Home business' in todays market

In earlier posts I wrote about trends and how the movement of money from one sector to another changes the financial landscape and profitability for people. People who are educated and understand how to read trends typically fare far better financially than those who are not.

Every industry has it's ups and downs. As our economy goes through its transitions, different business models with different value propositions have different results. One that I'm very familiar with is the construction industry.

Starting around 2002, major business magazines started ranking Boise as a hot spot to live and do business. Inc.com, Forbes, Money, ranked Boise in the top ten for consecutive years. Folks who were looking for a more relaxed, outdoorsy type of lifestyle, loaded up their truck and they moved to Boise. Idaho that is! And they had an investor under each arm. And I don't blame them. Many of our new Idahoans left high priced, overpopulated areas, bringing some serious equity with them. Many of the clients I worked for paid cash for their residence and bought recreation property to boot. By making the move to Boise they moved lightyears ahead financially.

My small business boomed. I couldn't keep up with the work. People had expendable cash and they treated themselves and their homes to makeovers. Construction across the board was a booming industry. It was easy to throw your dog and some tools in the back of your truck and be in business, AND make money. Not so much today. Many folks who broke into their own small business' are now selling their equipment, honing their resume's and considering going back to school to get a 'good job.'

Another sector that grows and peaks in times of economic downturn is the home based business industry. Most people look at all their options when they have to pull in their belt and starting and operating a business from home appeals to alot of people. Having had moderate success in the home business arena in the past, my number is on many peoples list as a guy to call. My phone has been ringing off the hook lately with people on the other end inviting me to check out their latest and greatest product and company. Juices, electricity, phone service. Weight loss, wellness, travel. You name it, I've heard about it.

Many of these companies and products are great. No doubt about it. I buy these products for me and my family because typically, not always, they are super high quality and work. They have to be for the product to sell.

It's understandable that home business' and MLM companies do well in times like these. People are looking for other ways of making money and it sound like it's a pretty easy way to make money. The challenge most people run into once the ether wears off from their initial exposure to a business is that it is a business! They have no concept of what it takes to run one. I truly believe that people convince themselves and others that if they just sign an application that their mail box will soon be filled with checks. Doesn't work that way. Nothing does, (unless you're a trust fund kid), and that's not what this blog is about.

The reality of a profitable network marketing company is that it takes people to make money. It took 30,000 people to make 500k in 6 months in my most financially successful network marketing company. Break that down and it's approximately sixteen bucks a person to generate that kind of a check. Of course, 50k a week is a pretty big check. Few people know what kind of effort went into building that organization. I was an overnight success in most peoples eyes. Not the case.

I had worked for several YEARS building a team in a nutrition company and when that company failed, timing was perfect and I moved all those people into the new business model. Years. What took 6 months to earn in the new company took 4 years of seminars, books, breakdowns and breakthroughs. Meetings, circles, conference calls, 3-way calls. Warm leads, cold leads, scripts. I learned how to be a network marketer. My checks were over 150k per month.

Sound like work? It is. But what about 4-8 years of college. Books, classes, tests. Tuition and time lost working. To enter a work place that produces financial independence of only 5% at age 65.

My mistake was getting sucked into the excitement of a start up company (only 2 in 5000 make it) and it went bust. I learned from it and won't make that mistake ever, ever, ever, did I say ever?.......again.

That's not to say that it all wasn't worth it because it was. I learned more about people, business and myself during those years than I ever would have doing anything else. It was priceless. What I found is that there are alot of ways to make passive/residual income without having to spend every spare minute creating it. The better and more knowledgable you get in the networking industry the easier it gets = less time spent. It is about quality of life isn't it. Of course it is. Get educated.

Fortunately technology has made it much easier to work from home. One major aspect is you actually can work from home today. Years ago I got sold on 'working from home' only to find that what they really meant was working from other peoples homes. I'd pack up my vitamins, white board and easel and go 'share the dream' in living rooms and dens all over town and across the country. I'd get home from work, kick off the work boots and dirty jeans, put on my JC Penny special blue sport coat (gold buttons) and red tie and go create me some sussess.... Aint it great!

Home based business' come in all shapes and sizes. If you believe you would like to work from home and have what it takes to make it work then you should go for it. There are good companies out there and without a doubt, what one man can do, another man can do. Just don't get blinded by the sales pitch. Do your due-diligence. Understand what it takes to make it. And once you've made up your mind, commit! At least a year.

All companies are not created equal. Find one that leverages systems and time to your advantage and pays well enough for time spent for each sale. It takes as much time, paper and ink to do a million dollar deal as it does to do a hundred dollar deal. Your time is valuable. Expand your thinking. Find a company with an outstanding value proposition. This in itself will do most of the selling for you. And most importantly remember that we are ALL salesmen. We sell ourselves everyday. Mortgage brokers, realtors, business owners. Insurance and car salesman. Employees asking for a deserved raise in pay. The resume's written. The speeding ticket we hope to talk our way out of. It's all sales. Even a baby sells itself when it cries for food and attention.

We are all connected and the world is getting smaller by the second. Take care of yourself. Treat each other with respect. And work on a 'we go' mindset rather than an 'ego' mindset. Hang out with inspiring people and be a contribution to the relationships. Figure out what your passionate about, choose something that fits and get started. When would NOW be a good time to change your life!

Start today.

Birth of a Salesman

I'm a small business owner/entrepreneur. I've sold soap, vitamins and juices. I've written a screenplay, started and sold a coffee company and raised capital for an internet company that went bust. At the age of 8 I even sold ash from Mt. St. Helens. Hot commodity in Idaho. Around Portland where they were hauling it off in semis, not so much. All were incredible experiences. Some paid. Some didn't. I think it's fun. My wife thinks i'm crazy.

The whole point for me and most of the people I play with is that we believe in being in control of our financial future. Doing what we want went we want. Some family and friends can't imagine not having a steady check week to week, (with benni's). We can't imagine having a cap over our heads and the uncertainty of a retirement that might not be there when we "arrive." That doesn't mean that I haven't and won't fill out a W-2 if necessary. Pride won't keep me from providing for my family. It just means that if financial freedom is available and I get to own my time, why not!

When I was in high school my dad saw that it might be a stretch for me to graduate....so he enticed me with the proposition of a Harley if I indeed did make it across the stage. What's a peace lovin' long hair to do but put away his ski pass, study, and get his bad self a bike. Exactly! I studied enough of other peoples papers to get my easy rider ticket, (my diploma), and away I went.

I was a misdirected guy who wanted freedom, had a cool bike and no money to buy the gas necessary to get me where I wanted to go. That's a problem. That's when I figured I'd better figure something out. Long story short, I was introduced to a company that I was in long enough to get the entrepreneurial code permanently embedded in my DNA. I saw a fat man on stage with a U.S. Flag pin screaming freedom to twenty thousand soap toting, fresh breathed, circle drawing maniacs. And that was it. I was in baby.

Cool concept. Tough business. It seems too many over zealous people invited their friends over to do some grillin' and then coughed their enthusiasm on unsuspecting targets. Tends to create a negative image regardless of how good the company is. That particular company isn't for everyone and it wasn't for me. But the concept of passive income is.

I learned much from that experience. The books read, mindset gained has been truly transformational.

I went on to be full time in a vitamin business, trying to earn enough to fund the movie I had written the summer I met my wife. One thing led to another and the company went out of business. Not to be deterred, I rallied the troops and marketed an e-commerce company to much success. The addage 'zero to hero' fit well.

My wife and I went from having a foreclosure notice on our desk to making 50k A WEEK, in less than two months. That's what happens when someone who has more heart than talent meets timing. We ended up earning over 500k in six months when the company decided to pull the plug. From zero to hero to, get the picture. Take a mindset that knows how to earn it but not how to keep it and you've got a mad wife. At least I had part of the equation down.

That experience was priceless for me. I learned that it's true that what one man can do, another man can do. I learned that timing is like putting your earning potential on steroids and collapses the time it takes to earn in half or more. And, I learned that passive/residual income still eluded me. Fortunately I was lucky enough to be given a book that was logical, spoke to my heart and was applicable by anyone with drive.

Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki opened my eyes to the reality that passive income is not just a gift for vitamin and soap salesmen of the world and only possible by building multiple levels of thousands of people. It could be generated by the purchase of the right property at the right price with the correct terms. ONE HOUSE! I've had to build teams of hundreds of people to get the same passive income I can earn from the purchase of one house?! NOTE! There is a substantial difference in the level of risk between real estate and network marketing. I do both. Networking money buys real estate is a nice recipe.

I've spent the past few years learning all I could about real estate investing while growing my traditional small business to a profitability that sustains our household. My wife Angela went to real estate school and became an agent and now we are getting ready to go in bigger than ever in a market unlike any my generation has seen.

I heard that more millionaires came out of the great depression than any other time in history. In a time when the economy was on it's ear and massive change was on the horizon; men with vision and knowledge came in and created opportunity for themselves and there families and built generational wealth that is growing today. Again, offer services. Find a need and fill it. Buy low, sell high.

I see it happening right now with people I work with. See if this doesn't fit.

