There’s a very good reason millions of immigrants choose America out of all the possible countries in the world. If you have talent, no other country in the world will allow you to become as wealthy while letting you keep more than half your earnings. The same is true if you lack talent but are smart enough to apply your unyielding work ethic to a valuable venture.
Unfortunately, some pessimists have claimed that the dream is a myth or even go far as to say that it never existed. These people usually have their own agenda (such as getting populist votes) and something to gain by selling this lie. But the numbers don’t lie. Unemployment is at its lowest. Americans have record high savings. Work from home has given people more time and flexibility. For millions of entry level jobs in America, the only requirement is a high school diploma and a beating heart. If you choose a job with a fair boss, you have the opportunity to prove yourself.
I am here to proudly say that the American Dream is alive and thriving. Hear me now ladies and gentlemen. There has never been more opportunities in the history of the world for you to make the American Dream come true! And there is no better way to achieve the dream than to create your own success and thankfully, it’s never been easier than now to start your own business.
The Land
Your first advantage is the sheer size of America, both in geography and population. You can scale your business considerably just by selling to the domestic market. If you were in a small country, you would have to go international much quicker just to reach the same audience size as the US.
The Tech
You can create your own e-commerce website without knowing a thing about code. It wasn’t too long ago where you would have to pay over $10K to hire a programmer to create a site for you.
If you wanted to start a consumer brand in 1990, you may have to take out a multi-million dollar advertising campaign on TV networks, newspapers and billboards. Now you can reach a thousand consumers for only a dollar or less, enabling you to market to millions of people at low cost. Not just any consumers but to the right consumers thanks to the many tools that target a specific sociodemographic most likely to buy your products. People have also become accustomed to buying products based only on what they see on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.
It’s so easy to take this for granted but being able to create a direct to consumer brand without being dependent on getting shelf space at retail stores and selling straight to consumers online is tremendously liberating.
If you are an employee or freelancer, remote work at the peak of social acceptance. You can work wherever you want. If you’re an American, you can choose to live in a low cost country like Bali, paying low Balinese expenses while earning high American wages. If you’re in a low-cost country, you can work for a foreign company and earn a high income.
The Freedom
In most circles today you are no longer judged for factors outside your control such as your ethnicity. In fact, you are more likely to be favored by colleges or companies if they deem you to have a favorable background. With a few clicks online, you can also find countless numbers of people who are willing to help if you reach out to them. If you’re determined to succeed, there is no limit to what you can achieve.
The “Most People Don’t Become Rich” Argument
Here’s what a party pooper says. Only one in a hundred people become rich, or 1%. That’s statistically unlikely, therefore you will never become rich. So the American Dream? Fuhgeddaboudit.
Fortunately, that’s completely wrong. There are 258 million adults in the US and 22 million millionaires, which means 8.5% of the adult population is a millionaire. If you’re reading this though, you’re probably one of 83 million Americans who have some type of college degree. That means 27% percent of formally educated adults in America are millionaires. Granted a million isn’t what it used to be, but that’s more than one in four people.
That still doesn’t mean you “only” have a 27% of becoming a millionaire. There are many who have no interest in becoming rich. People don’t become teachers, nurses and painters because they have wealth at the top of their priority list.
Then there are those that do want to be rich but never seriously try. As an employer it is painfully obvious to see this. For example, I’ve looked through thousands of profiles when hiring freelancers. Most people only write one generic paragraph about how they have the skills to achieve your task. And most of these profiles contain some kind of small but noticeable typo or formatting mistake. Only once in a while do you come across a profile where it’s abundantly clear significant effort was expended. Multiple well-written paragraphs with specific examples of their past work, quantified results and a polished resume or rich portfolio.
Try this yourself, go to any freelancing site and see what most people’s profiles look like. That just might give you the confidence boost you need to believe that you have a greater than 50% chance of achieving the American dream. Just don’t delay, because this will be your final chance to achieve great wealth before the dawn of A.I. eliminates all human opportunities.
