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Old August 25, 2020, 10:20 AM
GordonJ's Avatar
GordonJ GordonJ is offline
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Default Business Models, the many ways to make a buck.

Choices. In my lifetime, I've made a lot of choices regarding how I was going to "bring home the bacon". Some choices didn't have much thought behind them...and those are the cow pies of failure I dropped in the pastures of my life.

Some were well thought out, even had a business plan. Some came out of nowhere, some trends or hot topical ideas, others were evergreen.

If I have a regret (don't really) it might be, NOT taking the time to learn about all the options and choices I had, but were off my radar because of a lack of research. Of course, we didn't have the Internet back in the day either.

SO.... how do you make your money? Does it fit into one of these MODELS, or is outside the mold? Feel free to tell us your models and how you have used them.

MODEL #1 Direct face-to face selling. At 10, I knocked on doors and sold hand picked flowers from a field. On one hand this is the fastest, easiest way there is to make a buck, on the other...it can be a grind. Every day a repeat, of see the people, see the people, see the people.

Success 'secret' one: call on the right people at the right time with the money to spend. You can create the when and where.

It is hard to beat for FAST, Quick cash in your hand, but it can beat you down over time.

MODEL #2 Provide a service. Plumbers, auto mechanics, doctors, lawyers and software sellers...provide a service. I did resumes. Made $1,000.00 a day providing this service, they came to me.

Success Secret two: you must have effective advertising, lead generation or your prospect must know you exist and be their go to person.

MODEL #3 Well, from here, I guess most are variations of selling a product or a service, it is in the details and nuances isn't it? So, here is a list, make it a faster read.

Direct selling. Face to face. OR by remote means; mail order, online, personal solicitation or brick and mortar.

Direct service provider; plumber, doctor, lawyer...they can come to you or you go to them.

What I want to do with this post, really, is to share my opinions, one of those "knowing what I know now, what I would do differently" kind of things...in the hopes that those of you that are looking for new CovidCrisis opportunities will put in a lot of thought, BEFORE you pull the trigger and just jump in.

Not all, of course, but many times those that do the FIRE, AIM, READY dive head first in are in a state of desperation and can get their necks broken because the pool was shallow.

NEEDING money now, leads to some poor decisions. What is the biggest lesson I've learned from my 60 years in various businesses?

Maybe the lesson from RICH DAD, POOR DAD...which is, learn how money works, what it is and what it isn't. Translated to: learn how to save, reinvest and grow your money. Desperate, and hand to mouth types don't understand the power of savings. Simple enough, but according to most stats, the one thing most people don't do well enough.

Also, LEVERAGE. Or TOLL POSITIONS. I didn't OBSERVE my surroundings well enough, I was asleep at the wheel for much of the ride.

I didn't see the Franchise opportunities of the 60's and 70's. I didn't see the many gov't contracts while I was in the Navy, and actually dealing with and learning from some of them...if I had been more observant, I would have seen lucrative long term contracts for thousands of items our gov'ts buy.

Most of those early years, I traded time for dollars, and having spent 15 years in social services, however emotionally satisfying and rewarding, probably was a mistake...even though I had side hustles going on. I didn't fully develop the side gigs to the point of automation, or of the Side Hustle (SH) making the money that makes me the money (investments and savings).

Like too many of us, when the good times rolled, I rocked. We got into the habit of fulfilling our wants, when we should have delayed some of that gratification for the cloudy days.

So, what would I do TODAY, knowing what I know?

It would depend on my age. Younger people should explore, have adventures, but OBSERVE, record and recall the opportunities. During my first retirement, from 22 to 26.5 I had my youthful adventures, having given four years to Uncle Sam in the USN, I felt the need to give myself the same amount of time off.

Although it was great fun and high adventure, the MISTAKE I made was not paying attention to those who were also having adventures while hauling in the dough too. Could have done both.

If I were single or married would have bearing on my choices. If I had kids or not, would also play a big part. So, before I can make any blanket recommendations for any biz-op, I would say it is circumstance dependent along with a clear idea for the future. (What do you want and why?).

But in general, I can tell you businesses I liked and probably should have done more of.

I like the Harvey Brody TOLL POSITION model, where you have control of a consumable commodity...which gets used up and bought over and over again. This may be the top of the business concepts, if one doesn't have exploitable talents or skills, like NFL Quarterbacks, Hollywood Actors, Charles Shulz type cartoonists, etc., etc.

If I were younger, and not desperate, I would spend time learning all about Intellectual Property, Patents, Trademarks and Copyrights and the MARKETPLACE that routinely buys and sells these things. Not all of us can create, like Harvey Brody did, a product...but we can all ACQUIRE them and hold onto them for years.

One of things I did right, was creating and developing my own products over the years, and setting up AUTOMATION. The Automatic Product Vending sites were a right, albeit, narrow path I did follow.

Also, I didn't learn how to ask the right questions either. Now some of that was my POOR DAD upbringing, and then when I had the chance to ask many multimillionaires, I encountered too many Trump like (grab em by the Pu88y) locker room guys, whom I regarded as two faced hypocrites who felt entitled.

That was WRONG on my part. I could have separated the do what I do from the do what I say...but my personal bias got in the way of that, so be aware of your own prejudices too.

Just because you don't like or respect someone, doesn't mean you can't learn from them, and be the good guy too.

What are the right questions to ask?

To be continued.

Last edited by GordonJ : August 25, 2020 at 11:26 AM.
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