By Kristoph Matthews from SmashingEntrepreneur.com – A young entrepreneur’s guide to harnessing passion, ideas and business to live an epic lifestyle. Kristoph is new Yakezie Challenger.
I remember when I first started my quest for wealth. It was all about money, without much discretion to the method of its attainment. “How do I get from point A (living off my parents’ income while in college) to point B (generating $1 mm per year in passive income)?” I knew that just managing my finances well wasn’t enough. I needed some sort of “vehicle” to get me from point A to point B.
I quickly learned about several of such vehicles and tried to “ride” one after another. I initially became drawn to stock and commodities trading, and then selling in B auctions, and finally start-ups. Until I engaged in start-ups, I had developed a sort of “financial multiple personality disorder,” chasing all sorts of opportunities. Instead of focusing on and mastering a single method of gaining wealth, I dabbled in several, and consequently spread myself thin.
After some success as a serial entrepreneur and after realizing my passion for solving problems by creating businesses, it became clear that I needed to focus on and master entrepreneurship. The clarity was empowering.
In order to gain wealth you need to contribute value through a particular vehicle. That vehicle should be tied to your wealth personality or “wealth profile,” as Roger Hamilton puts it. The social entrepreneur documented 8 different “wealth profiles” or personality types that categorize how people have made it big:
- The Creator exercises the power of ideas and creativity to start businesses or invent products (entrepreneurs, inventors, designers).
- The Star builds an influential brand and grows and leverages his/her celebrity status (authors, actors, artists, bloggers).
- The Supporter assembles exceptional, high power teams (executives, marketers).
- The Deal-maker finds two parties that need each other and makes a deal happen (real estate/sport agents, joint venture partners).
- The Trader buys goods, commodities, or stocks at low prices and sells them at higher prices.
- The Accumulator buys assets for long term investments.
- The Lord controls cash producing assets (real estate investors, business acquirers, oil well owners)
- The Mechanic creates duplicable systems (fast food franchisers, computer manufacturers)
As an entrepreneur I fall under the “creator” category. I carry a black pocket book wherever I go, and when I notice a problem, something strange, or something remarkable and effective in one industry that I think can be applied to one of my niches of interest, I jot it down. Being a “creator,” this book serves as a brainstorming platform for me to innovate new products or ways of doing business. I certainly considered and drew upon some of the other personality types, such as the “trader” and the “deal maker,” but those personalities didn’t call to my soul as much.
For example, trading goods seemed too mechanical for me–I wanted to create something that would directly benefit someone (i.e. a customer) and would allow me to use my imagination. Although I depend on some of the other personalities (through myself or others), I’ve adopted the “creator” type as my dominant profile for making money and adding value to society.
Which personality type are you? Pick one and only one to start with and master it. Don’t develop financial multiple personality disorder (MPD). Once you’ve achieved clarity on how you can add value in the world and receive wealth in return, find successful people who have personality types in an area that would complement yours, and before you know it, you’ve created a support team that can help you generate multiple streams of income—all without the frustration and confusion of financial MPD.
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I love the different types of money-makers that you’ve come up with! Throughout my life, I have mainly been a Creator and an Accumulator. I’ll definitely remember the other methods as money-making options for the future!
Great types of personalities. I never knew there were so many! I’ve mostly been an accumulator.
I never heard about these 8 profiles, but I like ’em! I definitely have a little MPD. I’d classify myself as creator and supportor. And aside from being a star (not in my future) I see some benefits to dabbling in the other 5 categories as well. So I guess what I’m saying is maybe MPD can be a good thing too!
I’m mainly the Accumulator. This is very interesting and I don’t see why you can’t wear a few of these hats. I guess it’s better to concentrate on one and make sure you excel at that. Good post!
Never heard of these profiles either! I think I can definitely NOT just pick one!
At the risk of sound vain, I am an Accumulator, Creator, Star (since you said bloggers lol), Deal-Maker, Trader, and Lord if I am to go by your definitions above. I like to do every one of these things and do them often.
