2 Ideas for Buying and Selling Yeilding $1500 with $0 investment

Hi:

I have been very busy off-line working my primary business and buying and selling. I have been also working hard to get the book done and it will be soon, I have about 15 pages done with more to go. I want it to be GOOD, not some slop thrown together that has no substance.

I had a pretty good week buying and selling, with 2 great finds, maybe what I did can spark ideas of your own.

First Deal: I happened to notice remodeling going on at an office building downtown and saw a large copy machine sitting in the corner. There was a guy was working and I asked him if they were going to throw out the copier. He said "yes" they are, the old tenants LEFT it there because it was too bulky to move. I asked "does it work" and the guy said "yes, it works fine". I said I would take it and save them the back ache. He said "great". Later that day I plugged it in and everything looked like it was in working order and told the guy I'd get it later in the day. I loaded it up and went to the office machine retailer in town. I asked the guy how much it was worth becuase I had no idea. He said in that condition around $700 retail. I asked if they would buy it, they guy said possibly. To make a long story short and after a few phone calls back and forth, I sold it for $500. About 1 hour of work total. The most work was loading it in my truck. I think I may have let it go for to LITTLE money, someone told me that type of copier is more like a high speed duplicator at Kinkos which may be worth more. But then again my investment was $0 and I have $500. This was a BIG copy machine. about 7 feet long and 3 feet high with several trays, buttons and other stuff.

Second Deal: In the back of a meat packing plant in town sat this bulky cutting tool with table and other stuff. I always wondered what the heck it was sitting outside so I went to take a look. It turns out the everything is made of STAINLESS STEEL. The manager said it was defunct and they were getting rid of everything this spring. After a few calls I found out scrap stainless is valuable. So I offered to load the stuff up and made the manager happy and after about 4 truckloads made about $990. About 5 hours of hard, heavy work. I wouldn't suggest this if your back is bad.

Anyway, just a few deals and ideas for you to consider.

Will be in touch!

John McTighe

P.S. Sorry, no web link

Hi John,

Thanks for sharing your experiences here. Wow, it's amazing reading what you wrote that sometimes what people throw out is VERY VALUABLE stuff! And all it can take is a little bit of work to turn someone else's coal into another person's diamonds!

I know that many of us are waiting anxiously for your book (me included) - I know, from the wisdom you have shared here that it will be a "must get" report. Thanks for sharing some of your experiences John and showing us it really CAN be done!

I guess all it takes are open eyes, an open mind, and a willingness to do what NEEDS to be done to take advantage of the opportunity!

Thanks. :)

- Dien Rice

Hi Dien,

You are so right. Opportunity is everywhere. You just have to open your eyes and change your mindset to see it.

But nowhere else is opportunity more present than in your own mind.

Those ideas for products or businesses you've been kicking around for a while are diamonds in the rough. Their true value is staggering but for most, they lie in a "mental fog" created by that "parent thought" that Gordon talks about in his post below.

Pull out your compass, break through the mental fog and harness the true potential of those gems of ideas within you.

Paul

> Their true value is
> staggering but for most, they lie in a
> "mental fog" created by that
> "parent thought" that Gordon talks
> about in his post below.

How very true.

Last summer, before I was laid off, I saw 3 guys loading huge mirrors into a big truck.

They were cleaning out a space that had been used by a fitness club that was going out of business. I stopped and watched, because - well - because I wondered about how they handled glass that size. (We're talking wall-sized mirrors!)

I asked what they were going to do with them, and they said "junk 'em. You want 'em?"

I did, but, being tired and mired in the daily "living" stuff, I couldn't think my way through their acquisition.

Halfway home, and WAAAAY too late, it occurred to me to pay them to deliver them to me. It took that long for me to realize that they weren't useful in my condo, but they'd be useful to SOMEBODY!

Mirrors are expensive. I probably passed on a couple of thousands of dollars.

Sigh.

So, to get myself in the proper thinking mode, I've rescued a perfectly good barbecue that's been sitting out by the dumpster waiting for the trash guys to pick it up.

I see 10 to 15 bucks, if not more.

