How To Be An Entrepreneur - Without Risking It All!

Dien....Well, you HIT my "Hot Button" with this one.

You used the phrase that I have used for my entire life;

"WHAT'S THE WORST THAT CAN HAPPEN?"

When I got my first job out of College, working for General Elec Corp as an Industrial Sales Engineer...I soon discovered I had replaced a guy who had been working at GE for 30 yrs...and...to "save money from having to pay HIM a nice "cushy retirement package"...they could "save hundreds of thousands by getting rid of him BEFORE his "vested rights" kicked in....and hire ME at 1/4 the price.

Well...when I discovered this I wondered if "I" would be "let go BEFORE my "vested rights" would kick in.

So...when I saw 2 other guys in my office be "laid off" and replaced by younger people...I decided that, rather than wait for 30 yrs to see if "I" would be "let out to pasture PRIOR to MY vested rights kicking in"...I made a decision to "FIND SOME OTHER MEANS OF MAKING MONEY!...either with a new "job" of "starting my own biz".

I decided to Start Hunting for a way I could earn a living "WITHOUT BEING SUBSERVIENT TO or Under The CONTROL of...someone else!"...who...at THEIR WHIM...could choose to "REMOVE ME"!

I started feverishly looking thru every "Business Opportunity" program I could find...even though "I" was NOT an "entrepreneur"...in ANY shape or form. (Not one person in my family or anyone I knew...were "entrepreneurs" (someone who starts businesses))

And then...one day...in the "Dealerships Available" section of the Wall Street Journal...was an ad to be a dealer of a new kind of "Burglar Alarm System".

This product would call the police or fire dept when triggered by a sensor device.

So...because of my electrical engineering background AND...the fact I was living in a very "affluent" area of Chicago (THE North SHore)...I researched the amount of "Burglaries" and the businesses that were available to cover that "potential market"...and I reasoned..."HEY! I COULD FIT IN HERE!"

So...I bought the Dealership for the North Shore of Chicago for this product.

My FIRST explanation TO MY WIFE....AFTER...I had sent a money order for $1995 was...

"HEY! WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT CAN HAPPEN?!

Well...she proceeded to LIST some of the possibilities of "what's the worst that can happen?

1) I could LOSE $1995
2) I could LOSE...lots of TIME trying to get "THIS" thing going
3) I could LOSE..."TIME" hunting for another "job"

She brought up a few more things I thought were "reaching"...but...I decided to go ahead and send my money....because I TRULY...wanted to be FREE from someone else controlling "My Destiny".

AND...I could STILL keep my "job" at GE until or "IF" I got my new biz started, so I was sort of "hedging my bet".

Well...I received the product and the Manual on "How To Sell Burglar Alarms" and proceeded to "work my butt off, in the evenings and on weekends, trying to get it going".

Everything I tried...failed...UNTIL...one evening...about 2 or 3 wks after I started setting appointments with homeowners...and "bombing out"...where I'd go home feeling "dejected"...when...BAMMO!...a dentist said, "LET'S DO IT!"...for $2500 for a System for HIS home.

WOWEE! COYABUNGA! I was on "cloud 9" (that's an oldtime expression for you young generation)

I then..."had to grab my ass with both hands" to figure out HOW to get the thing installed. (One of my "Rules" has been, "Sell It First"! If ya cain't sell it, why worry bout how to provide it?)

So...I found an "installer guy" (who became my Installation Foreman) who helped me get my first installation in AND...2 neighbors came over while we were installing and they bought a system and my business was ON IT'S WAY!

Thus...over the years...THIS PHRASE has been the mainstay of ALL the many ventures I have started;

'WHAT'S THE WORST THAT CAN HAPPEN?"

Again...thanks Dien for bringing up THESE WORDS....they are the BASIS to the success I've had in MY life!

Don Alm
http://www.midasreports.com
Some of my successful business programs