Majority of the world’s population is living in poverty and only few are rich. But we all have the same 24 hours a day but it seems some people know how to convert these hours into money. What then are the causes of poverty in the world. People often ask these questions:

1. What then is the cause of poverty?
2. Why are some richwhile others are poor?
3. How can I also be rich?
4. How to make money?

If you have asked any of these questions, then you have found the right place for the answers. There are so many ways to make money and the road to wealth is diverse but all of these have patterns no matter which you decide to take. These patterns could be grouped into the following factors that influence how much money or wealth you can make:

1. Behavioural or Attitudinal factors
2. Environmental factors
3. Family and Background factors
4. Health status
5. Educational status

Each of the factors above have positive and negative sides. The more positives you have, the more richer you get and the more the wealth. The more negatives you have, the more the poverty status increases unto penury. Remember that these factors combine to shape the status of an individual as rich or poor. When you take a look at the richest people in the world, you see that they have more of the positive aspect compared to others. But this does not mean that everything is owned to luck; the good side of it is that these factors are not influenced by anything other than ourselves. Let us look at them one by one.

Reasons why people are poor

One of the factors among all your attitude, your behaviour, lifestyle and character which determines to a large extend the level or status of money you can make in a lifetime. This is because what controls other aspect of your life is the way you see things. If you are not interested in something, you will definitely not go for it; if you love something, you will put all efforts into getting it. Hence, in order to make money and acquire wealth, you have to purge yourself of the negative attitudes you have that may stand on your way to success. These attitudes are listed and explained below.

Low self esteem can cause Poverty

some people do not belief in themselves, they do not have the confidence that they can achieve what they want, they think others are better than they do. These class of people cannot make money and cannot get rich. They reason is clear, because those who turn the world around are confident people; they plan and execute tasks and make sure that their plans work. But those with low self esteem do not even want to be given a task that has isalready planned not to even talk of planning and executing one; they always think they cannot be successful and so they resort to blames: sometimes blaming themselves, parents orguardian, friends, society or God. These people fail to see the need to develop themselves in order to face and execute task. For one to make money, you must trust yourself, learn how to solve problems because money comes to those that can solve a problem that people can pay money for in order to help reduce or resolve the problem. No one will pay you for a service that they do not want. People want you to help them solve problems and in return you can charge for your services; whatever area of life or business that you think others have succeeded in making money from it, that service or product must have solved one problem or another. So brace up yourself, look for some simple tasks and try solving them all by yourself, then gradually increase the level of the task until you have learned to become confident of yourself.

Solution:The truth is, the body does not love anything that challenges it. Everyone wants to just sit back, relax and hopes that thinks will get better by themselves, but the world was not designed as such. The world was made for humans to work and get something back in return. No one is born with high self esteem, we all acquired it and the more you develop yourself, the more confident you become and the more people will admire your confidence and ease at which you take up difficult tasks and make them look simple.

The French scientist Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck (1744-1829) proposed the law of Use and Disusewhich states that: “The parts of an organism’s body that are used become more developed; parts that are not used become smaller and may disappear” this law is true and it applies to your brain too, the more you use your brain, the more it learns how to process information quickly, the less you use it, the more passive it becomes and the less the task it can accomplish. Think of it this way, the best in athletics are those that have learned through a continuous process to train their muscles which makes them best. A paralyzed limb becomes thin with time not because blood does not flow to it but because it has not been used. A small child learns how to crawl and then learns how to walk and then how to run. Everything in life is a process and the more you do it, the more you become use to it and the more you become better in it each time you practice. So why not learn how to task yourself and make sure that the task is achieved? Why not trust yourself with little things? Start to do what you could not be able to do before simply because you had low self esteem. All you need to do is to start in a little way and build up slowly and before you know it, you have become so confident that you will even surprise yourself. Remember that everyone had low self esteem before they build up themselves.

The first time I tried talking to my girlfriend who is now my fiancee, my mouth shakes and I have to rehearse the words in my mind before I speak, but with time and association with the opposite gender, I learned how to talk to girls and before I know it, I could make them laugh at almost anything I want. Professionalism in every aspect of life cannot be learned in one day, it comes with practice and time. Lastly, come out of your shell of seeing yourself inferior, useless, not worthy etc. and be the person you have dreamed to be. Do not allow what happened to you in the past to weigh you down. Regain yourself and forge ahead and you will be there with time and practice.

