5 High-Income Skills That Helped Me Get Rich, According to John Liang
Even if you make good money, you might not be making what you deserve. And even if you get what you deserve, you might be making as much as you can.
John Liang, a financial expert who specializes in investing, real estate, credit cards and rewards travel, recently released a YouTube video with some very lucrative tips. The video detailed the strategies he used to land his first six-figure job, as well as a six-figure brand deal. Read on and see how you can incorporate these methods to start earning more.
Hustle On: Need an Extra $500 a Month? Consider These 6 Side Gigs
Start Earning: 7 Low-Effort Ways to Make Passive Income (You Can Start This Week)
1. Stay Dumb
You’re probably looking at this tip and wondering why being dumb would help you get rich. Liang explained by pointing out that sometimes the most tried strategy isn’t always the smartest. Instead, Liang said you should stay dumb — that is, open to learning — to find other ways to accomplish your goals that could yield better results. It’s all about blazing your own path, rather than following what everyone else is doing.
“While other creators were obsessing over the right posting time, the right hashtag, the right hook, the shadowbans, I just took a step back and said, ‘Hey, this works. I will do this,’” Liang said.
This allowed him to grow his TikTok from zero followers to 700,000 in a year. Within two years, he had a seven-figure income stream.
2. Get to 'No' ASAP
Liang gets this tip from the book “Never Split the Difference” by Chris Voss. Voss is a former FBI hostage negotiator, who has said the most powerful place you can get to in a negotiation is “no,” because then you know the opposition's boundaries.
Liang said getting a “no” when you’re in the business world is great, because it gives you the freedom to look for opportunities that might be a “yes.” If a contact doesn’t want to pay you what you asked for, that’s a no.
“The minute someone says 'yes' in a negotiation, you've lost because there was more money left on the table," Liang said. "By bringing them to 'no,' great. Then we can always work backwards from there.”
3. Learn To Shut Up
Echoing another tip from Vos, Liang said that “sitting in silence is probably the most powerful and yet awkward skill that you can develop when you are in a negotiation.”
Liang cited the story of his dad helping him buy a car. When the dealer would give a number, his dad would stay silent. Wanting to fill the void, the dealer would blurt out a number and the more silent his dad was, the lower the numbers got.
Liang employed this strategy when negotiating a brand deal. The brand sent him an email with an initial offer he thought was too low. Liang didn’t respond and after a week of no response, the brand came back with the figure Liang wanted.
4. Establish Goals with External Accountability
“Internal goals, in my personal opinion, they're just lies,” Liang said. “To actually really force yourself to commit to your goals and to make progress, they have to be external with external accountability.”
Liang suggested setting goals with friends and meeting up weekly to see how you’re progressing on those goals. The idea that someone else will have to hear how you’re doing on your goals motivates you to achieve them.
5. Embrace Your Inner Nerd
Liang is a self-described “credit card nerd,” and attributes that niche interest to being able to make him rich. At first thinking it was just a hobby or a personal quirk, he realized that people were actually interested in the information he had about credit cards and how to use them to maximize points.
“Without first nerding out on credit cards in college and then afterwards, none of this would have existed,” Liang said.
This article was provided by MoneyLion.com for informational purposes only and should not be construed as financial, legal or tax advice.
More From MoneyLion: