For better or worse...
- Owning capital - a slice of a company, stocks, assets, real estate - that compounds over time is how to build wealth. You only build wealth by owning compounding assets. Your ability to invest - early and often - in compounding assets, is your ability to build wealth.
- Owning attention - compounding assets applies to the attention economy as well. Your media following is a lever you can pull to activate the attention of others. You want to show the circus something worth paying attention to.
- Labor - income, hourly pay, working for a wage - is not compounding and therefore prevents you from building wealth. It is typically a waste of time.
If you aim to build wealth, then acquire a piece of as many private or public companies as you can, and hold these assets forever, never selling them or letting go of them. This is how you build wealth.