From Millionaires to Billionaires

[Ryuzaki]

The link: https://fleximize.com/from-millionaires-to-billionaires/

This interactive infographic says:

See how long it took 21 of the world’s richest entrepreneurs to build their fortunes. Find out who was the youngest billionaire, who went from $1 million to $1 billion the fastest, and who took their time to prosper.
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This is something I've been reading some blogger say for a long time in regards to what we do. He reiterates in every other post that he finds it harder and harder to get to that first $100 per month point on a website but that it's getting easier and easier to go from $100 to $1000 per month.

Our barrier to entry is rising, and because of that the competition is becoming smaller and smaller.

Of course this infographic is talking about the 21 richest entrepreneurs, but again, look at all of the young people on there and then look at how quickly they exploded from a million to a billion. You break that first barrier and you get into the realm of scaling and sky is the limit.

 

[turbin3]

I would say there's a not so insignificant factor that plays some part in that. Namely, inflation. The continued inflation of the US dollar is continued devaluation of the currency. It would seem, $1B doesn't buy what it used to. ;-)

I think what would be more telling is a timeline of what period in time various entrepreneurs achieved certain levels of wealth, and adjusted for inflation. Take John D. Rockefeller, for example. He was a baller like no other, achieving his first billion in 1916, the equivalent of roughly $30B today. Apparently by his death in 1937, his net worth was 1.5% of the US GDP. In today's dollars, 1.5% of our GDP would be roughly $340B...

Advancement in technology and communications is certainly a major factor as well. I would say those factors help make it more easily achievable to scale one's profit than with technology that has been available in the past.

The even greater upside is, as technology, education, and knowledge becomes infinitely more attainable and more cost effective (it's basically free now, if you're resourceful), it would seem a larger segment of society chooses to fill their free time with non-productive efforts like watching stupid cat videos, or playing candy crush. People whine about "income inequality", but then they make poor life choices with their free time like that. No wonder it's so much easier for ballers to scale.

 

[Ryuzaki]

Yeah, that's why I was careful to point out the young people specifically, who are taking advantage of the same communication technology we all are. Those older money makers are the true bosses though.

If I make a million this year and don't make another penny for the next 5 years, inflation isn't going to carry me to a billion. I better be employing that first million so I can scale.

Of course I agree with everything you said, @turbin3, I'm just trying to stick to my analogy of what's possible for us.

We have to jump a ton of hurdles on our way to that first barrier, but when we finally break through, we aren't the ones jumping the hurdles on the way to the next one after that. We make the candy crushers do it for us.

Time definitely compresses itself as the weight of our wallets grow. It's like the general theory of relativity, but instead of space-time it's cash-time.