10 Reasons Why People are Poor ~ Billy Caputo 

Why Are Some People Poor?

If everyone wants to be financially successful, then why isn’t everyone wealthy?


But sometimes, being poor is a state of mind. Sometimes, being poor seeps into your brain and takes over. I have created this list to help show some of the destructive behaviors, mistakes, and ideologies that people fall into that may keep them from achieving success.

#10: Poor People Are Unable to Manage Their State


You are in a disempowered state if you feel overwhelmed, uncertain, or fearful. This will influence your decisions and undermine your ability to reach your aspirations and goals. If you find you are constantly feeling powerless, and you don’t fight that feeling, then you are only setting yourself up for failure.

As destructive as the disempowering states are, achieving an empowering state of mind will give you the mental edge and attitude that you need to be successful. Here is a list of empowering mindsets for business: certainty, confidence, clarity, courage, conviction, ambition, and passion. By remaining in these states the majority of the time, you will be better equipped to handle the hurdles you will encounter.

I understand that you can’t manage your state every minute of every day. You are not a robot. We live in a world where stuff happens, but when things start to go awry, that’s when state management really matters. When something goes wrong, most people create a bullshit story to justify why they can’t have what they want. It stops them from being honest with themselves and seeing things as they really are. You can survive a setback more strongly by thinking your way through the following steps:

  • Imagine your life as a map.
  • Your goal: Wealth and success.
  • Step one: See things as they really are.
  • Step two: See things as better than they are.
  • Step three: Make a plan to get there.
Why I have no money.
Why I have no money.

#9: Poor People Set Impotent Goals

The reason most people are not successful is not because they set their goals too high and therefore miss them, it’s because they set their goals too low and hit them. If your goals are low and you keep hitting them, then you need to raise your standards and ambitions. You need to have a continuing dedication to going further than those around you. Don’t set your goal for average because average sucks.

On the other hand, don’t set your goals so high that they become unrealistic, because people abandon unrealistic goals. Instead, set your goals just above your comfort zone so that they inspire you to continue working toward them. The right goal will help you secure a better future for not only you, but also your family.

The proper goal will bring you wealth. Money is simply a way of achieving freedom.

Why "The Secret" Doesn't Work: Dreaming Isn't Doing
Why “The Secret” Doesn’t Work: Dreaming Isn’t Doing

#8: Unsuccessful People Subscribe To “The Secret”

The philosophy outlined in the book The Secret is not only counter-productive, it is a load of crap. According to The Secret, the way to gain success is to go into a quiet room in your house, turn off the lights, close the shades, sit on the couch, and imagine a check with a big number written on it. If you believe in The Secret, eventually this check should show up at your door. Does this work? No! Why would it?

If this is your strategy for success, the only thing that will eventually show up in your mailbox is an eviction notice. I believe in manifestation, but I believe you have to take action and go out and meet it. You simply will not achieve success or wealth if you don’t take action towards it.

I tried The Secret and, when nothing happened, I tried something different: I worked towards my goals and I achieved success.

Slave to a paycheck.
Slave to a paycheck.

#7: Poor People Have Limiting Beliefs About Life and Money

Poor people believe they are creatures of circumstance. Because of this, life happens to them. Rich people believe they are creators of circumstance. Because of this, they create opportunities within their lives.

There isn’t any more destructive belief in the world than to think that life happens to you. Here are three things that happen to you when you believe that you don’t create your own destiny:

1) You play the blame game. You blame anyone and everyone for why you don’t have what you want. You blame the government, your family, your boss, the economy, or the people on Wall Street. If you do this, you are powerless to achieve success.

2) You justify your situation to yourself and to those around you. You use sentences that start with “It’s because…”. For example, “It is because the economy stinks that I’m not where I want to be,” or “It is because people are unfair that I don’t have what I want,” or “It is because money doesn’t really matter that I don’t have as much as I would like.” By justifying your current situation, you accept your current situation.

3) You complain, thereby attracting and moving toward a negative reality. When you complain, what do you focus on? All the crap in your life, and if you focus on all the crap, what do you become? A magnet that attracts more crap. Also, you must distance yourself from those around you who complain, as they may influence your state in a negative way.

Poor people believe money doesn’t matter. Rich people value money and know it matters. I’m not saying it is the end-all, be-all, but money is a beautiful tool. When you have it you can use it in countless ways: to help others, travel, or take care of your parents. Money allows for the freedom to do the things that you want to do. I am not saying that money creates happiness, but a lack of money is a passport to misery. I say solve the money problem and then solve the higher problems afterward.

How to stay poor: Listening to the wrong people.
How to stay poor: Listening to the wrong people.

#6: Poor People Choose Bad Mentors

You must be careful who you choose as your mentor. People without money are very quick to offer their advice, and the world is full of people who claim to be life coaches, business coaches, or success coaches. The scary thing is that most of them haven’t achieved anything. If you find a life coach on the Internet, how do you know they’ve actually achieved something?

