Is anyone on this forum running a multi-million dollar business?

[jgarifuna]

Hi,

Is anyone on this forum running his/her own multi-million dollar business? To be more precise, I mean a business that is generating you over one million dollars in revenue, not a multi-level marketing.

If this happens to be you, would you be kind enough to provide some briefings of how you made it there and more importantly, how you keep it at that level?

As with anything, making it is easy, keeping it is always the challenging part, so how did you do it and how do you maintain it?

[robyang!]

You don't always have to have something in order to utilize it. Just know where to get it from and how to obtain it. That should be enough.

Being resourceful is a huge part of success. This applies to almost all things in life: knowledge, skill, and money (especially money).

[cama-bie]

Nice thread garifuna, i´ll be watching it everytime, i hope one day i can post in a topic like these.
Paul.

[jgarifuna]

Nice thread garifuna, i´ll be watching it everytime, i hope one day i can post in a topic like these.

thanks

You don't always have to have something in order to utilize it. Just know where to get it from and how to obtain it. That should be enough.

Being resourceful is a huge part of success. This applies to almost all things in life: knowledge, skill, and money (especially money).

I had no idea that a similar post was made by you(robyang!) back December.

Anybody here really successful?
Anybody here really successful?

When I found out about it, I had already posted this one, although your(robyang!) post was made with the best intention, in my oppinion, that post was a waste of time. No straight answers. Somehow the participants could not answer a simple yes or no, but instead mostly everyone went around the bushes, stating their beuatiful theories, myths and concepts as if your question was "what is your definition of success?"

Before this turns into a flame war, I think is better to put everyone on the same page from the very beginning.

I'm not interested in wasting time with posters that go around the bushes. If you(the poster), can not answer the question directly, please find another section where you can kill time.

If your business is not generating over a million dollars (or its equivalent) and you would like to post, please make your post by starting your answer with "no" and then stating what it is that you are doing to try to make it pass the the million and what you think you need to get there. Do not start posting a bunch of theories, myths and concepts to make yourself sound intelligent(we already know that you are). Keep your posting factual and realistic.

If your business is generating over one million dollars (or its equivalent), please start your post with "yes" and then proceed to follow up with the original question.

[Donedeals]

I think it would help if we had members that were already millionaires. Maybe some are but too modest to say.

Every succesful organazation/business/sport has a coach, why don't entrepreneurs?

I know we should take pride in self accomplishment but think of how much faster you could get there.

Does anyone here have a mentor?

[jgarifuna]

I know we should take pride in self accomplishment but think of how much faster you could get there.

Does anyone here have a mentor?

A while ago I read a book titled "cashflow quadrant" by Robert Kyosaky where he symbolizes the following:

E | B
------
S | I

Where:

E = Employee
S = Self employeed
B = Business owner
I = Investor

he goes on to state that to be really successful you have to be on the right hand side of the quadrant, either a business owner or an investor.

Some, if not most entrepreneurs think that they are business owners, when in reality they are self-employeed. If they go away for a while, their ventures would just collapse, whereas a business owner, could make money whether he is present in the business or not.

Whether this makes sense to your or not, I think that it might be something to at least think about.

As far as groups, I think that usually what happens is that you have a large percentage of have-nots and a few percentage of haves. Because the have-nots are mostly all about give me give me and don't have much to contribute, the haves prefer to minimize their exposure unless there is a benefit there for them: a book to sell, audio tapes to distribute to the masses and so on.

You either have a group of pure have-nots or one of pure-haves, but unless there are benefits involved, I've seen that is very difficult to get them mixed up. The haves are out to make money, while the have-nots are out to LEARN how to make money, which is a big difference.

That is my humble opinion, of course

[rtsai0069]

I don't actually run a million dollar business per-se, but I am the manager of a fund that has over 1 million in assets. The money isn't mine of course, but a percentage of that 1 million is mine each year for managing it, regardless of the return I provide for it. It's not millionaire status, but hey, its a start and its just one of my many projects. I'd still love to get good feedback on the bay area, CA roundtable meeting. I just turned 25, but I feel like I'm already far behind. I just finished reading "Starting from Scratch" and it seems many successful people are always moving forward.

[Steve]

Jorge,

I think that is an awesome question. First of all, I have not personally owned a business that does multi-million a year in revenue.