Laziness is among the top 3 factors why people are poor

“A little sleep, a little slumber,A little folding of the hands to sleep So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler,And your need like an armed man.“
-Proverbs 6:10-15
The truth is that, no one loves a lazy man or woman because such people are more of a burden. Before you become a professor, you must work hard, before the world knows you, you must have worked hard. Anyone’s art or skills you admire so much are results of hard work. The best student is the one who has had sleepless nights. The trick to becoming the best lies in the amount of time you have dedicated to it that no one has done before. Laziness even hates those that are lazy, why not do what you are required to do? Who will do it for you or even keep doing it for you? Even a day old child must learn to suckle in order to survive. The ants do go out to gather food, the birds look for food, dogs bark in order to get value for their services; if animals work to get food, why are you an exception? This life is a struggle, whether you accept it or not, even the rich struggle to remain rich, so when you decide to sleep or fold hands and wait for things to happen, it is indirectly a struggle to poverty and in due time, you will be left behind. Even the con artists still think and plan on how to cheat and deceive. The easier something appears to be, the less you gain from it or the less it becomes real. If someone says you can gain millions from gambling, it may be true but you can also lose what you have gained from it easily.
Solution: Tell yourself the truth, things will only work well when you rise up to the task. Whoever you see excelling in his or her field of work or in an art that is learned or education or any area of life, that person has dedicated time for such and they love it. Most times, whatever you do when others are sleeping, that is what you will be good at doing. Whenever you sleep when others are sleeping, you will be very good at sleeping. (Sleeping must not be at night alone, but if you love fun,pleasure, enjoyment and relaxation, then do not worry, that will be the field you will excel at.). Whatever you keep doing at night when all have sleep manifests itself during the day, those that code at night become good programmers during the day, those that read at night become good scholars in the daytime, those that pray at night become righteous during the day, and the list may go on and on. The children of the rich may not work hard as other because they have someone who has once work hard and they are reaping the fruits of their parents; therefore, wake up and work for yourself, your children and those around you.
Laziness only piles up heaps of challenges for you, hence, in order to make money, move out and get something doing for yourself that commands money to come. Think, Plan and Act and wealth becomes your friend with time.

Impatience and looking for fast means of making money

An impatient man misses so many opportunities because hehardly waits for things to materialize. There is a mentality in Nigeria in which the success of everything is measured on a monthly basis simply because workers are paid on a monthly basis, therefore, whenever you try to establish a business that will be profitable in few years time, only a few will join in such a business because most people are impatient and cannot wait for years. This is one character that makes one not to think into the future and plan but rather will resort to simple things that can bring in non significant sum of money. Such people, you will not expect them to be rich because riches do not just come overnight, You must plan on meaningful projects, wait patiently for it to actualize, nurture it to grow, and it will boom; that is when money begins coming in. But if you are the type that cannot wait for a very long time, then do not expect riches. Mac Zuckerberg of Facebook waited for years and grew his website from TheFacebook within a school to the whole world. Warren Bufette started saving when he was a child, Dangote of Nigeria started small and waited for years while nurturing his business before he became the richest in Africa, Etc. I am not saying you must wait forever, but try and give time to your business to grow. There is a saying that “The fattest bone is given to the patient dog” , so be patient and take time to grow and plan.

Lack of planning will make you to always Fail

“He that fails to plan, plans to fail“, when you fail to plan, you are indirectly planning for your failure. When you have insight about the future, it helps you to focus and direct your resources, time and finance in order to make your project a success.
Planning helps you to organize yourself, it makes you to foresee problems that lie ahead and how to avoid such pitfalls so that you will not be caught unawares. When you plan, you know how much resources will be needed, the number of human services that will be needed, the available time to accomplish the task, the gains and so on. But when you look at the life of the poor, they are less organised, they hardly have plans, they are often caught up by problems before they start looking for solutions. Even among the rich, the more organised are richer because we all have the same 24 hours on earth, but what you do with yours determine to a large extent the outcome of your success. There are people who spend time on less productive ventures or activities and they put on a form of being busy. This type of attitude does not help because you are actually wasting time instead of maximizing the time.
Solution: Take a look at your activities and think over them, ask yourself the goal of engaging in such an activity, what do you aim to achieve in what you do daily, what benefit does it have towards you making money. If you must go on social media, let it be for a reason but not just to spend half of the day chatting and viewing pictures. Turn it into something useful, sale out your products, read and get peoples views on what you aim to achieve, get people to visit your new site etc. These are few examples on using the social media for useful purposes rather than just fun.
Get a book or use your computer to write out your goals and how you aim to achieve them, whatever idea pops up into your mind, write it down because you may forget. Ask people to get their advice about what they think on your project, they may reveal what you never knew about it, because people only know how to point out problems. Google out ideas and learn to read online about whatever you intend going into; by doing this, it helps you have a rough picture of how it will be, and then you can use the information you have to set out your plans. Make sure that your source of information is really reliable because not everyone wants you to succeed, there are thieves, deceivers and other evil people who are out to destroy rather than help.

Carefree: You don’t care about anything so why should money care about you?

