4 Questions that lead to Wealth

Our questions determine our destiny and hold the secret to creating wealth. It’s all about asking the right questions. Contrary to belief, those questions do not start with how – asking how questions is why most people won’t ever get there. 

I can tell you right here and now that anyone who has mastered the game of wealth will concur, that there are four questions that you must be able to answer. While there are as many right answers as wrong ones, if you correctly answer those four questions, your financial world will never be the same. The reason most people can’t initiate or maintain wealth is due to the fact that they don’t know the questions let alone the answers. I promise you that the answers to those questions are the very start of a financial breakthrough. They certainly were for me. I went from struggling to pay bills to making more money in a day than I used to make in a whole year!

Wealth is a lifestyle choice

Today I live my ideal life alongside the pristine waters on the Sapphire Coast of New South Wales, Australia. I enjoy working around 4 months of the year and I make all the money I need. This morning I looked out my bedroom window to see a glorious sunny day and an inviting ocean. The wind was coming from the right direction; the swell was the perfect height. I knew these were the idyllic conditions for the perfect wave. Hoping to beat a crowded line-up I leapt out of bed and sprinted downstairs to grab my surfboard. I headed off to my favourite break, however when I got there, there was no line up. There was no one there but me to enjoy those perfect waves. Finally it dawned on me, it was Friday. Everyone was working today while I enjoyed a perfect day with perfect waves – but life wasn’t always perfect.

It was just a few years ago when I worked feverishly as a Life Coach at my clinic, six days a week. My clinic was choc-a-block, brimming with clients after I hit an amazing sweet spot with my business. I specialised in wealth coaching and depression and worked from 7am to 7pm most days. Some nights I would work through the night while my friends lit barbeques and shared an ale. Others kicked back on the sofa watching TV after a hard day at the office. I won’t say I wasn’t envious at times though I was working for something bigger — my wealth mentors had me looking further ahead than my friends. That’s right! In the early days, I learned everything I’m sharing with you now from people who knew precisely HOW to make real money. The wealth mentors I assigned to myself gave me insights that were worth far more than the money I paid them. They were my all-time best investment. They are also the very reason that I can go surfing and do what I want, while the large majority have to go to work.

So before I share my wisdom with you, let me prepare you as my wealth mentors prepared me. You see, wealth is all in the preparation. My mentors each seemed to say the same thing — they must have all gone to the same mentor school. Paul, my short but confident mega-millionaire mentor would start each session by asking me questions that at first frustrated me. I would ask him a question and more often than not, he would say, “Ask a better question.” Can you see why it was frustrating at the beginning? But he was right. Most people can’t create wealth because they’re asking the wrong questions. I get it now and this will save you years of frustration if you do too.

When I’m coaching or mentoring business owners and they ask me, “How can I grow my business?” What do you think I might say? You guessed it, “Ask a better question!” I’ve earned my stripes now, I can ask those infuriating questions. “How can I grow my business?” tells me nothing about what’s really going on for them and so how can I accurately provide any valuable advice. A better question might be, “Who can help me to get more leads?” or “Who’s the best person you know at getting traffic to websites?” When it comes to increasing the bottom line, most businesses for example typically have an issue in one of four areas – it’s either about the quality or expertise. For example, an issue in cash flow will usually stem from the quality or lack of it in a businesses’ product or service, or it’s about their level of expertise in their marketing, advertising or their sales. Our questions need to drill down to the very source of the problem. As a coach, dealing with people’s personal problems are no different, we again need to drill down to the very source of the problem in order to solve it and HOW questions will seldom get you there.

The quality of your life is determined by the quality of your questions you ask yourself every day

HOW questions are only ever asked when you’re addressing someone WHO knows their stuff. Even a WHERE question would be better than a HOW – “Where is the problem specifically?” One of the world’s best coaches, Tony Robbins; who by the way demands no less that US $1 Million for his services and asks brilliant questions, once said, “The quality of your life is determined by the quality of your questions you ask yourself every day.” In the context of wealth, I would suggest that, “The quality of your wealth is determined by the quality of your specific questions.”

