Fastest way to double $500, $1000, $2500, $5000, $10000?

Hi Paul,

That's an interesting question (as Boyd said)....

What I can think of is that you can double these amounts through chatteling. Chatteling is interesting because it's "scalable".... You can turn $5 into $10, or $5,000 into $10,000 (though it may take a few trades to do that)....

One businessman who has made his initial fortune mostly from chatteling is Kirk Kerkorian. He's best known for having bought and sold MGM several times (I think he owns it right now). I find him a fascinating entrepreneur, so I have studied his life to a small degree....

Kirk Kerkorian started as a teenager, buying cars, fixing them up, and reselling them. During WWII, he worked as a civilian airline pilot for the British air force, flying planes from Canada to the UK. After the war, he went back into chatteling, buying and selling planes!

Kirk Kerkorian always looks for the "hidden value" - finding the value which is there, and which others don't see....

I personally think that chatteling may be the fastest way to do it - but you have to be willing to spend your money (to buy stuff), and you have to study the market first, so you don't lose money instead!

Of course, what you buy and sell could differ for these different amounts.... In the $500 range you might be looking at furniture, while in the $5000 range you might be looking at cars.... It's helpful (though not compulsory) to have a van or trailer to move stuff with.

I recently got John McTighe's report, and along with Gordon Alexander's report, they are both excellent reports on chatteling. I highly recommend both of them. :)

(I don't make any profit from mentioning either of these reports, by the way - they are both genuinely good....)

- Dien Rice


The source of many great ideas.... :)

Dien,

As you often do you've shown light on two crucial issues.

I hadn't considered the importance of scalability in one's endeavors, so I thank you for mentioning it.

As for "hidden value" all I have to say is that seeing "hidden value" and exploiting it is the key to the vaults of Croesus.

I personally find it extremely difficult to see--I bet there are pockets of hidden value in what I know, and what I know how to do, that if I could just mine them out making money would be a very easy thing to do, indeed.

Best,

- Boyd

Hi Boyd,

> I hadn't considered the importance of
> scalability in one's endeavors, so I thank
> you for mentioning it.

Boyd, I think "scalability" is very important!

By "scalability" I mean - can your business easily and "naturally" grow? Or are you limited to a certain size?

For example, let's say your business is fixing some very obscure piece of equipment. Because of the difficulty in getting these fixed, you can probably charge a very high hourly rate for your services. But is your business "scalable"?

Probably, it's not - because it's highly dependent on your VERY specialized skill, and you can only help one customer at a time. If it's very hard to find people with your specialized skill, then it's hard to employ others to help with the work. You're stuck with earning an hourly wage.... Since there are only a limited number of hours in a week, there's a "cap" on how much your business can make!

BUT - let's say you take that skill, and turn it into a newsletter or membership web site. Then, that business is "scalable", in the sense you can earn more money, by getting more subscribers. The more subscribers you get, your profits increase for the same amount of work.

OR, let's take a service business which doesn't require much skills. Let's say it's mowing lawns.... Then, it becomes scalable, because to expand, you can hire other people to mow lawns for your business. Your skill is not so "specialized" that you can't hire others to do the work....

I think "mail order" style businesses are all "scalable".... Especially if you have a built-in base of subscribers (such as through a catalog).

I think about "scalability" in everything I do.... I think it's often easier (at the beginning) to start a "non-scalable" business.... However, I've purposely avoided that, because my plan is to keep growing my successful businesses. I don't want to hit a wall I can't pass!

I think it's a very important topic to think about.... :)

> As for "hidden value" all I have
> to say is that seeing "hidden
> value" and exploiting it is the key to
> the vaults of Croesus.

> I personally find it extremely difficult to
> see--I bet there are pockets of hidden value
> in what I know, and what I know how to do,
> that if I could just mine them out making
> money would be a very easy thing to do,
> indeed.

I think this is largely experience, and being alert to them.... I guess I'm getting to the stage where I'm now always thinking of opportunities in what's around me.... (Though I think Michael Ross is a true master of this, IMHO - I've been learning from him. :) )

Here's an Australian example.... I've noticed on eBay, people here in Australia sell second-hand Australian magazines (often women's magazines) to US bidders for about US$5, plus $5 postage. I can buy these second-hand magazines here for about US 25c to 50c each - most people throw them away. They don't know they can sell them for 10 to 20 times that amount on eBay. There's an opportunity (at least a local Australian one)....

The "hidden value" is because these magazines are abundant here in Australia, but difficult to get overseas.... Hence the "hidden value" of these magazines comes from selling them to overseas bidders (who live where these magazines are scarce).

How can you use this where you are? What is easy - even abundant - where you live, yet difficult to get elsewhere? That could be a possible opportunity.... I remember seeing one guy on eBay who sold lots of Las Vegas casino memorabilia.... It's probably very easy for him to get it (maybe he even gets some of it for free), because this guy lives in Las Vegas. Yet, it's NOT easy for others who live elsewhere to get these things, so he can sell these to them at a profit.

Here are some examples of the kind of thing I mean.... Check through this guy's auctions. He's selling Las Vegas memorabilia (especially ashtrays).... And guess where he lives? If you click on any of his auctions, you'll see he lives in - Las Vegas! He can probably pick this stuff up really cheaply in Las Vegas (or maybe even get it free), and sell it for a profit on eBay to people outside Las Vegas.... Many people in Las Vegas probably consider these "worthless", but this guy sees the "hidden value" of these to people who live outside of Las Vegas....

Another great example is the Gary Hendrickson's post below about aspirin tins.... More "hidden value" there....

There are opportunities all around you. But to see them, I think it takes a certain mind-set, so that you are always looking for them.... After a while, it starts to become "instinctive".... :)

- Dien

Hi Boyd,

I thought I'd add another example.... :)

I have a friend here who's been very successful in property investment.... He's succeeded because he's become an "expert" at seeing the "hidden value" in second-hand houses....

He likes to buy timber (wooden) houses - because often there is more "hidden value" there than with brick homes.

Here's the essence of his technique.... He looks for houses which are well-constructed and "solid" - that don't have any structural problems. But, he also looks for homes which may look pretty awful.... Maybe the paint is peeling, or simply just an awful paint job. Perhaps the carpet is ripped up....

The key is, all these things are "cosmetic" problems. Struturally, the house is sound....

He finds that many people don't want to buy these homes, because they look terrible. That means, he can buy them cheap!

After he buys them - you guessed it - he fixes them up. He repaints it, puts in new carpet, and does other "cosmetic" improvements. Note that NONE of these are "structural" improvements - this is where a lot of people who plan to do "fixer-uppers" go wrong! "Structural" improvemnents can be a nightmare - so he sticks to houses which need "cosmetic" improvements only!

It doesn't take him very long or much money to fix these problems.... Afterwards, he can rent the house out for a higher rental rate than it's ever been rented out before. Because the house suddenly looks great!

He sees the "hidden value" in a house with a good, solid structure, yet which has many "cosmetic" problems which are easily fixable. He's been able to get a couple of "bargain" houses that way.... He's done very well by doing this!

- Dien Rice

> Hi Paul,

> That's an interesting question (as Boyd
> said)....

> What I can think of is that you can double
> these amounts through chatteling. Chatteling
> is interesting because it's
> "scalable".... You can turn $5
> into $10, or $5,000 into $10,000 (though it
> may take a few trades to do that)....

Yes, I had a pretty good idea someone would match up chatteling to this question. I agree that if you know what you're doing, chatteling would be an excellent way of doubling your money with little risk.

Best,

Paul