Becoming successful (and getting stonkingly rich) today
Discussion
I always maintained that I'd never be a billionaire, because I'd reach a point where I had enough money and I'd just stop working. But what happens is slightly different.
Since about 1998 I've started, bought, built and sold a succession of businesses (never single-handed). I've worked in a variety of industries, none of which I had experience of before we got into them.
Generally, you build something profitable, but with untapped potential, and then you sell. IME, the sweet spot has been around five years.
If you do it right, the sale price gets you your investment back, pays off the bank (or PE investor) and leaves you enough money to get the next thing started. There have been times when I have had "enough" money to properly retire, but an exciting or challenging opportunity comes along, and so you go round again.
The best payday I've seen was when we sold a business that was around 2.5 years old, and hadn't generated a penny in revenue. I haven't worked since then.
My formula for success is being in the right place at the right time, and being willing and able to exploit the opportunity. Those are down to luck more than anything.
The skill comes from being good at what you do, and knowing what that is. You then surround yourself with people who are better at doing what they do than you are, and you give them a piece of the pie. If they share in your success, they're more likely to come with you to the next thing which saves you time and money in establishing a senior team which works well together.
Since about 1998 I've started, bought, built and sold a succession of businesses (never single-handed). I've worked in a variety of industries, none of which I had experience of before we got into them.
Generally, you build something profitable, but with untapped potential, and then you sell. IME, the sweet spot has been around five years.
If you do it right, the sale price gets you your investment back, pays off the bank (or PE investor) and leaves you enough money to get the next thing started. There have been times when I have had "enough" money to properly retire, but an exciting or challenging opportunity comes along, and so you go round again.
The best payday I've seen was when we sold a business that was around 2.5 years old, and hadn't generated a penny in revenue. I haven't worked since then.
My formula for success is being in the right place at the right time, and being willing and able to exploit the opportunity. Those are down to luck more than anything.
The skill comes from being good at what you do, and knowing what that is. You then surround yourself with people who are better at doing what they do than you are, and you give them a piece of the pie. If they share in your success, they're more likely to come with you to the next thing which saves you time and money in establishing a senior team which works well together.
I dont think there is any real easy way to make money, you need to work very hard at something you know enough about!
My 1st business was very capital intense but quite profitable from fairly early on but I had two 10% equity investors, we needed more money to expand and buy more stock, the 2 investors and I sat in a room and discussed it, they both got their cheque books out and wrote a cheque each for 100k and looked at me for mine, I was 23 and had no extra cash so left the room as a 30% shareholder - Mind you it costs them both a lot to buy those 30% a couple of years later! The moral is that even a small equity can be good but you will always get turned over by the guys with money!
My next business was in the same industry but not manufacturing but engineering - I have never had any partners and didnt borrow money, I made a very good living for 35 years but its not easy, get used to 70 hr weeks and only 1 week holidays and remember everything is always on the line, being a director brings risk as well as rewards!
My 1st business was very capital intense but quite profitable from fairly early on but I had two 10% equity investors, we needed more money to expand and buy more stock, the 2 investors and I sat in a room and discussed it, they both got their cheque books out and wrote a cheque each for 100k and looked at me for mine, I was 23 and had no extra cash so left the room as a 30% shareholder - Mind you it costs them both a lot to buy those 30% a couple of years later! The moral is that even a small equity can be good but you will always get turned over by the guys with money!
My next business was in the same industry but not manufacturing but engineering - I have never had any partners and didnt borrow money, I made a very good living for 35 years but its not easy, get used to 70 hr weeks and only 1 week holidays and remember everything is always on the line, being a director brings risk as well as rewards!
ntiz said:
But had a bloody good finger on what marketing sells to their target audience. Same skill that has always been required in business.
I’d say this is a lot of it.A friend of mine was pretty good at finding niches and filling them with product that was otherwise generic stuff but sourced, branded/marketed/sold really well.
Being able to find gaps and fill them with stuff someone is already making but selling badly.
I keep thinking about making my millions and think with my talents/experience it’s going to have to be an app/game… 50p a pop but millions of users.
Just finding the niche that’s about to become mainstream.
Then get bought out
Isn't the answer "become an influencer" ? I'm still to fathom exactly what an influencer is, or what their product or service is that is worth so much, but it seems to be a desire for many teenagers.