On the flip-side, rich people can make for bad mentors, too. In the movie Wall Street,the character Gordon Gekko says, “Greed is good.” I made the mistake of taking this line to heart. I thought that greed was something from which I could draw motivation.

The truth is that greed is not good. Ambition and passion are good. Greed is destructive. The first thing that happens when you get greedy is that your ethics become compromised. You want to make as much money as you can, as fast as you can. And it doesn’t matter who gets hurt along the way.

However, if the person you are modeling yourself after is motivated by greed, you do not need to follow in their footsteps entirely. You can pick and choose which characteristics to emulate. You can emulate their ambition, but not their greed. You can incorporate their strategies without incorporating their ethics.

Be careful with who you pick as your mentor. Don’t pick the unshaven guy on the side of the road wearing the dirty sweat pants, and don’t choose the guy whose decisions violate your ethics.

Habits of poor people: Living in fear.
Habits of poor people: Living in fear.

#5: Unsuccessful People Are Controlled by Fear

Fear is a natural component of the business world. If the path to success were clear-cut and infallible, then everyone would be wealthy. Because it isn’t, everyone must deal with situations that make them anxious. There are three different ways to process and manage fear: The first two options will destroy your chances for a successful and healthy life, while the third gives you the mindset you need to use fear to your advantage.

1) Some people pretend that fear does not exist. The people who manage fear through ignoring it end up in a life filled with poverty and misery. By ignoring fear, you let it control you because you neither acknowledge it nor learn how to deal with it. Unacknowledged fear renders you impotent in your efforts to reach your goals, and this is the most disempowered state for wealth and success.

2) Other people act in spite of fear. This way of dealing with fear allows you to achieve certain goals despite being afraid; however, it leads you to anxiety. Yes, you will have wealth, but you will constantly be afraid of taking the wrong step. These people are hung up on worries like “What if I fail?” and “What if I don’t hit my goal?” This results in a situation where you second-guess every decision and live in fear of failure.

3) Successful people embrace fear and let it motivate them. These people achieve their goals and do so by acknowledging their fear without letting it ruin their enjoyment of their success.

Habits of poor people: Trying to reinvent the wheel.
Habits of poor people: Trying to reinvent the wheel.

#4: Unsuccessful People Try to Reinvent the Wheel

Poor people always try to come up with something spectacular and new to make their fortune. This is the biggest trap you face as you work toward your goals. Instead of something new, what you need is a proven system, one that you know works and will help you gain success.

Warren Buffet once said, “I try to buy stock in businesses that are so wonderful that an idiot can run them. Because sooner or later, one will.” I believe this statement, and that’s why I recommend Jordan Belfort’s Straight Line System. It’s so simple that it’s being used to help hundreds of struggling companies and thousands of people to become wealthy.

What is the system that you have in place? Are you trying to reinvent the wheel or do you have one that is proven?

#3: Poor People Are Lousy at Business

If you don’t have any business experience, it’s nothing to be ashamed of. No one is born with business skills. Someone has to teach or show you the ropes. This is why you must be careful when choosing your mentor. You want to make sure that you’re getting the best information available.

Watching money disappear.
Watching money disappear.

#2: Poor People Are Uncomfortable with Words Like “Sales,” Marketing,” and “Persuasion”

Either you’re selling or you’re failing. You may not sell products, but you have to have the ability to sell yourself and your concepts.

You don’t need to master persuasion, but you need to become effective at it. It is the most crucial skill that any person could have. Even Warren Buffet, who many don’t think of as being a master salesman, has admitted publicly that persuasion is the single most important skill he has.

You don’t need to become a hardcore salesperson, but you do have to learn how effectively persuade so that people will invest in you. If you are able to sell your vision, people will follow you because you can show them your value as a human being.

Without the proper tools of persuasion, you could create the next big microchip or the cure for cancer and no one would invest in your idea because you aren’t able to influence them to do so. If you can’t get others to buy in to your ideas, you will fail at reaching your goals.

This is why I recommend the Mastering Influence Program. It is the most effective way to close any human being who is closeable. There is no pressure involved for either the buyer or seller, and it isn’t so much like selling as it is taking someone from one point to another in a logical decision-making process.

Selling yourself short.
Selling yourself short.

#1: Unsuccessful People Slave Away for a Paycheck

There are only two jobs where you can make real money if you work for someone else:

1) If you work for heavy commissions.

2) If you work in the investment banking industry and can leverage off of a huge company’s assets.

Other than these two exceptions, if you really want to get ahead in life, you have to own your own business. I am not saying that you need to quit your job immediately. You need to have the right mindset in order to start your own successful business without quitting your job, or having to put up a lot of money. You need to know how to raise (not borrow) money cheaply.

At some point, if you want to be wealthy you have to get your own business. Otherwise you are a pawn in someone else’s game.