So you want to be a millionaire? Not unusual, many people harbour such a desire. Few however achieve their ambition. Most never get their dream beyond the realms of a fluffy fancy breezing around in their mind. In short they don’t … One : Evolve a concrete plan and … Two : They don’t write down their plan and … Three : They don’t act on the plan.

But wait … there’s a FOURTH infinitely bigger obstacle which blocks the way of those seeking millionaire status. Worse than having no clear idea of where to start, they are blind to one simple, yet critical factor. A reality essential to any aspiring millionaire but so obvious that it totally escapes their attention. What is it that they so spectacularly fail to see? It’s this –

$1m is One Million ONE Dollars!!

You want to be a millionaire? Then don’t think millions. Think One Single Dollar. It’s only by knowing how to make $1 that you can accumulate great wealth. Put it this way – If you can’t make just $1, how on earth do you expect to make millions of them? No chance! But, when you know how to make $1 then there is no limit to how often you can repeat the trick. Remember –

$1m is One Million ONE Dollars!!

Let’s make that first dollar.

Find a solitary location with table and chair, quiet with no distractions. Put $1 on the table. Also a pen, a blank sheet of paper and a timer. Set the timer to 1 hour. Begin.

Draw a line down the middle of the paper, thus creating two equal columns. In the left hand column write how much money you intend to make (financial target), then how long you are giving yourself to reach the target (time limit). Eg $1m and 5 years.

next column …

Now, concentrate your gaze on the $1. As you do, think of and picture ways you can realistically turn that $1 into $2. As the ideas flood from your imagination, list them in the right hand column on your sheet of paper. Write down as many ways as possible to make just $1. When your timer sounds at the end of 1 hour – stop!

Select your favourite way to make $1 from the list you’ve created, then immediately go out and put the strategy into practice – ACT NOW!

As soon as you have made that first $1, repeat the process. This time create $2 – either by $1 + $1 twice or by $2 into $4. Continue like this until your financial target is met – simple!

Pin your list in a prominent position where you will see it and be motivated by it each day. Use other strategies from your list as and when you consider it desireable. Add others as you think of them too.

Keep at it until you reach your goal. Determination and perseverance are all important.

So you want to be a millionaire? Then say, “Yes!” to One Million ONE Dollars!! It really is that simple.

I am Tom Riach. I live and write in the sunny south of Portugal. I hope you enjoyed this sample of my work. Find all my current titles (novels and ‘personal achievement’) at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other leading book stores. Click the image below.

“From every book written by Tom Riach you will gain unique insights to success, you will laugh, you will reflect upon your own character, and sometimes you will just sit in awe of his mastery of life, business and the simply written word.” – Randy Ireland, SFI Team Leader, Sulphur Springs, Arkansas

© Joseph T. Riach 1998-present. All rights reserved.

ONE SHIRT AT A TIME by Joseph Tom Riach

The clothes in my wardrobe (often on the floor) fall into three categories :

My very few ‘Good Clothes’ are new-ish and saved for wear only on special occasions – dining with the Queen and such like. In time they are demoted to –

My ‘Every Day Clothes’, which may lack the sheen of new but are smart, respectable and comfortable. Only after some considerable time (years mostly) are they relegated to –

My ‘Scruffy Clothes’. These I wear for lounging around the house, messing in the yard, hiking and climbing in the mountains, doing exercises and training sessions. (I am it seems something of an oddity nowadays in that I hike, jog or cycle to feel good for me rather than to show off expensive designer apparel for others)!

Only when a scruffy piece of clothing becomes reduced to a series of inter-connected holes do I discard it. At this point I demote a garment from my every day clothes to replace the scruffy item deceased and I remove an item from my good clothes to replace that one. This leaves a vacancy in my good clothes department which I may replace (note the word ‘may’) with a new purchase … but only on offer of course!

This clothes management system which I employ is testament to my Scottish and Presbyterian upbringing. Each imbued great thriftiness … but my family were not very well off anyway. Clothes were replaced only on the inter-connected holes basis described and I went through many winters with newspaper stuffed into shoes with completely worn-through soles.

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But the benefit of all that is that I learned to spend, and throughout adulthood have spent, only a fraction of the money on clothes which many people do. Yet I am perfectly able to be well dressed and maintain a smart appearance. I even shower, shave and comb my hair when I don’t have to!

My system is also eco-friendly (no waste), charitable (not supporting far east sweat shops) and it’s sensible. For anyone unfamiliar with the word ‘sensible’, it’s what existed prior to ‘woke’. The demise of the first coinciding with, nay being created by, the rise of the second … but I diverge …

The money I save by not being a clothes mad shopaholic, I invest in business opportunities and ways of making money rather than ‘blowing’ it. So with my thrift I become better off and, some would say, thus better able to afford to buy more ‘stuff’, more clothes even! But no, I’m very attached to my proven and effective clothes management system.

