How Building a High Net Worth Protects You From Defeat

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Failure is inevitable.

Even the world’s most successful people experience failure many times throughout their lives.  But here’s the good news:

Failure doesn’t have to mean defeat.

Failure doesn't have to mean defeat

I’m not an expert at a lot of things, but you could say I’m quite skilled at managing my failures.

It was during one of the lowest times in my life I happened to listen to an audiobook from best-selling author Grant Cardone that completely changed my perspective towards failure.  

Cardone, a self-made millionaire with over $350M in real estate, was talking about a time relatively early in his career that he made a bad investment and nearly lost everything. It was then he realized the importance of being so successful that no single failure could ever break you.

From that moment on I promised myself I would become so successful that no single failure could ever break me. Just as any professional boxer knows he or she will get punched many times in a fight, the point is not to get knocked out or defeated.  

In this blog, I focus on how building a high net worth allows you to fail many times without getting defeated. I focus on 4 key topics:

  • Having the Right Mindset

  • Creating a Solid Foundation, Slowly

  • Building Your Net Worth the Right Way

  • Learning from Failure

Having the Right Mindset

The economy will crash. You’ll get hit with unexpected bills. The money you were counting on will get delayed. Everything that can go wrong, will go wrong.

That’s not being pessimistic.  It’s having the necessary mindset to protect you from failure.    

Grant Cardone in his best-selling book The 10X Rule says,

“People optimistically overestimate how well things will go and then underestimate how much energy and effort it will take just to push things through.”

It’s great to hope for the best, but you should always plan for the worst. .Then, when something goes wrong, you can focus your energy on carrying out the disaster plan you already have in place rather than scrambling to create one.

It’s important to build a net worth high enough to always have a margin of safety to enable you to address problems as they arise.

You don’t need to prepare for a sunny day; you only have to walk outside in your shorts.  But you do need to have a game plan for when it rains. Don’t wait until you’re stuck in the middle of a storm to figure out how to stay dry.  

Creating a solid foundation, slowly 

Creating a Solid Foundation, Slowly

Building your net worth is a marathon, not a sprint. Take the necessary time to build a solid foundation.

Think about it: would you feel more comfortable running across a bridge that was built in five days or five years?  Clearly five years. There’s a reason that the pyramids are still standing today.

It takes time to build something to last.  Build your net worth the same way.

This means take the time to build strong business relationships and multiple streams of income.

YouTube’s top content creator, Lilly Singh in her best-selling book, How to be a Bawse, gives the following career advice she followed when building her platform:

“You are building an empire, and empires are not built overnight, but nor do they fall easily. They should be built on a strong foundation so that they withstand the test of time and are resilient when threatened.”

But when faced with failure, she says:

“Empires are not built on a single pillar and similarly your career will not be built or lost on a single success. One pillar crumbling away does not destroy the entire empire and therefore one failure does not destroy everything you’ve built.”

Don’t be in a rush to build your net worth. You’re likely to be earning for 40+ years.  You have plenty of time.

If you build your net worth the right way over the long run then periodic missteps might cause you to trip up a bit but they will never cause you to fall.

Building your net worth the right way

Building Your Net Worth the Right Way

After you’ve established the right mindset, the next step is to get to work on building your net worth in a way that protects you during times of failure.

This doesn’t just mean having a lot of money.  

There are plenty of people who have made a lot of money but were not able to withstand failures that ended up defeating them. The media is littered with headlines of once successful athletes, musicians and celebrities making millions and then after some bad decisions, losing it all.

You have to build your net worth strategically in a way that protects you from defeat when the inevitable failures occur.  Some principles for doing this:

  1. Have Priorities: Keep your priorities in order: invest first, save second, spend third.
  2. Create Multiple Incomes: Create multiple streams of income from unrelated sources so if one stops it won’t affect the other.  An example of this is working as a freelancer in your spare time so even if you lose your job you still have an income source.
  3. Invest What You’re Able: Never invest what you can’t afford to lose.  
  4. Stay Liquid: Invest money in areas that keep you liquid enough to deal with unexpected losses. Real estate, for example, is much less liquid than stocks.  And the last thing you want to do is have to sell your assets in distress…you’ll leave a lot of money on the table.
  5. Keep a Low Burn Rate: Keep a minimalist lifestyle and know the areas you could cut costs quickly if you had to.  Work to have enough savings to cover being able to go at least 12 months with no income.
  6. Know About Taxes: Learn about taxes and have a strategy in place that maximizes your post-tax income.  Many successful people don’t plan for or understand taxes and it becomes their downfall.  
  7. Diversify Industries: Receive income from different industries so even if one industry slows down it won’t affect the other.  You can even do this through passive investments, such as investing in stocks across many industries to insulate yourself from risk.

Learning from failure

Learning from Failure

So far we’ve covered the importance of having the right mindset to tackle failures and the value of creating a protective net worth with a solid foundation to carry you through the long haul. The final key to protecting yourself from defeat is taking the time to learn from your failures.

Going back to our boxing analogy, as Mike Tyson says, “everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”

Getting hit is as important to learning how to box as failure is critical to success.  Failure helps guide you to success, but only if you learn from it.

Ray Dalio, founder, and CEO of the world’s largest hedge fund, in a media interview, said:

“I think the term failure almost seems like an end rather than a step. Once you start to realize it’s a step then it’s going to help you climb to the next level.”

Learn to see failure as a self-discovery of a weakness or flaw in your decision making.  Every time you discover that weakness you’re able to change for the better.

So failure isn’t a mistake but rather a necessary event for your personal evolution, as long as you keep learning from it.  

Once you start to see every failure you experience as a learning opportunity then you also remove the pain associated with failing.  Each failure becomes a lesson that gets you one step closer to where you need to go.

Final Thoughts

Let’s face it, you’re likely to fail more than once in your life.  Things rarely work out as you plan them to. It’s no surprise that the average millionaire goes bankrupt at least 3.5 times in their life.

Life happens.  And whatever can go wrong will go wrong.

So your best bet is to prepare for the inevitable with the right mindset, create a solid foundation for your long-term success, and build a strategic net worth that will protect you from defeat when things go wrong  Above all else, never stop learning from your failures – they are ultimately your keys to success.


8 Comments for "How Building a High Net Worth Protects You From Defeat"


  • Defol Jabbar

    Hi Dhar & Laura, you both are chosen couples. Thanks for all these inspirations.

    All the best in all you are doing.

    God bless you always.

    Posted Dec 6th
  • Kelly Barry

    Love all your posts, videos, blogs! Such reality.

    Valentine’s Contest Answers:
    Who: My 2 sons
    As an only parent, I’ve solely focused on them since their father left 7 years ago.

    What: An action packed weekend getaway-history, museums, trampoline park, indoor basketball, swimming, ice skating…

    Why: I couldn’t imagine a Valentine’s Day ♥️ without them… Although I know as they get older, it’s inevitable. We haven’t had a vacation in 2 years.

    I love your blog. Being true to a product or brand that you promote is key to being believable.

    Posted Feb 13th
  • Debra Esco

    Inspiring read. It isn’t about our failures but how we pick ourselves up afterwards, learn from it and make a change. My husband loves audiobooks on success and I’m going to refer the one you mentioned to him.

    Valentines Day: My husband and my 19 month old son! I would buy us a couple of pizzas and of course some chocolate cake. The rest of the money I will spend on a careseat, stroller and basic necessities for our baby one the way. We are so blessed and excited that we are pregnant we found out 2-10-19 and due 10-19-19 ♥️, the only way our valentines could get better is this amazing opportunity to win, and relieve some of the financial worries. In regards to Dhar’s article, I follow many influencers and one thing I see a lot is the endorsement of products once and never again, and like he mentioned this goes along with doing it just for the money as well, as someone who looks up to influencers for insight, it’s frustrating to place our trust in an influencer and spend our hard earned money on products that are promoted and then they never use them again. Dhar & Laura, you’re a beautiful and inspiring couple and I wish you many blessings. Thank you both for this opportunity.

    Ps. Do I get extra points for actually reading your blogs? Jk.

