A couple of years ago I read the book The Art of the Deal by Donald Trump. I wrote down a few quotes that I liked. I am going to share some of those quotes with you. Sometimes with, other times without, any comment. I hope it ads some value.

“Nor was I eager to load myself down with huge carrying costs while my personal resources were still limited.

By devoting myself to other deals instead, I generated a cash flow large enough to support the carrying costs on virtually any project. I also built a record of success that made banks happy to lend me money for nearly any deal.” Page 327

This is the second last Trump quote. The first time I read the book I did not take more note of this quote than the others. But now, 8 years later with some more experience, I know I should have – if I did, my time to get where I am would have been much shorter!

Trump is ever the professional investor and dealer. And there are so many lessons in this quote.

Firstly, once again, patience. He knows where he is going, but he would rather take a couple of years longer than to have to start again. That is why he keeps his investments in line with his resources. I see it very regularly. People who want to go from zero to hero in one BIG step. Just to land up in a much worse situation than the one from which they started. Somewhere I wrote about it – you know, that one investment that you cannot really afford but simply has to have. The investment that is going to tie you down for 10 years, but you cannot live without it. That is exactly the opposite of what Trump did.

Trump focuses on what really matters when building wealth: Building a strong cash flow. If you have a strong cash flow, there is almost nothing in this world, financially, that you cannot afford. Building real wealth begins with building cash flows. Build them wide and build them deep. It is something that I learnt from network marketing. A strong network has many legs (i.e. it is wide), but for the legs have to be strong, it must have a lot of members (i.e. deep). If you build like this, the risk of losing all your income in one go is very slim. Robert Allen speaks of multiple sources of income. It is the same principle. Purportedly J Paul Getty said: “I’d rather earn $1 off 100 people than $100 off one person.” The same principle. Build strong cash flow and think of each income stream as a brick in your financial fortress.

Lastly, start small. It is a very much over looked fact, but ALL successful people started small somewhere. Warren Buffett started by delivering news papers. Richard Branson started with a student newspaper. Donald Trump started with smaller properties. There were many properties before the Twin Towers. Never forget that. The amazing thing is this: I have mentioned three of the wealthiest people today, and all have one thing in common. Warren Buffett invests in shares – to create a cash flow. In fact, in one of the biographies that I read, he says his one regret is that he used the cash flow of his first company, Hathaway, to buy shares to the extent that the business floundered. It’s never stated openly about Branson in any of the books that I read about him, but he could afford to do all the things he has achieved, because he has a nightclub somewhere that generates a good cash flow. And on page 327 of his book, Trump gives us the secret of wealth. Build cash flows.

Starting small has various benefits. A loss will hardly wipe you out forever. Smaller deals are easier to control with fewer intricacies, so your chances of success are better. And nothing breeds success like success.

Do you want to be wealthy? Do you want to know how to become wealthy? Take bite size investments that you can afford. And just keep on doing it, repeating it over and over. And just in case you don’t see it, with each successful venture, you will be able to take a bigger bite! And the best of all? It is not only money that we talk about, it is also knowledge and experience!

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