So let’s get specific and to the crux of how someone transforms themselves from not-wealth to wealth? Firstly, avoid anyone who uses the words ‘fast’ and ‘money’ in the same sentence. Creating real wealth starts with a commitment to do whatever it takes and it usually does take time. If I’m going to help you I must be brutally honest. I know you’ve heard stories about ‘overnight successes’ though they are a rarity and the truth is that most of them worked diligently behind the hill of fame and fortune. The spin-doctors though perpetuate this myth. So let’s get real and really wealthy.

If you don’t have a why that makes you cry, you will not do, you will die

The first question to ask is ‘WHY?’ Why would you start there? Let me share my wealth rhyme; “If you don’t have a why that makes you cry, you will not do, you will die.” In other words, if you don’t have enough of a reason or motive, you won’t be motivated to do what you have to do to become wealthy and your dreams or desires will not spring to life. One of my business mentors once shared that successful businesses followed the law of GOD – Grow Or Die! Today my experience tells me, that you must be the one to grow if your business is to grow.

On our journey to wealth, we all hit obstacles along our path and I’ll tell you here and now, that if you do not have a big enough reason, the smallest of impediments will have you quit. So make becoming wealthy so important to you that you will do what it takes – nothing, but nothing will stop you. Trust me, I’ve run so many wealth classes and have coached enough people to know, that if you do not invest the time to create and build enough energy within your motives, you just won’t do what it takes. Today I start my sessions by asking one question – “If you earned no income in your first year of business, would you continue into your second year?” If the answer is “no” — I don’t work with that client. I prefer to work with people who have a grand vision and a desirable motive.

Over the years, I’ve seen people jump from wealth vehicle to wealth vehicle only to fail again and again because there wasn’t enough WHY in it for them. Network marketing or MLM’s are classic mistakes for many. While they promise a get rich eventually carrot, few members stay in them long enough to gain the prize. Why? Because they don’t have powerful enough WHY — it’s that simple. Some gain fundamental sales skills, while most people gain nothing more than time alone as their friends avoid them, for fear of being sold another ‘golden opportunity’.

Once you have a compelling, desirable or motivating reason WHY, you are much more likely to do whatever it takes to create wealth. The second question to ask is ‘WHAT?’ Having a desire is not enough. You can’t just have a WHY and wait for wealth to arrive by imagining abundance. You must have a wealth vehicle – a WHAT? What is going to be your wealth vehicle? Yes I tried an abundance of network marketing vehicles, shares, grand business ideas, among others — none of which worked because my WHY wasn’t big enough. Second to my family, there is nothing more that I love than evolving people – and more-so, bringing back the ‘kind’ in humankind. So my wealth vehicle, my WHAT became Life Beyond Limits, my company where I could do what I loved; teaching, coaching and writing. I deeply respect the vehicle and care enough about the people I serve. We have built such a reliable and trustworthy brand, that today I cannot stop my money-flow, even if I tried.

So the second step is to choose a WHAT; a wealth vehicle that is durable, dependable and you care enough about it to keep it purring like a kitten. It will have you believing in GOD and have you continuing your growth, your education until you move to a level of mastery. You however, do not have to be the master of your chosen vehicle at first. That brings us to the third question — WHO?

The third question is WHO has mastered your wealth vehicle before you? For me, I decided that I wanted to be a great trainer of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) and Life Coaching. It made sense or should I say dollars, because I loved it so much. So I chose a mentor who not only mastered NLP, but was renowned for creating up to $6 Million in a day. His name was Chris and I immediately had a deep respect for him – he earned it! He taught me how to teach NLP and I paid very careful attention to something he called an ‘expertise pattern’. I followed the steps with religious fervour! Within twelve months, as promised, I was an expert of NLP and I learned to create millions!

There is always someone who has mastered your wealth vehicle. They are usually easy to find because for one, they’re wealthy and secondly, they’re usually well known for their achievements. What I cannot guarantee is that they will be willing to mentor you, but someone will, if you’re committed enough.

Your mentor will be able to answer the final question and that’s of course HOW you can create wealth using your WHAT – your chosen wealth vehicle. It’s a question you would never have been able to answer correctly in a million years, so stop asking it. Start with your WHY, then choose your WHAT which will lead you to your WHO and only then will you discover the important answer to your HOW.

Rik Schnabel is Australia’s #1 Brain Untrainer and an accredited NLP and Life Coach Trainer with Life Beyond Limits