15 Realizations that Helped Ordinary People Become Multimillionaires

• A study shows that 2/3 of potential entrepreneurs have the skills but are afraid to start.
• First-time entrepreneurs have an 18% chance of success; those who fail once have a 20% chance.
• 15 realizations can help ordinary people become multimillionaires.
• Small beginnings can solve big problems, and inexperience can lead to fresh opportunities.
• Every inconvenience can be turned into a profitable business idea.
• Knowledge is a powerful currency that can be monetized.

A study by the Global Entrepreneur Monitor showed that 2/3 of potential entrepreneurs have the skills and ideas to launch a business, but they won't do it because they're afraid of failing. But you know, according to Harvard researchers, first-time entrepreneurs have an 18% chance of success. However, those who failed once have a 20% chance, and the more you fail, the more that percentage increases.

Right now, someone just like you is starting a venture that's going to 10x their income within the next year. They’re just as afraid as everyone else and know the same first steps as the rest of the world: start the website, use social media ad space to market your business, write blog posts for your website—two to three articles of 1,000 words and over is enough to build momentum over time. Check, check, check!

But this one thing is different. Everyone needs that push, that light bulb moment, that realization that will light the spark. So in this video, we've got 15 realizations that helped ordinary people become multimillionaires, and maybe by the end of this video, those light bulb moments will light your spark too. Welcome to Alux, the place where future billionaires come to get inspired.

Number one: Just because you're starting small doesn't mean you can't solve big problems. They say the most successful businesses are able to solve big problems. But what if you're just one person? Well, a lot! It seems back in 2006, accountant Lucy Cohen started Maizuma, an online bookkeeping service. All she had was $100 and a laptop. One person, one laptop, $100—is that enough to solve a big problem? Well, absolutely!

She had this problem for a very specific group of people: freelancers and small business entrepreneurs who were losing thousands of dollars a month. They either spent too much on software created for big corporate giants or didn't use anything and money was falling through the cracks. They needed toned-down, affordable options, and Mazuma delivered. The company grew to help over 10,000 clients and was valued at over $10 million. If you can solve a problem that others are ignoring, you’ll have all of those people on the sidelines in your corner.

Number two: Inexperience can actually create fresh opportunities. Most people think that inexperience is a disadvantage because without knowing the ropes, you might fall. But innovation expert Eric Von Hippel says that people new in the industry are the biggest innovators! For the newbies in the space, their survival instincts kick in, allowing them to spot totally new ropes and paths that stalwarts in the industry are blind to. So don’t be afraid of entering an industry you’re still learning about. Ask for help, do your own research, and see your inexperience as a way to tap into what your customers actually want.

Here's a story: A 16-year-old girl watched her mother struggle to sell an investment property. She recognized it didn’t look appealing to buyers at all, so she decided to stage it herself. She used her family’s furniture and decor to create a welcoming space. The property sold within a few days above the initial valuation. Within three years, she scaled her business to $1 million, and by the time she was 20, she was staging 400 homes a year. Think of a time when you looked at something and thought it could be better if you just added or changed one part of it. How often have you dismissed that idea? The next time it comes around, follow it—okay, that could be your $1 million ticket!

Number three: The online world is a great stepping stone. The internet has leveled the playing field. If you’re not using it to make your money, then you’re letting yourself down. Platforms like Shopify, Amazon, and Etsy give you direct access to your future customers. Every moment you waste, you're giving someone else the opportunity to steal those customers. You already have a built-in global audience for your product or service; you don't have to search for these people—they're there.

Look at Michael and Jake Lear. They bought cheap gym equipment from overseas manufacturers like Alibaba, marked them up, and advertised and sold them through Amazon. They reinvested their earnings and built a business worth more than $8 million. Their current business is totally different from where they started, but that’s the key here—you can start at the same place and then grow wherever you want to go.

Number four: Help others to achieve their goals, and success will follow. The idea that the only way to succeed in business is to look out for yourself alone is a lie. Not only can you get further if you help people, but you'll also feel good about what you're doing. Not all ventures have to be completely profit-driven. If you can find a way to uplift your community and make enough money to be financially comfortable, then you have hit the jackpot.

