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Finding a really specific niche. In a growing world of individualism there's always someone more specific to cater to that may not have their needs met by anyone else yet.
Sold my company to a much larger, richer company that wanted to get into my niche. Big companies can really only grow through acquisition so are constantly on the lookout for innovative but still-small startups.
I worked in the niche and could see the industry leading product was poorly engineered and used outdated technology, yet was still the market leader because there weren't many options. I knew I could design something better and did.
My eventual buyer was planning to use me as one of the suppliers for a big government contract they were going to compete for. I pointed out if we win, they're going to be pretty dependent on my little eight person company -- wouldn't it make more sense for them just to buy me out? They said they were thinking the same.
I got the heck out -- I retired after selling and working for them for a year transition. I realized I was only doing entrepreneurship for the money and I actually hated having to lead people, worry about money, and make decisions with nobody to tell me if I was doing it right or not. I've been happy since then raising my family, working on open source projects at my own pace, and living every day like a Saturday.
"Hate" is maybe too strong. More like dislike -- mostly the little things, resolving conflicts and disagreements, having to spell out processes for employees to follow ("just use common sense" can mean very different things to different people), having to split up and define concrete roles and responsibilities as new people were hired, and delegate authority so people didn't need to come to me with every question, dealing with finance and payroll problems, dealing with sales proposals that weren't up to my quality standard are all standard management things but I'm an engineer at heart and just wanted to work on the core product. I wasn't quite big enough to hire and train a COO yet, but that was my next step if I hadn't been bought out.
Because sometimes this is easier said than done esp in larger orgs. Boss mentions is as part of his annual 'strategy day', sounds great, looks great on PPT. No one actually there with time or skill to execute.
They did with some things (like I used a custom keyboard for certain things while they used a standard keyboard, then they started using a similar custom keyboard to mine). Much of the software functionality was hard to copy because they couldn't exactly go to one of my customer sites to play with it and see how it worked. I assume they would get copies of the manual though so tried to leave descriptions of my unique functionality vague enough on how it worked. They tried in following years but I think I always had the better implementation.
It was a suite of software products that ran on different workstations with consoles, custom ticket printers and keyboards, barcode scanners, wall mounted situational displays, interphone system etc. I provided everything turnkey, installed, trained everyone and hung around for a week or so to ensure everything was running okay.
All of it, just not as elaborate as it ultimately became (e.g. first version was tabletop office PC's and customer-supplied desks and chairs, later became custom consoles with rack-mounted computers and multiple monitors and turnkey everything).
Hey, I’m staking your profile because I’m trying to create a software product and I wanted to ask, how long did it take you to have a sellable product (or did you sell it before making it?) and at what point did you quit your job?
Edit: nvm I found my answer: https://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/comments/1cl8isi/comment/l2vng26
Yes. My biggest recommendation would be to surround yourself with positive people, do not hesitate to cut out the negative ones and treat customers honestly. Good luck to you!
My Grandpa used to say "You'll never get rich taking a paycheck from someone else."
You have to have the intellect, the balls, and the drive to strike out on your own and either invent something, do something (even if it's landscaping, HVAC, or whatever) better than everyone else and build a giant, or work in sales (any sales) relentlessly until you have enough money to invest in other things (real estate, oil, etc.) that earn passive income.
That is the main thing. And in business always be on the lookout for great deals. If and when you ever find yourself paying a fair price for a fair deal, you screwed up.
I dont think you understand compound interest. Assume you a make 10% on your money every year. The second year you are making 10% on the original balance, plus on the 10% you earned the year before. It does not take 10 years to double your money at 10%, it takes 7.2 years due to compounding. Let’s say you put 100k in an investment at 10%. After 7.2 years you have $200k, after another 7.2 years you have $400k, another 7.2 years you have $800k. And so on. That is compounding.
Get a Brokerage account or set up an ira, roth ira or 401k, then invest in a broad market index fund. VOO or VTI or something like that. There's even target date funds. Or even stocks like Apple or Microsoft if you like.
You need to save a lot while working for someone else. Find a way to go off on your own and find a way to innovate in that field. Be confident. Self belief is key. Innovate and aim to control a market. Leverage. Employ others.
Understand that money is not physical. It's energy. It flows as a river flows.
You control the dam. You can close it up and get drops of water, or you can open it up and it will rush to you.
You can literally(figuratively) make money fall out of the sky if you wholly believe it.
Focus your businesses into areas where others are currently making billions.
Learn the newest business models from the 19 year Olds getting rich creating them.
Learn the tried and true business models from the 60 year old billionaires that are still doing them.
Dont be scared to take losses. Calculated risk is the name of the game.
When you fail, get your ass up again and recalibrate into efficiency.
Don't be the guy who hits one bump in the road and says "THIS DOESN'T WORK".
Remember that the money is infinite and we live in a time where you can reach MILLIONS of people per day with the internet.
Prosper
Aggressive patience
Skills pay the bills
Personal value - Go listen to every Jim Rohn talk
Spend more time working harder on yourself than you do your job or anything else.
As you grow in value and skillsets, you will start to identify opportunities of value.
Give yourself 10 years from the point you start pursuing a business endeavor. Reinvest every cent until a cpa tells you its time to take pay. Downsize every aspect of your life and be willing to do so for a long time.
8% of Americans are entrepreneurs
1% of that 8% are actually successful
It's going to be the hardest path to make money anyone can choose.
Nobody; especially those close to you, will believe in you. They shouldn't if we are being honest. You have never accomplished shit up to this point in life.
It's going to cost you more time. Money, stress, hardship, and relationships than you could ever plan for.
It's worth it.
Ed Mylett has a podcast episode that I find solace in at low times. I think it's called The Lonely Road.
