Achieving billionaire status especially when you have been bankrupt requires a particular mindset - something that Bill Bartmann has definitely acquired.
While, he recently lost his billionaire status, one senses that he will bounce back for he has been down this road before. However, he would not have been able to build his fortune in the first place if it had not been for one thing. This is the secret to his success and it is something that anyone striving for success needs.
However, to put things into perspective we need to go back in time.
Bartmann was one of eight children. His parents were uneducated and so could not command well-paying jobs. He describes having to move frequently and even being turned out of dwellings because they were deemed not fit for human habitation.
He has been homeless and was once part of a travelling carnival. He dropped out of high school, was a teenage alcoholic and a member of a teenage gang called known as the "Manor Boys".
He was also the smallest member weighing in at just 98lbs. This didn't stop him from picking fights with the 'big' boys. In some ways it's a trait that has stuck with him - not so much picking fights - but there's audaciousness to many of his business ventures.
He truly understands the concept of risk and reward. A big risk can result in a huge pay-off, but if it backfires it can leave a large dent in your pocket and bank balance. Bartmann has experienced both extremes. He has been a millionaire three times, bankrupt twice and a billionaire once.
It just shows that it's not your circumstances that make an individual wealthy. It's your mindset. He could lose everything today and tomorrow he would simply start to rebuild his fortune.
In an interview forVirtual Seminar Week, Alex Mandossian asked Bill Bartmann what was, in his view, the key to success. Bartmann replied that he could sum up the key to success to just one thing, something which he had identified at a young age.
"All the successful people I knew in life had high self-esteem and all the losers had low self-esteem."
Were you expecting something more profound? We often unnecessarily complicate things.
Our self-image drives everything that we do and our self-image is inexorably linked to our self-esteem and self-confidence. Improve your self-esteem and improvements in your life will naturally follow.
Having high self-esteem is indeed the key to success.
When Bartmann was growing up his self-esteem was low. He gives credit to his childhood sweetheart, Kathy, for opening his eyes to this fact. It is as Barbara D'Angelis says,
"Until you're aware of what you're doing you have no choice but to continue doing it."
Kathy once threatened to leave him. She told him that she loved him but that he was always putting himself down. She had had enough.
It was a defining moment in his life. He said he would change.
While change wasn't easy the alternative didn't bear contemplating so he steadily built his self-esteem.
He took the GED (General Educational Development) exam and put himself through college and law school.
Kathy eventually became his wife and they've been married now for over 30 years.
Bartmann has had his self-doubts, even bouts of depression - he wouldn't be human otherwise. However, when your self esteem is strong and when you are clear about your core values - the things you stand for and what you are unwilling to compromise on - then you bounce back from these lows.
And each time, you bounce back just a little bit higher.
