The $100k Club Is Open To New Members

The $100,000 Club : How to Make a Six-Figure Income
by Debra A. Benton

(Page 2 of 2)

The requirements? As I mentioned before, there are several simple things you need to do well and consistently. Here's one of those simple things: You must be willing to add to your self-worth every day.

While adding to your self-worth typically means making money, in the financial sense it can also mean investing money, learning a timely job skill, developing a new personality trait, solving a time-consuming energy-draining problem, controlling time, managing an attitude, improving appearances, even building muscle.

Adding to your self-worth will make you more valuable monetarily, professionally, mentally, physically, emotionally. That's successful living. That's a $100K Club member.

Regardless of the exact dollar figure that lights up their eyes - six figures, seven, even eight figures - a lot more will try than succeed. If you want to be the one who succeeds, this book is for you.

I've spent the last twenty years around people whose financial earnings put them into $100K and far beyond. I've studied, watched, interviewed, and consulted for them. What I've learned, from those who have made it, is yours for the taking. As I stated earlier, one of the simple requirements is to - every day - add to your self-worth.

I have a friend with a trademark greeting: When asked "How's it going?" he answers, "Spectacular... but getting better." People always know he will say it and they ask all the time just to hear his enthusiasm again.

Of course, he has to walk the walk. Like the day I called him and he informed me that the company he'd worked for the last twenty of his sixty-one years had been sold and he and everyone in the office would be terminated. At that exact moment he was missing an important meeting that could have meant a new job, but because the bank next door had been robbed and his front-office door was bolted by the police and the parking lot was blocked off, he couldn't leave.

"I'm rather excited, though, even at my age. I have two house payments, two car payments, and one motor-home payment. But I refuse to allow myself a pouting party. You know me: If I don't learn something new every day, I'm sliding back ward.... By the way, do you know what et. seq. means?"

"No, I don't," I answered. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, it keeps coming up in the real estate law classes I'm teaching and I don't know what it means, so today I'm going to find out," he told me.[*]

[* He wrote me a note the next day and explained that in Latin et. seq. means "in sequence or logically following." Another example of walking the walk by following through with that day's objective.]

Another acquaintance of mine is a female business leader who says it's her personal mission to add to her worth every day. She's forty-one years old but looks thirty-two because she takes good care of herself so that her body will hold up for all the work she puts it through. She says, "I have to 'win' every day. That means I'm either in a race or in a battle."

She watches ESPN every evening. It doesn't matter the sport; she just likes to study the competition. She says, "Win, win, win, that's what I want. I analyze individual players, the depth of the team, the defense, who's on the bench. Everything I'm interested in is based around winning and losing, because that's what I deal with every day in the marketplace.

"Every day I read a story or part of a book about [athletic] coaches. I learn so much from them. I'm reading something by Don Shula now, but Vince Lombardi was my favorite. I feel I missed something in my life not knowing him....Last night I read an article about a marathon runner who pushes his brother, who has cerebral palsy, in a three-wheeler during training runs. It brought tears to my eyes. When you ignite the human spirit like that, you have so much energy to burn."

Then you have the energy to make significant money!

All $100K Club members add to their self-worth every day before they make the big money. The habit isn't formed once you reach some financial goal; it's to get you to that financial goal and to keep you at and beyond that level.

Fortunately, there are myriad ways for you to add value to yourself on a daily basis so that you are worthy of earning six figures. That is also what this book is about: being worthy of big money as a reflection of your mental creativity, intelligence, and drive.

In the 1980s making money was the goal in itself: having more showpieces, cars, clothes, or someone on your arm. Not today.

In the 1990s and beyond, instead of having more things, do more things. Be the master of your own fate. Be the superhero you (and your family) look up to in your life.

An old study concluded that men view money as adding to their power and women view money as adding to their freedom. Today the thinking has to be: Combine power and freedom in the limited time available.

People who are successful do what's required seven days a week. It's not just work, it's fulfilling their own dream.

You don't need to do it like anyone else. But if you're like most who have made it already, you want to know what others have experienced. Then you can pick your own route.

To help you do that, the chapters in this book are laid out as follows: Chapter 2 is about following your heart and soul to make a six-figure income. The fact is that you will be spending a great deal of your life working at it, so you had better enjoy yourself. If you chase the bucks too hard but lose yourself in the process, not only will you be unhappy but you might get fired. We want to make sure that doesn't happen.

We all know that corporate executives can make six-, seven-, eight-figure salaries - but what other kinds of jobs do too? Yes, some artists, rodeo cowboys, manufacturers' reps, pilots, and long-distance truckers do also. But in all fields, a lot more people enter a field than excel in it. The third chapter explains what makes the difference between the two.

