How to Make a Billion Dollars: Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2: DON’T CLIMB

Close your eyes and imagine this if you will.  You are at the mall shopping for some new gadgets and gizmos.  Because you spent all night working on your new business you haven’t eaten and would like to stop by the Orange Julius for a quick little snack.  Now on your escalator ride to the second floor some pushy old man flings you aside as he climbs step by step because he needs to make it to the restroom before he exits his bowels all over the mall floor.  This sad old man was climbing while you, a young up-and-comer, were pleasantly standing on the escalator allowing it to briskly ascend you to the awaiting Julius.  

Climbing is a waste of time and energy.  Time and energy that could be well spent on making a billion dollars.  All it does is make you sweaty and exhausted.  Why would you climb up the escalator?  That doesn’t really make any sense.  If the genius that designed the escalator wanted you to climb up it, he wouldn’t have made it move in the first place.  What kind of people climb in this world?  Rock climbers, ladder salesmen, poor people.  You don’t want to be a rock climber because that involves risk.  And what you will learn in chapter 5 is that billionaires don’t take risks.  Secondly, ladder salesmen are poor people.  Genius rich billionaires ran them out of business when they opened up great stores such as Walmart and Home Depot.  You don’t want to be a poor person so why would you sell ladders?  Finally, you don’t want to be a person or else why would you be reading this book?

I obviously am not just talking about climbing literally.  I’m also using it metaphorically (see 'note' at bottom).  A good businessman doesn’t climb his way to the top because he starts at the top.  If you find yourself starting at the bottom you might want to pick up my companion book Starting at the Bottom for the low price of only $300.00.  Now I know what  you’re thinking.  

How am i supposed to start at the top?  That seems impossible.  Doesn’t my idea need time to grow into a billion dollar money-maker?  The long and short answer is no, and here’s why:

1.  I had an idea for a great book.  I wrote the great book and instantly became a billionaire

2.  When Steve Jobs created the mac it began as a top-selling money making machine.

Whenever you find yourself in a situation where you might need to climb you need to stop and think, “what good am i going to get from climbing right now?”  To help you with your decision I have created a list of pros and cons for climbing:

CONS:

Very sweaty - Nobody likes a sweaty person.  Everyone finds them unattractive.
Tiresome -  Would you rather be full of energy, or drained and exhausted from climbing all the time?
Waste of time -  Climbing takes time
Waste of car - Anywhere you need to climb you could probably drive instead.
Mentally unstable -  “Climbing is so stressful on the mind that it makes an individual mentally unstable,” (pp. 36 from Starting at the Bottom by Jonathan Miller, 2010).  

As you can see the cons greatly outweigh the pros, because there are no pros.  Remember, climbing and billionaires do not mix.

Note: Metaphor - A comparison without using 'like' or 'as'. The definition of a metaphor was teken from “Definitions and You” by Jonathan Miller, 2010.