How to make FAST profits....

What are some FAST ways to make money?

ONE way is buying and selling chattel. The chatteler's "Bible" is Gordon Alexander's chattel report. I don't sell it, but you can get a copy from one of the contacts listed at www.sowpub.com/chattelreport .

I do chattel every now and then.... I found it usually takes me about one to two weeks between buying something and selling it. Of course, you can do several at the same time. The whole key is knowing what's in demand, and what you can get for it. When you know that, then you know WHAT to buy and HOW MUCH to pay, so you can sell it at a profit. (Gordon shows you the details in his report....)

Another way I've come across to make relatively FAST profits is following Bill Myers' examples of his relatively quick projects.... I'm still studying these, and will be doing some of my own in the very near future. For example, I've identified a book I can put together (from public domain sources) probably in about a week to sell -- but I'm comparing it to other options first.

Don Alm has a number of projects which seem pretty fast too! His recent posts here show the mind of a MASTER entrepreneur....

I know other ways of making SLOWER profits, but this is about profits you can make FAST....

Anyone else know other techniques how to make fast profits? Where the time between starting the project and starting to see the money roll in is (at most) a few weeks?

- Dien Rice

I have gotten so much good information from this board I just do not know where to start. Keep up the good work.

I have made a lot of money buying and selling personal property. I've had a $400 and $500 week this summer with about an extra $200 a week being the average for a very part time effort. Right now I have 2 items I'll be able to turn for about another $250 in spending money for me next week. The items are a used high-speed floor buffer a neighbor GAVE to me, all I had to do was haul it away! The other item is a real nice slightly used entertainment center. I'll sell both of them for a bargain price but my investment is $0 so instead of having the hassles I'll turn it quickly and move on to the next item.

I don't want to do this full-time but its fun for me to do part-time and is easy to do.

Hi, :)

> I have gotten so much good information from
> this board I just do not know where to
> start. Keep up the good work.

Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying the forum.... :)

> I have made a lot of money buying and
> selling personal property. I've had a $400
> and $500 week this summer with about an
> extra $200 a week being the average for a
> very part time effort.

YES, chatteling is great! You could do this full-time if you wanted to.... The great thing about it is you always have a "fall-back" position. No matter what happens, if you know how to do this you won't go hungry....

Many people are terrified of losing their job, because they're frightened of losing their income. However, no matter what you do, you'll always now have SOME way of making money when you need it....

> Right now I have 2
> items I'll be able to turn for about another
> $250 in spending money for me next week. The
> items are a used high-speed floor buffer a
> neighbor GAVE to me, all I had to do was
> haul it away! The other item is a real nice
> slightly used entertainment center. I'll
> sell both of them for a bargain price but my
> investment is $0 so instead of having the
> hassles I'll turn it quickly and move on to
> the next item.

That's great! :)

I did something like this too.... In the past, I decided to "specialize" in second-hand laptops. I found that many people just HATE selling their own stuff, so it just sits around gathering dust.... So I sold a couple of things for friends and family, for a share of the profits. It was nice, since I had practically no risk, and I made money for them too.... :)

> I don't want to do this full-time but its
> fun for me to do part-time and is easy to
> do.

Yes, it's a good fall-back thing to do....

In the end, I decided chatteling is lucrative, but it's not the most exciting thing you can do. So my chatteling has tapered off recently.... But there's no doubt it works. If I need money, I know it will be there. :)

- Dien

Dien....I just HAD to jump in here and toss in a few comments I believe can help people.

My wife has been collecting Early American Antiques all her life. Our home is filled with some of the rarest pieces of 200 and 300 yr old furniture that is usually only seen in New England where they were created by master craftsmen.

One of the many advantages of living here in the Pacific Northwest and knowing a lot about New England antiques is...we have an advantage...when it comes to buying and selling these items.

For example; last weekend we were at an Estate Auction where children were selling off their parents stuff.

These folks moved here from back East many years ago....so they had a lot of stuff my wife and I were knowledgeable about.

And...sure enough...one of the first items up for sale was a Pine Dresser. Now...this piece had some damage to the finish but it could be repaired and refinished (which my wife is a master at)...to look as good as new.

Now...when the auctioneer (who didn't know beans about Early American stuff) held up this piece (which we estimated to be made about 1820 with HAND-MADE SQUARE NAILS and DOVE-TAILED DRAWERS and CHAMFERED BOTTOMS to the drawers)...he said, "OK...what am I bid for this old dresser, which has a lot of damage?"

My wife waits until the bidding gets going, then jumps in and gets the item. We got this piece for $60. When fixed up it is worth around $1200. So, if we sell it for $600 we have still made a return of 10 times our investment.

Now...this doesn't happen all the time but it happens enough that my wife makes a pretty good buck...has fun...gets to meet lots of people who enjoy the same things and gets to restore antiques which she really loves.

The more paint stripping, glueing, sawing, clamping, nailing, varnishing she can do...the better she feels.

She now only sells from our garage and storage unit and has some items on consignment at local shops. And...every 2 months of so she'll have a garage sale.

