In the 19th century, something extra-ordinary began to happen.
Gold fever swept the planet.
Suddenly the idea of prospecting became an incredible craze.
Countries all over the place were having gold rushes.
Individuals in their millions were selling their homes to fund a journey to the gold fields of California or the dry mallee territory of Ballarat in Australia.
The gold rushes captured peoples imagination and they sold all their belongings just to get their shot at the brass ring.
Eventually, it dawned on a select few, that there really was not that much gold left.
By the time the word spread and the masses descended upon the gold fields, the major mining companies had already extracted all the gold there was.
It was generally a gamble and there were only a few winners.
To find a nugget of any substantial worth your odds were excessively extreme.
However, there was all these individuals, wanting to get their share of the gold.
Millions of people suddenly flooding these towns populations.
There pockets full of seed capital for the explicit purpose of setting up a claim and mining that claim.
They brought an incredible amount of wealth to the economies of these gold regions.
They needed accommodation and shovels and blue jeans.
They needed food and supplies.
The ones who got rich.
The real winners during the gold rushes of the 19th century was not the prospectors.
The real winners were the people that supplied to the needs of these people.
This serves as an important lesson in wealth creation.
These types of crazes happen quite often around the world.
To get rich fast, you need to be there, at the center of the craze, not following the crowd, but supplying them what they need.