Go to school.
Get a good job.
Join the middle class.
The problem: there is no middle class.
Only the Inner class and the Outer class.
Allow me to explain …
The Red Queen
When I was younger, I read “Through the Looking Glass” by Lewis Carroll.
In this story, a young Alice steps through a mirror into a fantastical world where everything is reversed.
She finds herself in a vast chessboard landscape and learns she can become a queen if she successfully makes it to the eighth square.
However, navigating this chessboard proves challenging due to the bizarre and inconsistent rules governing the landscape.
Alice meets a host of peculiar characters on her journey, one of which is the Red Queen.
In one scene, Alice and the Red Queen run together but remain in the same spot.
"Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!"
This scene illustrates the absurdity and frustration of much of Alice’s experience in the looking-glass world.
As an adult, I came to realize that we all walk through the looking glass when we walk into our public schools around age 5.
Traditional schools train you to be an employee so that you can get a job and spend the next 40 years running just to remain in the same place.
Not true, you say. “I get promotions. I get pay raises. I’m moving up through the middle class.”
As I explain below, in the big scheme of things, you have barely budged.
Step back out of the Looking Glass
99% of people think the income classes are:
- lower class
- middle class
- upper class
This is illustrated by the graphic below.
A small proportion of people fall into the lower and upper income classes while most people are in the middle class.
You hear this view reinforced everyday in school, at work, and on the news.
Get a high paying job, join the middle class, get a small pay raise every year, and that’s about as best as you can do. Right? Wrong.
Zoom out and your perspective changes.
The hump where most people exist is just a small part of the picture. These are the people running just to stay in the same place.
As the graphic below illustrates, there is a whole other world that exists outside the looking glass.
It’s a world where a small number of people earn great sums of money.
This is the world in which @thejustinwelsh, @thedankoe, @alexmormozi, and @elonmusk live.
I call these two distinct groups of people the Outer Class and the Inner Class.
What distinguishes members of the Inner Class from the Outer Class?
The Inner class is in on the secret, part of the inner circle, and lives intentionally.
The Outer class is out of the loop, out on the periphery, and lives zoned-out.
Your network
What does that mean? It can best be understood by visualizing your social graph.
You probably heard the saying “You will become the 5 people you spend the most time around”.
Well, you exist in a world of relationships. You interact and with family, friends co-workers on a daily basis. You read websites and books.
These are where you get ideas from and hear about new opportunities.
They likely heard about those ideas and opportunities from others they are connected to, but to whom you are not.
People in the Inner class (like Elon Musk) are deep inside these clusters of relationships. The people who surround them pass on novel ideas and are aware of rare opportunties
People in the Outer class (like you) are on the edge of these clusters. You go through most days with limited access to new information or opportunities.
No one has told you this reality before.
To improve that situation, you need to improve yourself.
Outer and Inner class traits
6 Outer class traits you should shed as soon as possible.
- avoid risks
- buy liabilities
- follow people
- sell your time
- work for money
- earn one income stream
Compare those to traits of the Inner class …
6 Inner class traits you should acquire as soon as possible.
- take risks
- buy assets
- lead people
- sell products
- work to learn
- earn multiple income streams
Join Us
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Remember, real wealth isn’t about avoiding work; it’s about creating a life where work enhances your freedom and fulfillment.
Let’s make it happen.
Warm regards,
The Edupreneur
