Success the Azizi Ali Way

Here is a story about someone who achieves success via rather non-conventional ways. Azizi Ali is a pilot. He is also a business owner, best-selling author & writer, speaker, financial coach and an avid property investor. In short, he is doing what he likes most and became a millionaire in the process.

Azizi Ali has today written over 20 books, most of them becoming the national best sellers. In 2004, he was estimated to be making over a quarter of a million ringgit from writing alone.

When he was young, just like any other aspiring youngsters, he aimed to earn good living by getting a good job. He took off his career in the aviation industry by becoming a pilot for a major commercial airline. His aim was to make money. A lot of money and eventually become rich. But what seem to be a promising career turned to be a confusing one, as far as his financial life is concerned. He noticed that he was not even close to building a decent wealth even though making a good income as a pilot. Often times, he realized most of the money would soon disappear before the new month began without him knowing where did it go.

After doing some research and reading, it dawned on him that many financially successful and wealthy people come from the business background. For examples are Richard Branson, Lim Goh Tong, Mokhtar al-Bukhary, Ananda Krishnan, Bill Gates and many more. Soon, he jumped onto the entrepreneurship bandwagon by opening a music shop. He failed miserably and lost much of his hard earned savings. As much as RM200,000 was lost within 2 years of business before he decided to close shop.

He learnt a lot from his failure, which includes the fact that while business can give a tremendous return, not everyone is cut out to be successful businessman or entrepreneur. He then set on a new quest developing his personal financial skills and intelligence through reading, attending workshops and even taking financial related exams and certifications. He knows the secret to riches is developing a solid financial defence first.

Soon, his financial skill improved and so was his wealth. He ventured into property business and other investment tools and started to multiply his net worth.

The failure of his music business did not deter his determination to seek new source of wealth. He turned to his another passion, which is writing. He becomes a classic example of someone who reaches a new height by following his heart. In his book The Millionaire in Me, Azizi shared his experience when writing his first book, Millionares are From Different Planet!.

After asking for opinions from a number of people for a feedback, he was told he’d be lucky to sell 10 copies of the book. In fact, one of them asked him not to proceed with the writing as he was considered the wrong guy to talk about finance and wealth. He did it anyway. The rest is history. The book sells and continues to sell and eventually became a best selling.

Azizi proved that to be financially successful, one does not have to be in business. You can still do so by working for other people. While this is not common thing, this still can, and does happen. The Millionaire Next Door, an explosive best-selling book that presented the results of a study two researchers (Thomas Stanley & William Danko) found that while a big chunk of millionaires in America come from the business background, some significant percentage come from professionals and normal employees. The fundamental secret is to live within your means and exercise good saving and investment habits and most importantly, develop good financial intelligence and avoid the rat race trap.

Today Azizi Ali continues writing and conducting his property seminars and workshops.

Photo courtesy of MillionairesPlanet.com.

Zul is the principal contributor of SKOR Career blog. He also contributes to other publications that include, among others, The Star, JobStreet.com and Reader's Digest (Asia). You can reach him at zulkiflimusa[at]gmail.com.

Zul

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