Essentials Only: Book Club — Rich AF

I recently doubled back to my Rich BFF Vivian Tu’s book, Rich AF, for a refresher before I start her new book Well Endowed.

Vivian’s a Wall Street trader turned TikTok (and Instagram) girlie who gives us her rich-person cheat codes in short, sweet videos complete with green screen effects and personal anecdotes from her various high-profile jobs.

I read Rich AF for the first time in 2024 and am still implementing the strategies. 

I actively read it back then, highlighter and notebook handy. But this time? I needed a second highlighter before the end I’d highlighted so many new insights.

One of my favorite bits of the whole book?

“Leaving sucks, but you know what? Their loss… Rich people are especially good at three things: selling their skills, networking, and knowing when to get the fuck outta dodge.” 

How perfect is that?

Here are my top 3 takeaways from Rich AF (without getting into the weeds of the acronyms and mind-blowing financial strategies she shares).

• Rich people are out here breaking the rules we’re all “supposed” to follow: This can mean many things. But we all have shoulds and norms and rules we follow that are so deeply ingrained in our psyches we never think to question how hindering they are.

• Rich people know it’s just easier to make more money and have the lifestyle they want than to slash expenses to the bone in the name of saving: I named my business Beauty Is Abundant partly because I want an ever present reminder that life, business (and yes, beauty) are abundant.

  Entrepreneurship can be scary AF. And scarcity mentality tries with all its might to make us think we (not just entrepreneurs — this was a thing before I became an entrepreneur too) may never earn another dime because the next guy’s earning all the dimes. Or that that tiny mistake is going to bankrupt the whole operation.

  Almost always, it’s simply not true. Our earning potential is infinite. The combinations of ways to earn more are infinite. When things feel scarce, I’ve found it equally challenging and empowering to think — how can I earn more or be a better steward of what I have and have it work harder for me, rather than cutting back on things I love?

• Rich people know that opportunities are had when you’re in the right place at the right time. So to get the most opportunities, you want to be in the most (I’ll add aligned and intentional) places, as often as possible: As much as I love staying home.. this is facts (I said what I said. It is facts — no grammar check).

  Good news is, intention and alignment when determining where to be help prevent wasted time, energy, outfits, gas money — all the things. Getting out there isn’t easy after a long day of doing infinity things you’ve never done before as an entrepreneur or things you’ve done a zillion times in your corporate job. But I’m finding over and over again that eventually, the networking juice is worth the squeeze.

  What incremental mindset shift will we make (and act on) today to become Rich AF?

Sending my love,

Leah