Good business opportunities do not appear out of the ether with the label: “Great passive income neatly packaged business from Mom, with love.” It takes a person with tremendous common sense and business experience to sift through the hype and see what the true value of an offer is.
The problem comes when the person promoting the whole business fails to mention the learning curve that will hit you like a ton of bricks. I had recently bought a brick and mortar business, my first one. And although I had previously bought and sold real estate this new class asset was a wild ride. Mr Robert Kiyosaki was wise to teach me through his many books that buying into a business first is the best way to get good at buying and investing in property better than any wage slave could ever hope to master.
But he failed to mention that you will be so highly scrutinized by banks your ability to get credit will be worse than your employees, yes my employees who are paid by me every month like clock work qualify for credit much easier than me. They just need a payslip, identity documents, proof of residence and a hand written list of expenses.
I need a 12 months income statement, balance sheet, identity documents, business plan of expansion and costs. Even with all this information handed in (which is impossible in your first year of buying the darn business opportunity) they still say your income is too erratic. It never ceases to amaze me when my staff qualify for 100{b9b463d7d0adfdfaa6b371b07889fa6eb2ab4fb9ce04e9babd021713719539c0} home loans while I who by-the-way pays their salaries with my erratic business income can barely qualify for 60{b9b463d7d0adfdfaa6b371b07889fa6eb2ab4fb9ce04e9babd021713719539c0} home loan on the same property.
That is injustice.
Let’s put the jokes to one side, being a small business owner to a living business with huge potential is a truly life altering experience. It changes your way of thinking, you immediately can establish rapport with any business owner who wonders past you in the grocery store. You share a common bond with them because of the shared requirements;
1) Be completely present in your business, own it; mind, body and spirit.
2) Cashflow can wipe you out, protect it with vigour.
3) You get paid last while everybody else; like your employees, your suppliers, the IRS and creditors; gets their cut of your money first.
4) Late nights are a must, especially in the beginning.
5) Controlling the business cashflow from your customers is not only essential, it is supremely vital. (I almost got bankrupt by people who did not want to pay up!).
6) You need to continue to invest in it long after you bought the business opportunity, be patient and flexible enough to navigate through each long month until you find equilibrium and start to have excess money in the bank.
After taking care of the 6 points above you are set to survive (barely) the first year of owning new business opportunities and reduce your chances of failure.
You may meet me in the grocery store and ask me, “Are Business Opportunities Truly Created Equal?”?” No, but people are created equal (some with better advantages) but all with the ability to learn new skills.
The learning curve of the owner by far is the one reason I believe that about 90{b9b463d7d0adfdfaa6b371b07889fa6eb2ab4fb9ce04e9babd021713719539c0} of business startups fail in the first year.
