Article by Lazz Laszlo
You need money to make money has to be one of the oldest business myths around. It’s usually touted by people without money as their excuse as to why they never hit it big. You’ve heard these excuses and others;
I would have made that deal, but I just couldn’t come up with the money.
I knew that was going to be a big thing, but I just didn’t have the money to get into it.
I have a great idea for a product that will make millions, but I just don’t have the money to get started.
I could have bought that property a few years ago for half of what it’s selling for now.
I would have been my own boss, but I just wasn’t able to come up with the money I needed to make it happen.
Only rich people make money, poor people just stay poor.
You have to have money to be able to start your own business, manufacture a new product, or begin a new service.
Hogwash, to all of those and all similar excuses.
People who use these worn-out excuses are just kidding themselves. They aren’t as bright as they think they are, they don’t know everything, and they’re the type of people that you should avoid spending time with.
You have to learn how to become a question asker. If you are uncomfortable asking questions, forget about being in business. Business and making money is about asking questions and getting answers. It’s the answers that provide the key to making the money.
Here’s a simple example; Let’s say your neighbor is selling his old station wagon, you would ASK your neighbor, “If I find a buyer for your station wagon, would you be willing to pay me a commission?” They’ll say yes. If they say no, you’re neighbor doesn’t understand money, selling, or business; keep your distance.
When I was a youngster I was always looking to make money. I didn’t have an allowance. If I wanted money, I had to work for it, which in hindsight helped to build my strong work ethic. I painted garages, mowed lawns, shoveled snow, washed cars, and a host of other things.
One day I met a friend of my next door neighbor who mentioned he wanted to sell a Citizen’s Band radio that he had. The price was a hundred dollars, but if I found a buyer for it, he would give me ten dollars.
I found a buyer within twenty-four hours and I made a ten dollar cash commission. Ten dollars may not sound like a lot of money, but at the time of this story I’m telling you, minimum wage was only 85 cents an hour. I would have had to mow ten lawns to make that much money.
I was only thirteen years old at the time, but more important than the ten dollar commission was the lesson. The lesson was that there were ways to make money besides using your back and it paid better than what companies were paying.
No inventory, no money invested… just a little time and a couple of conversations and the money was made. Cool!
Now, I don’t want you to confuse, you don’t need money to make money, with needing money to put a deal together. It takes money to be in business, to start a business, to buy a house, to go to school, but YOU, don’t need money. You just have to learn how to get money from somewhere else.
I would have made that deal, but I just couldn’t come up with the money. This is the first excuse listed above.
Which would you rather have; zero percent of zero deals, or one percent of a big deal?
Some people would immediately say that they’re not going to get involved in a deal and devote time and energy for just one percent. These are usually the people with no money, but they know everything.
What if it was a ten billion dollar deal? Let’s see, one percent of ten billion dollars is only ten million dollars, but the loser only focuses on the one percent.
“I would rather earn one percent of one hundred people’s efforts than one hundred percent of my efforts alone.” -J. Paul Getty
If you have no money, you would be lucky to be attached to a deal like this in the first place. So, you can start with smaller deals.
Let’s turn it around, and examine the excuse; I have a great idea for a product that will make millions, but I just don’t have the money to get started.
I’ve heard this excuse and many versions of it over the years. It’s all bunk.
First and foremost, all these people running around with these “great ideas” really don’t have great ideas, most are bad ideas. However, you can see how marvelous it would be to run around and tell people about how you have all these “million dollar” ideas. Say it long enough and to enough people and maybe some of them will refer to you as the guy who has a lot of great ideas.
Here’s the lesson that you learn in the real world. Great ideas attract money like a magnet attracts iron filings. Here’s the reality, most people don’t know how to take their idea to the next level, or they don’t want to, because they’re afraid that the discovery will be made that it really isn’t such a great idea.
It may be hard to believe, but ideas aren’t running after money; money is chasing ideas. To put it more correctly; Money is always looking for the best return.
Let me clarify this money chasing statement, so that you can get a better handle on it and not waste your time. We’ll use this example;
You have an idea for a home based business, but you need twenty-five thousand dollars to get it up and running. You know that your Aunt has twenty-seven thousand dollars in her savings account, just sitting there.
It would be a BAD move to approach your Aunt for the money. Why? Because it’s essentially all the money she has and your idea isn’t proven. Expect a NO and it would be an insult to your character to even approach her.
You still need the twenty-five thousand dollars though, so you approach a Billionaire and present your business plan and ask for the money. The Billionaire will probably turn you down. It’s not that he doesn’t have the money, but because the deal is just too small.
Billionaires don’t have time for twenty-five thousand dollar deals, because they’re Billionaires. No offense, but you have to find the right pool to fish in.
I put together a manufacturing business plan for a product that I created and approached a few investors. I needed fifty thousand dollars. I can still hear the words, “That deal is just too small Lazz, if you have something bigger and meatier, give me a call.” I found the money elsewhere.
