How do you become the richest person in your town?

That’s the simple question that lead author W. Randall Jones, the founder of Worth Magazine, to write The Richest Man in Town: The Twelve Commandments of Wealth. Jones interviewed people from every state in America and discovered over one hundred individuals with the absolute highest net worth compared to their peers… in fact, his “average” interviewee had a net worth of $3.5 billion.

Yes, that’s “billion” with a “b”!

So how did these individuals do it? Jones begins by laying out the groundwork for his method of finding these people. He also offers two caveats: first, he didn’t include people whose wealth came from inheritance. Second, he acknowledged that Americans have a host of advantages when it comes to wealth-building, namely the riches associated with our democracy and our publicly-funded services (free access to basic education, for example).

Then, he jumped right into a thoughtful tome on building and living a “rich life”.

One of my favorite “commandments” was Commandment #2: Find Your Perfect Pitch. In it tells the story of one “richest man in town” (or RMIT). Back in college this RMIT signed up for what he felt certain was going to be an easy college class: music studies. On the first day the professor played a few notes. Who could identify these notes? A large percentage of the hands went up, one student correctly identifying the note thanks to having “perfect pitch”.

At that moment this RMIT understood two things: he didn’t innately possess, nor could acquire, perfect pitch, and, he was competing against those that did. Suddenly, this “blow off class” was a real struggle. He learned the dual lesson of appreciating the talent/skills of others as well correctly identifying his own strengths. He points to this moment of clarity when it came to evaluating his own life.

I liked this chapter because it takes courage to determine your unique skills. It takes even more courage to independently act upon them. We humans have a tendency to delude ourselves in this respect if we’ve built an identity upon something that we are merely “good at” versus “great at” doing. RMITs appear to know themselves quite well and therefore play to strengths, not weaknesses. That’s a lesson from which we can all learn.

If you curious about the habits and outlook of the richest men and women in the United States, this is a must-read. You will evaluate your personal choices relating to time management, vocation, and attitude. I really enjoyed it.

How will your geographical location play a role in your lifetime earning ability?

Richard Florida is a researcher and author of best-selling books such as “Rise of the Creative Class”, “Flight of the Creative Class” and most recently, “Who’s Your City?”.

You might be familiar with his concept that places that show the greatest economic and cultural growth share three social features: talent, tolerance, and technology. A familiar example is that cities that welcome maligned groups and encourage the arts tend to have the most expressive and robust economies. Reviewing articles about Florida’s latest book, “Who’s Your City”, it appears Florida goes a step further when it comes to finding the best geographic places to live and work.

I haven’t read the book yet but it appears that Florida maintains a specific prediction about the future. His prediction based on research? In order for individual cities (and the people in them) to compete in the coming years they’ll need to join forces, quite literally, with their economic neighbors. Regionalism will grow in importance. Large industrial cities and smaller ones will need to merge into regions that can compete globally. This, in turn, makes transportation such as fast rail or other public transportation between cities and towns even more critical.

Above is his map of the “spiky” world he describes. I look forward to reading more!

At 11am EST we’ll feature reporting from WomenCo.com about the top 25 American cities with the best forecasted economic growth. If you’re considering a move, check out this list.