How to Create the Best Business Opportunity for You

In May of 2019, I celebrated my second anniversary as a business owner, and my first year of being fully self-employed, with zero percent of my income coming from a W-2. Suffice it to say, I am still quite the novice when it comes to business. However, simultaneously I have achieved a certain level of success that many people can't claim, having survived my first year without quitting or going out of business (two things that I have found to be nearly synonymous).

In this article I would like to discuss some of the things that I've learned over the past two revolutions around the Sun about business; including the application of people skills, managing finances, and having a definite major purpose that drives you through the first few years where your bank account is empty as a result of funding your business.

Before I do that, however, I feel that it would be appropriate if I shared with you my background, in order to properly lay a foundation for what we are going to discuss. Both of my parents worked in law enforcement. My father is a probation officer with extensive experience working with gang members, helping SWAT teams conduct raids, and working side-by-side with police officers to help prevent crime. My mother has been a youth service counselor for over a quarter decade, dealing with juvenile delinquents—drug dealers, child molesters, rapists, and the like—helping them get on the right path before their actions land them in prison long term.

My own background lays mostly in the sciences and education. I was able to earn a bachelor's degree in astrophysics within three years. To pay for university I gave live lectures, hosted events, and was a live DJ for laser shows at my local planetarium. My current work involves tutoring students around the globe on-on-one primarily in physics, chemistry, and mathematics. I don't know a single member of my immediate family who owns a business besides myself. I never discussed investing with anyone growing up, beyond the occasional mention of my parent's 401k's. Nobody ever sat me down and told me, "this is how you become a millionaire". My parents were merely your classic hard working middle class folks, for which I am very grateful.

So when I realized that my dreams and ambitions required more time and money than any traditional 9 to 5 job could provide, I knew that I had to find another way. I asked myself, "How do all these so-called 'millionaires' and 'billionaires' manage to make so much money and not have a job? What do these people do anyway?" The answer was simple, through businesses and investments.

But what is business anyway? How does one even go about starting a business? Doesn't that require a huge legal team, with a large upfront cost? I learned that this wasn't necessarily true. I was also relieved to learn that many successful entrepreneurs never actually completed traditional school, and were dropouts—although I was a tad burned up about the student loan debt I had accrued—and that most, if not all, business schools can't actually teach you how to run a business, on account of the fact that most university professors have been stuck in school their whole lives and have never actually owned a business.

In the fall of 2016, just after publishing my first book Majesty In Monotony (my first attempt at generating passive income), I began transitioning from researching quarks and quasars, to studying the wide world of business and finance. I started to study the lives of great business leaders, past and present, in order to learn exactly how I too, could accumulate the riches that would allow me to achieve my life's calling and purpose. I learned quite a bit about the different ways people make money, and how knowing the right people was often far more important than knowing the right facts.

But my biggest breakthrough wouldn't come until I got connected with a successful business owner out of my home of Denver. After several virtual interviews, I was able to convince him that with my huge dreams I could be a great asset to him and his team, and he graciously agreed to take me under his wing and personally mentor me in business. And like all the best mentors I had in the past via academia, one of the first things he did was recommending books for me to read.

For the first time I was exposed to such great reads as Napoleon Hill's Think & Grow Rich, and Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad Poor Dad, books which I had heard praised by countless individuals online, but had never taken seriously without the guide of a true coach. These books, in addition to many invaluable one-on-one conversations over coffee, have completely revolutionized the way that I think about money and how to earn it. Surely, it would not be an understatement to say that thanks to great mentorship, I have been placed ten years ahead of where I would be if I had gone into business on my own.

What follows are the lessons that I've gained not just from my own mentors, but also from the teachings of many great men and women who have transcended the need for money, into a place of ongoing cashflow, early retirement, and financial independence. My hope is that if you believe that you are cut out to be apart of the minority of people who are able to own a successful business and don't know where to begin, or are well on your journey, that you will find something that will be able to help you move on to the next level.

