Think Like a Millionaire: These 4 Money Beliefs Changed My Life

We talk so much about money strategies, investment returns, and the mechanics of wealth building. But after immersing myself in the journeys of successful individuals and working with countless clients, I've come to understand something fundamental:

True and sustainable wealth isn't just about what you do with your money—it's deeply rooted in how you think about it and about yourself.

This isn't just theory. This is my story. And it might be yours too.

The Day My Money Blueprint Changed Forever

I can't pinpoint the exact moment my mindset about wealth changed. It wasn't like flipping a switch. But I do know there was a pivotal moment—when I first read "Secrets of the Millionaire Mind" by T. Harv Eker.

Before that book, I had what I now recognize as a "poor mindset" around money and wealth. The craziest part? I didn't even know there were other ways to think about money. It wasn't a thought in my head at all.

Looking back, it's actually shocking. Now when I talk with people who haven't developed their wealth consciousness, I can see a very clear difference between their mindset around money and mine. I understand why they think that way—they simply haven't been given the "wealth files" that transformed my own thinking.

That book single-handedly changed my mindset around money and wealth. And I truly believe if anyone reads it with an open mind, genuinely absorbing its lessons for themselves, they'll be forever changed in the same way.

Understanding Your Money File Cabinet

Here's how I think about it now: Imagine you have a file cabinet in your mind. Throughout your life, this cabinet fills with different associations, beliefs, and "files" about everything—people around you, things you like to do, places you want to go.

When you need to make a decision, you pull out relevant files. If you're hanging out with a friend, you pull the file of things they love to do. If you're planning a trip, you pull files about destinations.

Your wealth file cabinet works the same way. It contains all your associations with money, wealth, and success. These are the files you access whenever you're dealing with finances, business, or wealth-building decisions.

Here's the problem: If that file cabinet is filled with negative associations with money, poor financial behaviors, or a fixed mindset—then your interactions with money will be negative, limited, and ultimately unsuccessful.

Let me give you an example. If I'm at a store and see shoes I've wanted that are finally on sale, I might think, "They're finally on sale! I need these for that upcoming event—perfect timing!"

What actually happened? I went into my money file cabinet and grabbed the file that says, "It's on sale—this is the perfect time to buy!" But there was no file in there saying, "Don't buy this—you have $30,000 of debt you should be paying down first."

This is how we think about money. It's not conscious. It's automatic. And if you don't have positive wealth files in your cabinet, you don't have a wealth consciousness guiding your decisions.

The Power of Awakening to Your Money Mindset

The moment I realized I had a money file cabinet—that was the game-changer. It didn't matter as much that it was filled with corrupted files. What mattered was that it wasn't subconscious anymore.

I was awake. I was aware. And that awareness gave me power.

Now I could choose what to put in and what to take out. I could replace limiting beliefs with empowering ones. I could rewrite my money story.

The book laid out a framework showing how poor people think versus how wealthy people think. It offered questions for self-reflection, actionable insights, and steps to empower myself to switch up the files in my cabinet.

At the time, practically everything in my cabinet was corrupted because of the financially challenged life I'd lived. I didn't want those existing beliefs to corrupt any new potential files I was trying to install.

So I took it slow. I read the entire book over three to four months, applying the principles gradually. I asked myself the reflection questions daily to gain a deeper understanding of my money mindset and what needed to change.

Creating My Reality vs. Life Happening to Me

One of the most powerful wealth files I discovered was this: Rich people create their reality. Poor people believe life happens to them.

This mindset shift hit me hard during a particularly difficult period after separating from the military. For months, I couldn't find a job or generate income. When I received an eviction notice at my door, my immediate reaction was: "Why is this happening to ME?"

That's poor thinking. The truth is, I couldn't control being unable to find a job or generate income. Those circumstances were real. But wealthy people choose to believe they create their own reality regardless of circumstances.

So I shifted my thinking: "I created this situation for myself. What choices led me here? More importantly, how will I create my next reality from this point forward?"

I could have kept going backwards, trying to find the exact moment where I made a choice that led to this situation. Maybe it was when the Marine Corps kicked me out, or maybe it was my mental health issues before that. I could keep tracing it back until I eventually found where I had some accountability.

