Cover via Amazon

I've found this post off from one of the discussions at LinkedIn, by a guy named Amol from UK. What he said made sense and its actually what we should be practicing for all this time as entrepreneurs. Learn how to make the million dollars through this article:

Making a million is an idea that appeals to us all, be that a million dollars, pounds, yen or whatever currency your country uses. But unless you’re currency is practically worthless it’s not an easy task.

In fact, making a million is a bit like eating an elephant, it’s a hugely daunting task, but if you’ve ever heard anyone ask:

How do you eat an elephant?

Then you’ll know that the answer is: one bite at a time.

So how does eating an elephant help you make a million dollars?

Well here’s an approach that seems to have worked for Warren Buffett. For those that don’t know of him, he is one of the richest men in the world, with an estimated wealth of $47 Billion dollars in 2010. In other words, for those of you wondering how many millions make a billion, Warren Buffett has made a million dollars 47,000 times over!

According to the biography of Warren Buffett (The Snowball by Alice Schroeder, an excellent book that anyone wanting to make a million and become financially free should read), Buffett’s inspiration for making his first million came from an old book called One Thousand Ways To Make $1,000. As Buffett is a bit of maths whizz he instantly recognised that the title meant that the book explained how to make a million dollars.

The genius of the book however is that instead of trying to make a million dollars in one go (which is hard) it was approaching the task in steps – one bite at a time! The goal of each step being to make $1,000. Do that one thousand times and you would have made a million dollars (or pounds for us Brits).

Warren Buffett’s understanding of mathematics also helped him realise that when it comes to how to make a million quick, it’s much easier to start with money to invest than it is to start from nothing. In other words he realised that by re-investing every cent, dollar or pound that he made from his businesses into growing the businesses or starting a new business he would make more money faster. In short he recognised that a dollar today, could be worth ten dollars in a year’s time, so he was very frugal, spending as little as possible in order to re-invest everything.

As he’s now made not just a million dollars, but 47,000 of them it’s hard to argue against his approach!

How to make millions with your ideas?

So what if you already have a business, a business idea or a product? Well there’s no reason that the one thousand steps all have to be unique. In fact if you’ve got a product that sells for one thousand dollars and you can sell a thousand or more of them, then just do it! That’s what running a successful business is all about.

If you haven’t then make what you can off each idea and when it’s exhausted move on to the next business idea.

Are you ready to make a million dollars?

ProBlogger Makes Six Figures Per Year - Learn how in 3 Days
-Let the power of wealth be with you~

Never Assume Anything

Image by danbri via Flickr

The headline says it all about this next article. You should never assume anything at all. You may assume a few things that has little or no consequences that may befall onto you or anyone for that matter. But when it comes to making financial decisions, assuming can lead to being an @$$. You can't spell assumption without @$$ anyways.

Let's say Guy A has a product that he's just recently discovered that he could sell to the market. Here and there he hears that the some of the lot of people wants to buy that type of product. So he assumes that this product has high demand in the market. He's wrong. Assuming anything can lead to bad results but if Guy A is really lucky, that assumption could be a good thing. A lucky call, one might say. How can you tell if you have made an assumed decision or a confirmed decision?

Who Are Your "Right" Customers?

Image via CrunchBase

"It's not who can benefit from what you sell. It's about choosing the customers you'd like to have." - Seth Godin

After I read that quote, it made me realize something. That a business cannot survive without customers. Because customers are a business lifeforce. You take that away, you'll be seeing that business gone bankrupt faster than Zek's popularity.

Entrepreneurs Startup: Passion or Profits?

Over the past month or so, I hoisted up a poll to find out how many entrepreneurs, like-minded business people and money-making individuals (freelancers included), would one day open up shop based on the kind of intention they have.

And here are the results:

• 20% - Voted for Passion
• 10% - Voted for Profits
• 70% - Voted for Both

The third choice was not supposed to be there but I believe that is where I wanted to be anyways just as the other 70% of the Bruneian Dollar public voted.

When Ideas Have Sex by Matt Ridley

I watched this video and it was very interesting. And don't think for a second about the real coitus to ideas. It's about ideas that advances throughout history and how we should take note to actually advance ours. So without further ado, Matt Ridley with his talk that will take us through a journey to understand what the meaning of technology advancement with ideas from something simple to something more complex.



So provided of what he has said, do you think anyone can actually fully understand where our technology come from and how to make it from its origin? Feel free to discuss by posting up a comment below!

ProBlogger Makes Six Figures Per Year - Learn how in 3 Days
Related Products:

-Let the power of wealth be with you~

Share |

How Do You Talk To Kids About Money?

Last year during Ramadhan, I met my little cousins and we break fast together. And it was interesting that they were playing "restaurant" after Sungkai. I observed how they behaved (often to just come up with a new idea to write about but later forgotten till now.): customer comes in, orders a food, pays the meal, and leave. A simple business restaurant process until I asked the little restaurant manager, "How much are you making?". He guessed and claimed to have made, " $1000!!". Very cute when I tried to run the numbers on my laptop's excel program. The only way to reach such number during Sungkai time, i.e. 6pm till 12am (yes, they do this every night and it was fun to watch), is that the meal must be priced at $25 each for 4 customers and do 10 rounds to achieve the target profit. Now I don't wanna spoil their fun with realistic numbers and with better management, marketing and all those business jargons. So it made me wonder, how do parents or anyone talk to their children about money?

If Your Kid Start A Business, What Would It Be?

I found this post to be very interesting and I recommend you guys reading it especially the parents or entrepreneurs or entrepreneurial parents. It is written by Theresa Bradley-Banta from BigFishTopDogs.com:

Have you ever asked your son or daughter what kind of business they would start? You’ve probably asked them what they want to be when they grow up, or someone has for sure.

Why not try a new twist on the old, extremely dated, industrial age question? Instead of asking your kids “Who are you going to work for?” why not ask them what they would create? Without limitations?

Interesting, huh?

Here’s what a bunch of really great kids came up with this week — all between the ages of 7 to 11 years old:

Teach adults how to use their “smart” phones. Need I comment here? Do you know how to use all the functions on your iPhone or BlackBerry?

Vending machine business – placed at factories and business centers. He’s donating revenue to a Women’s Center.

Computer game creator. I won’t give the name or concept away but it will be “the newest and awesomest game around.”

Children’s party planner – hosting parties for kids up to 8 years old. Donating a large portion of revenue to Haiti.

Online fashion for kids. Clothing and accessories. This adorable 10 year old from Australia “Quite likes spending time with younger children.”

Fitness for kids all around the world. He’s donating some of the revenue to local children’s hospitals after seeing his 6-year-old friend die from cancer.

Video advertising for business owners. He will video interview people “in the real world” about their experience with your business and post it to YouTube.

Using social media in 20 minutes. He’ll help you set up Twitter and Facebook and show you how to advertise your small business on your Facebook page… in 20 minutes.

Breed and raise pheasants & quails. Target market gourmet meat companies and hunting reserves. His 8-year-old sister will be selling designer flip-flops and hair bows online.

When it comes to ideas for new businesses kids can be creative and open-minded. They are incredibly future driven as well. Kids seem to get that a business is not built overnight and that they are building for tomorrow. They have no boundaries to their thought processes. Anything is possible.

Can we take a lesson from these kids?

How about you? Are you ready to believe that anything is possible? Do you realize that just about anything can be turned into a business?

Will you take the challenge and ask your kids what kind of business they would start today? Will you support them in believing they can do it? Intrigued? Leave me a comment or a question below!

ProBlogger Makes Six Figures Per Year - Learn how in 3 Days
Related Products:

-Let the power of wealth be with you~

Share |

Business Plan Writing Services Available!

With the competition rising and the registration date closing (19th July 2010), it is sometimes wise to try and learn ahead of the competition. You have probably learnt about the competition a few years back just like I did. That all you need is a team, an executive summary, a business plan, a presentation sales pitch and very big business idea. The whole thing is mostly a lot of writing and grunt work which require the team to go out and research accurate data for the finalize business plan.

But what if you do not have the time to learn how to write up a business plan but you already have all the necessary data? That is where a freelancing ghostwriter is for. For a small fee, I can write up the whole business plan, refine all your information and may ask you a few more questions in order to fulfill and satisfy your needs for an exceptional business plan.

Writing business plans as a ghostwriter can also be more than just for others. I can write some for myself along with a sales pitch and sell it to someone else who needs a business plan. Often that is where real money comes from for freelance ghostwriters to earn a living.

For your information, the price of a ready-made business plan is always 10% of its total start-up cost. Since it is just a pile of documents and not the real deal, that is often the real value of a business plan.

If you prefer to write one up for yourself, you may learn how to from sites like www.bplans.com (they provide sample business plans but none too fancy), garage.com (a simple site with simple information), and by joining the THINK BIG Business Plan Competition by iCentre, Brunei (they hold workshops to educate us on how to write up business plans as well as presentation and executive summary).

But if you think you do not have the time to write it all or do some research around Brunei, you may contact me for a price quota and have me ghostwrite you one extraordinary business plan.

All the best to all entrepreneurs joining the business plan competition.

ProBlogger Makes Six Figures Per Year - Learn how in 3 Days
Related Products:

-Let the power of wealth be with you~

Share |

How To Start A Kiosk Business? - Part 2

In cart sales, location is everything. Here's your first decision: Do you want a permanent location or should you move from event to event?

With a permanent mall location, you don't have to worry about purchasing a cart, moving it or battling bad weather (unless it's an outdoor mall). You can build a clientele and predict how business will go and how much product you'll need. On the downside, rent may rise. If mall sales slump, you'll suffer. And if your product isn't exclusive, a neighboring store could start offering the same merchandise.

There are many upsides to owning a mobile cart, says Clark, who does most of her business at special events. "You don't have overhead like rent and utilities," she says, "and if sales are poor, you just move."

Focusing on Your Target Audience
Choosing a location really comes down to one key element: "It starts with identifying who your target customer is. You want to locate close to where those customers are," says Howard Van Auken, academic director for the Pappajohn Center for Entrepreneurship at Iowa State University in Ames.

Thinking about her target customers worked for Diane Flannery, a Ben & Jerry's franchisee as well as CEO of Juma Ventures, a San Francisco organization that finds employment for inner-city kids. "When we started [with Ben & Jerry's] eight years ago, we were trying to find different venues where we could sell ice cream," she says. "We figured young people love baseball and ice cream, so the ballpark seemed like a good fit."

Once you've found your target customers, Van Auken says, "visit those areas and see what the traffic pattern is." In addition, according to Van Auken, you need to check with the property managers of your target location regarding such issues as product approval and display issues, security, operating costs, cash flow, staffing and lease length. (For a mall, you'll want to speak with mall management in charge of carts and kiosks. For a public place, contact the city or county to see if a cart is allowed and what permits are required. In a professional office building, contact building management.)

Susie Grant, specialty leasing manager for the Galleria at South Bay in Redondo Beach, California, also has a list of questions you'll need to consider:

What type of storage is available? While the Galleria's kiosks do have some storage space, tenants can buy more at an additional charge.
Do you plan on leasing during the holidays? Rent goes up considerably during that time.
How long a lease do you want to sign? Grant offers agreements that last anywhere from a month to a year.
After you've balanced out cost issues and decided on lease length, then it's time to find great staffers and set a move-in date. "[Location] is always based on availability," Grant says. "[Kiosk owners] may have something in mind that's not available at the time they're coming into the mall."

You'll also need to obtain a business license, and if you haul your cart like a trailer, you must get a license from the Department of Motor Vehicles. If you serve food, you'll need a permit from the Department of Health, which requires a specific amount of training in food preparation and handling. Malls often already have the carts permitted and insured.

While considering all these issues, one of the smartest things you can do is trust your instincts. "Go with your gut," Grant says. "If you have a good feeling about a location, it's probably going to be a pretty good place for you to start."

Make No Mistake

Beginning retailers make a lot of mistakes. Here are five of the biggest:

Not doing a reality check. Do you have the temperament it takes to succeed in retail? "One of the biggest mistakes people make is thinking that retailing is going to be one way, and their experience turns out to be very different," says Daniel Butler, vice president of retail operations for the National Retail Federation in Washington, DC. "They're not realistic about the challenges." Retail is a lifestyle choice. Can you hack it? Butler suggests working part time in retail for a few months to find out before you start your business.
Failing to research. Surprisingly, many beginning retailers don't develop a business plan or a marketing plan. "When someone comes to me and says 'This is the research we've done, this is why we feel this product will sell and why we'll be successful in this location,' it gives me a greater comfort level [in talking further]," says Courtney Lackey, a general manager with Jones Lang LaSalle, a property management leasing company that manages rental properties.
Creating clutter. In retail, you're branding from day one. If your product displays have no rhyme or reason, customers have no reason to stop and shop. "The biggest mistake a cart or kiosk retailer can make is putting [out] too much merchandise," Lackey says. "Something that's well-displayed, colorful and catches your eye attracts customers."
Competing with big-box retailers. Face it, as an independent retailer you'll never beat WalMart on price. But a lot of small retailers fall into the price trap of trying to compete with the big boys--a big mistake, says Bob Phibbs, a retail consultant in Long Beach, California. Instead, focus on your edge as a small retailer: customer service and a unique consumer experience.
Choosing the wrong location. The rental rate may be great, but if the location doesn't draw people, you might be in trouble even if your product is good. Where are shoppers seeking your type of product going? What types of big-box retailers complement your product and will drive traffic your way? One no-cost way to find out is by sitting in a mall and watching the traffic flow. "If you decide you want upscale people, look at where they're already shopping and how you'd get that market," Phibbs says. "Know all these things {before} you sign leases."

Rules and Regulations
With shopping center leases, you're customarily charged for maintenance of common areas and for the mall's marketing efforts. Find out what the mall's plans are for any structural alterations or remodeling, resurfacing the parking lots, or replacing the roof. These can be devastating assessments for a young business. Requirements for hours and days of operation, employee parking restrictions, participation in community service events, gift certificate and loyalty programs, and storefront appearance may not fit into your business plan or capabilities. Make sure you'll be capable of conforming to these requirements.

Sources: Entrepreneur magazine and Start Your Own Business: The Only Startup Book You'll Ever Need.

ProBlogger Makes Six Figures Per Year - Learn how in 3 Days
Related Products:

-Let the power of wealth be with you~

Share |

How To Start A Kiosk Business? - Part 1

In a world dominated by big-box retailers, wanting to start an independent retail business probably feels a bit like David battling Goliath. "Why bother?" you think. "I'll only get crushed." But these days, your small size could save your business. The big boxes have gotten so bloated. The good news is, retail spending has remained strong through the economic ups and downs (it totaled about $3.58 trillion in 2002, according to the U.S. Census Bureau).

While the costs of establishing a permanent retail location can be steep--you may spend up to $100,000 or more, with leases spanning three to 10 years--carts, kiosks and temporary spaces can be an easier way to get a foot in the door with a lot less risk. The upfront investment for a kiosk or a cart ranges from just $2,000 to $10,000, according to Patricia Norins, publisher of Specialty Retail Report, a quarterly trade publication for specialty retailers. And today, carts and kiosks are a $10 billion industry.

Flexibility is another advantage to staying small. License agreements for carts and kiosks are shorter and are usually renewed every month up to one year depending on the location. This arrangement makes it easy for entrepreneurs to "come in, try it out for a month, and if their product isn't working, shift to a new product line or close up shop and move to a new location," Norins says.

These temporary locations can also work well for seasonal businesses that only need to be open for a limited time. For example, a specialty candy shop may open just before Christmas, remain open through Valentine's Day, Easter and Mother's Day, then close for the remainder of the year. The most popular site for a temporary operation is a busy mall, but many operators are also finding success in airports and other transportation facilities, at sporting events, and at other creative venues limited only by their imagination and ability to strike a deal with the property manager.

At the Mall of America, about 100 temporary tenants dazzle 40 million visitors a year. Cart rental rates are about $2,300 a month or 15 percent of monthly sales, whichever is greater. All temporary tenants must pay an initial fee of $1,500 in "key money," which pays for a store designer to design and build a cart with the right look.

Not interested in doing business in a mall? Street vendors and swap meet and fair concessionaires need to check with the city or county in which they want to do business for the regulations and specifications for the types of products, hours and displays that are allowed.

Starting Your Business
Options for starting a cart or kiosk business include opening a permanent location in a mall and leasing a cart; buying a cart to use for outdoor events or on street corners; or renting a cart short-term.

"The least expensive option is to rent [a cart] for a short time and see how it goes," says Bruce Stockberger, owner of Stockberger Marketing Associates, a North Palm Beach, Florida, small-business marketing firm specializing in cart, kiosk and Internet marketing. He says you'll spend at least $600 per week for rent.

Whether you lease or buy a cart depends on your product and location. In malls, you generally lease a cart from mall management. The cost of leasing depends on the season and mall traffic volume but is usually at least $800 per month for space and a cart, and can get very high in a good location. Some malls charge a percentage of your sales in addition to monthly rent. Wally Rizza, owner of several carts in high-profile locations like the Irvine Spectrum Entertainment Center in Irvine, California, pays more than $2,000 per month for rent on each of his five carts.

"Kiosks start higher than carts, usually $9,000 or $10,000," says Denise Clark, author of From Dogs . . . To Riches: A Step-by-Step Guide to Start & Operate Your Own Mobile Cart Vending Business. Additional start-up costs depend on your merchandise. Items such as jewelry and crystal require a greater investment than, say, hot dogs.

Carts come in many sizes and styles with varying capabilities. There are carts for specific types of food, some with refrigerators, grills, steamers--even small ovens so you can bake on location. Determine your needs before ordering a cart, advises Jeffrey Morris, president of All A Cart Manufacturing Inc. in Columbus, Ohio, a cart design and manufacturing company. "List your products and the equipment required to make or display them," he says. "Also draw a simple layout of the cart to give [the manufacturer] an idea of size requirements."

Think versatility, especially with food. Don't limit yourself to making one item, in case it doesn't sell well and you have to switch gears. "What sells might be completely opposite from what you thought," says Gerardo Gonzalez, president of Gonzalez & Associates, a Piscataway, New Jersey, company that consults on mobile merchandising and food-service start-ups.

You can get a good deal on used carts, but Clark, who also sells custom-designed carts, urges caution. "People buy a cart they think is cute--only to find out they've purchased someone else's headache," she says. "It ends up costing more to modify than to buy new."

Continue to Part Two -- This article was written and published by Entrepreneur.com

ProBlogger Makes Six Figures Per Year - Learn how in 3 Days
Related Products:

-Let the power of wealth be with you~

Share |

Product Creation: Reverse Engineering

Creating a product requires skill, expertise and a lot of creativity. However, the problem may be in the line of creativity for most people. Have you ever heard of Reverse Engineering? Most people have and its actually the most basic step in product creation.

Reverse Engineering is the process of understanding a subject, element, object, system or machine. Through analyzing it, comes understanding of how it functions. To understand how something works, we take them apart and figure out what pieces makes the whole thing tick. Let us take a simple example:

A Wheel Barrow

A wheel barrow has two sticks on each side of a box and a wheel at the end. By dismantling it apart and understanding each item, we hold the two sticks as levers, the wheel as the leverage and the box as our items to carry. Now to re-engineer it, we put them together to recreate the product, the same as it is or differently. And by differently, I mean adding or subtracting or replacing an element or more from the original schematic. One end is the wheel followed by a barrel instead of a box, and a big sturdy magnet with controls, with two sticks holding them altogether. All in all, while doing so, still maintains its original intention of function to implement or more.

Use your imagination and see if you can re-create a product to make it perform better or differently. Just as my previous post, where inspiration in creating products can be as limitless as their imagination. Be a Reverse Engineer and figure out what works and then re-create it. Now be forewarned that you cannot reverse engineer most things for free. Normally, one must purchase that item first before it is going to dismantle it. If you break it, be sure that you can afford another if you plan to keep on going.

Inventors and scientists are reverse engineers and the reason why they require research funding is to have enough money to buy more products to reverse engineer them, re-create the same or different product with substitute materials and just in case it breaks. To them, it's an investment opportunity. Risks are great just as any investment. But this kind of investment is probably the most expensive as our imagination could carry us through and through.

If you finally made one, see if it works. Is it handy for people? Does it solve the "everyday" problem that exists? And if you are planning on commercializing it, does it cost you a fortune to make another or 1000 more? Tread carefully, entrepreneurs. For the next step may cost you more than you bargained for.

How a Problogger Makes Money in 3 Days!
Related Products:

-Let the power of wealth be with you~

Share |

ThinkBig Business Plan Competition 2010/2011

In my previous post about what makes money the most is Asset. Another form of assets are your ideas. Only ideas that are formed into reality makes money. If an idea stays as an imagination of human thought then it belongs nowhere in the accounting books.