Service: Stop foreclosure for someone and save their credit. Help get them on their feet.

Find a need and fill it: Offer rental property at fair rents to the growing number of renters filling the market.

Buy low, sell high: Buy real estate now while prices are low, cashflow it with tenants and when the market rebounds in the years to come have equity in which to buy more.

On average, real estate doubles every ten years. If you bought in late 2005 and early 2006 as the market was peaking and still own, you might not be smiling right now. But, if you had owned homes already and sold in '05-'06, you would probably be pretty happy. I know people who did just that. They sold everything at the peak and are now buying while prices are low. Imagine if you had one or two rental properties in the next year. One or two next year and the market recovers. Do you think you might have some equity?

History repeats itself. It's not if, it's when. The market will rebound eventually and real estate will be the hot topic for the masses again. The tip is, it's a hot topic now for those in the know. There are many strategies for investing in real estate. The examples I gave are just a couple. A person needs to be educated on what fits them best and what makes the most sense.

I believe that if a person is looking for a way to create passive income, is looking for something they can do part or full time, network marketing and real estate is a perfect investment of time and focus. It's empowering knowledge that can be taught to our kids. It gives us true control over our financial future. It free's us up to do more of what we love.

With that, I'm off to cub scouts with my son. Then maybe to the Harley shop.

Cheers!

Oh, The Times They Are A Changing

It seems that everything is changing fast these days. Just a year ago all my friends and business partners were riding high on the economic boom taking place. My phone was ringing off the hook for my construction business and my wife was showing homes left and right. Everywhere I looked I saw 20-somethings driving brand new, loaded 4X4's with tool boxes in the back and a business sign on the door. There was a confidence and enthusiasm in the air wherever I went. "Let's do lunch," and "I'll buy," was common lingo.

Here we are a year later and that enthusiasm has turned frantic, as many of my acquaintances, friends and the nation try to figure out how to generate some business, make a sale, make the truck payments and the mortgage. Phones which brought business like mana from heaven now carry calls from collection agencies demanding restitution for our play first, pay later lifestyles. Yes, the bubble has burst, and the smattering it's left on our communities is leaving long stains on stressed-out, unhappy faces.

The challenge for most people is that they haven't been taught how to analyze trends and cycles and therefore, get caught with their pants down when things turn. Too many people take their advice from t.v. and build their financial plan based on that information. I too have been guilty of getting high on the media-ether, moving on the wrong deal at the wrong time and losing my shirt at the shift.

One of the things that a mentor told me a few years ago is that once something hits the news or the business magazines, it's too late. The real money has been made and the risk factor has been increased as sophisticated investors head to the next, not yet public, trend.

A simple illustration I was shown sheds a little light onto what I'm talking about. If you look up real estate trends in this country you'll see that home prices, on average, double every ten years with highs and lows throughout. Sometimes it's a hot market, (like what we just left), and sometimes it crashes, like what were in now, all the while doubling in price every 10 years.

If you chart the rise and fall of home prices from hot market to cold market you see something that looks like mountains and valleys. Top of the market, top of the mountain. Bottom of the market, down in the valley. Now notice that when real estate is high, gold and oil are typically low. When real estate is low, gold and oil are high. Look at the current market. What has real estate done recently and what has gold and oil done? Real estate is in the tank for the most part and gold and oil are through the roof.

That's an obvious illustration of recent trends of how investors move money around and change markets. Does that mean it's time to buy gold and oil? Not in my opinion, but i'm not a financial planner and don't give advice. Gold and oil are higher than they've been in years. You could speculate that they will go higher and they might, but just go back to the novice system of buy low and sell high and you might have your answer.

If a person listens to what most people have to say about getting rich the chances are they will get what most people get. Broke. Look around. Most people are not doing so well right now. On the flipside, there are a minority who are doing exceptionally well, right now, in this market. They see this market and every market as an opportunity to win. These folks see t.v. as a tool and use it as an indicator and do exactly the opposite of what the masses are doing knowing that the masses will listen to what they see on the tube. When a select few know where the masses are going next and position themselves in front of those people, fortunes are made.

It's just like the baby boomers. They are the masses of epic proportion. More people born in the shortest period of time in history. They created titans out of tiny companies and fortunes for many as that mass of people grew up and bought baby food, (Gerber). Cars, ('65 Mustang). Homes, (Suburbs) and fast food, McDonalds.

The point of this is simple. Learn to read trends and know that history repeats itself. Do the exact opposite of what the masses are doing, buying and investing in. And be prepared and positioned in front of them, offering a service and filling a need, when they rush toward the next trend where you are already educated and prepared, to meet them.

It's simple, not necessarily easy, but entirely worth it.