I expect I'll find out one day and realise it's exactly the same as any other job....be great at what you do, know your product/market better than anyone and work really hard. I also expect that for some in that space, it's pure luck & they stumble across something that quickly makes them a lot of money. Whether they remain successful will be interesting to see.
I expect I'll find out one day and realise it's exactly the same as any other job....be great at what you do, know your product/market better than anyone and work really hard. I also expect that for some in that space, it's pure luck & they stumble across something that quickly makes them a lot of money. Whether they remain successful will be interesting to see.
The Sidemen documentary on Netflix is worth a watch if anyone is interested in how people make money by being influencers/youtubers. It is a lot of hard work, and a lot of luck. Those guys enjoy what they do, are very professional, and invest heavily in their brand. 600 hours of video is uploaded to Youtube every minute, the chances of the algorithms picking your content to display, rather slim. I expect similar stats with insta etc.
M1AGM said:
The Sidemen documentary on Netflix is worth a watch if anyone is interested in how people make money by being influencers/youtubers. It is a lot of hard work, and a lot of luck. Those guys enjoy what they do, are very professional, and invest heavily in their brand. 600 hours of video is uploaded to Youtube every minute, the chances of the algorithms picking your content to display, rather slim. I expect similar stats with insta etc.
This.To even monetise the YouTube channel there are high thresholds to hit (from recollection I think it’s 4,000hrs of watch time in the last 12 months, plus 1,000 subscribers). It’s hard to make enough money to sustain a living on less than a few hundred thousand subscribers. And even the multi-million subscriber channels make enough money to be “stonkingly rich”.
If I was having my 20s again, being a YouTube influencer is not how I’d go about making money.
The only thing I have learnt is that you either start your own company or own equity in a company, that's the only two ways I can think of.
In terms of starting a company I think it requires at least one of the following:
1.You're really passionate/enjoy that field/sector
2. There is a gap in the market or a demand for it
3. You're good at it/doing something similar for someone else (e.g. as an employee)
Now my issue is the passion bit, do people have passion for carpet or concrete? But at the same time I have previously identified a gap where I used to live but it was to do with beauty stuff which I don't like at all. I have no interest in eyebrows/nails etc. So as soon as the going got tough I know I would lose interest.
I've got a passion for cars (kind of obvious being here I guess
) However I don't want to monetise that I just want it to remain being a passion, (I've tried a couple of car related businesses)
My other passions involve watches and finance but I genuinely can't think of anything I could do other than selling watches which requires amazing contacts and relatively high start up costs.
Maybe I need to think outside the box?
In terms of starting a company I think it requires at least one of the following:
1.You're really passionate/enjoy that field/sector
2. There is a gap in the market or a demand for it
3. You're good at it/doing something similar for someone else (e.g. as an employee)
Now my issue is the passion bit, do people have passion for carpet or concrete? But at the same time I have previously identified a gap where I used to live but it was to do with beauty stuff which I don't like at all. I have no interest in eyebrows/nails etc. So as soon as the going got tough I know I would lose interest.
I've got a passion for cars (kind of obvious being here I guess
) However I don't want to monetise that I just want it to remain being a passion, (I've tried a couple of car related businesses) My other passions involve watches and finance but I genuinely can't think of anything I could do other than selling watches which requires amazing contacts and relatively high start up costs.
Maybe I need to think outside the box?
iphonedyou said:
Steve Campbell said:
Isn't the answer "become an influencer" ?
I guess it depends whether you consider cadging freebies "stonkingly rich".Must be some opportunities in the green stuff?
Crack how to make vegan cheese not taste utter s
te. Figure out how to make a fillet steak from plants. Figure out how to re-purpose wind turbine blades, solar panels and batteries which will soon be hitting end of life. Figure out how to store electric generated by renewables that doesn't involve battery farms the size of cities. Gamble in hydrogen somehow?
Crack how to make vegan cheese not taste utter s
te. Figure out how to make a fillet steak from plants. Figure out how to re-purpose wind turbine blades, solar panels and batteries which will soon be hitting end of life. Figure out how to store electric generated by renewables that doesn't involve battery farms the size of cities. Gamble in hydrogen somehow?Steve Campbell said:
Isn't the answer "become an influencer" ? I'm still to fathom exactly what an influencer is, or what their product or service is that is worth so much, but it seems to be a desire for many teenagers.