Those that are carefree do not botherthemselves about what is happening around them or their society. They have no interest in most things and pay no attention to what affects them. This set of people form the major part of the poor because making money is all about interests. To make money, you must look out for what the society needs (the peoples interests) and then you solve their needs; in return, they will give out money as payment for service rendered. But if you are the type that does not care about what the people need, how can you solve their problems? Even in an already established company, you need to improve and grow and before you do that, you must know what your customers want and try to provide and meet up to their needs. The companies that spent much on advertising are those that do not know about the interest of their customers. Advertising is good, but when it becomes too much, it turns into a kind of an indirect way of forcing your customers to buy what they don’t need. So why waste your money on adverts when you can take out a survey of what people need and then solve their needs. It is that simple!

Failure to diversify (one source of income)

It is a good thing to start earning income, or if you have become successful, that is nice. But it does not end there, you have to diversify and spray your tentacles so that your roots can draw water from different sources. If you have one source of income and you feel comfortable,you will have nothing left when unforeseen circumstances happen. Try to get two or more sources of income. This can be seen in the rich people of the world, Dangote has flour, cement, and many other industries, he is still building a refinery. Such people have secured their wealth, and no mater what happens, they are affected little. But for someone who has just one company, a single change of government policies may send you out of business.

Lack of confidence is a sure way to becoming poor

Being bold and trust in yourself is something you learn over time. It does not just come in one day. The more you confront your problems, the less you are afraid of them. Once you are able to solve one issue, you will be more confident in handling something similar when it comes. People often always discourage, they hardly encourage, so if you are not confident of what you want to do, people may even end up destroying your dreams. But once you are confident of yourself, what they say counts as nothing and for me, they more people discourage me, the ore I will want to prove them wrong by adding more efforts. I can only be convinced but never be discouraged. Learn self confidence, and you will be a leader in all you do; few people have this virtue but for the few that have, they end up leading other people because they can stand and speak anywhere and at anytime.

Fear of risks and fear of failure and fear of starting something new: they will certainly ruin your life

One of the characteristics of an entrepreneur is risk taking. If you are afraid to try out something different you will end up just like those around you. Life is like a cycle, when you follow a path that others have followed, you will achieve what they have achieved, if you do not want to end up like them, then you must try out what has not be done; you take risks, you must learn not to be afraid of failure.

Lack of focus and inability to know what you really want in Life

I have come across people who expect things to just work out as they are thinking. They do not plan about the future, they are seen constantly online on social medias, messenger chats, and such people prefer venturing into unprofitable ventures. They spent their time without purpose, they think the time is always on their side. When you do not care about the future, the future will come upon you swiftly and before you realize it, your peers have achieved what you are struggling to achieve. Wake up from slumber and face reality. You may be under someone who provides always for you, but just know that the person may not continue to do that always. Most Nigerian graduates have been under the cover of their parents, but by the time they finish NYSC and come back, they start becoming a burden to their parents and only then do they realize that they would have started something that earns money even before finishing school. The rate of unemployment increases every day as some people lose their Jobs and graduates are added to the unemployment pool. Start something and be focused on it rather than being glued to social media thinking one day a job may come by; remember time is slowing passing by.

Lack of basic education

An illiterate can become rich but when you add basic education to such a person, it adds more wealth. Your ability to read and comprehend helps you to relate with people, helps you to read terms and conditions of businesses. Education is a vital aspect of becoming wealthy. The likes of Mac Zuckerberg, Bill Gates and Seun of Nairaland are known to be school drop outs but they have acquired the basic education of learning how to read and write and comprehend. Once you know these, the rest is left for you to compete in life.

Inability to socialize

People will end up patronizing whatever you produce or create, if you do not learn how to socialize with people, you will achieve less than what you would have achieved. When you meet with people, you gain inspirations that helps you add to your business, discouragement that builds your confidence, experience that helps you not repeat the same mistake others made and many more. It is good to relate well with people and find out their needs and try to tailor the business into meeting those needs.

Trusting everyone

“Trust no one in business” if you fail to get this into your head, you will end up learning it by experience which might be pretty expensive on your business. No matter who you are into business with, try as much as possible to clearly define your roles and the contribution of everyone to the business. If you think your business partner is a sister or brother and nothing might go wrong, you are fooling yourself, a husband can part with the wife pertaining business and brothers could part in business just as the P square’s case with their brother Jude. No matter who the person is, never allow anyone to deceive you into destroying your business. Everything should be documented as much as possible. If you must trust, then trust with something that cannot destroy your business even if the person ends up failing you.

So many characters, some acquired and some are inborn can affect what you may become in life; it is left for you to try and know the negative ones and then amend them so as to become successful and for the positive ones you can build more on them.