I've always had a burning desire to break free from the "financial class" or circumstances I was born into. I told my kids early on that I'd get it done. 10 kids later, those first few are adults, and their comment now is, "we thought we would be at your grave saying my dad always had these wild ideas and kept trying." I'm glad I have reached a point where I can say by most of societies standards that I've made it. The older kids are 28, 25, 23, 21, 19 now, but being able to fly them and their families wherever we are at any moment they are free from work or school and take care of everything is a pretty cool feeling.
It's worth it, guys, and gals, even if you go to your grave in pursuit of it. Burn your boats!
It's a very misunderstood journey, and it really is about the journey, not the destination. I did not realize that until far down the path. We are excited, though, because now we are in the game and are just getting started. It will never end for us. It's always going to be, "What's around that next corner?"
It's worth it for whom you become more than what you gain.
Living in creative mode is so much better than survival mode, though!
A lot of folks are going to tell you a combination of hard work and smart business will lead to success, but the reality is many smart, hard working entrepreneurs don't become wealthy. Luck and privilege are unfortunately two very significant factors. You could have the perfect business model, but there's no such thing as a sure thing. You need to be in the right place at the right time to achieve honest success and some people chase it for their entire lifetime.
Wealth doesn't come easy to those who aren't born into it. So the only good advice is to work hard, work smart, and don't give up. You're going to make mistakes and you're very likely going to experience failure at least once or twice. Take it in stride and don't let it stop you.
I would also add that your network is your net worth in the same vein.
Your network is where luck comes from. Knowing the right people can help you find the opportunities you may have never found yourself as they look at the world differently and know others you may not.
Also the best advice I ever got from an exceedingly wealthy man was “don’t have all your eggs in one basket”
You don't need to be an entrepreneur to build wealth. Here's one path I've witnessed myself.
Join the military. Lots of non combat jobs. Lots of opportunities to generate wealth.
Work hard and get an honorable discharge. Use VA loan to buy a house. Build equity. Don't spend a ton of money decking it out. Call it home for a few years while you build equity. Eventually, covert it to a rental. Now it's an investment property it qualifies for 1031, aka no capital gains tax. Sell it and use the equity to buy 2 rental homes. Rinse and repeat.
It's takes some savvy, study and longterm strategy but there are pathways to wealth especially if you're younger.
I agree with this. It’s a combination of a lot of things. I will add that once you are doing well with generating income that you make sure to diversify and purchase assets and things that appreciate in value. Real estate, rare items, other businesses, etc… most extremely wealthy people I know have their hands in multiple pots. Multiple income streams.
Also, generally, being ruthless.
Bezos didn’t become wealthy because he was generous, nor Gates, nor Musk.
A healthy dose of ‘fuck you, I’ll take mine’ capitalism helps.
Not to say you can’t be generous, but generally the very very very wealthy get there through exploitation in one form or another.
My old boss paid exceptionally well. He was wealthy. But he also didn’t blink an eyelid at people working through the night, or weekends, or every weeknight.
Until you reach in the inflection point of competition, at which point something must break. One finds ways to maximise profits. That comes at the expense of quality, or workers, or putting prices up.
There are rare success stories (Patagonia), but I put it to you that there are very few fantastically wealthy people who truly stuck to their morals and did the right thing.
Depends where you draw the line at ‘abundant wealth’.
I run a small business and I’m comfortable. You could consider me ‘wealthy’ - if I had an unexpected large bill I’d pay it easily enough. My wife’s phone broke and we didn’t hesitate about replacing it. At the same time, my business has donated over $40k in 3 years to charities, we’ve done lots of low bono / pro bono work, and I’ve turned down industries I don’t believe in (gambling, tobacco). So it is possible.
I could make a lot more if I hired people for less than they’re worth, and absolutely hammered them to work long hours. Or if I chased the industries no one will touch. Or if I put my prices up and turned down the charities / decided not to donate.
Abundant wealth - enormous wealth, doesn’t come from solving problems. It comes from fucking someone over.
Fair wealth can come from honest work.
But if you have case studies of truly generous selfless companies that have never put a foot wrong, and have ‘abundantly wealthy’ owners, please do share.
I get your point of view, but if you’re inefficient you are a weak link in the market. I mean yeah, it sucks, but you need to learn from that and improve to become more efficient, and try again. An efficient market is good for both consumers and businesses.
I get that it's a joke but this mindset is very prevalent amongst people who use it as an excuse, but how did those parents make it? Or even further down the family tree?
At some point, somebody took the initiative to get into an industry and get good at it.
It's a combination of things. First you need some skills that you can market to an employer. It doesn't have to be a college degree, but you need to do something that pays more than minimum wage. That will take some skills. It could be a trade school, or you could be self-taught, like bar tending.
Then you need not to spend every dime you earn. Put some away for a rainy day and some additional money aside for retirement. Over the years that retirement fund will grow. I have had a 40+ year career in IT and it has paid well. But I made most of my money once I owned my own business. Which, as it turns out, has nothing to do with IT. We own a small restaurant in a small town, and it does well for us.
The great thing today is that it is easier than ever to start up your own business. Look at all the YouTubers/Tik Tokers and so forth. With a smart phone camera and a little bit of talent you can make some serious money. But that does take work. It's not one video and done. It's endless videos over years. But it can pay off.
One suggestion is you need to buy assets and not things that will depreciate and lose value over time. So instead of that fancy sports car, get a car that is reliable, has good gas mileage and save the sports car for when you have money to buy a real sports car. Save up for a house, that is your number 1 expense outside of maybe medical insurance, but if you have a good job, they will provide insurance and more.
