Business savvy

[Monkeyleg]

Yesterday, I stopped in to visit with a friend of mine who owns a gun store. We got to talking about his business, and he showed me his back room where all of the extra guns are stored. There were racks and racks and racks of guns. He said he had about $1.7 million in guns and accessories in stock.

The amazing thing is that he's not carrying any debt beyond the very modest monthly payment on the building itself.

His wife called to let him know when the closing on their new house will be. His new house is 6100 square feet. He said it cost a bit over $900,000. It's also on a very large lot.

When I remarked that I wouldn't want to mow that much grass, he said that he has a yard service do everything. Not only that, but he has a maid service and a pool service.

My insurance agent's story is very similar. When I signed on with him back in the late 1970's for auto insurance, he was a one-man operation, working out of an office in his home. Now he has six salespeople, plus a very large support staff. I appreciate a nice suit, and this guy wears some of the best suits I've ever seen. The guy has class.

I'm always in awe of such people. I've been slugging it out on my own for nearly twenty years, have had some extremely good years, and am generally happy with being where I am.

But, no matter what I tried, I was never able to push my business to the kind of levels I've described above.

Maybe it's a talent these two guys have that I don't. Or, as I sit and think about it now, maybe it's because I don't require much in terms of material things that I'm not motivated enough to make big money.

Both of these guys live for their businesses. My insurance agent told me he thought about retiring, but decided to expand his business instead. He just loved the challenge.

I really admire these guys.

[Cromlech]

Those with the talent, and more importantly, the balls to use it, can often start from scratch and achieve a great deal.

[Perd Hapley]

I've come to believe that people with lots of money or a thriving business got that way because that's what they want.  Intelligence and talent and exterior circumstances play into it, but I think in general, it's a matter of priorities.  We all want money or success, but some want it more than others.  I'm not saying your friends are greedy robber barons.  It could be that they just love being the best at what they do.  Like you said, they love their businesses and they like the challenge of it.

At present, I'm barely scraping by.  That's no surprise, because I'm just not an ambitious or competitive person.  There's some comfort in thinking myself noble because I don't obsess over riches.  What is less gratifying is the idea that somehow what I have right now is what I really want.  The implication being that I value sloth over all else.  Yikes.  Better get back to that internet job search.  The current one is driving me nuts. 

[Declaration Day]

This is an interesting thread! 

I am a small business owner who is happy where I am.  I know of a few guys who started out in the same business when I did.  Some of them have 900 customers, a nice commercial building, and don't physically do the work that they're in business to do.  They also trade their entire lives for a paycheck. This seems to make them happy, so I say good for them!

As for me, I am an old-fashioned workin' man.  While I occasionally hire part time workers, I enjoy the satisfaction of doing my work with my own two hands and stopping to chat with my customers once in a while.  I work 40-50 hours per week, have plenty of time for my wife and kids, and earn a very modest income.  I don't obsess over material goods.  For me, this just feels right.  I don't waste my time explaining my satisfaction to people who measure success only in dollars. 

So, Monkeyleg, you're right, it all depends on what you really want.  I have my family, my business, an honest living and my independence; I wouldn't settle for anything less!

BTW, I'm one of those yard services that does everything for people like your friend!

[Manedwolf]

I think at last check, small business owners only bring in, in personal income, an average of $40K a year. Every one I've met works longer hours and much more than people who work for a company.

So I do admire the ones that make it and make their business become highly successful, (if they do it by ethical means) because it means they've likely been doing 80-hour weeks for years and years to bring it to that point. But they have to enjoy their work as their life, because that's about all they'll have time for. It works for some people, not for others.

[Jamisjockey]

My wife and I aren't business savvy.  Instead, we're lucky, and our luck seems to be continuing to grow.
But, what I've realized, which I'd have never had an opportunity to see before, is that my wife has an amazing ability to lead and inspire groups of people.  She's a terrific speaker in front of a crowd.  She's good at training people to do what she does.  She can be ridiculously objective.  Yea, some of our newfound success is "right place, right time" luck, but most of it's my wife.

[Bob F.]

About to start a new thread, but it's very relevant here. Received an e-mail which was a forward of an article by Herbert Meyer, former assnt dir of CIA, among other things. Article basically deals with changing world, and how American business is changing and how good the economy really is, although the outdated system of tracking doesn't really show it. The article is pretty long to post ans has about half "lined out" for some reason and I don't know how to fix it. So I "googled" Herbert Meyer. Looks like lots of interesting stuff. This particular article is titled "A Global Intelligence Briefing for CEO's".

If anyone really wants it, I'll post the article.

[Art Eatman]

Back somewhere in the 1960s, my father commented that some people have a talent for making money, as others can sing or paint or politic.  From what I've seen, I have no argument against that idea.

Some people, regardless of ambition, have a knack of just "making money".  It can be in investments or in business.   It doesn't seem to matter what business; they just have the mix of proper decision making and/or happen to be in the right place at the right time.

The "talent" isn't the be-all and end-all, of course; others can and do make big $$$.  For some it's having a serious case of the "I want" and they work hard to have the toys.  For others it's just the love of the game.

The love of the game was evidenced by J. Paul Getty, once the world's richest man.  He was asked what he did on vacation.  "Vacation from what?  I love what I do, in making deals.  The money is just counters in the game."  He was in his 70s at the time.

Art

[Unisaw]

Bob F., I would like to see that article.

[Monkeyleg]

Art, Getty's comments remind me of those of my friend. He likes guns, but he is by no means a "gun nut." I don't think it would matter to him if he was selling guns or furniture.

In a thread last year, I commented that there's an art to making money. Many people disagreed with me, but I still think there's a knack that not everyone has.

While I was focused on making money with my photo studio, I was more focused on producing quality work and making a name for myself. In hindsight, there were things I could have done that would have made a lot more money, but the quality of the work would have suffered.

[Standing Wolf]

I've known a couple people with a knack for making money. I could have been one myself, I think, but wandered down the arts primrose path, whence there is no return.

No regrets.

[Waitone]

The ability to make money is a gift of God.  Likewise the inability to make money is a similar gift.  Our society seems to attach human value to making money and likewise devalue the inability to make money.  With few excepts I've seen those making money shortchange something else in life.  The happiest people I've seen are the one's without lots of money.  Whenever I see someone in the midst of making money I want to pat them on the back and offer my congratulations and tell them not to get bigheaded because it can disappear just as easy as it appeared.

Your value as a human has nothing to do with your income.

[Bob F.]

Unisaw: e-mail me at frontb@verizon.net. Put your handle in the subject. I'll forward to ya'.

[Monkeyleg]

"The happiest people I've seen are the one's without lots of money.  Whenever I see someone in the midst of making money I want to pat them on the back and offer my congratulations and tell them not to get bigheaded because it can disappear just as easy as it appeared."

Waitone, you just described my wife's sister to a "t."

I just remarked to my wife tonight that her sister, who came from the same humble family and upbringing my wife did, has started to develop a rather snobbish attitude. Her husband's business is now raking in hundreds of thousands a year.

But, the way the business is being conducted concerns me. If it continues as is, they could lose it all, and very quickly.

A very old friend of mine once told me, "be nice to the people you meet on your way up, because you're going to meet them again on your way down."