Someone in my family runs a business that does in the high $xx,xxx,xxx yearly.

Most of the "entrepreneurs" on this forum are in the S quadrant of Rich Dad's analysis. The good thing about the S quadrant is the fact that most of the money is profit. So for anyone in the S quadrant to get into the xx,xxx revenue monthly -- the margins are usually huge. I did have a software company and a web design doing mid xx,xxx monthly - with over 90% of it going directly to me thats pretty good. But the more work you do in bigger businesses, the more you realize how much the S quadrant sucks. You want a day off -- your income takes a day off too.

I can't answer your exact question, but people need to think bigger. Are you going to hit $1 Million revenue, designing web sites?? Not likely. Are you going to hit $1 Million revenue, cutting hair??

I would recommend concentrating on products rather than services (or at least a combination of both). Simple things even. Everyone needs to eat and have a shelter.

The market for those two products is hugely broad, but 25%+ of a persons average income is spent on these items.

Also don't let yourself hamper your growth. You may personally think you do everything the best (especially in your mind) but if you are doing everything how can you scale your business to grow?? Rather than thinking how an employee doesn't do things your way -- think about what is wrong if they do it their way. Or if you where not there, would it still get done correctly (more or less)???

I wish there more members who felt comfortabe answering this question here. Give me a couple more years...

[jgarifuna]

rtsai0069 & Steve,

I'm glad you guys find this topic interesting.

The "Starting from Scratch" sounds very interesting. Base on your brief note, I think the concept is somewhat like the book "who moved my cheese" by Spencer Johnson.

One common thing that I've personally seen about millionaires is that they hardly ever have only one venture going. For the most part, the few that I know, have many ventures going on at the same time and are constantly thinking and implementing new ideas.

Although it seems that some millionaires have something special, the only major thing that I've seen and read that sets them apart from the average joe, is the mindset about money and their views about risk. Most of the other technicalities is usually driven by one of these.

Steve, you make a good point in mentioning that the S quadrant sucks at times, specially when the volume of business starts piling up. I was first exposed to this dilemma through a third person who had been in the real estate business for many years. His problem was that when sales would go up, closings would be down, and when closings were up, sales would be down.

Then I started noticing the same dilemma in other fields, specially in the technology field. I think we all have to pass that stage. I am yet to meat a millionaire that has not passed that road, unless the money was inherited somehow.

I remember when I hit the walls a few years ago in the S quadrant. I wanted to run, but there were only so many hours in the day for me to do it all, so I started putting together my sets of documentations, including my policies, procedures and all that great stuff that is needed to have a team working in synch. I spent a great deal of time developing that and refused to take any more than I could chew, until I was ready to handle it.

As you guys build your empires, you may find the HOTS system beneficial to have successful teams.

It's a concept I learned from a book by Robert Allen, "One minute millionaire" if I can recall correctly.

Anyway, here is the system:

H = hots = idea person(self explenatory)
O = owl = strategy person (self explenatory)
T = turtle = analizer person (do not bring fresh ideas to these guys, they will shut it down right away. They are good for telling you anything and everything that will go wrong with an idea, good for those things that you may have overseen)
S = squirrel = implementor person (many time, these guys hate sitting at meetings. Just give them the task, and they'll be happy to get it done)

The author claims (and I have experience it to be true) that to have a successful implementation, the idea must flow from H to O to T to S, in that sequence.

By implementing this, I've been able to provide my team members with only the information that I know would get them going quick and not more. I almost have it to the point where I can come up with a basic idea, without knowing anything about the details, sketch the concept, and delegate it to my HOTS pipeline, to strategize it, analize it and get it implemented without much intervention from my part. The beauty of all is that these folks are mostly in different states and sometimes different countries. It allows me time to think about the next idea, while expecting for the completed item from my team. I don't want to bore you guys with all this stuff, but I thought it would be nice to share it.

[Steve]

One common thing that I've personally seen about millionaires is that they hardly ever have only one venture going. For the most part, the few that I know, have many ventures going on at the same time and are constantly thinking and implementing new ideas.

Do you have some examples of this. From my experience I have found the opposite to be true.

In the B quadrant -- anaylize people you know who are extremely wealthy. xx,xxx,xxx worth.