That’s what Joe did. He founded a company that mentors and supports students from low-income backgrounds aiming to get them into top universities. He works with universities that want to attract students from diverse backgrounds and pushed for corporate sponsorships so these students don’t have to foot the bill themselves. You can find success by making other people’s dreams a reality too.

Number five: Innovate for those who need it most. You might have a great business idea but then dismiss it because your target audience doesn't seem like they would bring in enough revenue. Don’t make this mistake! Those people need support and innovation the most, and in that niche, you'll find the most driven people will find a way to use your service to their advantage.

Most people dismiss lower-income places because they don't seem like a valuable business opportunity. But in sub-Saharan Africa, a company called Kickstart International helped design and distribute irrigation pumps for smaller farms. For years, over 80% of Africa's smallholder farms relied on unpredictable rainfall for their crops. So Kickstart developed innovative human-powered pumps that enable year-round farming. 400,000 pumps later, they've lifted 1.5 million people out of poverty and made about $210 million in new profits.

And speaking of profits:

Number six: You can turn any inconvenience into profit. You don't always have to solve a big problem; people will pay to overcome small hurdles too. If you can save others time, money, or energy, then you've hit a market. Think of things that would simplify your life, and you know it will do the same for someone else's.

Noah Kagan saw that small businesses struggled with the cost and overwhelming amount of choices of software tools. They needed software to grow their business but couldn't decide which tools were actually best for them. So he created a platform that curated different software tools and offered discounts on deals on the most important digital products. Now startups and freelancers can access the best tools for their business at a price they can actually afford.

Number seven: Some things are complicated—think about how you can simplify them. Just like people will pay for convenience and meeting a need, they'll also pay you when you take a complicated problem and simplify it for them. For a long time, the email marketing solutions on the market were really complicated and expensive; big companies had people dedicated solely to working on these platforms because there was so much to learn.

So two entrepreneurs worked to create something more user-friendly—a tool that anyone could learn within a few hours. If you've ever worked in marketing, then you have heard of MailChimp, right? It has the most features of the top email marketing platforms without needing all of the technical expertise. If you're struggling with a complex, tedious tool right now, then know that someone else feels the same way. You have the opportunity to turn that complicated process into a simple but very profitable solution.

Number eight: You can merge culture, need, and desire. So many people are leaving their home countries for greener pastures. It’s a hard transition, so having just a little bit of their culture and community in their country is something they are willing to pay for. It also gives other people the opportunity to immerse themselves in new cultures even if they haven’t left their home country.

You’ve seen it with the abundance of African, Asian, and North and South American food markets and stores popping up all over the place. You can see it in the profits of their online stores—they charge a huge markup for importing and exporting the products because the demand is there. McDonald's, Global Menu's, Japan's Unique Glow stores, even Ikea—they're big examples, but you can scale it down too. Bring culture into local markets and you’ll meet the needs and desires of people living there.

Number nine: You can perfect what already exists and tap into two markets at once. Cirque du Soleil has been around for a long time—since 1984, to be exact. It was started by two former street performers who saw the profitable market of the traditional circus and the need to remove some of the morally questionable acts. They were right on the money! The world moved away from traditional circus acts when they realized how much cruelty these animals suffered, but people still wanted a performance—they still wanted to be entertained.

So they focused on perfecting human artistry. They revolutionized the traditional circus model by blending acrobatics, theater, and music to tell a story. They hit an old and a new market, and they're still going strong today. And you know Nintendo did this with the Wii! Gaming was a niche thing for younger audiences and hardcore gamers, and they merged an old and new market. The old gamers still enjoyed it, and it became an active, family-friendly video game that other people could play too. Innovation doesn't always mean inventing something brand new; it's also about reimagining what exists and improving on it.

Number ten: Authenticity sells better than mass appeal. With the success of Zara, H&M, and other fast fashion brands, you would think that catering to everyone and stripping away your identity is how to run a successful business. No! The truth is there's not much loyalty and, therefore, not much longevity in this. All of those customers will flock to the next cheapest mass appeal brand eventually.