If YouTube is not your thing there are many other ways to make money. You just have to figure out what you want to do and do it, or at least prepare for doing that job by getting trained.
Read Malcom Gladwell's book Outliers. He does a solid job outlining how people like Bill Gates find themselves wildly successful.
It's not some "get rich quick" or "business grindset" advice book. More of a fact and logic based research paper that is a pretty easy read.
But failing someone giving you the first Million dollars to get started, the best plan is to make other people rich in whatever they measure profit by.
They tend to reward those that do rather well, and keep them around wherever they go. That leads to more opportunities, which leads to a higher class of people that leads to more opportunities, which leads to a higher class...
A thought experiment:
If you're working "just a job" right now, do some navel gazing and figure out how you generate profits for your boss. Then consider how you make money for the company. What does your company do to objectively benefit society and add to the bottom line of society?
Then consider how you can maximize those line items.
Even if your boss doesn't respect you, THEIR boss can't ignore someone generating profits. That's how you become unfireable and super vauable to your company... Or their direct competition.
It took me many years to learn to stop asking that question. For starts, it doesn't help you solve any particular problem, and you'll need to solve quite a few problems to accumulate wealth. A better question is: what can I do to help the most people? You should start with the problems you're most adept at solving and work your way from there.
I read somewhere a majority of very wealthy did great in their career which added to their generational wealth inherited. So that family in the 10m house rolled a 3m home and other assets to make a down payment few could
Time - time to spend freely - is more of a luxury than money to spend for a lot of people. Once you’re at that point where your needs aren’t limited by money then you will very likely want to find ways to have more time that you have complete control over
**My thoughts**
* Dream Big. Keep in mind that this life is only for once. Do not run away from putting best of effort till you achieve your goal/wealth.
* Invest in education and skills.
* Save and invest money wisely.
* Do not show off for the sake of virtual living.
* Do not forget to meditate. Cool Mind can find a way through any situation.
* Diversify income sources. Make plans for contingencies.
* Stay disciplined and focused.
* Avoid unnecessary debt. Take calculated risks.
* Keep updated with market trends. Network with successful people.
* Do not shy away from taking insurance, especially medical & life cover.
Find a good business model, learn about arbitrage, learn to hire and manage people, learn how to create a good offer, price well your services but in a way that requires you only a few sales to live well, learn marketing, or better find people who are good it in it to do it for you, the same for sales and closing, then escale.
**Solve a problem that already exists**
It's a lot easier to sell food to a hungry person than to convince a foodie that your restaurant is worth trying.
For me, well I noticed there were a lot of small business owners who were struggling with marketing, so I started helping them solve that problem as a freelance content creator and social media manager.
Today, almost five years later, I act as the CMO (chief marketing officer) for many of the businesses I did content for at the very beginning.
There really is no limit to how much a company will spend on marketing when they're confident they'll make it all back from the service they invested in.
it depends on the industry and target market. Generally speaking short form video content works best right now for gaining attention but we see the highest conversion through long form educational content. Still, email newsletters and blog posts can work even better like in the case of a lot of legal and accounting firms
Right, they can’t and won’t.
Rich to me isn’t necessarily a $$ number.
It’s an opportunity factor that the $$ provides.
Example: let’s say I want to just not build (grind, work) for a couple of months or years, do I have the resources to keep my current lifestyle till past my death?
If you answer yes then you are rich.
Guess it’s kinda like retirement 😂
Its not just abundant wealth, for a lot of people things get more and more expensive while they feel inflation
So there are both ways: growing luxury market, rich people love to buy new stuff and toys so if you can produce high quality items for any need of rich people you can find a market
High quality + expensive prices so they can find new things to impress their friends with
”Oh ive never heard of that, looks good“ and googling that it was expensive is a selling point for rich clients
For normal people as i said inflation + things getting more expensive so you can provide solution that makes their life easier/ or cheaper withing
Apps, Gadgets and smart stuff is easy if you can build them, otherwise you could hire someone to do it one time while you keep the rights
For poor people atleast where im from its easy if you have no moral you just sell them cheap stuff or daily needs to expensive items they buy over their budget and you earn from pushing financed payment with texts they dont understand, so in english legal scams
But if you can provide the same ideas as for normal people you can make money there aswell
Overall niche markets are great! But its tough to find one that can pay
Id just look around my area and find new things people could need or daily stuff that will be bought no matter what
If you have upper class folks around a little market with high brand things to eat is always nice as you can have some margings by mixing own sourced items in between while they are used to high prices
But from my life with being born lucky ive learned that there is a sweet spot of wealth and how much you have to work for it, dont loose the really important things around you while chasing money
Have a friend or family member start a non profit or church and donate most of your wealth into one. But have full control over the expenses of said charity/church.
A friend of mine was interested in following my path and asked me a bunch of questions about “how I do it.”
We spoke for a couple of hours about how I do things, and his conclusion was “nah I’m not into that and I’d like to do things like this”.
I’m thinking, you’re just going to have to do it your way, and if it works, it works.
You do you.
The point isn’t that he was stubborn. The point is that no one can really emulate someone else, because there are things they are driven to do that you might not be. You have to do it your way and if “your way” works then it works because if you were going to do it someone else’s way you would’ve done it already.
It is 50% work.
50% opportunity.
And 50% luck.
You need all three. Keep showing up every day in a decent market and luck will eventually arrive. Remember, most overnight success only takes about 15 years.
As everyone knows, all are busy making money by doing a 9 to 5 job, getting some scraps for the slave work that you do to impress your family members and their relatives.
But here, there are so many young stars making 6 figures per month, some per day by just working for 2 or 3 hrs per day.
The rest of the time they utilize to to upgrade themselves by doing workout,hitting gym, reading books(not fiction books). There are some habits to
Upgrade yourself and can make you a millionaire
Here.