I can think about 5 I know personally. All of them made a grand portion of their money through focusing on one and only ONE venture.

After they have become successful you're right they venture out and can be successful in many places. But their original money is from one significant success.

Maybe you could share a little bit more on your background??

[jgarifuna]

After they have become successful you're right they venture out and can be successful in many places. But their original money is from one significant success.

Good point, Steve, and I certainly agree with you. This previous post of yours hits the nail on the head.

[dre]

I can't answer your exact question, but people need to think bigger. Are you going to hit $1 Million revenue, designing web sites?? Not likely. Are you going to hit $1 Million revenue, cutting hair??

When you say thinking big do you mean people should try to start small and get big or start big and get bigger.

If you mean people should start big and get bigger I think that is difficult to do for most young people. I know I wanted to start a 24 hour gym and fitness center since I was 18, we had none around here. One fitness center just recently extended it hours to 24 hours for the new year. I could have grown something like that $1 million in a short amount of time, but it was too big for me.

Another thing that keeps me from starting big is the fact that I try to do things without loans, partners, or investors.

That is why I look to start small but have competitive advantages to get big. I have a residential cleaning company but I also have others services within that company. While the company down the street makes $150,000 off just cleaning mines can make 2 or 3 times that with the extra services.

Their is always something people can do to push revenue to another level. I know a guy that owns a barber shop that had a has arcade games, soda machines, and vending machines in his shop and he also sells hair supplies. I know another that owns a shop and only has a soda machine. Their is always something people can do but I think some are to concerned with sticking with one thing or they don't like to get into areas they don't know about.

[Steve]

If you do not like loans, partners, investors, etc. You will likely be trapped in the left side of quadrant for many years. If that is what your goal and your are smart with money you will live a good life, work very hard and have a good amount of money in 15-20 years. Nothing wrong with that.

I am keeping focused on the right side of the quadrant because that is where I want to be long term. That is where the MAJOR success is.

In your example, the hair dresser has arcades and a soda machine. Do you think he makes $20 profit a day on those two items?? If he or one of his couple employees doesn't come into work, they do not make money either (because he is not bringing clients in the door). All my posts sound the same when I mention you have to FOCUS. The grass is always greener in another venture after your knee deep in working on all the crap of the first one you started. How many people do you know that work on four startup ventures simutaniously with any success. Usually it results in casuing all four to fail.

I agree as a 18-25 it is hard to close huge deals, aquire million dollar loans, etc. I believe there are two things young people can do to accelerate the process. Save Save Save. Since we do not have a lot of expenses a lot of our disposable income can be used to invest or grow. This will help create a war chest, it is not unresonable for a hardworking 20 something to save 30-50,000+ a year. Imagine how much capital you can have after investing it smartly for 3 years.

You can also start gaining experience or learning and industry.

Now you have 100-300k to invest or start a major business.

[dre]

If you do not like loans, partners, investors, etc. You will likely be trapped in the left side of quadrant for many years. If that is what your goal and your are smart with money you will live a good life, work very hard and have a good amount of money in 15-20 years. Nothing wrong with that.

I disagree with that, like I said I am thinking start small and get bigger rather than coming out with a big idea from the start. Out of the many ideas I have written down only about 30% are expensive projects. Futhermore I did not say I don't like loans, partners, or investors I said right now I am trying to do things without loans, partners, or investors.

In your example, the hair dresser has arcades and a soda machine. Do you think he makes $20 profit a day on those two items?? If he or one of his couple employees doesn't come into work, they do not make money either (because he is not bringing clients in the door).

I don't get what you are saying with this. An owner of a barber shop charges employees every week for booth rent so they get paid whether their employees come in or not. As a shop owner if you don't come in and you have 15 people working in your shop all paying you 150 per week you will make $2250 that week regarless. I have known a barber shop owner that did not cut hair at all. As far as the extras an extra twenty per day adds up.

How many people do you know that work on four startup ventures simutaniously with any success.

If you are talking about my signature I only own one business, the sites I own don't take up much of my time.

[Steve]

Dre - by the last comment I did not mean your signature or your situation.

As I think about it, I think the more money you put into a project the more you are commited to it. If you've put nothing in your commitment is a lot less.