When I first studied the Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D Wattles, I was instantly struck by the fact that there was positively no reason that I should not become rich myself. Before that moment, somehow, I had not really understood what caused people to become wealthy and so I guess I had never seriously considered the reality that it would be possible for me too.
It was difficult to disagree with the powerful argument of the author to the effect that the causes of wealth are not those that people normally associate with getting rich. For example, your level of education, access to opportunities or even the social circles you move within. In fact, the book begins with a comprehensive demolition of such erroneous thinking.
After dealing with the matter of what things are not the causes of wealth, he goes on to make a strong case for his main proposition that the real cause of wealth is the way things are done; and not what is being done. Doing things in the right way, he says, is what is responsible for the generation of riches.
Anyone, he says, who can learn to do things in this certain way can become rich – what a promise that is! However, in his explanation of how to do things in the certain way that always produces results, there are a few things he only lightly touches-on. For example, he never says that you need to be in business for yourself, but it is heavily implied.
He says that you need to give every person with whom you deal more in use-value than you take in cash-value. Theres a key principle right there, of course, concerning over-delivering, but it strikes me that the spirit of the language is naturally directed toward people who trade in some way i.e. those in business for themselves.
It doesn’t take much thinking to conclude that, to become rich, you need to be in business. This is simply because whatever you do for a living – your job – has a market-value; and that’s what you are being paid. You will never be paid more than your market-value because it does not make economic sense for your employer to do so.
On the other hand, when you work for yourself, there is no top limit. There are plenty of challenges, of course, but theres no top limit on your income as there is at present. The time is right I believe, with the age of the internet, for ordinary people to seize the day and make their fortunes because it has never been easier to start a business than it is on the internet.
Wallace D Wattles’ teachings can easily be translated to doing business on the web. Using his simple principles like being focussed on what you want, taking efficient action and over-delivering in every business transaction, many people are applying the Science of Getting Rich to their lives and seeing quite a transformation.