ORLANDO, Fla. – Sometimes, it’s not so much that the first step of a long journey is the most difficult. Things get much harder, rather, when you don’t even know what the first step is.
This week on “Black Men Sundays,” host Corie Murray interviews Dr. Herbert Harris, a public speaker, author and former attorney whose most popular book — “The Twelve Universal Laws of Success: Super Achiever Edition” — remains in print throughout multiple countries for its advice on starting new careers with practical and spiritual fulfillment.
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When asked for the key to building generational wealth, Harris told Murray that you must begin on solid ground, or “ground zero,” as he called it.
“See, many people want to talk about creating generational wealth, but until you have ground zero — and ground zero is that amount of money and resources necessary to maintain you at your ground level, so that’s what you need to pay your rent or pay your mortgage, what you need to cover your light bills, gas bills, medical expenses, et cetera — and so once you solve ground zero, then to really grow ground zero into wealth, into fortune, into companies,” Harris said. “In our book, we call it ‘Solving the riddle of survival,’ because until you solve the riddle of survival and establish your ground zero and how to handle it, you’re always gonna be coming back.”
With 12 laws to cover, however, the buck is far from stopping at ground zero for Harris. For example, the “Law of value” on its own discusses four principles of wealth building, Harris explains.
“The earning principle, that’s ‘Earn as much as you can,’ because wealth is going to essentially be about transference and creation of money and bringing it to you. (...) Then the second is the spending principle, and well, No. 1 I don’t even like that principle, I’d rather call it the circulating principle because when you spend it the implication is that it’s gone forever, but the circulation principle, where you’re literally able to circulate whatever you spend, it’s circulating, so when you spend money for your mortgage it’s circulating because you’re increasing value,” Harris said. “...Then the saving principle is (that) the difference between your earnings and your spending is your saving, so make saving a true objective (...) And then the fourth principle is the investment principle, that once you’ve saved some money and set aside enough to carry yourself for three to six months — some people say up to a year — then look around now investing to create money and whatnot for your future.”
Hear the full interview and more in Season 2, Episode 26 of “Black Men Sundays.”
Black Men Sundays talks about building generational wealth. Check out every episode in the media player below.