But that's not what creating your reality is about. People with a wealth consciousness don't do that—they're not focused on the past. Creating your reality is forward thinking, not past thinking. It means asking: "Now that I'm evicted, what reality am I going to create next? What does that look like for me?" It's about taking control and building from where you are now.

The difference between these mindsets is subtle but profound. When you believe life happens to you, you give away your power.

Think about someone who plays the lottery and wins. A person with a poor mindset would say, "Thank God, I finally deserve this! The universe is finally giving back to me!" They're taking the power out of their own hands. They don't own their success, even when good things happen.

And that's what's so harmful about having a poor mindset—you can't even own when you do well. If you can't own your success, you can't repeat the behaviors that created it.

Now, I'm not advocating for gambling as a financial strategy. But if that lottery winner thought like a wealthy person, they would see it differently: "I was consistent and persistent, showing up every week to buy tickets even when the odds seemed against me. I never gave up. I tried different scratch-offs, went to different locations, and changed my tactics. That consistency and creative problem-solving is why I'm successful now."

Poor people can't accept ownership for either the bad OR the good in their lives. So even when something positive happens, they attribute it to luck, fate, or "finally getting what they deserve" rather than seeing the patterns in their own actions that created the positive outcome. Without that awareness, they can't replicate success.

But when you believe you create your reality, you take ownership of both successes and failures. You see patterns, learn lessons, and build on what works.

This shift isn't just about money—it affects everything. Taking radical ownership meant choosing to create my reality rather than being a victim of circumstances. Whenever I feel the world is happening to me, I stop that thought and remember I'm the author of my story.

Net Worth vs. Working Income: What You Focus On Matters

Another wealth file that transformed my perspective was: Rich people focus on their net worth. Poor people focus on their working income.

I've seen this play out in three different ways:

The Cash-Rich But Wealth-Poor CEO

I once worked as a district manager for a company, essentially running everything. My CEO would constantly talk about his latest acquisitions—his new house, another investment property, the luxury car he just bought, or how he completely refurnished his living room. It was a constant parade of consumption.

But I noticed something revealing: these conversations only happened when I'd managed to get his business out of the red and his income was flowing well. As soon as we hit a downturn, the spending stopped. No more talk about new purchases.

That's when it hit me—this man had all this money, but he was still fundamentally poor. "You have all this cash, but you're still poor," I thought to myself. The fact that he only talked about acquisitions when his income was up revealed he wasn't truly wealthy or rich in mindset.

When we struggled financially, he couldn't make those purchases because he hadn't built up any assets or net worth outside of the business itself. Despite claiming he could retire whenever he wanted, I knew the truth—his retirement would come solely from the business revenue, not from assets he'd built. He had money, but not wealth—and there's a profound difference.

The Young "Grinders" Postponing Wealth

I meet with young people constantly who are trapped in this "grind mentality." All they think about is making more money right now. When I ask what they're doing for retirement planning, the answer is almost always the same: "I'll think about retirement later on."

Let me be clear—I get it. I was there too. Before my mindset shifted, I thought exactly the same way. "I'm young, I've got time. Let me focus on making money now, and I'll figure out the rest later." I completely understand why people think this way. It's not their fault. They simply don't have these wealth files in their mental cabinet yet. Nobody taught them to think differently about money and time.

It's not just retirement—it's the same with life insurance or any other long-term financial protection. "I'll think seriously about life insurance later on," they say. They're completely fixated on their working income—how much they make now and how much they can keep to spend now.

Your working income isn't just the money you earn—it's also your current cash flow and what you can buy with it. Instead of taking that income and creating assets or building net worth, they'd rather spend it, pay down debt, or address immediate needs without considering their future wealth.

In these conversations, I've learned to pivot. "I understand you're not worried about retirement or insurance right now, and that's okay. I get it. So, what ARE you focused on?"

They typically respond that they want more money to pay for things in life. Sometimes it's valid—college for their kids, putting money in the market, paying bills. But they're still only focused on their working income and what it can do right now, not building lasting net worth.

