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Old August 10, 2016, 10:33 AM
GordonJ's Avatar
GordonJ GordonJ is offline
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Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: West Palm Beach, FL
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Default How to become a millionaire in 5 years.

I'm being moderated at WF, with most of my posts disappearing, so, I'm bringing this one over, because it might hit home with some of you.

A Warrior wants to become a millionaire in 5 years, and of course, the snark and those on the mountain top started tossing rocks down on him, he has since disappeared...and that thread has the Kaiser Soze crowd aroused.

Anyhow, here are my posts for discussion, and I'll tie it into basket economics and the near future and more hidden opportunities,

************
The way to achieve this is:
Acknowledge that the million will come in the fifth year.
The million will come when you sell your business.

What business?

One that someone else places a million dollar value on. It is not market value, not just numbers, like you see on the shark tank, not about sales (although you must have them)...it is about

PERCEPTION.

An investor has to see POTENTIAL. He will understand you are an idiot in your execution of your business and lack real talent and ability. What do you care what he thinks of you if he gives you the million bux, eh?

So, with the end in mind, what sort of person invests only a million (a very small sum of money, pocket change really, in the investment world)...

What does THAT person look like? What would be your ideal avatar of someone with a mil cash to buy your business? Forget about WHAT business for now, focus on your perfect target market.

ONE person with the money to invest, seeking investment opportunity, has a track record of buying businesses in your area and/or, today, online businesses.

OK, this Freelancer forum, was an ACQUISITION, one of several Freelancer has made the last few years. This, a paltry 3.2 million (paltry compared to the 7.5 million cash deal they paid for escrow.com)...

can serve as your MODEL.

Locally, you have many businessmen and women, some of them own multiple McDonalds or Taco Bells, some are diversified...

One of my old mentors had gift shops, oil wells, restaurants, card shops, horses, real estate. And he would routinely spend a million to buy POTENTIAL (his name was Ed Barr).

SEE? Successful serial Entrepreneurs look for potential, and usually know they have more in house expertise, especially in marketing than the small mom and pop business who just don't know how to expand, but momma and poppa (especially momma!) do understand cash.

So what to do?

#1- Become an expert on your area. WHO are the Entrepreneurs? One great way to find them is to get to know S.C.O.R.E, and your BBB CoC. Look for past members, recently retired.

What are these guys doing now? Who took over their businesses?

#2- Subscribe to news feeds, local as possible, for business transactions, sales, takeovers, buyouts. Here, I get everything in Northeast OHIO, although there is plenty of action just in Stark and Summit counties.

#3- See what businesses are quickly sold for or near the asking price. This is ONE way to find demand. Go back five years, was the demand for a ______ business strong, is it an evergreen business?

Now, you've been given bad advice here, maybe even jeered at, or encouraged to follow your dream. What you can or can't do is up to you.

As for the type of business...what does it matter if your plan is to sell it?

You might be able to take over an existing business and pay for it out of profits and then sell it for the million bux in 5 years, while making a living working and becoming expert in the business (tow truck driver for example).

In the meantime, take classes, online for free or local at SCORE and other places, join networks of businesses.

One final example. There are guys here at the forum in the PRINT business, in spite of all the bad news about newspapers, the DEMAND for print, just look at political yard signs in the coming months...

and you'll see it is a great business. One segment is POSTCARDS and FLYERS...all and any ADVERTISING vehicles are great...

And in these businesses, NUMBERS are what grab attention.

Allen Says made 3 million bux when he sold this forum to Freelancer, because he had almost a million subscribers.

Freelancer used those numbers to add to their user totals which made for attracting some attention in the Aus Stock Market.

You could start an advertising business. Use EDDM, build up numbers of mailings, and keep it going for five years while earning a living and if you do what I've outlined, you will attract the attention of the buyer you want.

Could be done with many types of businesses, but we do know, almost all businesses need to advertise somehow, how will they do it in the next five years? Get on that track and let them run you over.

GordonJ

PS. One man who did it:

Unilever Buys Dollar Shave Club in Reported $1 Billion Deal | Adweek

FOLLOW UP POST:

And now, this...

Walmart has paId 3 BILLION dollars to acquire Jet.com.

Let's look at a few good lessons, whether the OP is interested or not. Jet.com is just barely one year old, AND LOSING MONEY.

So Unilever paid a billion, Walmart 3 billion, so maybe, a million in 5 years isn't such a big deal after all.

Lesson ONE, OPM, Other people's money.

Marc Lore co-founded Diapers.com and sold it off with his partner for 545 million, how much of that Marc actually got isn't known other than it made him a millionaire.

Then, he CO-Founded Jet.com, and being a smart guy got some venture capital involved, rather than putting up his own dough. Another successful guy who did this was Fred DeLuca, of SUBWAY fame and fortune, started several other businesses which FAILED...

but he always used OPM.

In Silicon Valley the series funding is pretty much SOP (standard operating procedure)....

First round, SEED money or "proof of concept".
Second Round, small scale market testing.
Third round, scale up.
Fourth round Roll Out or Expansion...and of course, 1001 variations of this theme.

YOU, the little guy can use this "model" only downscale it.

Your first round will be an Angel, or "Uncle" investor, in USA, Uncle Sam has set up the Small Business Administration (SBA) and is a good place to start. Most countries have some sort of economic help or at the least, guidelines on how to start a business.

To get funded, sometimes you need a formal business plan, other times, the back of a napkin and a friend with deep pockets will work.

If you are a Dan Kennedy fan, he likes to start (or advises his students) business for less than 1000 bux. This fits in to many a Warrior budget.

Now, investors want to see progress and results. The faster you get results, like in Jet.com case, less than a year with great results which got the attention of an INVESTOR who saw the POTENTIAL as I mentioned in my original response.

Buying and selling or creating and selling a business is a tested and proven way to not only earn money, but get a decent profit you can snowball into other businesses.

I've started 3 businesses which were bought from me for a profit; The OFF-KEY Singing Telegram Business, ResumesPLUS and J's Golf Court. I've also been a part of a group of friends who have bought and sold several businesses over the years and I'm usually the one who does the initial evaluation.

Other Lessons from Walmart/Jet.com are:

--Well thought out business BEFORE it began
-- Market Potential
-- Delivery of Goods and Services (the PROCESS)
-- An EXIT strategy

Also, when Jet.com started they had a CONTEST, to see who could get the most subscribers, one guy, Eric Martin spent 18,000 bux and WON the contest (mostly using social media to do so)...

And Yesterday, it was estimated the stock he won, is or could be worth as much as 20 MILLION dollars...

So, maybe the thin man (Original Poster) can get to his million in 5 years, IF, he is able to separate the Wheat from the snarky chaff here.

AND, it isn't hard to acquire a working business with no out of pocket monies too. ( Michael Senoff {no affiliation} has some audios on buying and selling a business).
************************end IF WF posts.
To get a business one can sell in five years for a million net profit, one would need the INTENT of doing that at the time of Start-Up/Acquisition.

The Warrior was 20, lots of time in his tank. And time to fail and learn too.

But FLIPPING businesses, or growing them and selling for a profit is a tested and proven strategy...

The INTENT of doing this, is lost on most Start-Up Entrepreneurs.

TO BE CONTINUED.

GordonJ
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