Nile Rodgers Shows That Not All Rich People Are Motivated By Money

The fascinating Nile Rodgers story shows that not all wealthy and successful people are solely motivated by making and holding onto money.

It’s a common misconception that all rich people are greedy, money grabbing, only motivated by making money and hoard and keep all their cash to themselves. 

I’ve studied the lives thousands of wealthy and successful men and women, and personally know many very rich people. 

In 95% of the cases I’ve studied and witnessed, the above assumptions are just not true. 

Of course, most self-made people look after and manage their money, and want to ensure that they can leave something for their family when they die. Beyond that, they are usually generous and give fortunes away to charity and worthy causes. 

In my personal experience in working with charities like Rotary International, the busiest and most successful people give up their money (The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation donated $100 dollars to help Rotary end polio) as well as their valuable time in order to help others. They volunteer and show up when asked to lend a helping hand, as well as putting their hands deep into their pockets to support projects financially. Unsuccessful people usually say, “I haven’t got time”. 

The common belief that the rich and successful are solely motivated by money is rarely the case. 

Successful people have usually found something they love doing, which is why they are successful. To be successful in any endeavour, you have to enjoy and love what you do, otherwise you could not take all of the knocks and setbacks. 

Unsuccessful people are invariably doing jobs they hate, which is one of the reasons they are unsuccessful.

Steve Jobs and Bill Gates loved building computers from a young age. Warren Buffett and Charlie Monger love investing and spend hours and hours reading company reports.

The rich also want to make money, but that is not the sole reason for their endeavours. That’s why they go on working long after they’ve made enough money to live on for the rest of their lives.

You may have heard the expression, “he’s made more comebacks than Frank Sinatra”? That’s because the great, and very rich, singer (who’s private was cleaned by a 14-year-old Nile Rodgers) retired several times but got so bored that he kept coming out of retirement to do more concerts well into his seventies.  

In an interview for the Sunday Times Fame and Fortune feature, multi award-winning musician, writer and producer Nile Rogers said he had no idea how much he earned last year. He said that his accountants organise enough for his needs and the rest is put into trust or goes to charity.

His financial priorities now are making sure that there is enough money to keep We Are Family Foundation going long after he is gone.  

Every year, his foundation takes 35 kids from all over the world to New York to mentor them.  They are kids that he believes will have an effect on or can change the world in a positive way, like Jack Andraka, who as a teenager come up with a $15 screening device for early-stage pancreatic cancer. 

The 66-year-old cancer survivor describes himself as a “worker bee” who has been credited on over 1500 albums, which have gone on to sell 500 million copies. He has worked with a wide variety of artists from David Bowie to Madonna and Daft Punk, with whom he enjoyed a renaissance as a performing artist winning 3 Grammys in 2014. 

In his younger days, Rodgers was a big spender. He received a $4 million royalty cheque for the 7 million-selling single Le Freak when he was just 27 years old. He went on a big spending spree buying a Porsche and a fast boat like the one he saw on the 80’s TV show Miami Vice, even though he lived in New York at the time. Unlike many of the "stars who lost it all" I feature in my book, Yes, Money Can Buy You Happiness, Rodgers successfully maintained his earnings throughout his career while his spending habits gradually mellowed.

He was adaptable and, like the Gibb brothers, went into writing and producing for other artists when he saw that the 70's disco era was over. 

There's a saying that the poor work hard for their money but the rich make the money work hard for them. However, after losing money on Wall Street in the junk bonds scam, Rodgers said he now allows his money to "rest" while he does the work. He “invests” in technical schools in Africa teaching underprivileged young kids to code.

There are of course entrepreneurs who just wanted to be rich, like the Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary who said he set out in his business career to make a lot of money.

Are all rich people nice, generous or mean and nasty? Of course not.

Money is like alcohol; it just amplifies more of who you are. If you’re broke, mean and miserable, money will probably just make you rich and even more mean and miserable!

For Nile Rodgers, money buys him the freedom to do the things he wants to do, to keep on rocking and make a difference in the world. Long may you continue!

Key Takeaways

·      Not all rich and successful people are solely motivated by making money.
 
Not all rich people are greedy, money grabbing and only motivated by making money.
 
The rich and successful, like Nile Rodgers, give an enormous amount of time and money to help others.
 
Money amplifies more of who you really are.

You can order my book Yes, Money Can Buy You Happiness, on Amazon: http://bit.ly/2MoneyBook

Jamie Oliver lost £25m trying to rescue restaurant chain but what has he learned from failure?

