You think you need to dig yourself further into debt to get that new car? Think again …

… there’s always another way [Hint: even if a Higher Power doesn't simply drop one into your lap, you could try saving up for one ]

Of course, no such poll would mean anything without also knowing when you want to finally stop work … so, please take another 12 seconds to make your selection below:

Thanks!

… and, as always, the more comments that we get below, the more we’ll have to talk about when the results are published

Last week I suggested that a great way to compete against your larger, more established competition (particularly if you are a small business trying to sell products or services to larger businesses) is to become an expert in your chosen field.

Problem: Your LITTLE COMPANY cannot hope to be able to compete on even footing with the BIG CORPORATIONS you will most likely be facing off against.

Solution: You change the game: you make it about PEOPLE … better yet, you make each person at each corporation compete with YOU, rather than your company competing with theirs!

Implementation: You make being small/unique an advantage … YOU become the expert that your clients will want to come to for advice [read: products and services]. Forget the advertising, forget the telemarketing, forget the doors slammed in your face.

Becoming an expert is something that I am quite ‘expert’ in having done it 2.5 [twice and a bit] times already

So, let me tell you how I did it:

1. The first time that I became an expert was when I was working my first Big Corporate Job, straight out of college …

I was asked to work with a guy who was doing an assignment with one of the national banks to help them do some forecasting; at first I balked because the technique that he was using seemed rather technical, and I hate anything detailed/technical. As it turns out, this character flaw became one of my greatest assets.

You see, I came across a little-known-even-less-used Canadian technique that used simple rules-of-thumb to replace the laborious detailed calculations of the more commonly used method that I was busy – under quiet sufferance – learning.

What I found, though, were three things that really excited the clients:

i. The Canadian method could be explained easily to the business people who were making the decisions based on the forecasts, and

ii. The forecast results lent themselves to pretty graphs and pictures, again favored by the ‘business leaders’ over the detailed tables produced by the more common method,

iii. It had a fancy name (not dissimilar to the type of name in the graphic at the top of this page) with a cute acronym.

… oh, and two fantastic advantages for me:

a) Only I had the keys to this ‘new car’, and

b) it was quick and easy for me to both understand and implement.

Bingo!

Instant expert … not bad for a guy with a little over two years’ industry knowledge competing with guys who had been doing this stuff for 20 years.

Who do you think got the ‘big bucks’?

2. The second time that I became an ‘expert’ – this time in a totally different field – was when I got the idea to start my second business (the one that I eventually sold: employing well over 100 people, with operations in Australia, New Zealand, the USA and with consulting contracts all over the world) …

The first thing that I realized was that if I came up with the idea in Australia, it must exist in other parts of the world, since I’m really not that bright

And, if it exists in other parts of the world, then where more likely than the USA?

So, I scheduled a reconnaissance mission to the States and happened on the head office of the oldest – and, most respected – such company in Philadelphia … and, the owner welcomed me with open arms!

So, not only did I walk away with a business plan and operational model, but I had some key statistics for the USA market that would help me examine the business need in Australia, when I got back.

The first thing that I did – now, this is the real advantage of a college education [AJC: which, you now don't need, because you just need to hire a smart college intern and tell her to do everything for you that I write in the next paragraph] – was to:

a) Reproduce the Market Intelligence report for the Australian market: even though I didn’t know anything about the business that I was getting into, neither did anybody else in Australia because I was the first. But, I didn’t need to know anything, because I just found somebody who did and copied them [AJC: of course, in your market, you may need to hire such a person, or go overseas and model an existing business as I did, or ... any ideas from our readers?]

b) So, all I had to do was find some key industry stats and ‘guesstimates’ (hey, if I didn’t have an exact answer … nobody else did either!) and crunch the report with Australian numbers and dollars. This turned out to be easier than I thought.

c) Then I wrote a neat little Press Release – this was before they became known as Media Releases – [AJC: want to know how to write a press release? Try google, again!], and

d) Sent it out – along with a copy of my 6-page report – to some media guys whom I thought might be interested … this was easy: I just bought a few ‘trade’ magazines in the subject areas that I was interested in and found the right guys in the table of contents page … you could, of course, buy a media guide that lists all of that stuff, if you like [hint: google].

Then I waited, hoping for a tiny mention that I could refer to in business correspondence e.g. “Adrian’s Little Corporation – as featured in You Gotta be Joking Monthly – invites you to ….” to give me that hint of credibility.

