Alan Sugar, Richard Branson and others
Discussion
If Alan Sugar, Branson and others had to start again, and had £10K given to them today would they be worth Millions in 30 year’s time?
(IMO I don’t think so!) I think they rode the unmanageable rise in property prices, they had the sense in buying houses and land and right investments when prices were low, as I can’t see any company you own generating £800million in cash in Sugars example.
What do you think ?
(IMO I don’t think so!) I think they rode the unmanageable rise in property prices, they had the sense in buying houses and land and right investments when prices were low, as I can’t see any company you own generating £800million in cash in Sugars example.
What do you think ?
R11ysf said:
OP, to answer you question as put, could they start again tomorrow and turn 10k in to millions then probably not. However, the question is kind of like saying if Pele played football today would he be any good? Again, probably not as the game has moved on. the same applies to Sugar and Branson.
There are lots of people shooting them down for their accomplishments but you can only face what is in front of you at the time. Could they start again at their age tomorrow with their respective fall off in energy levels would be better if they were 17 again tomorrow would they reach millionaire/billionaire status in their lifetime? Then probably.
These guys had incredible ambition and drive and an element of luck. But as many of these highly successful people show they try something and if it fails they try something else. Bannatyne, Dyson, Branson, Cauldwell etc etc they all treid several businesses before hitting the jackpot. They had drive, determination and no small amount of balls and luck.
People on this thread seem to shoot down Sugar (probably because he comes across as a c0ck) and saying he was lucky as he got on the property train and if he'd been good he'd own Apple. Well isn't recognising that a particular asset is cheap a skill? Deciding that a company, share, gold or property is cheap and then buying a load of it to make money is just business. It's not how you do it, it's how much you make.
If Steve Jobs was given £10k do you think he would be a millionaire in a year? Probably not either. How would you start Apple in a world with Samsung and Nokia? You couldn't. What he did was start it in a time when there weren't any major players in that field and he exploited the market gap and combined it with his skills to start a global business. Bill Gates the same only on a bigger scale - he genuinely changed the world. Could he do it again tomorrow, no - but don't let that take anything away from their achievements.
No one is knocking their achievements, but things were a lot easer then you could buy a house for 3k, walk out of a job on Monday and get another Tuesday if you had a bit of common sense you could make money. Nowadays there is too much information that every one can get so every market is saturated with amateur entrepreneurs in a lot of cases, so most business run on over-draughts or loans because of this. To be successful you need to be in a cash rich profitable business start small and build up your wealth slowly, or be extra special like inventing Facebook etc.There are lots of people shooting them down for their accomplishments but you can only face what is in front of you at the time. Could they start again at their age tomorrow with their respective fall off in energy levels would be better if they were 17 again tomorrow would they reach millionaire/billionaire status in their lifetime? Then probably.
These guys had incredible ambition and drive and an element of luck. But as many of these highly successful people show they try something and if it fails they try something else. Bannatyne, Dyson, Branson, Cauldwell etc etc they all treid several businesses before hitting the jackpot. They had drive, determination and no small amount of balls and luck.
People on this thread seem to shoot down Sugar (probably because he comes across as a c0ck) and saying he was lucky as he got on the property train and if he'd been good he'd own Apple. Well isn't recognising that a particular asset is cheap a skill? Deciding that a company, share, gold or property is cheap and then buying a load of it to make money is just business. It's not how you do it, it's how much you make.
If Steve Jobs was given £10k do you think he would be a millionaire in a year? Probably not either. How would you start Apple in a world with Samsung and Nokia? You couldn't. What he did was start it in a time when there weren't any major players in that field and he exploited the market gap and combined it with his skills to start a global business. Bill Gates the same only on a bigger scale - he genuinely changed the world. Could he do it again tomorrow, no - but don't let that take anything away from their achievements.
Today’s high street consist of, payday loans, bookies, pawn shops, food outlets or no win no fee ambulance chasers and the rest is full of companies selling you information on how to be a successful business man or get rich quick schemes.
This topic is getting very interesting. I love the replies and inputs how many of you are successful entrepreneurs.
And how would you base success
• Someone with a £400k house all paid of modest car no debts and £100k in the bank working 3 days a week to maintain it the rest of time spent with family.
• Or someone with a house worth £1m 800k in debts and mortgage, working 7 day a week to pay for it, don’t see the kids nice car though and can brag about the big nice house.
And how would you base success
• Someone with a £400k house all paid of modest car no debts and £100k in the bank working 3 days a week to maintain it the rest of time spent with family.
• Or someone with a house worth £1m 800k in debts and mortgage, working 7 day a week to pay for it, don’t see the kids nice car though and can brag about the big nice house.
Manks said:
I don't know "Nick" but yes I know a couple of people who do similar things. FWIW though I suspect he is better to deal with than some other people I know. At least he seems fairly up front about what you're getting.
I have also done business with an outfit of doorstep lenders, who charge ridiculous rates of interest. Some of the nicest people I have ever dealt with actually. Another chap I know has just been barred from being a director of a company for a few years, due to a well-known mobile phone racket and another jailed for defrauding the public purse. Nice blokes to deal with, generous of their time and never did me any harm.
In fact there seems sometimes to be an inverse relationship between business morals and respectfulness, i.e. some of the biggest sharks I've known have had the best manners and have generally been very pleasant to be with. It is almost certainly the case that some of our top entrepreneurs were no angels in their younger days but they just didn't get caught.
I have noticed that a few wealthy business men I have met are like confidence tricksters, very cleaver in getting people on board to invest in there ideas brilliant at captivating an audience (Pied piper) fantastic at swerving problems, and if the sI have also done business with an outfit of doorstep lenders, who charge ridiculous rates of interest. Some of the nicest people I have ever dealt with actually. Another chap I know has just been barred from being a director of a company for a few years, due to a well-known mobile phone racket and another jailed for defrauding the public purse. Nice blokes to deal with, generous of their time and never did me any harm.
In fact there seems sometimes to be an inverse relationship between business morals and respectfulness, i.e. some of the biggest sharks I've known have had the best manners and have generally been very pleasant to be with. It is almost certainly the case that some of our top entrepreneurs were no angels in their younger days but they just didn't get caught.
t hit the fans ...oh that’s business next !!!It takes a shrewd streetwise person to avoid been taken in. Which they avoid, they home in on dreamers who think that someone will knock on there door and make them rich. And the other scammers Examples:- land bank scam, Boiler rooms scams , buy diamonds, then the Nigerian offering to give you £1.5m for you bank details dob address password ect ect. Problem is greed, and the free lunch mentality.
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