So I ask them genuinely: "Have you ever thought about building your personal value? Would you like to hold more value within yourself? Are you interested in becoming worth more as a person?" I explain that you can pass worth down to future generations—you can't pass working income. You can leave a legacy because of your worth, not your income. Your net worth will give you more choices in ten years than your income ever will. Because of your worth, you have more options to make money. Your net worth creates freedom that income alone never can.

Choosing Security Over Ownership

I've offered numerous people the opportunity to become referral partners in my business. The structure is simple—they refer and connect people to me, and they make 50% of the profits. This would essentially give them their own business—they'd get a 1099, have ownership, and build an asset.

The beauty of this referral process is that it doesn't require 40 hours a week, or even 20 or 5 hours. It's something they could do passively to generate passive income. Over time, this builds into a genuine asset that contributes to their net worth.

Yet time and again, I've watched these same people choose to work for companies that consume all their time, putting them in positions where they couldn't possibly meet enough people to send referrals my way. That's their choice and I respect it, but what they're doing is clear—they're choosing immediate working income over building an asset that would ultimately pay them much better than that income.

I've interviewed many people who want to "be in business with me," but when faced with the choice between a steady paycheck or building equity in a business, they choose the paycheck every time. Even when I explain that building within my firm is fully flexible with no restrictions on how they work. Maybe the thought of getting licensed or building something from scratch intimidates them—I'm not sure. But what's clear is the pattern: they consistently choose immediate income over long-term wealth building.

The difference is stark: poor people choose to get paid based on their time, while wealthy people choose to be paid based on their value. My businesses are all part of my net worth—I own them as assets—AND I get paid well because of the value I provide.

You can absolutely have working income from both a W-2 job and entrepreneurship. But what you do with that money reveals your wealth consciousness. Do you immediately spend it on consumption, or do you build assets that grow your worth?

This mindset difference brings us to the next critical wealth file.

Value vs. Time: The Economics of Wealth

Rich people get paid based on value. Poor people get paid based on time.

This wealth file is basic economics, yet most people miss it. Here's how I think about it: When you choose to be paid based on your time, you're doing things that you think will pay you the most money per hour. That makes sense, right? But here's what most people miss—time is actually infinite in a way. I know people say time is limited, but when we're talking about the marketplace, time is so abundant.

There is so much time per person in the world. Think about it—we have our own time per person, plus all the time of the people who have ever lived, and all the time of the people who WILL ever live. Time is literally high in supply. Time is infinite because there's such an abundance of it. And basic economics tells us that when there's a high supply of something, there typically is a very low demand for it. And since there is such a low demand for time—because everyone has it—you cannot get paid well for it.

Rich people, on the other hand, choose to get paid based on value. Value is different. There is a high demand for value all of the time. Value is literally demand—demand demands value. It needs something to provide value.

Which means, since whatever is high in demand requires value, rich people have tapped into this. They're not choosing time, which has a high supply and low demand. Instead, they're focused on value, which has a high demand in the marketplace.

So the way I approached this was by asking myself: "How can I make myself the most valuable? How can I earn the most money through value rather than time?" That's why I chose value-based industries, a value-based firm, and value-based content.

I decided to apply this to every area of my life:

• In my YouTube channel, I don't just stream and expect to make money from the time I'm on camera. I create videos that educate and provide real value, which has built my gaming business far more effectively than just putting in hours.

I see it all the time in the gaming community—people just turn on their camera, start playing games, and sit there waiting for the platform to pay them based on their time on the internet. They're spending a lot of time creating content, but there's no value to it. It's just time.

In the gaming community, so many people want to be professional gamers who just sit at a computer gaming all day and making good money. But that's getting paid based on your time, and you're not going to get paid well—at least not what you would earn if you're providing actual value rather than just sitting in front of a computer playing video games doing what everyone else can do. Because time is so high in supply, people can and will spend their time watching so many other creators instead of you—unless you provide unique value.

I've taken a completely different approach. I choose to get paid from both the platform AND from direct funding from fans. My supporters aren't paying me for my time—they're paying me based on the value I provide them. They're supporting videos they learn from and become educated by. That's basic economics: do something that's high in demand, and for content creation, value is always in demand. There's always another video someone could watch with their time, but they want to get value from that time.