Now, a little luck comes in handy, because I received a phone call from the first guy that I sent it to – who wrote for Australia’s equivalent of Forbe’s magazine – who told me that he was interested in my report, asked me a few questions, then asked when I’d be available for photographs.

Photos!?

Now I’m thinking a little thumbnail, and a quote!

Well, I was blown over when a few weeks later the magazine hit the newsstands and I saw that I had received a full page write-up – plus big photo – full of “Cartwood, Australia’s leading expert says ….”

Instant expert … again!

Now, I’m not suggesting that my phones rang off the hook; in fact, they didn’t ring at all …. but, this was not a sales/marketing exercise, it was a credibility -building exercise.

As a result of this simple process, two great things happened:

i) I asked for (and the magazine was kind enough to send me) a box of overruns: extra copies of the magazine that they may normally pulp – and, if they didn’t want to give them to me, well, what was a couple of hundred bucks to buy as many as I could lay my hands on? I used these as ‘business cards’ to give potential prospects, either to get – or, to kick-off the first meeting; these were highly effective ‘credibility builders’! I also ordered a whole stack of reprints of the article, which I used as my main ‘marketing brochure’ for years. Double the credibility, half the cost of a slick brochure

ii) This is where luck steps in (everything prior to this positions you to make your own luck): a lady who runs a college-certified ‘for profit’ course recognized (from the photo in the magazine) me at a trade show and asked me to develop a one day course on the subject area of that article. I was paid $1,000 a day (plus travel expenses) to put myself in front of a captive audience of my best possible sales prospects … and, from this very course came my first 5 clients.

[AJC: Imagine being paid to sell your own product to clients who pay to hear your 'pitch'!? Now, this is probably a subject for another post, but people ask: "why did you teach your secrets to clients?". The answer is simple" you can teach people all you like, but the real secret is in the implementation ... people would much rather BUY than DO. I have found that the more you give away, the more that comes back to you]

BTW: Now, do you see how important it is to try and polish your ‘public speaking’ skills as much as you are able?

3. Finally, it was a pleasure to be able to embark on the process of reinventing myself as an expert in a third field, this time one in which I actually had put in the ‘hard yards’ to learn as much about through personal experience before becoming ‘the expert’ rather than after

Of course, I’m talking about what I’m doing now: personal finance … specifically, how to get rich(er) quick(er), a subject in which I (humbly!) think I am expert in and one of very few, if not the only speaker of any genuine credibility, having achieved what I teach about before writing the books and getting the fat speaking contract.

Since this one is a work in progress, and more of a vague directional feeling than a solid strategy, I will outline for you roughly the steps as I think they may unfold:

Step 1: Write a blog (a) to get my ideas into the market, give them some ‘air’, and see what works from a literary sense, and (b) get some sort of audience/exposure,

Step 2: If I am lucky, get noticed by some producer, publisher, news or magazine editor and be given the type of opportunity that gets my message out to a large national/global audience,

Step 3: Write a book and (a) find an agent/publisher or (b) self-publish

Step 4: See Step 2!

Step 5: Write another book

Step 6: See Step 4!

Step 7: See Step 5!

If I needed the money, I might organize my own speaking engagements and spend more time wooing the ‘traditional media’, instead of relying on Step 2. But, I don’t so I won’t

And, if I am ‘unlucky’, I’ll keep going with Steps 1., 3., 5., and 7. for as long as you and I keep enjoying it!

… that’s just my way of saying hei [hello] to my Finnish readers!

It seems that I have a few because I’ve been tracing some backlinks to my blog and found this one: http://www.taloudellinenriippumattomuus.com/ which (thanks to Google translate) asks if I am one mg/ml of the investors?

Now, this is a very clever way [AJC: if you understand metric measures, such as 'milligrams' and 'milliliters'!] of challenging us to decide if we are the ‘one in a thousand’ investors who can actually make money trading in the stock market [AJC: presumably, this is a Finnish blog focusing on trading stocks?] … in fact, in this article the author is specifically discussing Day Traders; now, day trading is something that I have never attempted!

Probably for good reason …

The author cites a Taiwanese study that found that (after costs) only 0.16% (or 1.6 per thousand) of Day Traders actually made a profit!

So, why do the other 99.84% do it?

Well the author says (or quotes, I’m not sure which):

While day traders undoubtedly realize that other day traders lose money, stories of successful day traders may circulate in non-representative proportions, thus giving the impression that success is more frequent that it is. Heavy day traders, who earn gross profits but net losses, may not fully consider trading costs when assessing their own ability.

