Building Wealth Long-term: 3 Steps For Young Jamaicans

Building Wealth Long-term in Jamaica: The Challenging Reality

It pains my heart to witness many of Jamaica’s bright minds have become squeezed if you will, into accepting a world where they have to conform to the monetization rules of the powerhouses in Technology & AI (Google, YouTube, Meta…); and International laws/International policies (United States of America)–that market itself as the place of choice to live and enjoy life.

I get it, if you’re like me (also on social media), then you too are bombarded with social media content daily, whereby multiple content creators from overseas, promote their mostly lavish earnings from their exploits as a content creator on the top platforms like Tik Tok, YouTube & Facebook. And you will hear and see, also on social media, the general purchasing power of the US dollar; as well as the vast size of commerce & economic opportunity of the United States. This exposure presents to us vividly, the reality of the gap in economy and opportunity, between the United States of America & Jamaica. And this economic gap inadvertently is your challenging reality, as a resident of Jamaica.

Notwithstanding this challenging reality you have the opportunity of building wealth long term in Jamaica. In this blog article, I present you with 3 steps to do this. Each of these steps is co-dependent with each other. Once you apply all of these steps, you will be well on your way towards building wealth, long term, whilst residing in Jamaica, or a similar economy.

Step 1: Create & Build Your Platform, Network & Tribe

This step is built on the foundations that you have already:

• Identified a pain point within your target market.
• Created a solution for your target market.

Once you have your pain, solution & target audience scripted, you should then invest your time and energy into creating & building your platform to surf the waves of the globally-digital economy. Whilst social media creators & search engines alike will dominate the call of you creating a social media profile/page for your business, Your social media, and the subscribers and/or followers you have in that platform, are not inherently yours. Likewise, whilst the content you publish on the social media platform is yours, your earning capacity can be heavily regulated by the monetization policies of the respective social media platform.

As an example, at the time of drafting this article, YouTube through their YouTube Partner Program (YPP), has an entry requirement of 4000 watch hours + minimum 1000 subscribers, to qualify for it’s monetization of your videos through ads. As of early 2027, the requirements to qualify for YPP is 8000 watch hours + minimum 1000 subscribers. The way for you to escape this challenge of monetizing your content on YouTube, or any other social media platform, is for you to own your platform. And an example of this platform you should own, is a website.

Yes, owning your own website requires upfront costs in domain purchasing, website design & planning to say the least. However, once you purchase your website, it becomes a platform you own, and a major digital asset. This is where building your platform comes in.

As a recommendation, unless you also have web development skills, avoid the DIY route. Instead, partner with a web development provider. This will save you time, and help you ensure your website is professional and optimized for our reality of AI dominance. And this key step will be a foundation on which your professional network & tribe can be built, and scaled. The hyperlinks and the website development company we shared herein, is one we personally recommend.

As an alternative, if you don’t have the financial resources of creating your own digital platform partner with one that can pay you much better than what you will get from Social Media platforms, as a small creator. Click Here.

Step 2: Don’t Sell Your Property…Early–Platform, IP, Real Estate

Your wealth is built on ownership, and your knowledge of the economics of what you own, can either help multiply or subtract from your wealth (goals, net worth). So learn the economics that relate to your asset(s). As an example, here are some questions you should ask when making a decision to buy, sell or keep a piece of property:

1. Who/Where is your target market?
2. How big in $ value is your target market?
3. What is the $ value of your property today?
4. What will be the $ value of your property in 5, 10, 15 years?
5. What is your exit plan for your property (under what conditions will you be fulfilled with selling your property?

Step 3: Learn & Know The Environment Surrounding Your Property

This step means that you must remain adaptive. And to remain adaptive in respect of you managing your property, you should be kept up to date with the current affairs (business, economics & similar news); and the actions of key stakeholders in the industry relevant to your property. You should also be continuously learning and building on your skillsets (investing in yourself). By doing this, you are also working hand-in-hand with the department of protecting your property.

By putting into practice these wealth-building steps, you will be well on your way towards experiencing a better life, no matter the nature of the environment, or country location.

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