The Millionaire Mindset Shift that Change Everything for Me
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The path to wealth isn't what most people think.
I learned this early, starting in a trailer park and watching two very different approaches to life play out in front of me.
Let me take you back to where it all started.
I was six years old, working my first real job at my dad's concrete construction company.
My pay? A whopping $1 per hour. My tasks were simple — cleaning the trailer, organizing wood stakes in the pickup bed, arranging the 2x12 boards we used as forms.
That summer, I worked 52 hours in a week (minus one hour they docked me for napping… But hey, I was six years old). When I got that $52 check, something clicked in my young brain. I bought myself a remote control car I'd been eyeing, and immediately thought: "If I work this hard next week, I can earn another $50." (That was a lot of money for a 6-year-old in 1994.)
Simple math, but it planted a seed that would grow into something much bigger.
Growing up, I watched two very different paths unfold:
Living with my mom during the school year, I saw what struggling really meant. Every day brought a new crisis. We'd figure out how to stretch food stamps for groceries. Our car, which we nicknamed “Juicy” might just decide not start in the morning.
A good day meant the car started, nothing in the house broke, and we stayed out of the hole. Then the transmission would go out, and there was no $1,000 lying around to fix a car named Juicy. We weren’t focused on growing — we were just focused on getting by.
That wasn't the life I wanted. I wanted bigger problems. Better problems.
Summers with my dad were different.
Working construction taught me about trading time for money. Hour after hour, day after day. It was honest work, but by the time I hit 20, I knew something had to change.
A truth about building real wealth: You have to completely disconnect from what everyone else thinks is normal.
Your family will question you. "Just be content with what you have." I heard that constantly from my mom, my grandma, everyone around me. They weren't necessarily wrong for saying it — they just had a different vision of life.
Your friends won't get it. They'll take the safe route: A good job, a steady salary, maybe the golden handcuffs if they’re “lucky.” From 20-30, they might land a good job making $100K. From 30-40, maybe they'll bump up to $200-300K. That's great for a lot of people — and it’s fine if that’s what you want, but it's not unfollowing the herd.
At 20, I realized I needed to disconnect myself from hourly wages. Working for my dad, I could see the ceiling. He wanted to shrink the business as he got older. I wanted to expand. We butted heads — he thought it was too risky, that I didn't know what I was doing. He wasn't wrong about my inexperience, but he didn't see my drive.
I needed to link my income to results, not hours. If I could complete a job in two days instead of three, I should make more money, not less. That's when everything started to shift.
Unfollowing the Herd means:
Breaking free from trading time for money — whether that's hourly wages or even a salary.
Committing completely to growth. If you're not growing, you're dying
Building assets that generate wealth while you sleep.
Making tough choices that might hurt relationships.
Staying hungry when everyone tells you to be content.
Looking at 10-year horizons, not just next month's paycheck.
This path isn't easy.
And the hardest part?
You have to disconnect from people close to you. Not completely, but you have to stop letting their fears and limitations define your path. It hurts them when you're different, when you refuse to follow the normal route. But that pain is part of the process.
I hit millionaire status by 30 following this path. Now at 36, I'm focused on growing my legacy and expanding my asset portfolio. By 40, retirement will be an easy option (though I don’t think I’ll ever take it — I'm happiest when I'm productive).
Today, kids in my small North Dakota town see my Tesla Model S and assume that's what wealth looks like. I always correct them: "It's not about the car — it's about the storage units and apartments. The assets pay for everything else."
Most people eye retirement at 65. I'm showing you a different path. Yes, it's “risky.” I take calculated risks every single day. But that complete commitment — that's what separates the people who make it from those who don't.
You're either committed, or you're not. There's no middle ground. No "kinda committed." No "committed when it's convenient." It's all-in for a decade or more, constantly reducing liabilities and increasing assets.
The question isn't whether or not you can do it. Anyone can.
The question is whether you're willing to commit completely to the path. Are you ready to unfollow the herd?
You're only lying to yourself if you say you want it but aren't willing to make the changes. Growth requires complete commitment. Not halfway. Not mostly. All in.
The choice is yours.
But remember — if nothing changes, nothing changes.