Why there’s no such thing as a self-made millionaire

Nobody becomes a millionaire on their own

At the event I attended over the weekend, one of the most memorable points made by the presenter, Ralph Plumb, was that there is no such thing as a self-made millionaire, or for that matter, a self-made bankrupt. We are all products of the environment we operate in and many people help (or hinder!) us in all kinds of ways.

I have been helped in all sorts of ways, including by readers of this blog. Recently I had a very helpful chat with Alex Johnson, founder of the wonderful Shedworking site, which has been an inspiration to me since I was researching my book Work from Home, long before this site was dreamt of. Alex told me how Shedworking developed and how he began to put advertising on the site.

And in the same context I received another helping hand this week when Charlie Dalton of Smart Garden Offices confirmed his order for the first advert on my home office pages. In doing so it isn’t the first time Charlie has shown confidence in me and my site – three months ago he was one of the first small businesses to pay for a post on my blog. His post generated a flurry of interest and he’ll be writing again after Easter.

You may also have people who have similarly shown faith in you and supported you in the early days. The support of Alex and Charlie and others makes me more determined than ever to achieve my aims for the site, to maintain the quality of the information I provide and generate increasing traffic.

When I ran my cleaning business I took on far bigger contracts than I felt comfortable with, because a local businessman (a ‘self-made’ millionaire, in fact) showed faith in me and asked me to take over all his office cleaning. If those contracts had come up in the usual way I would never have tendered for them because I thought they were out of my league.

So these helpers and supporters are hugely valuable in pushing us further on our way than we would push ourselves. You may not have achieved millionaire status – yet – but who has helped you do things you never imagined were possible? Do you think they are even aware how valuable their contribution has been? And how have you been able to help others?