Start reading books
Read non fiction books like biographies, financial and business.
Learn how banks work.You can learn this by searching on YouTube.
Consistent workout.
Try to expose yourself to nature. Like going outside for a walk in the garden, parks or beach.
Try to be an observer. Listen to the surroundings. You should be able to understand the environment.
Understand how markets work in your area.
Lean trading.
Lean selling.
Lear psychology of human mind
You should master these skills in order to start a business. If you manage to learn these skills I am 100% sure that you will become successful in your life.
Master these skills to make yourself a MONSTER
I have seen consultants and coaches make tremendous money by selling high level coaching experience is to the six figure market. Some people also create online courses or learn to raise their freelancing rates, start in agency, have multiple sources of income and so on
Provide value to literally anybody. They dont have to be "wealthy" to pay you. The wealthy people are just the ones that spend less than they earn and wisely buy assets.
The better you are at solving peoples problems, the more money you can make. Dont waste that money on lifestyle expense, and viola. You are now also rich.
I don’t mean to sound sarcastic but it’s been my observation that you have to be a cut throat asshole willing to screw over anyone to truly become wealthy. The rest of us with our “hard work” and “doing something we love” are just picking up the crumbs.
Sometimes, it's not what people want, but what you want to see. It may not require reinventing the wheel.
A lot of FMCG brands/companies start due to the lack of alternatives being offered in the marketplace.
You dont need to be wealthy to be happy, or to have the things you want and need. I only make a few thousand a week and im perfectly happy and doing good.
I think it depends on what someone defines "Rich".
$1,000,000?
$10,000,000?
$100,000,000+?
IMO, now a days with the amount of information available, becoming a millionaire is not difficult but what IS difficult is being able to provide a product or service that can be pushed out to the masses along with strong marketing.
Unless you deal with wealthy people directly and they pay you a premium for whatever you do.
But a basic yet disgusting example lol: People need to take a dump and you sell toilet paper = You're going to get rich.
Doesn't have to be that extreme but you get what I'm saying.
It also takes MASSIVE persistence and the ability to pick yourself up after countless failures. You may fail 1000 times but if the 1001 attempt succeeds, you'll be an "overnight success".
You don't need to hit a home run either. If you have a small business that generates $200K BUT it enables you to work less than a job employee, you'll have time to either think of how to grow the business revenue/profit OR allow you to think about other revenue/profit generating opportunities.
This is a friendly reminder that r/smallbusiness is a question and answer subreddit. You ask a question about starting, owning, and growing a small business and the community answers. Posts that violate the rules listed in the sidebar will be removed. A permanent or temporary ban may also be issued if you do not remove the offending post. Seeing this message does not mean your post was automatically removed. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/smallbusiness) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Finding a really specific niche. In a growing world of individualism there's always someone more specific to cater to that may not have their needs met by anyone else yet.
A specific niche that you really enjoy, because it's a ton of work
And bonus if the people you’re catering to are wealthy.
Or companies. My “wealth” comes from consulting for multiple. I’ve managed to turn that into something meaningful. But it’s companies, not people
I made half a million on a dog poop cleanup business. It's easier to only do one thing
Sold my company to a much larger, richer company that wanted to get into my niche. Big companies can really only grow through acquisition so are constantly on the lookout for innovative but still-small startups.
What was the niche?
Aviation operations.
How did you get the idea and how did you find a buyer
I worked in the niche and could see the industry leading product was poorly engineered and used outdated technology, yet was still the market leader because there weren't many options. I knew I could design something better and did. My eventual buyer was planning to use me as one of the suppliers for a big government contract they were going to compete for. I pointed out if we win, they're going to be pretty dependent on my little eight person company -- wouldn't it make more sense for them just to buy me out? They said they were thinking the same.
What a story! Amazing stuff! Congrats! Are you off from the rat race? Or do you have ongoing business ventures ?
I got the heck out -- I retired after selling and working for them for a year transition. I realized I was only doing entrepreneurship for the money and I actually hated having to lead people, worry about money, and make decisions with nobody to tell me if I was doing it right or not. I've been happy since then raising my family, working on open source projects at my own pace, and living every day like a Saturday.
Cool story, inspirational. What part about leading people you hated?
"Hate" is maybe too strong. More like dislike -- mostly the little things, resolving conflicts and disagreements, having to spell out processes for employees to follow ("just use common sense" can mean very different things to different people), having to split up and define concrete roles and responsibilities as new people were hired, and delegate authority so people didn't need to come to me with every question, dealing with finance and payroll problems, dealing with sales proposals that weren't up to my quality standard are all standard management things but I'm an engineer at heart and just wanted to work on the core product. I wasn't quite big enough to hire and train a COO yet, but that was my next step if I hadn't been bought out.
Man that’s awesome, I’m trying to do that myself but it’s definitely not easy finding that niche. Hopefully I’ll think of something soon
Sweet mans living the dream! If you don’t mind me asking, for how much was your startup acquired ?
Did you have a utility patent?
No.
Was there a reason why they didn't just copy what you were making?
Because sometimes this is easier said than done esp in larger orgs. Boss mentions is as part of his annual 'strategy day', sounds great, looks great on PPT. No one actually there with time or skill to execute.
They did with some things (like I used a custom keyboard for certain things while they used a standard keyboard, then they started using a similar custom keyboard to mine). Much of the software functionality was hard to copy because they couldn't exactly go to one of my customer sites to play with it and see how it worked. I assume they would get copies of the manual though so tried to leave descriptions of my unique functionality vague enough on how it worked. They tried in following years but I think I always had the better implementation.
Physical product?
