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Second, entrepreneurialism is celebrated. A young person fresh out of college, a high school dropout, retirees -- anyone! -- can turn an idea into a product or service. Open up the business section of any newspaper and you'll read all kinds of fascinating stories about hardworking individuals who have found a consumer need, or created one. YouTube, anyone?

Third, the rise of direct selling has opened up the door to building wealth for many ordinary Americans. More people with good ideas can now go straight to the consumer, often online. They've built entire businesses that way. We see more one-on-one marketing because technology allows it, and people are no longer hampered by the myth that only established companies can sell goods. The Myth about Saving If this chapter does nothing else, it should change your view about success. While it may seem as if the chips are stacked against you, there are some fundamental advantages to the way the world is structured today that Henry Ford could never have imagined. You don't have to know the richest people, or have connections in government, or be absurdly lucky. These days you just need some good ideas (and my strategy can help with those too!) and you need your LifeNet.

But before we delve into how to use your LifeNet to get ahead, I want to focus for a moment on another myth. It's the personal-finance solution de jour. Namely, that scrimping and saving is the only way to get ahead. Not only are we supposed to work harder than ever, relying solely on ourselves, we're also told to cut out the lattes, drive an old car, eliminate magazine subscriptions, and eat in every night.

These are not bad ideas. Pushing ourselves to work harder and being prudent when it comes to spending are certainly important elements to being successful. In this book, you'll meet people who are making seven-figure fortunes, and you can bet that none of them got there by slacking off or by going deep into debt to buy the latest fashions or brand-new luxury cars. I'm certainly not pooh-poohing thrift as a personal virtue. But I'm proud of the fact that I buy most of my clothes at 30% off or more. Even famed personal virtue investor Warren Buffett has lived in the same house in Omaha for the last 30 years and shops at discount stores. And many successful entrepreneurs have made a dollar go a long way in their businesses.

But in these pages, instead of focusing on ways to cut back, we'll target the income-producing side of the equation, and how people can become millionaires by using the LifeNet strategies I'll outline.

There's no doubt in my mind that hard work is the cornerstone of success. It's also true that you're not going to get anywhere by spending all your money on things you don't need. Saving is important. And the more debt you carry, the longer it's going to take you to dig out to financial freedom.

But I just don't believe you're going to make your first million by giving up that $3 latte every day for the rest of your life. I would argue focusing on pennies alone will doom you to failure. At some point, as with a failed diet, you're going to break down and buy the coffee, go out to a lavish meal, buy something you don't need -- and then you'll feel really guilty about it. Often as not, that guilt makes us feel so bad we give up trying to save altogether, figuring financial success just isn't for us.

I've got a better idea. Rather than relying solely on yourself, on scrimping and saving to get ahead, why not start tapping into the people and resources that are all around you to turn your passion into profits? So Here's the Secret

It isn't that America's storybook millionaires and billionaires made all that money on their own. It's just that the public traditionally perceives those fortunes having been built as solo endeavors. One name gets all the credit. The media always likes to trumpet the accomplishments of the individual because it's more dramatic and more consistent with our hero-worshipping culture.

The real story is a lot more complex and less dramatic. In fact, those millionaires and billionaires didn't do it alone. They had help, and plenty of it. Some autobiographies may even acknowledge that fact, but the critical reviews never pick up on it, or never connect the dots into a theory the way The Millionaire Zone does. I am going to show you that, despite popular perception, the financial moguls past and present -- and thousands of others -- did not get rich following the individualistic, go-it-alone approach.