Justine Musk, first wife of billionaire Elon Musk, knows a thing or two about wealth and hard work — her ex-husband is a founder of PayPal, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, and has an estimated net worth of $12.1 billion.

Justine’s recent reply to question “Will I become a billionaire if I am determined to be one and put in all the necessary work required?” and reply posted recently on Quora is a fascinating insight into the mind of what qualities it really takes to build a successful business.

Many of my readers have dreams or are in the midst of building an online business, but do they really know what it takes to create success and how to build a competitive advantage that will sustain their business over it’s lifetime?

Here’s a breakdown of Justine’s engaging response:

The answer is “no”

The reader is asking the wrong question altogether.

One of the many qualities that separate self-made billionaires from the rest of us is their ability to ask the right questions.

This is not the right question. Which is not to say it’s a bad question. It just won’t get that deep part of your mind working to help you — mulling things over when you think you’re thinking about something else — sending up flares of insight.

You’re determined. So what?

You haven’t been racing naked through shark-infested waters yet, will you be just as determined when you’re washed up on some deserted island, disoriented and bloody and ragged and beaten and staring into the horizon with no sign of rescue?

We live in a culture that celebrates determination and hard work, but understand: these are the qualities that keep you in the game after most everybody else has left, or until somebody bigger and stronger picks you up and hurls you back out to sea. Determination and hard work are necessary, yes, but they are the minimum requirements. As in: the bare minimum.

Shift your focus

Learn how can you *leverage* your time and your work away from what you want – a billion dollars, and get deeply, intensely curious about what the world wants and needs. Ask yourself what you have the potential to offer that is so unique and compelling and helpful that no computer could replace you, no one could outsource you, no one could steal your product and make it better and then club you into oblivion  – not literally. Develop that potential.

Choose one thing and become a master of it

Choose a second thing and become a master of that.

When you become a master of two worlds, say, engineering and business, you can bring them together in a way that will….

Introduce hot ideas to each other

So they can have idea sex and make idea babies that no one has seen before.

Create a competitive advantage

Because you can move between worlds, speak both languages, connect the tribes, mash the elements to spark fresh creative insight until you wake up with the epiphany that changes your life.

The world does not care what you want or deserve

The world doesn’t throw a billion dollars at a person because the person wants it or works so hard they feel they deserve it. The world gives you money in exchange for something it perceives to be of equal or greater value: something that transforms an aspect of the culture, reworks a familiar story or introduces a new one, alters the way people think about the category and make use of it in daily life.

There is no roadmap

No blueprint for this; a lot of people will give you a lot of advice, and most of it will be bad, and a lot of it will be good and sound but you’ll have to figure out how it doesn’t apply to you, because you’re coming from an unexpected angle. And you’ll be doing it alone, until you develop the charisma and credibility to attract the talent you need to come with you.

Have courage

You will need it.

Good luck

You’ll need that too. Justine’s full response is on Quora here.

I would love to know if using the framework above, do you think you could make it within a year? Leave me a comment below with your idea and details and this week, I’ll show you how you can make it happen.