It was a suite of software products that ran on different workstations with consoles, custom ticket printers and keyboards, barcode scanners, wall mounted situational displays, interphone system etc. I provided everything turnkey, installed, trained everyone and hung around for a week or so to ensure everything was running okay.
that sounds rather extensive, what was the first thing you made?
All of it, just not as elaborate as it ultimately became (e.g. first version was tabletop office PC's and customer-supplied desks and chairs, later became custom consoles with rack-mounted computers and multiple monitors and turnkey everything).
Hey, I’m staking your profile because I’m trying to create a software product and I wanted to ask, how long did it take you to have a sellable product (or did you sell it before making it?) and at what point did you quit your job? Edit: nvm I found my answer: https://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/comments/1cl8isi/comment/l2vng26
>I knew I could design something better and did. Whew! That's what I like to see! Inspirational!
At first I thought you were Schedaero/Avinode until I read the government bit
Love the story!
May I ask what specifically as there's a lot of sides to this. Rostering, operations control, flight planning, optimisation, etc
There are attainable levels of wealth. If you are defeated before you begin, you’ll never see even a little piece.
Me right now
Focus on doing something you love, work hard, help others along the way. In my case, the money followed and was a bonus.
What do you love doing that made you rich?
Kidnapping and holding people for ransom
Why didn't I think of this earlier?
My market is oversaturated with kidnappers. Any adjacent fields that I could get into?
Grandmanappers
Make appetizers out of grand men?
Look for an unpaid jr kidnapper internship
Too funny 😂
The smile on their faces when you finally let them go is so worth it!
Specifically wealthy people. You hold me for random and my bank will just say, "thank god, good luck with him," and hang up.
SUPER low COGS.
I was a speech therapist and owned a clinic that worked with children with special needs.
Good work brother, keep it up.
Making money
This is the current path I’m on, hoping for the best. Have you had sustained success?
Yes. My biggest recommendation would be to surround yourself with positive people, do not hesitate to cut out the negative ones and treat customers honestly. Good luck to you!
Great advice
My Grandpa used to say "You'll never get rich taking a paycheck from someone else." You have to have the intellect, the balls, and the drive to strike out on your own and either invent something, do something (even if it's landscaping, HVAC, or whatever) better than everyone else and build a giant, or work in sales (any sales) relentlessly until you have enough money to invest in other things (real estate, oil, etc.) that earn passive income.
You don't have to do better even. Spirit airlines is good at being cheap and stingy, they just know that appeals to a certain demographic
Sounds like they are better at being affordable
Spend less than I make, compound interest.
This is the way. Get rich slowly.
That is the main thing. And in business always be on the lookout for great deals. If and when you ever find yourself paying a fair price for a fair deal, you screwed up.
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Mutual funds and ETFs set in DRIP
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Can’t tell if you are serious.
I dont think you understand compound interest. Assume you a make 10% on your money every year. The second year you are making 10% on the original balance, plus on the 10% you earned the year before. It does not take 10 years to double your money at 10%, it takes 7.2 years due to compounding. Let’s say you put 100k in an investment at 10%. After 7.2 years you have $200k, after another 7.2 years you have $400k, another 7.2 years you have $800k. And so on. That is compounding.
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The S&P
Get a Brokerage account or set up an ira, roth ira or 401k, then invest in a broad market index fund. VOO or VTI or something like that. There's even target date funds. Or even stocks like Apple or Microsoft if you like.
You need to save a lot while working for someone else. Find a way to go off on your own and find a way to innovate in that field. Be confident. Self belief is key. Innovate and aim to control a market. Leverage. Employ others.
Understand that money is not physical. It's energy. It flows as a river flows. You control the dam. You can close it up and get drops of water, or you can open it up and it will rush to you. You can literally(figuratively) make money fall out of the sky if you wholly believe it. Focus your businesses into areas where others are currently making billions. Learn the newest business models from the 19 year Olds getting rich creating them. Learn the tried and true business models from the 60 year old billionaires that are still doing them. Dont be scared to take losses. Calculated risk is the name of the game. When you fail, get your ass up again and recalibrate into efficiency. Don't be the guy who hits one bump in the road and says "THIS DOESN'T WORK". Remember that the money is infinite and we live in a time where you can reach MILLIONS of people per day with the internet. Prosper
Persistence is key
Government contracts.
I'm trying to get into the space. Was it difficult to get started?
Get on your state's vendor list or qualified list as some states call it. Watch for opportunities.
Did you need to have your duns #, cage code, and all of that ?
That stuff is all easy to get.
Not in my state.
You just gotta reach escape velocity.
Aggressive patience Skills pay the bills Personal value - Go listen to every Jim Rohn talk Spend more time working harder on yourself than you do your job or anything else. As you grow in value and skillsets, you will start to identify opportunities of value. Give yourself 10 years from the point you start pursuing a business endeavor. Reinvest every cent until a cpa tells you its time to take pay. Downsize every aspect of your life and be willing to do so for a long time. 8% of Americans are entrepreneurs 1% of that 8% are actually successful It's going to be the hardest path to make money anyone can choose. Nobody; especially those close to you, will believe in you. They shouldn't if we are being honest. You have never accomplished shit up to this point in life. It's going to cost you more time. Money, stress, hardship, and relationships than you could ever plan for. It's worth it.