So I would like to introduce to all Bruneians to come and join the ThinkBig Business Plan Competition held by iCentre. All you have to do is get a great big idea that is viable and able to make money out of it. Just like any entrepreneurs business ideas, you have to work hard on it. Write an executive summary and a business plan, do the sales presentation (ensuring that the potential investors would love to hear it and wants to invest in it) and then win. Now this is an annual competition, so if you didn't win this year, you get another chance next year and the year after that.

There will be cash prizes and an opportunity to aid you and your winning business plan from iCentre, KR Consulting, Accel-X company and probably from other varieties of investors.

For more information, go to www.icentre.biz and your business idea may be the winning idea. Last call for registration to the business plan competition is by the 19th July 2010. Hurry and sign up now!

Do you have what it takes to win?


Related Products:

-Let the power of wealth be with you~

Share |

Entrepreneur Web Game

I have always wanted to create a game where it teaches users how to be entrepreneurs or how to make more money from whatever situation they may be. Unfortunately, somebody beat me to it. Robert Kiyosaki, the man and author who wrote "Rich Dad Poor Dad", created a web game for everyone to play. It's free and the best of it all, we all get to learn something out of it. The game is almost like Monopoly but instead of just owning properties and directly fighting against your opponents and getting them bankrupt. The objective is to see if you can reach your dream goal faster than your fellow players. The game is called "CashFlow"

So far, there are a few bugs in the 202 Cashflow game type. But 101 is smooth play so I recommend playing that first. You get to learn a thing or two from playing this game. How to invest wisely, how to make more money, how to ensure a wealthy living, etc. You can even play with your friends or other people because it is online.

Are you ready to achieve your dreams by increasing your assets and get rid of all your liabilities? Play it all now!

Related Products:

-Let the power of wealth be with you~

Share |

1 Invention Plus 1 Invention Equals 1 Invention

Through the course of History, mankind has always taken the best of all practices and inventions together to form something even better. Being innovative and creating something out of nothing is fantastic but sometimes the most risky. Let us take a look at the creativeness of communication itself.

First there were mails. People send letters and messages to each other via a messenger (a guy riding on a horse) or a postal officer from one location to the other. Then came science to explain how to communicate with each other through strings or wires. It was fine until everything gets tangled up between houses and people can listen in onto different conversations at once. Then came the telephone by Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephones. Built inside homes and offices where people would not have to wait anymore for mail to arrive but instead communicate directly and secured line. Today, we have the mobile phone.

Now let us talk about the modern inventions and how it came to be a successful solution:

1. Addressing the problem - In every analyst point of view, everything has a problem. All they have to do is, find the problem in which that if it is solved, it would benefit the user greatly.
2. Prioritize the problem(s) - Sometimes there is more than one problem to solve. For example, a car has a problem of breaking down too many times, consuming the fuel too quickly and whether it can be commercially available in the next 40 years. Solving one problem at a time and attention should be taken in effect.
3. Usage of other technologies/inventions - Some inventors like to take some bits and pieces of other technologies or inventions to the problem to create a solution. For example, radio communication plus telephone line equals mobile phone.
4. Testing - Once a prototype is created, it needs to be tested in all sorts of situations and conditions. This is to ensure that the prototype invention is viable, beneficial and ready to enter the market.

The last example about how mobile phone was created to be very useful was because of researchers, analysts and tech scientists found a problem, prioritized it, used another invention and solved it.

I watched the Discovery Channel the other day and I get amused and inspired by those inventors who can actually solve a problem with an invention they thought would benefit anyone or any user. The show was called "The Inventors" or was it "The New Inventors". Examples that they have made was: MP3 Lounge Chair, Stand-alone Bulb Recycling Unit, Universal Control Panels, etc. And in each show, they display 3 inventions, do a little bit of a sales pitch, get the judges to agree on one invention and win a prize "The Inventor of the Year Award".

It was interesting that every single one of their inventions require 2 or more inventions put together to create a solution. So 1 invention plus 1 invention equals 1 GREATER invention.

So what problems do you or others experience in your or their daily life and how would you create a solution?

Related Products:

-Let the power of wealth be with you~

Share |