The PERFECT business for you...

[GordonJ]

may not suit me. There is no "one size fits all".

What is your idea of the perfect biz?

To start a discussion, I'll share my opinion on a "perfect biz" as well as a good one which may not be perfect, but may be right for you, ok?

PERFECT biz: Represented by three men.

HARVEY BRODY. Home office, no employees, multimillion dollar international biz with a small customer list (some have been customers for over 50 years)...no inventory, warehouse, or touching of product, his customers on automatic reorder schedules. Perfect biz for him (and I wouldn't mind it)...but even better...

LEONARD COHEN. Songwriter who wrote HALLELUJAH, one of the most recorded and covered songs ever. Reportedly pulls in well over a million dollars a year in royalties, for work he did back in 1984 and went big in the 90's, and there may be over 300 different recordings out there.

I would like to work hard on something for a short period of time and collect millions of dollars. PERFECT biz, but even better...

CHARLES SCHULZ, gone from us for 14 years, his estate still collects millions of dollars of licensing royalties.

Alas, I have ZERO musical or artistic talent, so unless I acquire the rights for something that hits it big, not much chance of replicating the last two.

I have other similar"perfect" businesses in mind and many that are good to great.

A good business is one you enjoy and it makes you a decent income, a great one is evergreen, can be sold off, you enjoy but it could be absentee owned.

So what is your idea of a perfect business?

Gordon Jay Alexander

The "Perfect" business for me...nowadays.....is a biz I can provide GREAT Value to clients and.....entail little or no attention and.....pay me a Residual Monthly of $500 to $1500 A MONTH!

A "Sell it and Forget It" thingee.

What I'm referring to is....."Ranking Videos for KeyWords" for "Big Ticket" biznesses.

Example: If you Google, "Las Vegas Roofer"....you will see a "Thumbnail" on the first page.......MOST people typing in THAT KeyWord will see a Color Thumbnail that causes them to click on it. When they do, they see Promo Video with a Call to Action for a Las Vegas Roofing Co.

This was made and sold by Mark Helton.....for $750 a Month (Now at $1,000 a Month)

Same with "Tampa Windows". It's STILL on Page One and Mark is STILL collecting $750/mo for this!....with No or very little attention to keeping these on Page 1.

Thus.....this meets MY criteria for the "Perfect Biz for Me".

Don Alm

Gordon, great question.

For me ... I'm a life-long tire-kicker who had done NOTHING except spend money on shiny objects, and analyzed ideas until there was nothing left of them save for the ashes.

The ideal business for me, out of necessity, is something that can be started with little up-front expenses (ie. large equipment purchases or real estate leases, and so on ...), no direct employees, and can be started and operated in "spare time" (ie. after work and on weekends).

Quitting my job is unrealistic (frankly, impossible! I need the bennies!), but one day I would hope to be able to transition my full efforts into "my own thing."

My college-aged (ok ... college drop-out) son has started his own online efforts and has the entreperenurial spirit. He's doing good, not great. I need to learn the "just do it" attitude from him, and teach him about markets that can deliver enough revenue to make it worth your time and effort.

For now, he is more concerned with "saving the world"-style projects! Admirable, but not the biggest niches in the world. He is learning so much about internet marketing, though (even if it is some expensive lessons from trial and error). He is learning more than I have learned from buying WSO's and doing google research until my eyes bleed.

I like the Harvey Brody Model.

Any type of business that provides residual income is the model I would like to employ. To do the work once (and tweak here and there), and continue to receive income months and years later would be awesome.

I considered looking into Amazon FBA. However, you must constantly provide Amazon with products. Amazon is also in control of the rules. It may be a good business model, but you are really at the mercy of Amazon. Ebay was a great place to sell goods years ago (and still is to a degree), but they changed the rules and fee structure so much, I don't deal with them much anymore.

I like the method that Don talks about with the videos. This has residual income potential. I believe Ryan McKinney did this model a few years ago with ranking videos in his Offline Legion report. Making the video is easy. Ranking them is not. Not for me yet, anyway. I tried as much optimization as humanly possible and I still cannot get a Vid to rank at or near the top of page 1 and stay there. Also, I have never seen actual proof of how many of these page 1 videos get calls. The calls need to justify the monthly rental. Not saying it doesn't work. I just have not seen any call volume from anyone ranking video for local businesses.

The video method is also related to another topic covered by Paul James, which is Google My Business. This is helping businesses rank in the top of the seven pack, which isn't too difficult to do since many local businesses fail to rank here. Many that do can be overtaken by their total lack of SEO knowledge. Many rank there just because they are lucky. BUT....do these businesses that rank in that seven pack actually get a consistent number of calls? Again, I read and hear that they do. I have not seen any actual proof. Creating a generic website related to a hot niche and ranking it for a local business would be golden. I hear many are paying monthly fees of $997.00 per month to rank here. Depends on the niche. So they must be getting the calls? Right?

Since you asked, the perfect business for me is helping businesses get the loan(s) they need to continue operating. I can even fund start ups.

I also create tax free retirement dollars for people. Why invest in a 401K or IRA and pay taxes when your 65 when you can put that same money into a tax free retirement account and not pay a dime in taxes?

Gordon, email me. I PMed you but didn't get a response. Something I want to talk to you about.

Thanks,

Tom

[Dien Rice]

Originally Posted by GordonJ

may not suit me. There is no "one size fits all".

What is your idea of the perfect biz?

Hi Gordon,

I did a little bit of brainstormin' on this topic...

I could see a number of businesses as "perfect"...

One... invest a lot of money, and live off of the returns! The catch... You gotta have a lot of money in the first place. Plus, you gotta know what you're doing with your investments - as they can lose money, as well as gain...

Owning property outright, and living off of the rental income is similar. Again, the catch with property is, you usually have to have a lot of money already to own enough property so you can live off of the rental returns...

Now, having intellectual property and getting paid royalties from that property is also similar, I'd say. Like the Leonard Cohen and Charles Schulz examples you gave.

Writing and publishing, or acquiring those rights, can be like this... It helps if you know some marketing knowhow, though.

I noticed that best-selling thriller author, James Patterson (sold 300 million books!), had a career in advertising before he made his mint as a bestselling novelist! I have a feeling that his marketing background helped him to get his books off the ground... However, not every successful novelist has that background!

The Harvey Brody model is like a "virtual company" - before there was a phrase for it! He has a model where he can outsource virtually everything, yet still keep control (through the "toll position"). It's a great model!

These are all great models...

Best wishes,

Dien