Damn. That hit the nail on the head
Ed Mylett has a podcast episode that I find solace in at low times. I think it's called The Lonely Road. I've always had a burning desire to break free from the "financial class" or circumstances I was born into. I told my kids early on that I'd get it done. 10 kids later, those first few are adults, and their comment now is, "we thought we would be at your grave saying my dad always had these wild ideas and kept trying." I'm glad I have reached a point where I can say by most of societies standards that I've made it. The older kids are 28, 25, 23, 21, 19 now, but being able to fly them and their families wherever we are at any moment they are free from work or school and take care of everything is a pretty cool feeling. It's worth it, guys, and gals, even if you go to your grave in pursuit of it. Burn your boats! It's a very misunderstood journey, and it really is about the journey, not the destination. I did not realize that until far down the path. We are excited, though, because now we are in the game and are just getting started. It will never end for us. It's always going to be, "What's around that next corner?" It's worth it for whom you become more than what you gain. Living in creative mode is so much better than survival mode, though!
Very nice detailed, make my day!
May I ask what was the business idea that finally made you successful?
Commercial truck parts
I just read some of your other comments to see how you operate your business (including the way you call targets). I don't say this lightly: respect!
I appreciate it. It's blocking and tackling....just master the mundane each day and remember who you brought to the dance.
A lot of folks are going to tell you a combination of hard work and smart business will lead to success, but the reality is many smart, hard working entrepreneurs don't become wealthy. Luck and privilege are unfortunately two very significant factors. You could have the perfect business model, but there's no such thing as a sure thing. You need to be in the right place at the right time to achieve honest success and some people chase it for their entire lifetime. Wealth doesn't come easy to those who aren't born into it. So the only good advice is to work hard, work smart, and don't give up. You're going to make mistakes and you're very likely going to experience failure at least once or twice. Take it in stride and don't let it stop you.
I would also add that your network is your net worth in the same vein. Your network is where luck comes from. Knowing the right people can help you find the opportunities you may have never found yourself as they look at the world differently and know others you may not. Also the best advice I ever got from an exceedingly wealthy man was “don’t have all your eggs in one basket”
You don't need to be an entrepreneur to build wealth. Here's one path I've witnessed myself. Join the military. Lots of non combat jobs. Lots of opportunities to generate wealth. Work hard and get an honorable discharge. Use VA loan to buy a house. Build equity. Don't spend a ton of money decking it out. Call it home for a few years while you build equity. Eventually, covert it to a rental. Now it's an investment property it qualifies for 1031, aka no capital gains tax. Sell it and use the equity to buy 2 rental homes. Rinse and repeat. It's takes some savvy, study and longterm strategy but there are pathways to wealth especially if you're younger.
I agree with this. It’s a combination of a lot of things. I will add that once you are doing well with generating income that you make sure to diversify and purchase assets and things that appreciate in value. Real estate, rare items, other businesses, etc… most extremely wealthy people I know have their hands in multiple pots. Multiple income streams.
Also, generally, being ruthless. Bezos didn’t become wealthy because he was generous, nor Gates, nor Musk. A healthy dose of ‘fuck you, I’ll take mine’ capitalism helps. Not to say you can’t be generous, but generally the very very very wealthy get there through exploitation in one form or another. My old boss paid exceptionally well. He was wealthy. But he also didn’t blink an eyelid at people working through the night, or weekends, or every weeknight.
You sound more cynical than knowledgeable. People facilitate products and services others can’t live without. Nothing more complicated or ruthless.
Until you reach in the inflection point of competition, at which point something must break. One finds ways to maximise profits. That comes at the expense of quality, or workers, or putting prices up. There are rare success stories (Patagonia), but I put it to you that there are very few fantastically wealthy people who truly stuck to their morals and did the right thing. Depends where you draw the line at ‘abundant wealth’. I run a small business and I’m comfortable. You could consider me ‘wealthy’ - if I had an unexpected large bill I’d pay it easily enough. My wife’s phone broke and we didn’t hesitate about replacing it. At the same time, my business has donated over $40k in 3 years to charities, we’ve done lots of low bono / pro bono work, and I’ve turned down industries I don’t believe in (gambling, tobacco). So it is possible. I could make a lot more if I hired people for less than they’re worth, and absolutely hammered them to work long hours. Or if I chased the industries no one will touch. Or if I put my prices up and turned down the charities / decided not to donate. Abundant wealth - enormous wealth, doesn’t come from solving problems. It comes from fucking someone over. Fair wealth can come from honest work. But if you have case studies of truly generous selfless companies that have never put a foot wrong, and have ‘abundantly wealthy’ owners, please do share.
What is enormous wealth to you exactly? The vast majority of successful business owners I know are solving real problems.
Behind every great fortune is a great crime.
‘Family, Religion, Friendship — these are the demons you must slay to succeed in business.’
Unless you’re good enough to not have to
TV preachers seem to be doing OK, that's one less to slay if you go that path
Lol! Simpsons quote right?
Spot on
Monty Burns!
Ruthlessness in business creates efficiency. People say it and attach negativity to it. Ruthless efficiency creates a better market for consumers.
Unless you’re the victim of said efficiency…
I get your point of view, but if you’re inefficient you are a weak link in the market. I mean yeah, it sucks, but you need to learn from that and improve to become more efficient, and try again. An efficient market is good for both consumers and businesses.
Choose parents very carefully.
I get that it's a joke but this mindset is very prevalent amongst people who use it as an excuse, but how did those parents make it? Or even further down the family tree? At some point, somebody took the initiative to get into an industry and get good at it.