3 Primary Ways to Get Into Business

Create a Business from Scratch

This is likely the most common, and possibly the most risky, way that many people first get introduced to the world of business. I mentioned earlier that when I first started inquiring into what it was to be an entrepreneur, I had no idea what business really even meant. I'm embarrassed now, because the answer is so simple. Everybody buys things, and you can't have buying without its corollary of selling. They go together like back and front, north and south, or yin and yang. Business is merely the transaction that occurs between buyers and sellers.

If you understand this, then going into business for yourself is conceptually very simple. What is it that you enjoy doing? Where do you currently spend your money? Whatever it is, why not go ahead and sell it?

This could be either a product that you own (it's illegal to go to the grocery store and re-sell the candy bars that you buy), or a service in which you provide (which is much easier and requires less paperwork). You could sell lemonade, mow lawns, open a pizza shop, or tutor physics, anything really. If you provide something that other people want or need, and they will pay you for, then you're in business!

There are four main challenges that go along with this method of doing business. The first is that being in business often requires you to specialize in a certain market or field. Could you imagine if Microsoft started selling apricots instead of computers? Furthermore, if you own a Toyota dealership, what sets you apart from the Honda dealership across the street? This is where branding becomes a critical factor. Sure you can make your own soda, but Coca-Cola is sold in supermarkets and fast food chains all across the planet, merely do to a label.

A second challenge is overhead. How do you plan on keeping the lights on in your house AND you office, restaurant, or factory? Where are you going to buy the ingredients for your cupcakes, or the steel for your machines? On top of that , where are you going to get the capitol to purchase the raw materials you need to get things going to make your very first sale? You could save money, but how long will you have to work a job in order to get the few hundred thousand dollars you need? You could take out a loan, but then you're owned by the bank and servant to the lender, and now you're on the hook. If your business flops, the loan sharks aren't going to let you off without you getting some of your belongings repossessed.

Third is that you will be responsible for creating your own system from scratch. This ties into overhead with one word:employees. You wanted to be the boss right? You got tired of your manager holding his thumb over your head and decided to go at it on your own. But that often requires delegation. Who's going to do the paperwork, take all the customer calls (and complaints), do the labor and manufacture all the products that you'll eventually sell? Obviously you will be doing all these things in the beginning, but unless you want to be owned by your business, instead of the other way around, you will inevitably have to expand. And the greatest expense of any business are its employees, which is why it's so common for folks to get laid off, even if they've been loyally serving their company for several decades.

The last challenge you will face in your startup ties back to the beginning of this article. If you go into business alone, you won't have anybody there to coach you and guide you. I can't adequately describe the power of good mentorship. A mentor is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows they way. They've been there, done that, in your specific area of interest. Not only do they need to have fruit on the tree (the results that you want in your personal business), but they have to be willing to help you as well. The main challenge with finding a good mentor, is that you need to find someone who wants the best for you, and isn't going to eventually see you as a competitor down the road.

Many great business men and women have overcome all these challenges and more, to be sure. But if you're just starting out, it would be ill-advised to not consider all these things before starting your venture.

Take Indirect Ownership of Publicly Owned Company (Investing)

This is the playground of day traders, and the type of business that many employees participate in, inadvertently or not, for their retirement plans. This is the arena of 401k's, Roth IRA's (individual retirement accounts), precious metals, and real estate. This is also the realm of some of the wealthiest billionaires and millionaires, who have already accumulated vast wealth, and are now looking to put it to use in the marketplace in the hopes of turning their money into more money.

When you buy stock in a preexisting, publicly traded company, you become a part owner of that company. There are people who try to time the market (which is impossible), who buy and sell stocks daily depending on their price, trying to buy when the price is low and sell when it gets too high (buying a company for fifty cents and then selling it for a dollar). Others invest passively, allowing large brokerage companies to handle their money for them and invest it into the marketplace however they see fit, for modest returns of a few percent.

However, while these certainly are both perfectly valid ways to "play stock market", neither of these strategies would be recommended by a true rich person. To see this, one need look no further than billionaire investor duo Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger, heads of Berkshire Hathaway. Mr. Buffett in particular, who has been the first, second, and third richest man on Earth in his lifetime, preaches an investing strategy nothing like the previous two. If he were mentoring you, more than likely the first book he would recommend would be The Intelligent Investor written by his mentor Benjamin Graham, which teaches individuals not to hand over their money to someone else, but rather to use it to purchase wonderful companies at a discounted price, the same way you would buy a steak on sale at your local market.