Over the years, especially when we used to live near Aspen we've known MANY people who started from scratch and built up their biz till they had a pretty sizeable inventory and income.

I always tell people starting out in the Antigues biz...buy GOOD stuff! Don't fool around with cheap stuff. When you buy GOOD stuff that is in a higher price range...you start appealing to people "with money". And, once you have "affluent" people as your clientele you reach your goals much faster.

Why fool around with cheap stuff? You will only draw "cheap" people who will always want to spend $100 or less. We decided long ago to get relatively expensive stuff and sell to "people who can afford it".

Many, many times...we went to an auction...brought back 15 or 20 items...fixed them up and sold them for AT LEAST twice what we paid. In fact, that's been our rule...if we don't think we can double our money we go to a certain point and drop out.

It always amazes me when people at auctions see my wife or I bidding on an item...and they drop out. Maybe because they figure we are "dealers" and will keep bidding till we get the item. If they would only use their noggin they would understand that because we ARE "Dealers" we do NOT keep the stuff for ourselves but...resell it.

And...if we are buying to resell...we MUST be planning on selling the items for MORE than we paid...therefore we will NOT pay "retail" for an item...but a price where we can "make a profit".

Go to an "Estate" or "Antique" auction and watch what goes on...see what items sell for and who buys them. It's fun.

A "quick" education on antique furniture;
Feel under table tops and bottoms of drawers for "chamfered" or "beveled" planeing on the edges. Look for square nails...WIDE boards...UNEVEN DoveTails (even dovetails are machine made)...you are looking for signs of HAND MADE. Those are the items worth money.

Get a copy of Schroeder's and Kovel's and Warman's Price Guides.

And remember this;
Furniture in this country was made in the Pine forests of New England 300 yrs ago. Pine because it's soft wood and could be easily hand worked. There was also a lot of Cherry and Mahogany wood used by masters.

Then, around 1900...most of the furniture making went to the Oak forests of Michigan and MACHINES were used to mass produce furniture.

So...don't let an auctioneer tell you the piece he's trying to sell you is a 120 yr old piece of OAK. Oak was NOT made into furniture till the 1900's. I've seen many people pay BIG bucks for "Oak" and find out later it wasn't worth HALF what they paid for it.

It used to be so much fun at the Saturday morning garage and yard sales in Aspen. We would get such terrific deals.

What used to happen (maybe still does) was men who were raised back east and had collected fine New England furniture...divorced their wives and married young "Ski-Bunnies". The Ski-Bunnies didn't know an antique from a dish rag...and, when they'd divorce the guy...THEY would get to keep the antiques and...instead of having the stuff appraised and taking TIME to sell the stuff, these gals would run an ad in the Aspen Times...and put ridiculous prices on things....just to get rid of it.

I'll never forget this one "bimbo" (excuse me folks...this one WAS a Bimbo)...she had a huge collection of sterling silver stuff. A Sterling Silver tea set worth (at that time, about $5,000) she had priced at $50...a HUGE collection of Bennington and Norton pottery (rare old brown pitchers, bowls and jugs that my wife happens to collect)..."Rebecca At The Well" pitchers priced at $5 (worth $1500),,,etc.

Man o Man did we make a HAUL. And this was done at 7 am because I talked the gal into letting us in, even though her ad said "9am NO early birds (which only kept my competitors away)

So...ya wanna make some SERIOUS money in chattel? Get into Antiques! Make it worth your while AND have a lot of fun at the same time.

We still do.

Thanks for reading....Don Alm

> What are some FAST ways to make money?

> ONE way is buying and selling chattel. The
> chatteler's "Bible" is Gordon
> Alexander's chattel report. I don't sell it,
> but you can get a copy from one of the
> contacts listed at
> www.sowpub.com/chattelreport .

> I do chattel every now and then.... I found
> it usually takes me about one to two weeks
> between buying something and selling it. Of
> course, you can do several at the same time.
> The whole key is knowing what's in demand,
> and what you can get for it. When you know
> that, then you know WHAT to buy and HOW MUCH
> to pay, so you can sell it at a profit.
> (Gordon shows you the details in his
> report....)

> Another way I've come across to make
> relatively FAST profits is following Bill
> Myers' examples of his relatively quick
> projects.... I'm still studying these, and
> will be doing some of my own in the very
> near future. For example, I've identified a
> book I can put together (from public domain
> sources) probably in about a week to sell --
> but I'm comparing it to other options first.

> Don Alm has a number of projects which seem
> pretty fast too! His recent posts here show
> the mind of a MASTER entrepreneur....

> I know other ways of making SLOWER profits,
> but this is about profits you can make
> FAST....

> Anyone else know other techniques how to
> make fast profits? Where the time between
> starting the project and starting to see the
> money roll in is (at most) a few weeks?

> - Dien Rice




Some of My Unique money-makers

Hi Don!

Thanks for that story.... I was looking into antiques at one stage, I agree with you, it looks like it could be lucrative! I think it's about education, and knowing what something is really worth....

