
• In September 1998, Canadian business ran an article indicating that Bill Gates has made a buy in silver, acquiring a 10.3% stake for $12million of a Canadian silver company listed on the Vancouver stock exchange.
• In 2010, a TV analysis on Oracle Corporation revealed that Larry Ellison has led Oracle to acquire 57 companies in a space of five years. If these self made billionaires are still investing even after hitting the pinnacle of success, why shouldn’t you.

11. Stick to the process

“You must not only learn to live with tension, you must seek it out. You must learn to thrive on stress.” – J. Paul Getty

This is probably the most difficult task of all. Most people are very good at starting things but sticking to it until it yields result becomes a problem. Success does not come overnight; it’s a product of continuous unwavering effort. Just as every goal requires a process; so does the goal to become a self made billionaire requires a process, and that process is not an easy one.

“I built a conglomerate and emerged the richest black man in the world in 2008 but it didn’t happen overnight. It took me thirty years to get to where I am today. Youths of today aspire to be like me but they want to achieve it overnight. It’s not going to work. To build a successful business, you must start small and dream big. In the journey of entrepreneurship, tenacity of purpose is supreme.” – Aliko Dangote

Sticking to the entrepreneurial process of becoming a billionaire implies staying focused on your goal; while avoiding distractions and negative influence. Sticking to the process may imply making a few sacrifices; handling disappointments with a positive attitude and facing business challenges bravely.

“Patience; this is the greatest business asset. Wait for the right time to make your moves.” – J. Paul Getty

As a final note, i want to clearly state that becoming a billionaire is within the reach of every individual but unfortunately, many will not aim for it because anything worth having has a price tag; and many dread the price of success. They would rather live in mediocrity than attempt to go beyond their comfort zone. Now that i have taken the pain to explain the process of becoming a billionaire fast, i believe the rest is up to you. If becoming a billionaire is your dream, I encourage you to pursue that dream vigorously and I will see you at the top.

“God is such a loving father. He gave everyone of us a blank signed check. Anything you write on that check will be yours. But unfortunately; most people die poor because they don’t dare to write something big on that check. That check is a gift called life.” – Ajaero Tony Martins