# Two Money-Making Formulas for Ordinary People

**Formula One: Arbitrage Thinking (Middleman Mentality)**

This is connecting two resources you know about and profiting from the spread. Every successful entrepreneur got their start by creating something from nothing—this is the core skill.

This is the ability to generate value from thin air. To become a money-making master, you must master this technique. My first million came from arbitrage thinking. Otherwise, unless you were born into wealth, relying solely on salary from employment will likely leave you poor for life. The biggest trap at this stage for ordinary people is the desperate need to prove success, leading to reckless spending of your first pot of gold—an extremely poor trade-off. My personal experience tells you: face and pride are completely worthless. The money in your bank account is the real treasure you can rely on until death.

**Formula Two: Investor/Dealer Mentality**

Once you've accumulated sufficient initial capital, you naturally want to think like an investor—making money with assets, making money with money. However, many people squander their principal due to excessive greed. I'll share an iron law of investing: before deploying your capital, you must be crystal clear about every step. Most importantly, you must have sufficient control over how your money returns. If you don't, absolutely don't invest.

The biggest trap in the early stages of this phase: after being poor for so long, people tend to become impatient—this is a cardinal sin in investing. You need tremendous time and experience to gradually develop patience and slowly abandon fantasies of sudden wealth. In fact, you don't need many investment opportunities in your lifetime. Seizing just one or two great investment opportunities is enough to ensure prosperity for life.