What I’d like to master most is being a Creator now though. What I’d like to do LESS of is be a trader. Let’s see!
Best,
Sam
* The Creator exercises the power of ideas and creativity to start businesses or invent products (entrepreneurs, inventors, designers).
* The Star builds an influential brand and grows and leverages his/her celebrity status (authors, actors, artists, bloggers).
* The Supporter assembles exceptional, high power teams (executives, marketers).
* The Deal-maker finds two parties that need each other and makes a deal happen (real estate/sport agents, joint venture partners).
* The Trader buys goods, commodities, or stocks at low prices and sells them at higher prices.
* The Accumulator buys assets for long term investments.
* The Lord controls cash producing assets (real estate investors, business acquirers, oil well owners)
This is inspiring post. I don’t wanna be convinced that I am a creator more than anything else. I believe that we have every aspects of all in us, some more, some less
Nice delineation on the different wealth profiles. I definitely have some overlap on some of those above, but I’m okay with… Since I’m blogging, I guess I’m part Star and Creator. It’s hard to be a Star when you are anonymous like I am though :)
It’s Ok: You’re a “rising” star ;)
I am into stock and real estate investing so that makes me Trader and Lord. I like these profiles and agree that there are many ways to build and accumulate wealth. Each person just needs to find his or her strengths.
Today’s world definitely calls for more specialization than it ever did in the past. Sometimes the problem with specializing too much is that the human interest gets lost in the need to only focus on one topic, when we really all seem to want to be interested in several of these areas ;).
I couldn’t identify with just one either. I see myself falling into creator, supporter, trader, accumulator, and lord. I guess I have diverse interests!
I think I’d consider myself the Accumulator and Mr. LH the creator. But I can see how it’s easy to fall into more than one category. Now if only some of Mr. LH’s ideas would flourish! ;)
I’d fall into “The Creator” and “The Mechanic” above all others. I enjoy creating workable businesses, but only in the context that my “mechanic” side can build a system to build, manage, and grow what I’ve created while reducing my total time input. There are only 24 hours in a day, and a business that eats up every hour is no business at all–it’s a job.
absolutely loved this post. maybe you can turn it into the new myers briggs entrepreneur’s version test
I feel as though I just learned I have a split personality! I was a Lord (owning income property), an Accumulator (buys assets for long term investments) and at one time a Supporter (when I was an executive, assembling effective teams). Today, I must be an Accumulator. Your article makes me reflect more so you succeeded!
Thanks for all the kind comments! I really appreciate reading this discussion. I agree with many that we can have more than one of these traits simultaneously, but it’s best to see which is dominant, because you can best leverage your efforts that way. Otherwise it’s hard to split time, energy, and thinking between multiple methods of generating income. Thanks for reading. -Kristoph, SmashingEntrepreneur.com
I must have split personality as well! My role as a blogger and journalist is The Star. My role as a rental property investor is The (Land)Lord. My role in managing my retirement accounts is The Accumulator. I suppose there’s a little of each personality in all of us …
Hmm, I’ve worn a couple of these hats at one time or another, and continue to be an Accumulator and Trader. Color me MPD as well.
I would definitely see myself as a creator but I have to admit that I have a little bit of every personality you named! Maybe I’m crazy. I also jot down ideas as they come to me. Never know when one might be the winner.
Very interesting! I thinki MPD would help though because sometimes you just have to wear multiple hats. I am a creator, a star, and an accumulator. Creator–love innovation and brainstorming; I carry a notepad around all the time and have been known to write ideas on envelopes and napkins. Star: my blog and brand. Accumulator: I LOVE to accumulate money!
hmm. I think I’m probably a mix of Creator and Supporter. It’s hard to just pick one! -Sydney
Interesting post; I think I’ve seen something similar to this list from business school. I’m not sure where I’d fit in since I have attributes from different areas. I like that one of the types is called a “Lord” ;)
First time I heard these 8 types. I am more of a creator but am moving into being an accumulator as I build my passive income streams