In 2005, you needed a helicopter, a helicopter pilot, a professional camera, a cameraman, and a film crew, with combined years of training to take an aerial shot like this.
This came at a heavy cost that very few people could afford. Then suddenly, all of these were reduced to a small piece of equipment; a drone and a drone operator, which is not only cheaper but produced better shots. The helicopter pilot and the camera crew lost part of their jobs at the snap of a finger. But new opportunities were created.
What does this have to do with anything?
You see, as the helicopter pilot and the cameraman were busy trying to get the next shooting job, some people were busy doing something different. They were not seeing themselves in a dead-end career, hoping to climb through a finite corporate ladder. They were thinking about the future; how it will affect their profession and what they can do about it. There were also those that were thinking about how to move boundaries and collapse different professions into one.
The one thing future millionaires are doing today that you may not be doing is that they are thinking into the future and doing something about what they see. They may not have an accurate view of what the future would hold, and they don’t have to. No one is able to predict the future accurately. But the mere exercise of thinking about the future and taking actions with the future in mind is powerful enough to prepare one for it.
You see, the point is not whether you want to be a millionaire or not. After all, you don’t have to be a millionaire to be fulfilled and successful. The point is whether you want to be a victim of time and change; or whether you want to be a victor of it. People who want to win think and prepare ahead.
So how do you go about thinking about the future? Here are four simple ways. People, who understand these, are better positioned to achieve the kind of success 99 percent of people will only dream of. Be sure to watch this video to the end because there are very important insights to take away.
Before we get to it, I want to invite you to subscribe to After School TV to be a part of this community. Also, click the notification bell to get notified when we publish new insightful videos like this.
1. Think about what is subject to change
Let’s take the online content consumption industry for example. The internet started with written texts as the type of content people could consume online; then followed by images; and then audio messages. When YouTube came out, people criticized it, saying that streaming video over the internet was not practical.
Well, YouTube is now the second most visited website in the world. People are now used to searching for information on YouTube just like they would on Google. When I tell people about the potential of reaching a wide audience with video content online, the argument they often make is that data is still too expensive for people living in Africa and that internet speed is not yet good enough. Hence, video is not a practical strategy for the African audience.
You don’t need a crystal ball to know that data will get cheaper and faster even in the poorer part of Africa over time. And as data get cheaper and faster, more people will prefer to consume video content online. People who started early to embrace video as the future of online content are already reaping huge rewards.
This is just a basic example. But it helps prove that it’s possible to identify what is subject to change and position to take advantage. If you can identify what is subject to change in your industry or profession, you can get in before everyone else and be positioned for huge returns in the near future.
2. Think about where the change could come from
If you told a helicopter pilot and an aerial cameraman 10 years ago that soon, a 19-year-old could take their job without needing to fly, they would probably laugh at your ignorance. In their mind, what could you possibly know about flying and taking aerial shots?
However, the smarter thing they could have done is to ponder on such a possibility. If there was a possibility that a kid could fly a machine without needing to fly, and take aerial shots like this, where will such change come from? They may not be able to get it right, but having an open mind can lead to the direction of change or at least preparing for it.
When I told some of my friends over a decade ago that I wanted to figure out how people make money online legitimately, the general response I got was that you either had to be an internet fraudster or a telecom company. But I kept asking myself what making money over the internet could be like. Where will the money come from? Who will be paying the money? How will the money be paid? The more I thought about it, the more I was convinced that there had to be a way to earn a living legitimately over the internet. And asking these questions led me to discover what I needed to know. The future millionaires are today thinking and searching for where the change is likely to come from. Are you doing the same?
3. Think about the change that is already happening
You don’t have to look far into the future to be able to find and cash in on opportunities. Sometimes you just need to look at what is already going on around you. And take quick and massive action. You see, most people only get in on an opportunity when overnight success stories start hitting the airwaves.
For example, about 7 years ago most people I met; in fact, most people in my country didn’t take blogging as a serious profession. You don’t even bother introducing yourself as a blogger unless you are ready to explain in long details what it is all about and why it is worth your time. Then one day, the news made round that a gossip blogger bought a house valued at over one million dollars. Suddenly everyone wants to be a blogger; in fact not just a blogger but a gossip blogger. Only a few smart ones got into blogging with their own innovative ideas. And fewer smarter ones looked deeper and saw an emerging opportunity in video blogging instead. The future millionaires are looking for and capitalizing on the changes going on today.
4. Think about what will not change
Jeff Bezos, the richest man in the world said he frequently gets asked the question: “what’s going to change in the next 10 years?” He admits this was a very interesting and common question. However, he almost never gets asked the question: “what’s not going to change in the next 10 years?”
The second question, according to Bezos, is actually the more important question – because you can build a business or career strategy around things that are stable in time. When you have something that you know is true over the long term, you can afford to put a lot of energy into it. For Amazon, that thing is the fact that people will always want cheaper products; people will always appreciate better customer service, and people will always want faster delivery of what they buy. These things are not going to change. So the company invests in these three things as their long-term strategy.
While thinking about the future in terms of what is going to change, it is equally important to think of it in terms of what’s not going to change. The human desire for connection and collaboration is not going to change; demand for quality healthcare, attraction to entertainment, addiction to stories, and the quest for progress. These and many other things are not going to change. The future millionaires are not just thinking about what is going to change; they are building their strategy around the things that they know are likely to remain.
The point is not whether you want to be a millionaire or not. After all, you don’t have to be a millionaire to be fulfilled and successful. The point is whether you want to be a victim of time and change; or whether you want to be a hero of it. People who want to win often don’t win by accident. They think and prepare ahead. If you want to win, start thinking ahead.
If you found this video helpful, like and share it with someone. If you are yet to subscribe to After School TV, now is a good time to hit the subscribe button. Until next time, YOUR SUCCESS MATTERS!
Subscribe to my channel
Leave a Reply