This story is only loosely based on true stories. The intention of this story is to show you how your thoughts and feelings about yourself contribute to your success or failure. It is a story about one man, but it is also the story about how many people have gotten rich.
John was a gym junky. His only apparent skill in life was body building. He loved doing it and it gave him a sense of well-being and personal pride. John didn’t talk about it much with his gym buddies, but he had ambitions that went well beyond just looking good at the beach.
John was earning a living working at the gym. He sold memberships, helped show people how to use the equipment and did other odd jobs around the gym. He had a lot of free time throughout the day when gym customers were at work, so he used his time productively reading investing books. John wanted to find a way to get ahead in life and wasn’t letting the fact that he was broke stand in his way.
What all of the experts agreed on was that you weren’t going to get rich working for somebody else. Employees got other people rich, not the other way around. John could certainly understand that, since the boss he was working for was making good money. John decided to use his skill as a body builder and sell himself as a personal trainer.
John found success as a fitness expert. He started working cheaply, but found that he was so in demand that he raised his rates. Before long, Hollywood stars and wealthy business people were calling on him to be their personal coach and John was making good money.
He was able to make enough money, in fact, that he saved enough to make a down payment on property. His books had taught him that real estate was a great way to make big money. He had also observed that while his former employer at the gym made good money, the guy who collected his rent made even better money.
John had read about landed property and liked the concept, so he invested in some undeveloped land in a stategic area. Then he divided the land up into small parcels and leased them out to small businesses. He gave them long term leases at a good price, but they had to build their own premises. No matter what happened, they would have to pay him his rent well into the future.
John is a very rich man now and is a prominent politician. He got there because he believed he was capable of being more than just another gym junky and he acted on his beliefs.