Furthermore, the strategy of the great investors isn't really to buy and sell over time. Rather, the most profit comes from when one buys a great company that they understand, when the market prices it lower than its intrinsic value. In addition, one should buy a company, even if it's a single stock, as if they were buying the entire thing, and going to own it until the day they die. For this reason, it is unwise to take investing advice from news headlines or hearsay, or to buy loads and loads of stocks in dozens of companies you know nothing about. Instead, you should invest only in a few companies that you have a good internal grasp on, that are within your "circle of competence", which have a great competitive advantage, great management, and have positive cashflow (aren't losing money). Any stock can be great, but if it doesn't make sense to you what they sell, and you wouldn't want to own the whole thing, why put your money into it in the first place?

Proper investing can be wonderful, and a great deal of fun as you watch your stocks grow and grow, only selling off when the market prices your businesses above their intrinsic value (which you would have to calculate). If you would like to learn more about this, check out Phil Town's YouTube Channel Rule #1 Investing.

Take Direct Ownership of A Preexisting Private Business

Out of the three avenues listed here, I believe this method provides the most support for the aspiring and inexperienced entrepreneur. While you may feel limited by the previously established regulations, you will find that in exchange, all of the headaches that go along with traditional business ownership have been completely nullified. This allows people to dip their toes into the world of business with a low upfront cost, little overhead, an established marketing system, and more often than not, guidance from experienced people who are financially invested in your success. What's more, if you decide that business isn't your cup of tea, then you should be able to leave with dignity without accumulating massive debt.

A good business, first and foremost, must have good people, who operate with integrity and honesty. People who do what they say and say what they do, put others before themselves, and are willing to serve all people like million dollar customers. Second, all good businesses have good products, that fill the needs of customers, and provide great value for the money spent. Third, a good business allows its owners the freedom to build their business at a pace that suits them. When you're an entrepreneur, you are your own boss, and if you want to develop a multi-million dollar business in one year or ten years, it's your prerogative to do so. Finally, all great businesses must have a cause and a purpose for being in existence. They have to stand on something. They must have principles that transcend profit, which will drive them on regardless of circumstances, whether the market's up or down.

This is the core of being an entrepreneur. You know, I didn't really get into business just to make a lot of money. What I really wanted was freedom. Freedom from debt, freedom from worry, freedom from money owning me. I've heard many people say that employees and poor people are really some of the most materialistic folks out there, because they're owned by the dollar bill. They go to work everyday, leave their families, and then waste their money on liabilities that depreciate in value in order to impress people who really don't care about them.

So if you only want to make an extra $500 dollars a month of passive income on top of your job, or if you want to create a $5,000,000 dollar asset through your own business, you can do that by partnering with companies who will pay you to help them get more business, and give you the right to sell their products and services. And of course, as with any other investment, make sure you partner with a company that produces a product that you enjoy and want to use yourself. Otherwise, how can you hope to sell it?

If this method of business piques your interest, I recommend reading another one of Kiyosaki's books, The Business of the 21st Century.

Accumulating Financial Assets

Liabilities cost you money, assets make you money. All of us consume, but the majority of people can only produce time. In other words, the majority of people have to trade their time for money, but don't have the capacity to produce enough value to become rich. If they stop working, they stop making money. Business is the means by which you can create a stream of income that keeps flowing whether you work or not. In the beginning, you won't make much at all, but once you've laid the infrastructure, your wealth can grow and grow throughout your life.

Of course, maintenance is always required. You can't just up and disappear into the mountains or the beach forever and expect your assets to keep growing without your help. An entire forest can can grow from nothing but small a seed, but it must be watered and pruned along the way to achieve maximum growth.

We all know that there's no such thing as a free lunch. But if you're dream is big enough, nothing can stop you from achieving your goals. There's no job big enough for the human spirit, you were designed to be free.

Good luck, and godspeed!