    Posted Feb 13th
  • Heather Witherow

    This is my entry for the Dhar & Laura giveaway. Thankyou for the opportunity! ?
    My mom would be my date. For the past two years, I’ve been sick, and forced to undergo a lot of tests, and they only now found the problem. She’s been my number one supporter through it all: Caring for me when I was so sick I couldn’t get up, making foods that worked with the strict diets the doctors put me on, providing moral support. She deserves to be treated to a fancy dinner and shopping spree because she is a super hero to me. I’d love to be able to give her a special Valentine’s day to give a little back to her for everything she has done for me. ? I’ve actually shown my mom some of your videos, and they make her tear up too. They are so inspirational and sweet!

    My favorite tip from your article is about being authentic and choosing a partnership that best represents you and what you do.

    Thank you again! ? This is a wonderful thing you are doing. And thank you for inspiring me and my mom.

    Posted Feb 13th
  • Iris

    Hi you guys! Thankyou for doing this generous giveaway, I have so much respect for you guys for giving back, especially when you go out and prepare food for the homeless, you guys are awesome. For the vacation giveaway I would like to nominate my mom. We are here in California. Ever since i could remember, my mom has been my rock. She raised me and my brother all by herself. She would find work cleaning houses, laundrymats, selling food, finding any type of way to keep a roof over our head and keeping food on the table. She made sure we had clean and when possible new clothes, while she shopped at second hand stores for herself. Me and my brother began working at 15 in fast food to help her and now i am thankful to god that we are able to show our appreciation for everything she did for us by taking care of her. I dont know where she would like to go, but i can say this..she loves the water and is the most grateful person i know, and she would be eternally grateful to you guys for gifting her a trip. (Thanks again you two, love u)
    Ps. Dhar i think your buzzfeed article was on point. My favorite advice you gave for influencers starting out is to stick to one area of expertise. I say that because theres lots of pages out there that have too much content of different subjects and it definitely will lose a viewers interest if they came on to your page looking for one subject that caught their attention and they get a load of bunch of unrelated content. So great advice! (Btw dhar i just finished reading this article, I can’t believe all that has happened to you and you got back on your feet building building LiveGlam, it’s certainly inspiring)

    Posted Nov 11th
  • Stefanie King

    I would LOVE to take my boyfriend on our dream trip to Canada. He talks about going to Canada literally every single day. My boyfriend is one of the best people on this planet. I don’t know where i would be without him. Since we were sophomores in high school I lived with him because my family was having a lot of money issues and had to move into a one bedroom hotel with my mom, step dad, brother and sister. so there was obviously no room for me. Throughout all I was going through at the time with my family’s money problems, my boyfriend was MY ROCK. I couldn’t possibly ask for someone more loving and supportive. even though we were only 15 him and his family took me in. ever since he has given me everything I could ever want. We are now 21 and are juniors in college! We are definitely broke college students. We were already saving literally every penny to try to go to canada the second week of march, but my car broke down and had to use what we saved to fix it. He supports me so much with everything I do, emotionally and financially. I would love to be able to give something to him for once. who knows where i would be without him. If i could just do ONE thing for him, I would be so greatful. I love yalls relationship, it is definitely one to look up too. y’all are literally the ultimate goals. Even if I don’t win i’m greatful for the opportunity!! Love y’all!!
    my favorite tip from Dhar is ENGAGE with your followers! y’all do so much to engage with your supporters and trust me everyone appreciates it!!
    (we are from fort worth texas!)

    Posted Nov 8th
  • Talin

    Hello Dhar & Laura!?❤️ I live in Glendale and although my dream vacation would be Greece ?? I would have to say a reasonable destination would be Alaska. My husband and I never went on a honeymoon due to work and health related issues. He felt bad about it and told me that wen though we hadn’t gone on a honeymoon that we would go on small trips in the future and call them manymoon trips lol. We have been together 14 years and married 4 of those years. The last four have been challenging in both health and Finances and we have yet to go on a honeymoon or start our plans for the manymoon trips. With the $1000 we would be able to kickstart our manymoom trips (won’t be enough for a dream trip, but it’s more than enough for a small getaway). Also, I would favorite trip you guys went to would be Mykonos ??. Thank you to the both of you for this great giveaway. ???

    Posted Nov 4th
  • Chinnie Wong

    I would love to go to Maldives with my boyfriend!

    Posted Nov 3rd

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