Part of the problem with money is that most people get financial advice from those who are struggling with or who have given up on money themselves. Most of the advice we get about money is from people close to us. Some of the people you get advice from have never even thought financial freedom was possible. You must look beyond the dumb advice of family, television pundits, blogs, get-rich articles, cute quotes on Instagram, and silly little sayings. There are 10 rules to follow if you want to get rich:

1. Don’t Get in the Wrong Vehicle—The rich get in with the right company where there is an opportunity for growth. My VP of sales Jarrod Glandt started working for me 6 years ago for $2500 a month. He wasn’t making anything but he was in the right vehicle. He grew his skillset and has been able to multiply his monthly income many times over because he knew I was looking to expand. Too many people just look for a “job”. You need a job, but you need the right vehicle. All companies live from revenue. Get commissions rather than just a salary and you will be in control of how much you earn. Look for ways to increase your pay at the company you are at.

2. Don’t Be Entitled—People feel they deserve money without earning it. You’re owed nothing, deserve nothing, and are entitled to nothing. Entitled people will never work hard enough to earn any real money because they feel things should be given to them. Nobody who accepts government handouts is rich—and they never will be unless they change their mindset. Slaves get just enough to survive—I’m not interested in surviving… I want to thrive! It feels good to have earned what I have.

3. You Must Use Debt—The Dave Ramsey’s and Suzie Orman’s will tell you to save and not take on any debt. The rich have debt. I have a lot of debt. If something can make you income, you should go into debt. My apartments make me money. I leverage debt to increase my net worth. Not all debt is created equal so you must learn to identify good debt versus bad debt and then start using good debt to your advantage. All the big companies—Google, Coca Cola, Apple—they all use debt. I was willing to go into debt and it paid off big for me.

4. You Must Save—Nobody gets rich by saving, but you have to start saving in order to ever have anything to invest. I saved like a maniac in my late twenties. During that time, I never raised my standard of living no matter how much I increased my monthly income selling cars—I stayed broke. Every time I got a big paycheck I pushed that extra money aside into a sacred account. I waited for years until that account grew large enough to where I could invest in a multi-family apartment building in southern California. If you spend everything you get, you will never get rich.

5. You Must Have Sales Skills—The bottom line for most people is that they don’t know how to go out and get money. You can have anything you want in life if you just learn to sell. We live on an economic planet and your economy depends upon your ability to sell yourself, your ideas, and your products to the marketplace. When I was 25 years old I got serious about becoming a professional salesman and started studying and training daily. Nobody is born with the ability to sell—you have to educate yourself and then train. That’s why I created Cardone University—it’s a platform where people can learn the skills they need to get money.

6. Don’t Be Normal—Doing anything in life that society considers “normal” will only get you average at best. It’s normal to work from 9 to 5—and it’s normal to make $52K a year. This is why those who work just 9 to 5 will never be rich. They are taking average actions for their finances. The rich take massive action. Instead of 2 sales calls the average worker makes, the greats will make 20. Let’s face it, even though there is plenty of money floating around on this planet, most people don’t have much of it. It’s because most people won’t take more actions to get more money.

7. Don’t Disregard Math—One of the biggest mistakes people make is that they never do millionaire math. You have to do the math. If you make $100,000 a year it will take you 10 years—if you had no expenses. You must sit down and write out what it will actually take to get rich. You could make a million dollars by selling a $500 product to 2,000 people. Or sell a million people a $1 product. I tell people all the time they need to do the math. Before I go after a target I sit down and do the math.

8. Don’t Have a Middle-Class Mindset—People who do “just enough” to get by and are satisfied making $50,000 a year. They own a home they are handcuffed to and basically live paycheck to paycheck with 2 weeks of vacation a year. They’ve got food in the fridge, electricity, and have been indoctrinated to be grateful that they have more money than people living in poor countries. People who adopt the middle class “settle” mentality will never create serious wealth.

9. You Must Have Consistency—The rich make consistent routines in their life. A consistent approach starts with getting consistent in your day-to-day operations. When will you wake up? What do I do next? What do I do when I get to work? Get consistent and quit making it up. Successful people don’t change their approach unless it doesn’t work—they only change to change with conditions. I’m not perfect but I’m consistent. I go to bed at the same time each day, I eat the same foods, and I repeat the same actions over and over—I don’t just wing it.

10. You Must Have a Target—Most people don’t have an income target. If you ask the average person on the street what their income target is they would likely have no response—besides the fact they might be offended about even talking about such matters. If people can’t talk about money, it’s no wonder that they don’t have any. Look, if you have no financial goal you will never hit it. If you want to be a millionaire, you have to set being a millionaire as a target. When I first made the commitment to get my finances right, I was making maybe $3,500 a month and I set my first target at $7,000. I hit it. From their, I continued increasing my financial goals, and I continue to write down my goals every day.

The truth of the matter is you are either rich or you are poor, and if you’re not where you want to be, it may not be your fault, you just haven’t been given the right information. If you are truly serious about getting rich, get on my program Playbook to Millions and I’ll get you there.

Be great,

GC