After all, as was told me in my youth by a highly successful entrepreneur – “Regardless of wealth … you can only wear one shirt at a time!” Think about it.

I am Tom Riach. I live and write in the sunny south of Portugal. I hope you enjoyed this sample of my work. Find all my current titles (novels and ‘personal achievement’) at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other leading book stores. Click the image below.

“From every book written by Tom Riach you will gain unique insights to success, you will laugh, you will reflect upon your own character, and sometimes you will just sit in awe of his mastery of life, business and the simply written word.” – Randy Ireland, SFI Team Leader, Sulphur Springs, Arkansas

© Joseph T. Riach 1998-present. All rights reserved.

THE WOLF ON TRUTH STREET by Joseph Tom Riach

I was drinking coffee with my friend Cavaco at his O Lobo café on Rua da Verdade (the Wolf on Truth Street)! It being both my duty and pleasure to support local business rather than visit a shopping mall or big brand franchise of those huge corporations which dominate both physical and online space. They getting ever richer while small traders and entrepreneurs are squeezed out of business. Besides, my neighbourhood café experience is friendly and fun. No amount of mega company ballyhoo can match the real flavours, value, camaraderie and social interaction of my ‘local’. It’s no contest.

That’s why, as I looked down the largely deserted street from where we sat, I decided to buy the closed up flower shop next door. If I could add colour to the small corner of bustle which was the café then perhaps I could start to reverse the neglect of the community reflected in other empty shops and boarded up windows.

I recruited Lulu, ‘the flower girl’, to run things. She knew her stuff, so word of the flower shop soon got around. People started making detours from the larger centres. They told their friends, who told their friends and, before I knew it, a travel agent visiting from Lisbon spotted the derelict building next door and bought the lease. The premise was larger than he needed but, no sweat. He opened a newsagent and tabacaria in the spare unit. Next to arrive was a grocer, then a hardware store, a hairdresser and a bakery. The town came alive! All done with personal initiative, industry and enterprise. And not a squeak from officialdom … until …

Word of the regeneration of the area reached the local council. A valuation surveyor was dispatched to re-evaluate the locality. An environmental impact study was ordered. Soon the businesses were flooded with inspectors, pointless regulations, meaningless paperwork, compliance notices and … demands for duties and payments. Threats of legal action in the event of non-payment were attached.

Then national government weighed in demanding their slice of the action. This came by way of even more stringent regulations, licensing requirements and taxation – lots of it. All delivered in the name of working in the best interests of a community which, delighted with the thriving hubbub returned to their town, neither sought nor desired their interference.

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Meanwhile, both local and central government, wheeled and dealed with the mega corporations, offering ludicrous incentives to devour green space and build ever more shopping centres. Their officials were the real life ‘wolves of truth street’, appearing to live in houses, drive cars and enjoy foreign travel far in excess of what even their self-awarded excessive salaries could possibly afford. The beleaguered small business owners financing these lifestyles inevitably concluded that the battle with the twin evils of bureaucracy and corruption was a losing one.

Lulu, the ‘flower girl’, was the first to quit. The travel agent and tobacconist soon followed suit. The grocer, hairdresser and bakery were next to go. The hardware store hung on for several months but the profit on a bag of screws or the occasional sale of a spirit level, eventually levelled the spirit of the proprietor and he too said ‘screw this’. Only O Lobo survived.

Once again Cavaco and I thoughtfully regarded the deserted street from the viewpoint of his café terrace. Our view confirmed that the real Wolf of Truth Street was not our cosy local café. Rather the title belonged to the self-serving, authoritarian establishment. That’s when we decided to play them at their own game! We bought all the derelict properties. Then we drew up and submitted plans for a covered shopping precinct which retained all the original buildings and character. It consisted of a huge transparent dome over the entire street.

Suddenly we were receiving ludicrous incentives, grants and public money to fund the venture. Turning the tables on bureaucracy in this way gave us quite a kick. More so because we leased space at low rates and only to local businesses and small private enterprise concerns. All the former traders returned plus a throng of new ones. The explosion of colour which greeted visitors on arrival was once more a prominent feature of the street. Yes, Lulu ‘the flower girl’ was back!

I am Tom Riach. I live and write in the sunny south of Portugal. I hope you enjoyed this sample of my work. Find all my current titles (novels and ‘personal achievement’) at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other leading book stores. Click the image below.

“From every book written by Tom Riach you will gain unique insights to success, you will laugh, you will reflect upon your own character, and sometimes you will just sit in awe of his mastery of life, business and the simply written word.” – Randy Ireland, SFI Team Leader, Sulphur Springs, Arkansas

© Joseph T. Riach 1998-present. All rights reserved