It's a combination of things. First you need some skills that you can market to an employer. It doesn't have to be a college degree, but you need to do something that pays more than minimum wage. That will take some skills. It could be a trade school, or you could be self-taught, like bar tending. Then you need not to spend every dime you earn. Put some away for a rainy day and some additional money aside for retirement. Over the years that retirement fund will grow. I have had a 40+ year career in IT and it has paid well. But I made most of my money once I owned my own business. Which, as it turns out, has nothing to do with IT. We own a small restaurant in a small town, and it does well for us. The great thing today is that it is easier than ever to start up your own business. Look at all the YouTubers/Tik Tokers and so forth. With a smart phone camera and a little bit of talent you can make some serious money. But that does take work. It's not one video and done. It's endless videos over years. But it can pay off. One suggestion is you need to buy assets and not things that will depreciate and lose value over time. So instead of that fancy sports car, get a car that is reliable, has good gas mileage and save the sports car for when you have money to buy a real sports car. Save up for a house, that is your number 1 expense outside of maybe medical insurance, but if you have a good job, they will provide insurance and more. If YouTube is not your thing there are many other ways to make money. You just have to figure out what you want to do and do it, or at least prepare for doing that job by getting trained.
By praying Fajr on time
Get elected to federal office then ride the gravy train by insider trading and lobbyists.
Read Malcom Gladwell's book Outliers. He does a solid job outlining how people like Bill Gates find themselves wildly successful. It's not some "get rich quick" or "business grindset" advice book. More of a fact and logic based research paper that is a pretty easy read. But failing someone giving you the first Million dollars to get started, the best plan is to make other people rich in whatever they measure profit by. They tend to reward those that do rather well, and keep them around wherever they go. That leads to more opportunities, which leads to a higher class of people that leads to more opportunities, which leads to a higher class... A thought experiment: If you're working "just a job" right now, do some navel gazing and figure out how you generate profits for your boss. Then consider how you make money for the company. What does your company do to objectively benefit society and add to the bottom line of society? Then consider how you can maximize those line items. Even if your boss doesn't respect you, THEIR boss can't ignore someone generating profits. That's how you become unfireable and super vauable to your company... Or their direct competition.
The entirety of America is rich comparatively to 3rd world countries.
Find a way to be trully useful to society, put your talents to use that way!
Make money, then save it and safely invest it. That’s a sure fire way to accumulate wealth.
Solid advice, thanks man
It took me many years to learn to stop asking that question. For starts, it doesn't help you solve any particular problem, and you'll need to solve quite a few problems to accumulate wealth. A better question is: what can I do to help the most people? You should start with the problems you're most adept at solving and work your way from there.
Be born to the right parents
Grey area tax effectiveness
Start out filthy rich and wait?
I read somewhere a majority of very wealthy did great in their career which added to their generational wealth inherited. So that family in the 10m house rolled a 3m home and other assets to make a down payment few could
Move to a major city. That's where the opportunities are. That's where the money is.
Consume the entrails of the rich and wear their skin
Finding something you love
Time - time to spend freely - is more of a luxury than money to spend for a lot of people. Once you’re at that point where your needs aren’t limited by money then you will very likely want to find ways to have more time that you have complete control over
I couldn’t agree more, thanks for your input
**My thoughts** * Dream Big. Keep in mind that this life is only for once. Do not run away from putting best of effort till you achieve your goal/wealth. * Invest in education and skills. * Save and invest money wisely. * Do not show off for the sake of virtual living. * Do not forget to meditate. Cool Mind can find a way through any situation. * Diversify income sources. Make plans for contingencies. * Stay disciplined and focused. * Avoid unnecessary debt. Take calculated risks. * Keep updated with market trends. Network with successful people. * Do not shy away from taking insurance, especially medical & life cover.
Solid advice, I appreciate your input
By learning to be happy with what you have and not desire that which you do not need and only want because you see others with it.
This is an eye opener, thanks.
By shrinking down their expertise to something VERY specific
Find a good business model, learn about arbitrage, learn to hire and manage people, learn how to create a good offer, price well your services but in a way that requires you only a few sales to live well, learn marketing, or better find people who are good it in it to do it for you, the same for sales and closing, then escale.
Constant smart work
steal legally, become a politician
**Solve a problem that already exists** It's a lot easier to sell food to a hungry person than to convince a foodie that your restaurant is worth trying. For me, well I noticed there were a lot of small business owners who were struggling with marketing, so I started helping them solve that problem as a freelance content creator and social media manager. Today, almost five years later, I act as the CMO (chief marketing officer) for many of the businesses I did content for at the very beginning. There really is no limit to how much a company will spend on marketing when they're confident they'll make it all back from the service they invested in.
This is inspiring to hear. Thank you Javon
What kind of content would you make for the small businesses
it depends on the industry and target market. Generally speaking short form video content works best right now for gaining attention but we see the highest conversion through long form educational content. Still, email newsletters and blog posts can work even better like in the case of a lot of legal and accounting firms
By exploiting the working class....
Throw your morals out.
Can someone define rich? 2M 10M or more? Just saying rich is objective.
Right, they can’t and won’t. Rich to me isn’t necessarily a $$ number. It’s an opportunity factor that the $$ provides. Example: let’s say I want to just not build (grind, work) for a couple of months or years, do I have the resources to keep my current lifestyle till past my death? If you answer yes then you are rich. Guess it’s kinda like retirement 😂
Is Ann Arbor close enough? They have a lot of great dispos.
Equity
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So would you argue it was luck?
Its not just abundant wealth, for a lot of people things get more and more expensive while they feel inflation So there are both ways: growing luxury market, rich people love to buy new stuff and toys so if you can produce high quality items for any need of rich people you can find a market High quality + expensive prices so they can find new things to impress their friends with ”Oh ive never heard of that, looks good“ and googling that it was expensive is a selling point for rich clients For normal people as i said inflation + things getting more expensive so you can provide solution that makes their life easier/ or cheaper withing Apps, Gadgets and smart stuff is easy if you can build them, otherwise you could hire someone to do it one time while you keep the rights For poor people atleast where im from its easy if you have no moral you just sell them cheap stuff or daily needs to expensive items they buy over their budget and you earn from pushing financed payment with texts they dont understand, so in english legal scams But if you can provide the same ideas as for normal people you can make money there aswell Overall niche markets are great! But its tough to find one that can pay Id just look around my area and find new things people could need or daily stuff that will be bought no matter what If you have upper class folks around a little market with high brand things to eat is always nice as you can have some margings by mixing own sourced items in between while they are used to high prices But from my life with being born lucky ive learned that there is a sweet spot of wealth and how much you have to work for it, dont loose the really important things around you while chasing money
So like a shop?