This is a potentially, very lucrative endeavour.Don't mistake the term influencer to mean just vacuous puffy-lipped 20 year old women extolling the virtues of a particular type of make up. They exist, for sure, but is way more than just this.
I do a lot of work in developing and transitional economies where public trust in government is non-existent. The institutions that are funding developments in those countries where positive public participation or awareness is required will hire local influencers to disseminate important messages. These have become vital communication channels in many places.
Even in the UK, government institutions appoint influencers to support important activities that are not themselves political but by virtue of them being 'public service' are considered such and thus subject to unhelpful, cynical scrutiny.
Influencers are exactly that - trusted and recognised individuals amongst a geographic or sector communities. Institutions and companies pay handsomely to access their following. The money that is paid to reach what is a potentially large and relevant audience is significant but normally much less than via traditional channels and in many cases, more successful.
Doesn't always work out well, though: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-679443...
Whilst there's good money to be made as an influencer, to get to the point where this is possible requires considerable effort, creativity and technical nous. One has to devote a lot of time to it as well as you need to put content out quite regularly and that content has to be good and relevant. Many like the idea of becoming an Influencer but give up when the see the effort required.
There's also a lot of supportive businesses emerging that support individual influencers. I know of one company in Liverpool that set up a Podcast studio a few years ago which hires itself out to influencers, providing all the technical support allowing the influencer to just rock up and do their thing. They are doing exceptionally well from this and looking to open more across the country.
NaePasaran said:
Must be some opportunities in the green stuff?
Crack how to make vegan cheese not taste utter ste. Figure out how to make a fillet steak from plants. Figure out how to re-purpose wind turbine blades, solar panels and batteries which will soon be hitting end of life. Figure out how to store electric generated by renewables that doesn't involve battery farms the size of cities. Gamble in hydrogen somehow?
Im pretty sure theres people out there with pockets deeper than everyone on here put together already trying or actually doing all that.Crack how to make vegan cheese not taste utter s
te. Figure out how to make a fillet steak from plants. Figure out how to re-purpose wind turbine blades, solar panels and batteries which will soon be hitting end of life. Figure out how to store electric generated by renewables that doesn't involve battery farms the size of cities. Gamble in hydrogen somehow?I do agree with one or two of the comments which says you need some luck as well. I really do.
You make your own luck but only up to a point, you need to know the right people, you need to be standing there when the right opportunity presents itself. What you do with that is then back to the hard work aspect.
iphonedyou said:
You can work in a dull, uninspiring sector, but be passionate about making money. That works too.
I would argue that the vast majority of business owners did not embark upon their journey with the aim of acquiring wealth being the primary objective, or even featuring on the list. If the accumulation of wealth is the singular driving motivation then investment banking and similar financial institutions offer a lower risk opportunity with higher potential gains.NaePasaran said:
Must be some opportunities in the green stuff?
Crack how to make vegan cheese not taste utter ste. Figure out how to make a fillet steak from plants. Figure out how to re-purpose wind turbine blades, solar panels and batteries which will soon be hitting end of life. Figure out how to store electric generated by renewables that doesn't involve battery farms the size of cities. Gamble in hydrogen somehow?
They were interviewing someone on Radio 4 about 4:35 pm.on Thursday about synthetic meat, grown from cells of a cow. No cows need to be killed in the manufacture of a steak, but, technically its still got the DNA of the cow so it's not vegan or vegetarian either. Crack how to make vegan cheese not taste utter s
te. Figure out how to make a fillet steak from plants. Figure out how to re-purpose wind turbine blades, solar panels and batteries which will soon be hitting end of life. Figure out how to store electric generated by renewables that doesn't involve battery farms the size of cities. Gamble in hydrogen somehow?Interesting whether vegans who like the taste of meat, and avoid it fir ethical reasons would be prepared to eat it.
Doesn't seem much mention of "people" skills? Most really successful people are great communicators, have charisma, good at persuasion, able to get people on board with their vision etc.
In a lot of cases the required never enough mind set comes with its downsides, they will always want more, never happy with their lot, probably high occurrence of mental health issues.
Still, they are often the ones who move the needle and push humanity forwards, for better or worse...
In a lot of cases the required never enough mind set comes with its downsides, they will always want more, never happy with their lot, probably high occurrence of mental health issues.
Still, they are often the ones who move the needle and push humanity forwards, for better or worse...
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