"It is a fact today, anyone CAN become a MILLIONAIRE - or even a billionaire. In the history of the world there has never been a better time to create wealth than right here, right now."
- Donald Trump
There are a few rules that I tend to follow in life: Never eat pink chicken, be wary of yellow snow and don’t trust the words of men with comb-over’s that seem to defy the laws of nature and gravity.
These words however come from Donald Trump and I happen to agree with him. Not only because he’s worth a few billion (so he may know what he’s talking about) but because I believe that the great Interweb has lowered barriers of entry into many different markets and anyone with an idea can start their own business with very little capital. Whether or not they can become a millionaire though is a different story. But If one person can do it, why can’t another? A lot of people talk about it, myself included, and do nothing but it makes you wonder what would happen if you gave it a go.......
MY GURU
The moment I decided to ‘give it a go’ I was actually in Egypt last year. When I say ‘decided’, I decided to travel more for the rest of the year, create a company and think of all the many different ways in which I could make some money. I ‘decided’ that in 2012 I would actually start to do it.....
‘My son is now an "entrepreneur." That's what you're called when you don't have a job.’ -Ted Turner
Thanks for that Ted. There will always be people who will think that because you don’t work the 9-5 Monday to Friday routine, you don’t have a proper job, or properly work for a living.
After I’d decided to work for myself, rather than find another corporate job, I knew some people would think I had lost my mind and others would consider me ‘unemployed’. The correct term however is ‘Self-employed’. In their defence, the Egyptian desert heat could have affected my brain. It was 45 degrees in the shade in Cairo and being fair haired and pale skinned I clung to the shade, somewhat resembling Nosferatu wearing flip-flops and sunhat.
I consider working for myself a great competitive advantage. My company can be extremely agile and nimble because it can respond to market changes immediately. I bypass all the bureaucracy and decision making processes that large and even medium sized business have to undergo to make even the smallest changes. Rupert Murdoch best sums it up:
‘The world is changing very fast. Big will not beat small anymore. It will be the fast beating the slow.’ - Rupert Murdoch
However, some tiny, niggling doubt remained that I might not possess the perfect set of skills to run my own business and make a living on my own terms. These thoughts were expunged when I came across the wise words of Jimmy Carr.
‘You can’t polish a turd but you can roll it in glitter'
- Jimmy Carr
Next time:
Choosing a company name and ‘properly’ starting my own business.
MY GURU