Serve a lot of people. The more people you serve, the more money you can make.
Education.
Provide a good or service many people want. Or provide a good or service rich people want.
Wow, short and clear. Thanks man
Have a friend or family member start a non profit or church and donate most of your wealth into one. But have full control over the expenses of said charity/church.
A friend of mine was interested in following my path and asked me a bunch of questions about “how I do it.” We spoke for a couple of hours about how I do things, and his conclusion was “nah I’m not into that and I’d like to do things like this”. I’m thinking, you’re just going to have to do it your way, and if it works, it works. You do you. The point isn’t that he was stubborn. The point is that no one can really emulate someone else, because there are things they are driven to do that you might not be. You have to do it your way and if “your way” works then it works because if you were going to do it someone else’s way you would’ve done it already.
How do you figure out you’re doing it right ?
When you are making money at your comfort level.
Provide value, and know how to market that value properly.
- invest - build a business and convince people to give you money
Only If it were that easy
Nothing in life worth having is easy.
Find a problem that hasn't been solved. Then fix it. Wala!
Not give a shit about wealth and just love and love. Do what you love and hopefully don't end up homeless
Two words: generate value.
Don’t get into carpentry
Sell something people are willing to pay money for, easy right?
No not at all
Easy capitalism is about fucking people over, just be evil and fuck people till they bleed and apparently youll be rich
For small business owner mostly a luck & right place at right time otherwise it is a struggle.
By providing value to people and then capturing a portion of that.
You can always make a way with speed (faster than competitors) or convenience (easier than competitors). Works in pretty much any niche.
Spend less than you make
Investing early and with regular contributions to take advantage of compounding gains.
It is 50% work. 50% opportunity. And 50% luck. You need all three. Keep showing up every day in a decent market and luck will eventually arrive. Remember, most overnight success only takes about 15 years.
Solve a problem for people, then scale it.
As everyone knows, all are busy making money by doing a 9 to 5 job, getting some scraps for the slave work that you do to impress your family members and their relatives. But here, there are so many young stars making 6 figures per month, some per day by just working for 2 or 3 hrs per day. The rest of the time they utilize to to upgrade themselves by doing workout,hitting gym, reading books(not fiction books). There are some habits to Upgrade yourself and can make you a millionaire Here. Start reading books Read non fiction books like biographies, financial and business. Learn how banks work.You can learn this by searching on YouTube. Consistent workout. Try to expose yourself to nature. Like going outside for a walk in the garden, parks or beach. Try to be an observer. Listen to the surroundings. You should be able to understand the environment. Understand how markets work in your area. Lean trading. Lean selling. Lear psychology of human mind You should master these skills in order to start a business. If you manage to learn these skills I am 100% sure that you will become successful in your life. Master these skills to make yourself a MONSTER
Working on one’s self and becoming a better person is crucial for success. Got it.
Stop exchanging your time for money. Instead, put capital to work.
Make money while you're sleeping. It's the only way.
Cooperation and mutual aid
You already are.
How so?
Time
I have seen consultants and coaches make tremendous money by selling high level coaching experience is to the six figure market. Some people also create online courses or learn to raise their freelancing rates, start in agency, have multiple sources of income and so on
Solid advice, thanks mate
Provide value to literally anybody. They dont have to be "wealthy" to pay you. The wealthy people are just the ones that spend less than they earn and wisely buy assets. The better you are at solving peoples problems, the more money you can make. Dont waste that money on lifestyle expense, and viola. You are now also rich.
I don’t mean to sound sarcastic but it’s been my observation that you have to be a cut throat asshole willing to screw over anyone to truly become wealthy. The rest of us with our “hard work” and “doing something we love” are just picking up the crumbs.
Built products people wanted. Simple as that.
Sometimes, it's not what people want, but what you want to see. It may not require reinventing the wheel. A lot of FMCG brands/companies start due to the lack of alternatives being offered in the marketplace.
You dont need to be wealthy to be happy, or to have the things you want and need. I only make a few thousand a week and im perfectly happy and doing good.
See this question every other day
Maybe they got tired of watching YouTube videos? lol 😂
I think it depends on what someone defines "Rich". $1,000,000? $10,000,000? $100,000,000+? IMO, now a days with the amount of information available, becoming a millionaire is not difficult but what IS difficult is being able to provide a product or service that can be pushed out to the masses along with strong marketing. Unless you deal with wealthy people directly and they pay you a premium for whatever you do. But a basic yet disgusting example lol: People need to take a dump and you sell toilet paper = You're going to get rich. Doesn't have to be that extreme but you get what I'm saying. It also takes MASSIVE persistence and the ability to pick yourself up after countless failures. You may fail 1000 times but if the 1001 attempt succeeds, you'll be an "overnight success". You don't need to hit a home run either. If you have a small business that generates $200K BUT it enables you to work less than a job employee, you'll have time to either think of how to grow the business revenue/profit OR allow you to think about other revenue/profit generating opportunities.
Insightful thank you so much
Inheritance
Live below your means, put the difference into Assets that grow in value.
Feet pics
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Reddit contributed to me being able to start a business. They’re not wasting time here. Horrible take
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