Mary

Hi Mary,

Roll up your sleeves, get yourself some 400grit sandpaper and oven cleaner.

Now, if the barbecue is rusty or the paint is peeling, sand it until it's smooth. Then hop in your car, go to the hardware store and ask the clerk in the paint dept. for a spray can of black heat resistant paint. Then go back , use masking tape to mask off the parts you dont want to get paint on.

Now spray the barbecue. Viola! It'll look new again.

On the inside of the barbecue, use the oven cleaner to get all the gunk off, or at least the worst of it. People will understand a little gunk on the inside. After all, it is used and sold as is.

That $10 - $15 you thought you could get just turned into $40 - $60.

Paul

Oh, be careful you don't get any elbow grease on it though ;-)

> So, to get myself in the proper thinking
> mode, I've rescued a perfectly good barbecue
> that's been sitting out by the dumpster
> waiting for the trash guys to pick it up.

> I see 10 to 15 bucks, if not more.

> Mary

Now there is a good chance you'll have to replace the burner and the lava rocks which is why it was probably thrown out.
The good news is that the grill box is made of aluminum and it's probably worth $5 at the scrap yard. You can find thrown out grills all over the place and at 5$ a pop this can add up.
(Hmm. Maybe I just found a special report.
I lived a whole summer by finding and selling scrap)
The only thing is you'll have to remove all the parts from the grill including the stand.
All it takes is a hammer.

Good luck.
Henry

This, luckily is a REAL one. Charcoal-type. And It's not in bad shape at all.

cool. Nothing beats charcoal.

Henry
A DIE HARD Patriots fan!!

in people's lives!

Paul, I wanted to tell you - these posts you are making are REALLY making a difference!

I've reread your posts on Mike Rodman's forum a few times, and saved to my hard drive so I can also read them in future.

After reading your posts there a few times, I realized that I can also relate to much of what you've said, but in different areas. I think I've usually also been MOST successful when I've put myself in a "sink or swim" type of situation. Then, you're FORCED to do well and excel - OR ELSE!

BUT, normally we live such comfortable lives, that we are unwilling to put ourselves in that kind of situation. However, as your posts point out so well, sometimes that's the impetus you really NEED!

Anyhow, Paul, these posts you have been writing are REVOLUTIONARY - in that they can REVOLUTIONIZE people's lives!

Thanks for making them, I hope you make more posts like them! (Wherever they are, I'll track 'em down! :) )

And yeah, I'm going to APPLY it too.... Heheh, which SINK OR SWIM situation do I want to get myself into? :)

To some degree, when I went on this business "venture" and decided to discontinue my academic career, I put myself in a "sink or swim" type of situation. But then, my goal was simply to support myself.... And I've reached that goal, but now the time has come to push that further.

Thanks Paul!!!!! You probably don't realize HOW MANY lives you may have changed.... (And of course, Gordon has changed many lives too - including mine!)

Paul, in your seminar, and even on these forums (95% or more of the people who read these posts don't reply, so in seeing replies, you really are only seeing the TIP of the iceberg of change you have started for the better) - you are really pointing people the way out of the fog.

Once again, THANKS!!! :)

- Dien

Hi Paul,

I just wanted to do a bit of "thinking out loud"....

By the way, if you haven't read Paul's other posts yet, you'll find links to them in the next issue of "The Entrepreneurial Hotsheet" tomorrow (just had to get a plug in).... :)

What I was thinking, Paul, is that what you did actually has parallels with academic life, which didn't strike me until now....

Part of life of being an academic researcher is going to conferences and presenting the findings of your research. You usually have to give a summary of what you will present MONTHS in advance. Often, the research isn't even HALF finished yet! However, you still have to give a summary of what you will say!

What that means in reality is that as the conference date arrives, there's often a lot of "scrambling" to put together a talk! (Not always, sometimes things are well-prepared....) But what I'm getting at is that there are many parallels here.

You have to PROMISE what you're going to say first.

Then - even if you don't feel quite ready - you HAVE to make that presentation!

There are alot of parallels with what you did, Paul, with your seminar, except of course you got much better paid for it! :)

Thanks Paul, the things you have said have really gotten the wheels in my head spinning!

- Dien


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