By Mike Johnson
Ray Kroc opened his first McDonald’s on April 15, 1955.
I started working at McDonald’s #93 (a Minneapolis suburb) in early 1974.
Then my dad moved us to St. Petersburg, Florida where I worked at McDonald’s #1099.
I was working there on April 15, 1975 when McDonald’s celebrated Ray Kroc’s 20th anniversary by selling hamburgers at their 1955 price of 15 cents.
It was bedlam.
People ordered burgers by the dozens.
Some individual orders exceeded 100.
Every employee was scheduled.
Even corporate employees from the main office worked in our store that day.
Despite fast service, we had lines out the doors from open to close.
We sold over 15,000 15-cent hamburgers that day.
The 1975 hamburger price was 30 cents so we were only talking about a 15-cent price discount.
But people went crazy for it.
This is because 15 cents used to be REAL money.
As you can see from the 1973 menu board above, you could easily buy a burger, fry and drink for under a dollar.
Today, McDonald’s prices are about ten times higher than 1973.
But wages are only six times higher than 1973.
For the past 50 years, Americans have been working longer and harder for a dollar that buys less and less.
This is what happens when you counterfeit a nation’s currency by the trillions.
Unless you’re in the top 1%.
Their wages grew 138% from 1979 to 2015, while the bottom 90% saw their wages increase just 15% during the same time (per Economic Policy Institute).
Life isn’t fair.
In fact, it’s run by criminals who set it up this way on purpose.
You can’t change “life,” or stop the counterfeiting, so you have to find workarounds.
You study how others have achieved what you desire.
Then you adapt that knowledge to your own skills and personality.
With a little self-study, you quickly learn that those who earn more, OWN more.
They OWN their own income stream, rather than “renting” it at some job.
Jobs will never get you to financial and time freedom.
Even if you keep getting promoted.
Jobs are good for LEARNING, but bad for EARNING.
The melting dollar buys 12% less every year now (ShadowStats.com).
Unless you get an annual 12% salary increase, you’re losing ground.
With a job, you only earn income from wages.
But ownership of a business or income property generates income four ways.
Profits, appreciation, tax savings and equity.
Also, with ownership, inflation becomes a HELP.
It automatically increases the value of your operation which can be harvested when you sell.
You can’t sell a job.
After a few years, even Ray Kroc realized that he’d never get rich selling 15 cent hamburgers.
His wealth came after learning to buy the land and lease it to franchisees, just like a trailer park charges lot rent to trailer owners.
But in Kroc's version, the franchisees HAD to lease land from McDonald's, could ONLY place a McDonald’s on that land, and it HAD to be run to exacting standards.
As McDonald’s land grew in value, they borrowed against it to buy more land to lease to more franchisees.
Perpetual rental income enabled perpetual growth.
Today, McDonald’s is a real estate business.
Creating profitable restaurants is just their best way to help its franchisees earn enough income to justify paying McDonald’s to keep renting the land.
Even Ray Kroc had to find a workaround to escape perpetual work and inflation.
Like us all, he first had to inflate his MIND.
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More:
How Customer Service Changed My Life
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