Jamie Oliver lost £25m trying to rescue restaurant chain but what has he learned from failure?

A lot of authors and motivational focus on successful people like Richard Branson, Steve Jobs and Warren Buffett. They talk about copying the habits of successful people, learning from successful people and that’s all fine.

But you can also learn from failure. You can learn from bad habits as well as good habits and you can learn from other people’s mistakes rather than making your own.

A good example is the recent collapse of UK Jamie Oliver’s restaurant empire. The business not only went under, Jamie sunk £25 million of his own cash trying to save it.

I assume that he had no personal liability for the business debts, so he could have just walked away and let it go instead of throwing good money after bad.

However, I’m not sure if Jamie has learned from his own mistakes and doesn’t seem to accept that he even made any apart from being misled by his management.

In a recent interview for the Times, the TV chef blames high rents, or the landlords, business rates and competition from delivery services like Uber Eats and Deliveroo for the downfall of his business, which saw the closure of 22 restaurants and the loss of 1000 jobs.

Whilst the above list might be factors in the story the decline of the business, they are just external factors.

He does not seem to accept that he and poor management had a hand in the mess, although he admits that the “wool was pulled over his eyes” and he had “poor advice”. I’m not sure if that is more in relation to him pouring in £25 million of his own cash to save a sinking ship rather than the mismanagement of the business prior to it going into administration.

A good leader takes the blame as well as the credit for the success or failure of business.

Either way, he’s blaming someone else. To be fair, he might not be able to bare his soul in public, as we are not very forgiving towards failure in this country. Privately he might just be saying, “sorry I screwed up” or words to that effect!

If he felt that rents were high in the prime spots he took on, why did they sign those leases for over 22 restaurants in the space of a few years?

When you sign a lease, you must look at all the clauses and rent review periods and look forward to project future rent rises.

Landlords have businesses to run too. Whilst people may not have any sympathy for what they often called “greedy” landlords, it should be remembered that many of these prime city centre buildings and shopping malls are owned by your pension funds. If they go down, so does your pension.

If rents are too high, the buildings would not be let or the landlord would not be able to find tenants.

There is some evidence that we could be reaching saturation points for shopping developments and maybe rents are too high. Primark are now asking for 30% reduction in rent because of deals done with administrators for companies which have renegotiated rents.

Regardless of that, Jamie took on these leases in prime areas at top rents whilst riding the crest of a wave.

There would have been a lot of competition for these spots and I’m sure the landlords felt that Jamie Oliver was almost a prime blue-chip tenant and good for the rent. Landlords will be left sitting on empty premises with long rent voids. Nobody ever mentions that the landlords might have mortgages to pay when these high-flying businesses come crashing down to earth with a bang.

I was also a commercial landlord and know what it’s like when a tenant pulls the plug.

As for business rates, they are a known fixed cost which would have been factored into the business plan from the start. Not all councils have raised their business rates in recent years. He’s just jumping on the retailer bandwagon of complaining about business rates in relation to online services like Amazon which obviously do not pay business rates for premises.

The truth is, the problem had less to do with increasing costs than decreasing revenue.

You can’t control external factors like taxes, but you can control internal factors and the way you run your business.

Jamie cites home delivery services as a reason for a fall in profits. He does not say why he did not join the booming home delivery market by using companies like Uber Eats, Just Eat and Deliveroo to deliver his food to his customers?

You know the old saying, if you can’t beat them join them.

It’s interesting to note that none of the above companies own or run a restaurant or takeaway establishment. They make money on delivering food and actually help smaller restaurants gain wider access to the online market in much the same way that Amazon does for small retailers.

Just Eat is now valued at £112 million after takeaway.com increased its stake in the firm founded in 2000 by Danish investors. The combined group will be worth over £8 billion

Uber recently launched on the US stock market valuing the company at $82 billion.

Uber Eats is in talks to buy Deliveroo which raised £400 million in venture capital when it launched in 2013 and is now valued at £1.5 billion. Amazon were also interested in acquiring Deliveroo but the deal was blocked by the competition commission.

I like Jamie Oliver and admire many of the things he has done to help young people, even if some critics say he is motivated by self-publicity! I also love his great food and simple TV recipes, and I’m actually able to follow them! I even have one of his books.

I certainly don’t gloat over any business failing and feel sorry for the people lose their jobs.