You don’t need to have money, but what you do need is a solid business plan that spells out what the money will be used for. Don’t be afraid of the term, Business Plan. There are loads of resources to help you develop and write your plan, for free. Think internet and public library. The U.S. Government’s Small Business Administration can probably give you some help in this area as well.
All a Business Plan is, is an organized, easy to read, easy to understand, and easy to evaluate written report about what it is you are trying to do. That’s all it is. It’s easy.
The best part of putting together your Business Plan is discovering whether or not your plan makes sense. If after, laboring on a Business Plan for your new business idea you discover that for every unit you sell, you lose a dollar, you’ll have to make a choice.
You can abandon the idea, rethink it so it can be profitable, or (often over-looked) sell the idea or license the idea to someone who already is operating a similar business or a business where your idea would fit in nicely.
If you don’t think there is money in putting a deal together, you’re missing the point. A real estate broker puts deals together by matching a buyer and a seller and earning a commission. A brokerage company makes money by matching a buyer with a seller. A matchmaker service earns a fee for finding the right soul mate for you.
If you don’t have any money and no job, you should attack the concept and practice of finding a buyer for a seller and a seller for a buyer. The slower the economy, the easier this is to get involved in, because people need to raise cash, they’re willing to let things go for a cheap price… and buyers are always looking for a deal. You can provide the deal.
You can’t use the excuse that you don’t have any money, anymore.
You still need twenty-five thousand dollars though, don’t you? This is where you go after investors. Although it would be easier to have one investor with twenty-five thousand dollars, maybe you could raise a thousand dollars from twenty-five friends and relatives, or five-thousand dollars from five investors.
The big deals involve investment bankers and millions of dollars in fees, but if you keep it small and down to just a couple of investors, it’s pretty easy to do. Since I have no idea where you are right now and what your laws are, I would recommend that if you are in need of answers to investor questions; seek the advice of a competent business attorney.
Partnerships are easy. When you were a child, did you pool your money so that you could buy a candy bar or soda, rather than settle for something that neither of you wanted.
If you have a solid plan, that makes sense, is easy to understand, and doesn’t demand an extreme amount of money to get involved, you’re almost there. You must approach people that understand what being an investor is and how it is different from being a partner.
An investor has no say in the day-to-day, but a partner most certainly does.
From experience, I prefer investors over partners. You can buy an investor out over time, but a partner is there forever, unless you buy one another out. It’s just the agreeing on who is buying who that gets a little sticky.
So what’s your excuse now?
If you need money to start your own home based business or any other kind of enterprise go get it.
To review what I’ve been talking about;
If you see a piece of real estate that is for sale that you know is a great deal, put together a quick one page summary on the benefits of buying it, the profit that can be expected, and the time frame. Then approach someone with money who has an interest in real estate and present the deal whereby they put up the money and you partner on the deal, or they just pay you a fee for finding the deal.
Here’s an idea that beats watching television. Ask around to the business owners in the area (they usually have a little money) and ask if there’s anything in particular that they would be interested in buying at a good price. Tell them you have a lot of contacts and people you know are always looking to buy and sell items. He may offer you something to sell from his back room… an old copier, a vehicle, some dead inventory, a space heater, etc.
Have a garage or yard sale and gather goods from people all around who tell you the price they want and you mark the price up and keep the difference. Sure, it’s a little work, but you’re the one who is a little broke right now.
Sell the useless stuff around the house that can put cash in your pocket and get your home based business started. You can always find something to sell. After you make your fortune, you can buy another one of whatever it is that you thought you couldn’t part with.
You can make money to make money by liquidating things you don’t need, things that other people don’t need, and things that people are having a hard time selling themselves.
If your million dollar idea is truly that grand, don’t just dream about it. Put a business plan together, an action plan, and start talking to people about it (only talk to people who really are qualified to invest, don’t waste your time with people who just want to “see what ya got”).
This may surprise you, but not all good deals get done and a lot of bad deals do get done. That’s just the way the system works and that system is presentation. If it looks good and sounds good… and seems to make sense, the deal has a good chance of happening.
Do not try to pull a scam with a hyped up presentation on a project that you know will never happen, won’t deliver the results, or will bilk money from people who can’t afford to lose it. That’s just wrong and in many cases illegal.
Be ethical and fair and raising money for your second, third, and other future projects will be easier.
If you really want to start a home based business, you are now out of excuses, at least the money excuse. Re-read this article and you’ll see that raising some cash to get going isn’t impossible. It is and will take a little bit of time and energy, but if you’re out of work, underemployed, or struggling to make ends meet… this could be the path that turns it all around.
When you start is up to you, but money never sleeps… how much you sleep is up to you. Ask yourself this question; how much is the other guy sleeping, the guy who has taken the first step to raising the money he needs to start his home based business?
About the Author
Lazz Laszlo is a former Investment Executive and Radio & Television Financial Reporter with many entrepreneurial endeavors to his credit. He spends his days and nights enjoying life and writing for business and pleasure about his thoughts, feelings, and experiences for others to learn from. Visit Lazz’s blog at; http://tumelor.livejournal.com/