Not sure I agree with autogyro unfortunately. Money does not have to root in evil. Evil can be a route to evil of course - but that's probably a minority.
There are exceptions but it is usualy luck that brings them wealth.
Rubbish.
What you need is devilish commitment. An unrelenting, unhealthy, continuous level of commitment; to a level that not many people are even willing to think about because it just scares them outright.
When I say that; I mean unrelenting. A borderline-psychotic obsession. When I started out my first company I couldn't get it to work. I felt I was giving a hell of a lot - but I just couldn't get it to work. I have an uncle who is a hugely successful; and still is very wealthy. I asked him for advice on the whole startup thing - and he wasn't quite as graceful or as conceptual in his lessons as Robert Kiyosaki's "rich dad," but it was a big case in tough love, and a gruff wakeup call.
He (already a 63 year old this year. Or 64. Either one.) to this day, goes to work religiously - but not a 9 to 5 workday; but 7 to 9. Sometimes it gets to 11. On the weekends, he brings an iPad around and is constantly working on it even then. His daughter got married four months ago in Bali and he was constantly on the phone; taking care of business from afar. He invited his British, Indian and Japanese partners to the wedding; and during the wedding dinner he sat himself with them - and being in the table next to it he was still talking of product SKUs and the nitty gritty details of work. His weekends he's brainstorming ideas on the go; and you can see him randomly picking up his phone and noting down thoughts so that he can follow up on them on Monday.
I took what he said to heart and really went about doing it. It's not an easy life. Health and fitness can be a big problem with the sleepless nights and all that.
You can't be risk averse. Never play safe. Never let the fear of losing what you have drive any decisions. Business is a tough life and if you want to get wealthy- you have to be constantly evolving and kicking your own as5. If you don't make yourself obsolete; your competitors will do it for you.
Be prepared too. I'd recommend not immediately going to entrepreneurship; but rather taking up a job in the industry first - see how it works from the inside; and gain some insight - it will definitely decrease your chances of failure. Failure is a very good teacher, and I truly believe that the measure of a man is not in how he falls, but how he gets back up. But failure is still one of the most expensive teachers around. Learn from others' failures whenever possible
After your business is established and has a strong customer base; then the crazy obsessive hours can take a step back - but you still have to keep making yourself obsolete. Nowadays I no longer work my 6 to 12 working hours; but I still insist on exceeding my expectations of my employees. If I'm to have them working from 9 to 5; I better damn well work at least 8 to 6. If I want a salesperson to close down US$50,000 worth of sales in a month, I better damn well close $70,000.
Nowadays I'm a VC on the side - so I do have quite a bit of a diversified portfolio in various industries - so if you want to ask about some industry which interests you - feel free to hit me up. You never know. I might be able to help you.
