What is wealth exactly and how do we attain it? With car loans, mortgages, credit card debt, student loans, and medical bills, many Americans will define it in financial terms and will then work ever harder to make more money. However, Eric Walsh, the founder of The Genius Academy as well as The Genius Academy Automation, which generates passive income for its clients, believes it goes beyond that. “To me, wealth is both personal and financial, and both can enrich your life in ways you can’t foresee,” he states. “To build wealth, I recommend first defining it as you see it, then being open to new ways of earning it.”
Eric believes deeply in the kind of wealth that can’t be found through profits. “I find it through the people I admire,” he says. “For me, it’s more than just money. It’s about how lives are impacted. For that, one person I look to is Spectacular Smith. He’s an artist, rapper, mogul, and serial entrepreneur. He’s absolutely inspirational, and I have been fortunate to be able to get to know him. He’s changing lives, which is exactly what I want to do. He’s reinforced in me the importance of using what I have and know to lift other people up.”
Eric has also been enriched by Ed Mylett, an influencer, entrepreneur, and speaker. “The reason I like him so much is because while everyone else talks about business and numbers, he is always focused on speaking about mental health,” Eric explains. “Ed gives you a great perspective on mental and physical health as well as relationships and family. I like how he talks about how these are catalysts for business and how you approach life. I agree with him that they lead to a ripple effect in what you do.”
Financial wealth is important, too, of course. Over the years, Eric has become a respected business leader, with companies in ecommerce, real estate, the food industry, and cryptocurrency. He is a big believer in passive income streams, which generate money with relatively little involvement from him. “I want my money to be working for me and not the reverse,” Eric says. The catch, he goes on to say, is that you will always have to put some work into it – exactly how much will depend – before it starts paying off for you.
Eric’s passive income is generated by the stores he has on Amazon and Walmart. “I had to put in the work to set them up and get them successful, of course, but now that income is passive because I have a team running the stores. This gives me back my time.” Eric then takes his Amazon profits and invests in long-term stocks that he believes in and that will earn a high dividend and compounded interest.
Eric’s money is not all tied up in ecommerce. He believes in diversifying his wealth, which is why he has a Papa John’s franchise. “This is actually passive income for me, too, because my equity partner operates it for me,” Eric explains.
He also used some of the profits he gets from Amazon to invest in a property that he then fixed up and listed on VRBO.com. “That earns another $3,000+/month in passive income. As a bonus, it increased the property value of the land with a higher appraisal.”
From meeting inspirational people and generating passive income through his businesses in different industries, Eric has learned a lot about wealth and how to manage it. “I’ve learned that it can come and go at a moment’s notice,” he says. “That’s why I try to focus on what I am grateful for each day and on how I can inspire people around me. I won’t deny that having money is nice. Of course, it is. However, at the end of the day, I want to impact people just as much as Ed Mylett and Spectacular Smith have impacted me and others. To me, that will be true wealth.”
