What Separates Billionaires From Everyday Entrepreneurs?

By Jonha Richman

There are 1,826 billionaires on the planet today. If my math is correct, that’s only 2.6 percent of the Earth’s population.

Believe it or not, billionaires are normal beings too as most of them still drive their old cars, still wear non-branded suits, and fly on business trips with economy class. What separates these people from the entrepreneurial crowd is not the way they live, but actually their mind-sets.

What do billionaires know that normal people don’t? These are things that can help the entrepreneurial crowd get to their level:

Billionaires are creatures of habit.

Many wealthy people are creatures of habit and maintain to-do lists. In The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life, we learn that Warren Buffett likes eating the same thing over and over again. John Paul DeJoria shared with Business Insider that he spends the first five minutes of every day in bed to reflect and "just be" in the present.

Research by Tom Corley reveals that 44 percent of wealthy people wake up three hours before they go to work; a study by Rich Habits reports that 88 percent of wealthy people read 30 minutes or more each day.

Billionaires know that the world is easy to influence.

As Steve Jobs once said, “Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use.” Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg's life lesson is about not letting anyone tell your story. Even if there are people as smart as you or smarter than you in your team, he says, “Don’t be intimidated working with them.”

Billionaires are not happy with just one big idea.

Instead of going for one big business idea, top entrepreneurs are willing to pursue multiple opportunities. Richard Branson's first stab at entrepreneurship was selling Christmas trees and parakeets as a kid. After those businesses failed, he launched a student magazine and started selling mail order records. Over time, Branson sold additional items, including vacation packages, personal finance services, and even wedding dresses.

Billionaires live within their means, no matter how much money they have.

They don’t want to spend millions of dollars, they want to own it. A normal person is more likely to spend all of his take-home money and struggle to pay off mounting debts from credit cards, cars, and mortgages. A good example of a billionaire who lives within his means is the world’s richest man, Bill Gates. When asked to name his luxuries, he listed books, DVDs, and fast-food burgers—none of the fancy things that typical one-day millionaires might have.

Billionaires are not just passionate, they are obsessed.

There’s a kind of passion you will sense when billionaires speak, but sometimes it’s more than just passion. It’s an “obsession,” as described by Justine Musk, the ex-wife of billionaire inventor Elon Musk. In a piece on Quora, Justine writes that great billionaires like Elon, Richard Branson, Bill Gates, and Steve Jobs don’t think the way other people think.

Billionaires thrive on criticism.

Billionaires don’t get weighed down by criticism easily. Henry Ford was once called “ignorant” by a publishing house. Optimistic by nature, Ford as well as other billionaires know that part of being a billionaire is accepting criticism. According to Larry Ellison of Oracle, “When you innovate, you’ve got to be prepared for people telling you that you are nuts.”

Billionaires learn quickly from their mistakes.

Just like every other human, billionaires make mistakes too. As Steve Jobs said, mistakes are part of innovation. Instead of bowing their heads in defeat, they quickly acknowledge their flaws and get on with improving other innovations.

Most of us have really great ideas that we hope will eventually make billions. However, it’s not just the ideas that make the billionaires wealthy—it’s the drive, hard work, and discipline to live a simple life and give up on things that get in their way to making more money.

Billionaires know that the only way for them to make more money is to strip themselves of habits that keep normal people ... well, normal.