If a founder's story and values resonate with a community, though, they'll have customers for as long as they're around. The clothing brand FUBU—For Us, By Us—has done this. They're rooted in hip-hop culture, and while the culture has ebbed and flowed at times, the brand’s core customers have stayed loyal. The outdoor clothing brand Patagonia follows the same model, even Levi's denim and Ben and Jerry's ice cream—they've stayed true to their story. Authenticity isn't a limitation; it's a magnet!

Number eleven: You can turn your hobbies into businesses that scale. Most people believe that your hobbies should stay your hobbies—in other words, don't monetize them—or they believe that if you turn your hobby into a business, then you have to keep it small. It’s not something you can scale. But depending on the hobby, it absolutely is!

The internet and the scalability of e-commerce has turned this belief on its head. Your small ideas can turn into multimillion-dollar brands when you have the drive and vision to go with it. One guy had a passion for fitness, so he sewed workout clothes by hand in his parents’ garage; now it's a billion-dollar company that dominates the athleisure market. Another creative loved designing whimsical stationery and writing handwritten notes, and she ended up creating an entire lifestyle brand and now is partnered with big retailers. Your passion is more than just a hobby, and thanks to e-commerce channels, it can become a global brand.

Number twelve: Side gig skills can lead to big business deals. Most people use writing, design, and even coding as a side hustle skill for extra income, but you can turn that secondary income into a scalable business. Before Canva became a billion-dollar business, co-founder Melanie Perkins taught design skills. She used her experience teaching complex design tools to create a simpler platform that was accessible to everyone, and her company is now a global leader in graphic design software!

Don't just see that side gig as extra income alone; use it as a testing ground for your skills. You’ll get the chance to see how to deliver value outside of the usual 9 to 5 grind.

Number thirteen: No market is too saturated if you enter it properly. A successful business isn't always about creating something groundbreaking or revolutionary, and it's also not about finding the least saturated market. If you do something right, you can get your foot in the door and then smash your way through.

A cleaning company in Portland, USA marketed themselves as reliable, non-judgmental, and trustworthy. That's just what people needed. A market that everyone thought was saturated became a gold mine with the right marketing. Ring doorbells started this way too! Home security software had been around for a while, but it was marketed for the wealthy and elite. Then, founder Jamie Simonoff introduced a video doorbell system that anyone could install, marketing it as something everyone could use. Amazon eventually acquired it for $1 billion!

You don’t have to invent the wheel; you just need to see where it's not turning smoothly and fix it.

Number fourteen: If you know something, you can teach it, and if you can teach it, you can monetize it. Usually, teachers are associated with not earning a high or even reasonable income for the work they do, but this is a limiting belief. That might be the case with a traditional school teaching job, but that's not the only place where people need teachers.

As we start to live longer, healthier lives, one of the key needs that older people will have is education and lifelong learning. Companies like Linda.com capitalized on this need back in the early 90s. At the time, the internet was still a mystery to many, but Linda had a bit of knowledge in web design. She started teaching workshops, and when demand grew, she launched her website. Linda.com offered accessible, high-quality tutorials to anyone with an internet connection. Eventually, LinkedIn bought it for $1.5 billion.

Knowledge is the most powerful currency. The more you share it, the more valuable it becomes. And that’s the goal with our Alux app—to share knowledge, inspiration, and help others grow. We're so much stronger when we put our heads together, and that’s why we’ve got collections and courses from experts and fun, informative daily sessions too.

And since you're a subscriber to our channel, we’re going to give you a special deal! First of all, download the app, then scan this QR code on screen, and you’ll get a 25% off discount on the yearly membership. The app pays for itself within the first month alone, so really, this one’s a no-brainer!

Number fifteen: You can monetize something you already do differently. What’s one weird thing or quirk that you already do differently? Because that could be your gap! Don't fall into the trap of trying to replicate somebody else's success. Sometimes, the breakthrough comes from doubling down on what makes you unique, even if it seems a bit unconventional.

You might have heard of Rent the Runway, right? The company does just that—they rent out designer clothes! Instead of building another retail business, the founders turned the concept of wearable ownership on its head. Now it's a billion-dollar company reshaping how we think about fashion. The founders were already sharing and renting each other's clothes, so if you're doing it with your group of friends, there's for sure another group willing to do it with you.

That's all we've got for you today, my friend. We'll see you back here next time. Until then, take care!