Now, this is very interesting because you could insert almost ANY speculative activity (e.g. flipping real-estate, investing in gold and futures, FOREX, options, stock trading, speculative business ventures, etc., etc.) in place of the words “Day Trader” and I think you will be able to draw the same conclusions:

1. The vast majority of speculators lose money,

2. Of those that do make money, most of those will realize that they, too, are actually operating at a loss if they take into account the true costs of their time, money, operating expenses, etc.,

3. However, the ‘losers’ keep chasing their losses because of the VERY FEW real success stories (and, the plenty of fake/scam/exaggerated ’success’ stories) that become too well publicized and glorified.

For our other Finnish readers, I should probably also acknowledge references to this blog on another personal finance site (actually, a forum): http://keskustelu.kauppalehti.fi/5/i/keskustelu/thread.jspa?threadID=137213&start=15&tstart=0 for an interesting discussion about what to do when your mortgage is finally paid off; it seems that one of the readers has been tracking my ‘rules’ on this subject:

And the capital not used optimally if the housing is free of debt. Harvat yrityksetkään toimivat kokonaan ilman velkaa. Few firms are not entirely without debt. Tällä kaverilla on kaksi hyvää sijoitussääntöä: This guy has two good investment rule:

http://7million7years.com/2008/02/04/how-much-to-spend-on-a-house/ http://7million7years.com/2008/02/04/how-much-to-spend-on-a-house/

1) Asunnossa kiinni olevan oman pääoman osuuden tulisi olla < 20% net worthistä 1) The apartment attached to the capital base should be <20% of Net Worth
2) Kaiken muun kulutustavaran (auto, huonekalut ym.) osuus net worthistä on oltava < 5% 2) All other consumer goods (car, furniture, etc.) accounted for net Worth must be <5%

Nämä takaavat sen että >75% omaisuudesta on jossain tuottavassa käytössä, kuten vaikka osakesalkussa tai sijoitusasunnoissa. These will ensure that> 75% of the property is a productive use, such as even though the stock portfolio or investment homes.

Minulla täyttyvät molemmat ehdot, mitenkäs muilla palstalaisilla? I have met both conditions, palstalaisilla How did the other? En edes laske autoa ym. pikkusälää mukaan henkilökohtaisen taseeni loppusummaan. I do not even calculate a car, etc. small stuff “personal taseeni the final sum.

Thanks for a great summary, Jni, Google Translate isn’t perfect, but I’m sure my readers will get the gist

BTW for those who haven’t worked it out yet, 7 miljoonaa 7 vuotta is how you would say 7 million 7 years in Finland.

If you want to understand the difference between ’simple’ interest and ‘compounding’ interest – and, if you want to understand why it makes a difference as to how often you compound that interest – then watch this video (until the presenter starts writing with a blue pen … from that point on, only watch if you are a mathematician) …

Small ball for me is the ability to deliver small but meaningful enhancements to your business in succession and continually.

A 2% improvement here, a 1% improvement there and a 4% pick up in efficiency here – those small bits can really add up.  If you stopped to think about how you can deliver a 10% or a 20% improvement in your business it could be a struggle.  Or you might have a few good ideas, but the resources to get there may be out of reach.

Instead, if you thought about how you could improve your business by 1% or 2% you’d likely come up with a bunch of practical, implementable ideas.  And the good news is if you string those wins together you get your 10-20%!  Even better, if you keep doing it you’ll go way beyond.

Thinking back, I can’t really recall if I was a ’small-ball’ type of business person … perhaps I was, but  just called it ‘business as usual’, which is what I guess it should be … in fact, it’s the small stuff that you should empower your staff to go after (with encouragement, culture, recognition, and incentives) while you, perhaps, focus on the strategic picture (assuming that you have staff … otherwise I guess you’re going to have to do all the small-and-big-ball stuff yourself!).

If I suggested that you needed to find a way to produce a compound growth rate of 33% in your business to help you reach your Number, you might balk …

… but, if I suggested that you look to increase a few key areas by a mere 10%, would you be quite so wary? Probably not.

Jay Abraham, perhaps the greatest (and, most practical!) marketing mind of the modern era, illustrates this perfectly … in this case, by demonstrating the power of cumulative changes in, say, your marketing and sales strategy:

If you had [say] 1,000 active clients, and if you had an average order of $100 for each time they were coming in, if they bought two times a year, that works out to an annual revenue of $200,000.