If a corporate job is your chosen route, then you want to get yourself in the right position to get those high-paying jobs. Chapter 4 will reveal how to set yourself apart from the competition. And - very important - what can be done to get over the hurdle when you're stuck at a certain money level.

Chapter 5 provides fresh thinking on how to job hunt at the $100K level. The people who do the screening of résumés and the interviewing will tell you exactly what they do and don't like.

If you develop a niche and are able to work out of your home, how do you compete with the big boys with deep pockets, use the government as a partner, stay motivated, and reenter the corporate world if necessary? Telecommuters will want to pay particular attention to Chapter 6.

Chapter 7 is about trade-offs and the decision whether the sacrifices are worth it to you. It's an upbeat, real-world view of what big money does and doesn't mean.

And finally, Chapter 8 is a 20-point checklist designed for you to rate yourself, both for where you are now and for in the future, on your chance of success in joining the $100K Club.

There is a lot of conventional wisdom about making money that isn't very wise. There are many myths about what making big dollars means. A lot is misunderstood. The $100K Club changes that.

As National Finals Rodeo bull-rising champion (and $100K Club member) Tuff Hedeman says, "In order to ride bulls, you really have to focus and concentrate on what it takes to make a good ride."

That's what we are going to concentrate on: making "a good ride" with the bulls in business. The good thing is that you don't have the physical pain or the eight-second time limit to contend with - like Tuff Hedeman does in his work!

If you've been working toward this goal casually, then take this advice and go all-out for it.

When you have a tough day (which we all do) and it's a bit depressing, discouraging, or disappointing, take one hour off and do one of the following:

• Visit the hospital where you want to donate money for a wing named after your father.

• Write out a check to your favorite charity (no, not to yourself) with a note that reads, "More will follow."

• Go to a car dealership and test-drive some racy new model.

• Sit down at the computer with your son or daughter and use the Internet to review the pros and cons of selected schools he or she wants to attend.

• Leave a supportive, loving (surprise) message on your partner's voice mail, just to display your affection and appreciation.

• Seek out the person on the front page of the business section who achieved some big goal and congratulate him by telephone or with a handwritten note.

Then go back to whatever task you were doing before your one-hour sabbatical. The brief break refreshes you, improves your perspective, and rewards you for your diligence.

When it is all over in your life, you want to be able to say to yourself something like GOP Senator Arlen Specter says (on his aborted campaign for president): "I would have kicked myself in the ass if I hadn't tried."

I'll close this chapter with one of my definitions of pure happiness. The period of time when you are on the verge of making big money, with the real possibility that it will happen.

My hope for you is that this book in your hands will give you the tools to experience that pure happiness.

"My advice is to select an endeavor you truly love. You'll be more inclined to put in the effort necessary to achieve success. Countless individuals have selected a profession because it appears lucrative. It isn't until they become fully immersed that they find out that it is something they do not enjoy and, as a consequence, do not give it justice.

"Also, it is important to always keep in mind the commitment required to achieve your goals. All too often an individual will attain a measure of success, feel that they have made it, and lose the edge. It is like a marathon runner who reaches the front of the pack: They must still maintain the same pace to remain in the lead."

—PETER MACKINS,
PA, The Fielding Institute

"You must be driven to do something you love with a passion, get into that field on the bottom, swallow your pride as you learn, and listen and benefit from every mistake. An attitude of perseverance and patience is an absolute necessity."

—DENNIS HOPPE,
President, Hoppe Management Concepts, Inc.

"Focus on what you want to do for a career first before focusing on what you will earn. Almost any career path you choose has the potential to provide a six-figure income. The most important thing is to choose a career that fits within your skill set and involves doing things that you enjoy. Focus on doing your best, getting to know people who are successful within your career choice, learning the skills and the success measures required to be the best performer, and doing it better than anyone else. You'll have a much greater chance of achieving a six-figure income living out your dreams versus fighting through a drudgery."

—BRAD WILLIAMS,
President, Dakota Beverage

"Develop a strong personal ethic that includes working hard and then working smart; commit to success but not at the expense of fairness; educate yourself beyond conventional means for exceptional results; what you expect of yourself will be closely linked to what you accomplish. In the end there is absolutely no substitute for being in the right place at the right time - so be in a lot of places."

—E. A. "BUTCH" TEPPE,
Vice President, Victor L. Phillips Co.

Copyright © 1998 by Debra Benton

About the Author

D. A. Benton founded Benton Management Resources in 1976 to provide executive development and career counseling. She has worked in seventeen countries and her numerous media appearances around the world have brought her wide acclaim. Her clients include AT&T, American Express, Pepsi, United Airlines, Nabisco, Mobil Oil, Price Waterhouse, Coopers & Lybrand, and NASA.