I can tell a little story here about "the one that got away"....

I was browsing through a thrift store (or opp shop) and saw an old sewing machine.... I don't know the first thing about sewing or sewing machines, but this looked like an antique! It was quite nice too -- very ornate, quite different from appliances today. It was hand-cranked -- no electricity required. I jotted down some details, and went home to my computer to see what I could find out about it on the internet....

I remember finding out that this model was made in the 1930s. They wanted $50 for it, and I figured it could be worth $200 or more....

I decided I should get it! Then I made a mistake.... I was relatively new at "chatteling" -- and a person I was with talked me out of it! They had some pessimistic views.... and I listened. What a mistake.

Well.... a couple weeks later I was looking through an antique shop. And I saw an old sewing machine, almost the same model as the one I had passed over.... And it was selling for $550! Even if I sold it for half of that, I would have made a profit.... (I was planning actually to sell it to an antique shop, rather than directly to the public....)

I hurried back to the thrift shop -- but it was already gone....

Oh well, I'll know better next time.... Listen to my own instincts, and don't let others (especially when they have NO experience) talk me out of it!

You can do this "large scale" too.... Kirk Kerkorian is one of the USA's richest people (I think he's in the top 20), worth something like 6 or 7 BILLION. If you read his history, he got his start in CHATTEL....

He started out as a teenager, buying and selling AUTOMOBILES. He then did some work as a pilot (he worked as a civilian pilot for the British air force in WWII). After that, he went back into chattel, this time trading second-hand PLANES. Trading planes eventually turned him into a millionaire.... And from there, he went into buying and selling COMPANIES. And now.... he's one of the richest people you can find. He owns MGM, for example. So that's an idea of where chatteling COULD take you if you really wanted to do it seriously, and had the stomach for some BIG deals.... :)

But doing the big deals takes some guts!

- Dien Rice

Aladdin came to Genie and asked,

"What are some FAST ways to make money?
I'd like to follow your, Genie, example.
I'm still studying these, and will be doing some of my own in the very near future.
You are the MASTER entrepreneur...
Teach me, how can I make profits FAST....
---end of quote---

Genie answered:
No doubt I appear (and I am) a creature with cosmic power.
But do you know how much I PAID to be this way?
I had to become the prisoner of a tiny lamp for a million years.
And each and every jerk is bossing me around.

Before I teach you how to make FAST profits, tell me Aladdin, HOW MUCH ARE YOU WILLING TO SACRIFICE TO ACHIEVE FAST PROFITS?
-------end of story-----

As for the title of this message...
Gary Halbert said something to this effect.
HE should know.
Taking into account the price he had to pay (freedom, money, integrity) for the FAST-profiteering.

Simon

P.S To Dien, the physicist.
Dien, there is a Law, as invariable as Einstein's laws:

The faster the profits the more YOU have to pay in the end.

Gurus won't tell you about it.

Just do your "math" before you start your next fast project.

Hi Simon,

> P.S To Dien, the physicist.
> Dien, there is a Law, as invariable as
> Einstein's laws:

> The faster the profits the more YOU have to
> pay in the end.

> Gurus won't tell you about it.

> Just do your "math" before you
> start your next fast project.

Interesting post, however I don't really agree with this part....

For example, using chattel, if you know what you're doing like I mentioned, you could buy something, and sell it a week later for a profit. You can do this using the "trader" papers or by putting it up for sale in an online auction (I've done both).... The turnaround time is relatively fast if you have something which many people want to buy.... I started out doing this with second-hand laptop computers....

Because computers depreciate so fast, you HAVE to sell second-hand computers fast. You have no choice!

As for fast product-creation projects, the fastest I can think of is probably an interview. Do an interview and make an arrangement with the person you are interviewing regarding the sales rights, and voila! You have a product. If the person is well-known in their field, then you'll probably have enthusiasts who would love to buy it.

For example, in the physics world, people are still selling videos and tapes of the Nobel Prizewinner Richard Feynman, over a decade after he passed away. And people are buying. If I wanted to create a product aimed at physics-enthusiasts, I'd probably arrange to do interviews with several well-known physicists all on a particular "hot" topic in the physics world. (This wouldn't be that hard to do -- most scientists are looking for positive publicity for their work.) Then, I'd probably put these interviews together and sell them as a set, aimed at the same people who buy popular physics books....

Bill Myers is well-known for his fast production times on projects, at least before he went into software development (which takes longer to complete, but is potentially more lucrative).... I think it wouldn't take him more than a few weeks to produce one of his "guerrilla" videos in the early 1990s.

Regarding Gary Halbert, what I read somewhere was that he failed to ship the product he had advertised, but also didn't return the customers' money, for whatever reason. I think that was the problem which landed him for a time in jail, it was not related to fast production times. (The lesson is: either ship the product, or return the customers' money, or you'll get in trouble.)

There is nothing wrong with speed.... I don't mean you'll make a million overnight, what I mean though is making SOME profit (whether a large amount or small) in a relatively fast time-frame....

- Dien