# of Clients        Transaction Value per Client       Transactions per Year      Total Income
1,000            x                      $100                       x                 2                    =      $200,000

But if all you did was increase those three categories by a mere 10% each…

# of Clients        Transaction Value per Client       Transactions per Year      Total Income
1,100             x                     $110                       x                2.2                  =      $266,200

It would increase your annual revenue to $266,200—a 33% increase!

Now, if you have a ‘normal’ business … one operating profitably, and with a reasonable gross margin (which means, that you have more fixed than variable costs), then I don’t need to tell you that the effect on your bottom line could be much larger than 33% … do I?!

You can now see why this is one of the most powerful business lessons that I ever learned … and, Jay told me via a written document, exactly the same way that I am now telling it to you.

So, If you have a business, don’t waste time; meet with your key staff [AJC: or, yourself ] today to look at how you can increase each of:

- The number of clients that you have [sales and prospecting],

- The average order size [upselling and cross-selling],

- The number of times that they buy [repeat-selling and back-end sales].

Simple … effective!

Recently, I wrote about how important it is to improve your ‘public speaking’ skills, as that skill alone can give you an incredible edge in your business and/or investing life; Jacob asks:

How do you get in front of the large companies in the first place?

Before I answer that question, let me backtrack a little:

This isn’t a blog about how to earn more money in a job or consulting … because those, alone, are unlikely [AJC: for most] to get you to your Number by your Date.

But, as Luis gently reminded me, this is a blog about “how you can make $7 million in 7 years … no scams, no schemes … just good old financial advice!” so I had better be talking to those with large Numbers and soon Dates!

So, why did I choose today’s topic?

Because, you probably want to start a business to really ramp up those  required annual compound growth rates …

… the problem is how do you transition from a small fish in a huge sea of competing businesses? Especially, if your business services other businesses (i.e. B2B) … and, particularly if the Fortune 1,000 is your stomping ground …

1. With better sales?

Possible, but unlikely, because Friendly McConglomerate – that multi-billion-dollar-multinational around the corner – already has a sales rep in each state, lunching your best prospects right now!

How do you, on your lonesome – even with the help of your out-of-work brother-in-law (who is ‘busy’ mooching off your limited capital and patience) expect to get to, let alone win over, all of those guys when you simply don’t have the gold Amex cards to splash around like your competitor’s reps?

2. With better marketing?

Hmmm …. you mean those leaflets that you stuck on all of those lampposts around the neighborhoods that you service? I’m sure they will really zing compared to that multi-barreled discount-coupon-backed television, radio, magazine, and letterbox drop campaign that your competitor’s ‘top of the town’ advertising agency cooked up!

3. With a better product?

Whoever it was who said: “build a better mousetrap and they will beat a path to your door” was wrong! A ‘better product’ ONLY works on the back of excellent sales and marketing, so you had better refer back to 1. and 2. above

But, don’t sweat it, even with all their money, your major competitors are not really collaring the market either …

… and, while they’re out there spending money, there is still one way that your B2B business can compete – nay, totally smash – your ham-fisted-big-budgeted corporate competitors; it’s to:

Be seen by your clients – and competitors – as the expert in your chosen field.

You see, your competitors are actually wasting their mega-millions trying to get to – then ineffectively schmooze with – the middle managers who don’t even have the capacity to actually make buying decisions without referring their proposals to the Big Guys Upstairs …

… but, if you are the expert, you are side-stepping this whole time-and-money-wasting ’sales process’ simply by using your Industry Expert status to:

1. Gain free publicity in the general media and/or trade press that the decision-makers actually see and read, and

2. Virtually demand – and, get – interviews with those same ‘top management’ guys for the clients who actually need and want your product or service, and

3. Present your ‘proposal’ to all the decision makers so that you set the ground rules that your competitors will need to follow.

So, Jacob, the answer to your question about how do you get in front of the large companies is simple: become the expert in your field and all doors will magically open.

Just remember that being ‘the expert’ gets you to the table … it’s then up to you to close the deal.

In an upcoming post, Jacob, I’ll tell you HOW to become an expert in your chosen field, something that I’ve done 2.5 times already!

It’s easier … and, much quicker … than you think

…. but, I suspect that the differences come from degree: she describes herself as a ’self made millionaire’ … and me a ’self made multi-millionaire’.

