191. The only limit to wealth

I can reach anyone on the planet, provided they have an Internet-connected laptop. Soon, thanks to visionary Nicholas Negroponte's $100 laptop project, which aims at providing kids in developing countries with such minimal yet fundamental computing power, I could basically reach millions of kids. You could, too, if you have a product that is wanted and reasonably priced.

Anyways, my point is that distribution (of anything!) is no longer the main commercial barrier. The only limit today to how much value you create (therefore, how much money you make) is imagination.

But imagination, or creativity, is not enough. One needs to have what author Richard Bach calls "business genes" to be able to convert ideas into business ventures, products, services, or any form of marketable value.

Not surprisingly, more and more people are going back to school to pick up a business degree. Out of 100 applications to the full-time BCom programme of McGill University, only one candidate is accepted. It's that competitive.

But from my experience, I don't think business education is the real constraint.

Assuming you learn about creativity (from Edward de Bono's books) and master some of the techniques for systematically generating news ideas, the main constraint is your understanding of what capitalism is all about.

Capitalism is now the only (economic) game in town, with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Yet I've noticed that most people who decide to launch a business venture do not have a clear idea of what capitalism is really about. As a result, they launch a business and do the usual stuff (feasibility studies, preparing a business plan, etc.) but still maintain an "employee" attitude.

The employee attitude is thus characterized:

1. waiting to be told what to do
2. lack of initiative
3. lack of interest or involvement in business planning / execution
4. no new ideas
5. refusal (conscious or unconscious) to change
6. refusal to see reality
7. lack of self-knowledge (strengths, weaknesses)
8. lack of awareness about competitors
9. no systems thinking
10. no interest in the customer, or in customer satisfaction / delight
11. no understanding of what "capital" is

This list may seem depressing, but actually, employees only have to hang around and talk (as often as possible) with entrepreneurs to see right away that it's not that hard to change one's attitude. We just need to adopt the successful attitude and thinking habits of business people.

In the mind of a true business person, there is no limit to wealth. All the psychological obstacles, doubts, fears, etc. have been dealt with.

The only thing remaining is the focus on customer needs, and the quasi-obsession with becoming the best at what one is doing.