• In my financial agency, I operate on a value-based pay structure. I provide free value to individuals I work with, and companies pay me when I deliver value to families. The more value I provide, the more referrals I get, and the more my business grows.

This stands in stark contrast to how most people in the finance industry operate. Many choose to get paid based on their time—charging retainer fees, hourly rates, or minimums to work with them. They think that's the path to security, but it actually limits their income potential dramatically.

Even within my own firm, I see this mindset trap people. Some team members still choose to get paid based on time rather than value. They haven't made the mental switch yet. These are the ones who typically end up quitting because they don't make much money despite putting in 50+ hours a week. Why? Because they're not actually providing value to anyone.

They mistakenly believe that simply performing activities equals value—making endless phone calls, keeping themselves "busy," or sending AI-generated messages on LinkedIn for prospecting. They think that's what we get paid for in this industry. They're wrong, and that's exactly why they quit.

The ones who thrive understand that we're paid for solving real problems, creating real solutions, and delivering genuine value that transforms people's financial lives. When you approach your work this way, your income isn't capped by hours—it's expanded by impact.

• Even these blog articles—they take time to create, but I'm not getting paid for that time. I'm getting paid for the value they provide in attracting clients, partners, and monetized content views.

The shift is simple but profound: stop thinking about maximizing your hourly rate and start thinking about maximizing the value you deliver.

Small Thinking vs. Big Thinking: The Vision Gap

Poor people think small. Rich people think big.

Unlike many entrepreneurs who start with small thinking, I began my business journey with a massive vision—building a large business that would produce over $10 million in revenue per year. I'm grateful I didn't think small from the beginning. If I had, I wouldn't have stuck around through the inevitable challenges and setbacks.

I see this small-thinking trap all the time though. So many people approach new ventures with the mindset of "I'll give it a try, and if it doesn't work, I'll just go back to what I was doing."

That's small thinking. You're only looking as far as "if it works." Rich people don't ask if something will work—they ask how it will change their life or even generations to come.

Small thinking shows up in daily decisions too. One of my clients was paying $50 monthly for a gym membership at a facility with few people because of anxiety around crowds. When I suggested Planet Fitness at $10/month, they said there were too many people there. When I suggested working out at home, they said they could only ride a bike due to physical therapy needs.

Their thinking was small—trapped in the short term.

Look, I get it. I truly do. They're paying for convenience because of mental health concerns. Having been a NASM Certified personal trainer for 6 years, I understand the psychology of fitness and anxiety around gym environments. I've been there myself, dealing with mental health challenges that made simple decisions seem overwhelming.

In many cases, people are making these choices not because they're unintelligent, but because their current mental health situation makes the immediate, convenient solution feel necessary. I've walked that path too. The problem isn't their desire for comfort—it's that this short-term thinking keeps them trapped in a cycle that drains their resources while building nothing for their future. My response? "You're spending $50 a month. How much does a bike cost? A few hundred dollars? Save that $50/month or even $25/month, and buy your own bike. Then you'll have an asset and keep your money. And while you're saving up, just go for brisk walks and cancel your gym membership. Or spend $50 less on food each month and save it for the bike."

Poor people think so small they can't even see how to keep their money. They spend more than necessary because their vision is limited. With small thinking, you'll never build wealth because you can't see the big picture of ownership and capital preservation.

What This Means For You

If you're reading this and recognize yourself in some of the "poor" thinking patterns I've described—that's actually good news. Awareness is the first step to transformation.

The honest advice I'd give you? Read "Secrets of the Millionaire Mind" and take it slowly. Maybe read one wealth file every two or three days and actually implement the exercises. Ask yourself the reflection questions daily as you encounter different financial situations.

What made this effective for me was that I was constantly stepping outside my comfort zone as a new entrepreneur. I was actively trying to enhance my finances and open myself to opportunities. I was applying these principles in real-time to situations I was facing.

You have to do things differently to get different results. If you're where I was—unaware of your associations with money—get the book and really live it over the next few months. Take it slow, internalize it, and believe in the process.

[If you'd like me to share more wealth files and how they've transformed my financial journey, comment below! In Part 2, we'll explore how being solution-oriented, innately worthy, and taking inspired action despite fear can further accelerate your wealth consciousness.]