IF this is the case, then I suspect that my point of view and that of, say, Felix Dennis (who is worth hundreds of millions) will equally vary from time to time. Which leads me to my first Rule of Advice:

Only seek financial advice from those who have made at least 10 times what you have already achieved, doing exactly what it is that you are attempting to do.

A long winded-way of saying: only listen to somebody who’s already been-there-done-that …

…. but, more than that: when you get to, say, $3 million or $4 million of your own, you should probably stop reading this blog, as my ideas and your may become self-reinforcing – hence self-limiting.

At that point, it will be time to move on and find some new mentors (maybe even Felix Dennis, himself?!).

The flip-side is that if you are still working towards your first million (say, $100k or networth or less) you probably should be reading Millionaire Mommy’s blog as well as (dare I say, instead of?!) mine; to help you decide which is right for you, let me give an example from a recent Millionaire Mommy post:

Today, I’m sharing a trick that can completely revolutionize your spending habits by changing the way you see the cost of the goodies that merchants want to sell to you.

Here’s the trick: Translate the number of dollars you see printed on a price tag into the number of hours the purchase will require you to work for it. By doing so, you’ll make well-informed decisions regarding what you’re willing to pay for with your irreplaceable life energy.

You should read her post thoroughly to understand it properly – and it’s another excellent “hold back your spending” technique to go along with others such as the Power of 10-1-1-1-1.

But, I wouldn’t use it …

… now.

I may have – if I knew of it – before … but, not now.

You see, when I was concentrating mainly on MM101 (getting my financial house in order), this time value of money approach would make perfect sense, but now that I am transitioning from focusing mainly on MM201 (income and wealth acceleration) and MM301 (protecting my wealth) I think the idea doesn’t make great sense:

I ‘pay myself’ a notional salary of $250,000 a year – this is really a budget for now, as we get our financial house in order after a transition from business to retirement and from the USA to Australia – and have few, if any, ‘business expenses’.

But, for the sake of the calculator, I said that I worked about 20 hours a week on ‘work’ (business/investment projects), and probably spend another 5 hours a week in social activities related to this ‘work’.

Given all of that, the calculator says that my time is worth about $105 an hour … poppycock!

The test is: would I take a job, consulting activity, etc. that paid me $105 per hour? Of course not!

Would I spend time on an activity that could produce me $105 per hour passively? Probably … but, then I wouldn’t be working 20 hours a week to get it, so the calculator doesn’t work.

In other words: I ‘work’ 20 hours a week for (a) fun and (b) a potential future payback in the millions. So the calculator doesn’t work.

Secondly, if I work 40 hours (i.e. 2 weeks), I can afford $4k worth of goodies …. even I don’t buy $4k worth of consumer cr*p every 2 weeks, and on this calculation, I only have to ‘work’ for 30 weeks to buy a Ferrari … cool! Yet, right now, I don’t think I can really afford one

Thirdly, and this is for everybody, the calculator only takes into account work-related expenses; it should really also take into account your living expenses, as well … in other words how many hours of work WILL you have to put into saving up enough to pay for that thing that you are considering buying?

If none of this makes sense, here’s some more white noise for you

John Tesh says that it’s important to find your true calling – a.k.a. your true Life’s Purpose – and I agree:

It provides a direction for you to aim for … and, it makes it much easier to decide if a seemingly arbitrary decision (e.g. which of two jobs should I take?) takes you CLOSER to your Life’s Purpose or FURTHER away from it.

If you do decide to find your Life’s Purpose, here’s a free web-site that helps you through the process [AJC: created by yours truly ]:

shareyournumber.com

But, I must warn you, my only reference point that this works is my own experience i.e. it worked for me!

It worked so well, though, that I really hope that it works for you, too

But, you’re probably wasting your time …

The key to wealth isn’t to be found in this blog or any other blog, book, seminar or boot camp. Not convinced?

Well, Millionaire Mommy Next Door poses the one question that you should be asking:

If the answer to wealth is revealed between the covers of the books proliferating in bookstores, why aren’t more people wealthy?

Just brilliant, thanks for an outstanding post, Millionaire Mom!

So, why aren’t more people wealthy?

Why do I think that you’re probably wasting your time reading all of those books/blogs on personal finance …

… including this one?!

The answer, of course, is equally simple:

It’s not what’s in the books that counts, but what you do with the information.

I work on this blog daily; I give you the information – factual and ‘as it happened’ – that I really used to make $7 million in 7 years.

What have you done with this information, so far?