> You must own equity - a piece of a business - to gain your financial freedom. But, unless you already have wealth, you need social status to get to a place o

> You must own equity - a piece of a business - to gain your financial freedom. But, unless you already have wealth, you need social status to get to a place of owning significant equity. You need peers willing to work with you as co-founders on a new venture. You need to impress investors, unless you're self sustaining from the start. Once you start to grow, your business needs to be a place employees want to work. Especially early on, your connection with customers and gaining their trust and enthusiasm will be a big part of convincing them to buy your product. Reputation for good customer service and quality products is also an aspect of social status. In other words, you need some forms of social status to bootstrap wealth accumulation.