Having said that, I think Jamie should admit some simple truths.

Firstly, he took his eye off the ball big time. Even if he was not running the business hands on himself, he should’ve been keeping an eye on the figures long before the business went into a downward spiral.

Unprofitable branches should’ve been closed, costs reduced and management shaken up.

Secondly, the management could have adapted the business to a changing market, such as home delivery or lower spending during the Brexit period.

The sad fact is, that the restaurants were not quite as good as the hype. Sorry Jamie, unfortunately the food was overpriced and as a customer I felt that I was not really getting good value. Everything was extra for this and extra for that to complete an already expensive main course. I don’t mind paying for a really good meal, but the food was not quite up to the prices and was not fine dining.

I tried several of his restaurants and did not see much change in the menu or special offers that would attract new customers.

I was never asked to register to a mailing list or app for special offers and discount vouchers, as practiced by other chains like Prezzo or Bella Pasta. Today I received another email from Bella pasta offering a £10 special to encourage me back through their doors.

Sadly, there was nothing there that made me want to rush back to any of Jamie’s outlets, although a discount voucher would have helped.

Thirdly, you have to question whether or not he expanded too quickly or open more branches then the management were able to cope with. The company must’ve taken on huge borrowings to open up so many restaurants in a short space of time.

I would imagine they paid premiums for some of the leases on the sites. I don’t think they would have got much change out of £1 million for the set up and fit out for the premises of the restaurant branches.

Jamie was riding on the back of his celebrity name and frame. The public loved him and he could do no wrong. Maybe he believed too much in his own publicity and thought he could do no wrong?

I personally wondered why he did not open up a select few restaurants, like Gordon Ramsey, in a few prime spots or use his name to offer franchises or joint-ventures where he was not taking on all the risk. Yes, it’s easy to say that with hindsight.

I do hope Jamie learns from his mistakes and I’m sure he will be back. I believe he also has overseas branches which are not affected by the UK collapse.

The main thing that is that when you make a mistake or things go wrong in your business, you can’t just blame external factors and you have to ask yourself questions like,

What could I have done better? Where did I go wrong?

How did I f*** it all up!

There is an old acronym, which has almost become a cliché, when setting up a business plan: S.W.O.T, which stands for:

Strengths

Weaknesses

Opportunities

Threats

You Fill in the blanks.

In summary, failing can be a useful learning experience as well as a stepping stone towards success, as in the classic Thomas Edison experience of 10,000 attempts to invent the right lightbulb.

Most successful business people have suffered Major setbacks at some stage in their business career.

Steve Jobs was fired from the company he founded, but was later brought back to rescue it and make Apple one of the most valuable companies on the planet.

Businesses also have to adapt to changes and threats. In the 1970s, the oil crisis caused petrol prices to skyrocket. American gas-guzzling carmakers were caught short and were almost put out of business by Japanese car makers who made smaller and more fuel-efficient cars.

They regrouped and adapted and come out with their own fuel-efficient cars.

Now they face new external threats from regulators and electric car makers like Elon Musk’s Tesla, whose firm was recently valued on the stock market at more than 100-year-old multinational companies like General Motors and Ford, despite never making a profit!

Do you think they are going to just sit back and let Tesla steal their market? Of course not! They are already developing their own electric vehicles, which will no doubt be cheaper and more accessible than the luxury Tesla. They may even buy out companies like Tesla that threaten to take too many bites out of their lunch.

Do you think these companies are going to say, “oh well, the regulators have brought in these new emissions laws and higher taxes so there’s not much we can do about it”?

You can learn from both your past successes and failures by analysing what went right and what went wrong.

The author and speaker David Goggins says he always falls back on a military debrief format used to analyse every operation from his days when he served as a Navy Seal. If he has failed at something, like a world record attempt, he looks at everything that went wrong from preparation and training, to omitting to anticipate possible threats, obstacles or weaknesses in his plan. He then goes back and tries again without making the same mistakes.

It took David two or three attempts before succeeding at many of the things he tried to achieve, such as becoming a Navy Seal or breaking the world 24-hour pull-up record. He talks of that moment of pushing past pain and finding success just the other side or one step beyond his biggest failures.

I talk more about practical steps to managing your money, getting rich and being happy in my book, Yes, money can buy happiness, I cover the 3 R’s of Money Management, the Money B.E.L.I.E.F System, the Stars Who Lost it All and much more. Check it out on Amazon http://bit.ly/2MoneyBook.