P1 million in 7 months or P1 million in 15 years

I have a Zimbabwe guy on my contact list who became a millionaire in 7 months after moving in Botswana from Zimbabwe.

When I tell you I saw him when he first moved, wanting to work with us at the podcast [ Mogobe nuggets of wisdom podcast], he always wore the same outfit, always wanting to know how he can fit in to help the crew to do so that he too can at least get paid for his work.

A month later he disappeared and we didn’t see him until 7 months later. But this time he had a different outfit; new colorful Vans, and cargo pants, nothing too fancy. When I saw him I didn’t think that much about his outfit but surprised to see him again, later during our meeting he revealed that he has been in Botswana the whole time and managed to sell an app for around P1 million, to a 1st world country.

And he did this in 7 months, he wanted to share this story with Mr Mogobe because he said that he was grateful he allowed him to stay around him, watch us shoot podcasts, and that even Mr Mogobe gave him some food at times since he was really struggling financially and mentally, surviving on 1 meal a day since he came to Botswana, while he developed the app.

He said he has a bunch of local companies he’s developing apps for and they pay him 5 figures. Although he doesn’t live a flashy life and doesn’t boast online, since he doesn’t have a presence, he did mention he will purchase a Porsche 911 for all the struggles he’s been through in the 7 months in Botswana.

But why am I sharing this story? 

Well I know we all want to be rich that quickly, making a million in less than a year, I will say, it is possible but under very extreme personal circumstances. His case was that he was broke, starting from scratch, only carrying his MacBook pro which was what he needed to make it happened, but most importantly; hard work driven by a poverty situation.

So the question still remains, P1 million in 7 months or P1 million in 15 years? 

A lot of us want the million in 7 months but the question is, do you have the work ethic to work 100 times harder and longer than everyone else? Are you in a situation that is a sort of do or die? Are you living on the edge of uncertainty but not knowing what the results would be? If you are chances are you will make it.

But there’s an easier way to make a million, with little effort but a lot of patience.

If you commit to putting little amounts of your money on an asset class you will make a million or a quarter of a million in 15 years.

The earlier you start the better. If you start in your 20’s, chances are you’ll be close to a million in your mid 30’s or 40’s without doing anything but putting less than P1000 into an etf or a company you believe in.

You are already ahead of those who don’t take action. This way is the easiest, but it takes time and consistency. This is how men like Warren Buffet became rich and wealthy, having compound interest work in their favor, I encourage you to take this easy route if you can’t take the fast one that involves a lot of hard work.