“I’m like anyone else on this planet — I’m very moved by world hunger. I see the same commercials, with those little kids, starving, and very depressed. I watch those kids and I go, ‘Fuck, I know the FILM crew could give this kid a sandwich!’ There’s a director five feet away going, ‘DON’T FEED HIM YET! GET THAT SANDWICH OUTTA HERE! IT DOESN’T WORK UNLESS HE LOOKS HUNGRY!!!’ But I’m not trying to make fun of world hunger. Matter of fact, I think I have the answer. You want to stop world hunger? Stop sending these people food. Don’t send these people another bite, folks. You want to send them something, you want to help? Send them U-Hauls. Send them U-Hauls, some luggage, send them a guy out there who says, ‘Hey, we been driving out here every day with your food, for, like, the last thirty or forty years, and we were driving out here today across the desert, and it occurred to us that there wouldn’t BE world hunger, if you people would LIVE WHERE THE FOOD IS! YOU LIVE IN A DESERT! YOU LIVE IN A F**KING DESERT! NOTHING GROWS OUT HERE! NOTHING’S GONNA GROW OUT HERE! YOU SEE THIS? HUH? THIS IS SAND. KNOW WHAT IT’S GONNA BE A HUNDRED YEARS FROM NOW? IT’S GONNA BE SAND! YOU LIVE IN A F**KING DESERT! GET YOUR STUFF, GET YOUR SH*T, WE’LL MAKE ONE TRIP, WE’LL TAKE YOU TO WHERE THE FOOD IS! WE HAVE DESERTS IN AMERICA — WE JUST DON’T LIVE IN THEM, A**HOLES!”

Sam had it right. If you want something, you have to go to where it is. I recently had a reader ask me where he could go to get financing. I genuinely wanted to help him, but everyone gets financing differently. Once I had a partner that just started calling rich guys who donated to the local museum. Once, me and my partners chipped in. Once I went to family members. You name it – and it can be done. But the thing you need to do is go there. You have to go where the food is.

You want to meet wealthy guys who have money to give? You have to hang out where they do. They go to fund raisers and museum events. They go to the marinas. Hell, you could even just drive around downtown till you see a bunch of German cars parked in a lot – guess what, rich guys probably hang out there. Now that you know where they are, you have to get over the fear of asking.

Let me let you in on a secret. There are people out there that WANT to give you money. They really do. I had one investor that literally put $4 Million Dollars aside every year to invest in small business guys. He has his reasons, but one is taxes. He would rather give it to a guy breaking his ass to make something than to the government where it will be wasted or used to bribe crooked world leaders. So, remember, these guys are out there. You just have to come to them with your game face on and your papers in order. You aren’t looking for a handout – you are looking for a partner. In case you didn’t know, investors are partners and hopefully mentors.

The next thing I mentioned is that if you have an idea, and the investor wants a big fat chunk of your business, how much should you give up?

It all depends on how badly you need them and what their money (and experience and mentorship) brings to the table.

I have no problem turning 90% of a $100,000/yr business over to an investor if they can guarantee to make that business a $10,000,000/yr business in three years (which you can stipulate in the contract) with their contacts, experience and mentorship.

Do this math real quick.

100% of 100,000 = 100,000

10% of $10,000,000 = 1,000,000

I would take a million dollars over a hundred thousand every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

The right investor may hook you up with a better quality crew. He or she might open locked doors for you from their network of rich folks. They may have a marketing agency that can take your product to market faster and better than you could have in 5 years. But the trick is finding the RIGHT investor for you. Not every guy with $50,000 burning a hole in his pocket is the right guy to take on as an investor.

The best way to find the right financier is to find people who are in or from the industry that you are breaking into. Don’t worry about someone stealing your idea. Once you get going, they will be able to “steal” it anyway. The iPod wasn’t the first MP3 player, and it wasn’t the last either.

The right money man has almost more of a stake in your success than you do. You will have to share your secrets with them (not all your secrets but most of them). Put it in this perspective. You can buy smart people, but not all smart people have resources. That being a universal truth – it is better to have 5 rich guys in your pocket than 10 smart guys on your coat tails.

So get out there. Go to where the food is if you want to eat. Then again, you can always get full on “Stone Soup”. I will explain this a little more in my next post.

Keep Hustling

A man walked into a bank in New York City one day and asked for the loan officer.

He told the loan officer that he was going to Philippines on business for two weeks and needed to borrow $5,000. The bank officer told him that the bank would need some form of security for the loan.

Then the man handed over the keys to a new Ferrari parked on the street in front of the bank. He produced the title and everything checked out The loan officer agreed to accept the car as collateral for the loan.The bank’s president and its officers all enjoyed a good laugh at the guy for using a $250,000 Ferrari as collateral against a $5,000 loan.

An employee of the bank then drove the Ferrari into the bank’s underground garage and parked it there.Two weeks later, the guy returned, repaid the $5,000 and the interest, which came to $15.41.

The loan officer said, “Sir, we are very happy to have had and this transaction has worked out very nicely, but we are a little puzzled. While you were away, we checked you out and found that you are a multi millionaire. What puzzles us is, why would you bother to borrow “$5,000?.

The millionaire replied: “Where else in New York City can I park my car for $15.41 and expect it to be there when I return”

Now obviously this is a fictional story (as far as I know). However, finding ways to leverage knowledge and a unique perspective to make money is the cornerstone of any wealth building strategy.

Making money is easy. Think about it. As a kid I used to buy candy, specifically Jolly Ranchers, BlowPops, Starbursts, Mambo (like Starbursts) and bubblegum from the 7-11 between my apartment and my elementary school (I was in the third grade). I would net about $20.00 a day selling candy on the school yard. I eventually had kids in other grades and classes selling for me and got up to about $30 a day. I had a captured client base. I had a product that was in demand and had little spoilage and fast turnover. My limitation was only how much candy I could sneak onto the playground. I was netting $30 ($60 gross) a day at a time that minimum wage was $3.75 an hour. I was 9 years old and I was making $10 an hour.

When you know what you are looking for you will realize that there are more opportunities than you have time to explore. You will be forced to choose Option A or Option B or even Option C. If one doesn’t work, drop it and move to the next one. There are literally a million ways to make a million dollars. Look around you. What is at your fingertips? What do you do now? Who are you exposed to? What do they want?

Here are a few ideas to get you thinking…

Do you work in an office? Is everyone on a diet? Do they still buy fast food or microwave lunches? Would they be willing to throw a few bucks your way to get a real low fat, low calorie or low carb meal? Yes, it’s work – but it could be an extra $50 a week doing something that you are already doing (making your lunch).

Do you hang out at the park or go jogging at a regular populated place? Throw 14 half frozen bottles of water into a small ice chest and sell them to the other runners for $1. You should net about $10.00 a day. And it will motivate you to exercise.

Do you know anyone at a tow yard, a salvage yard or a scrap yard? Tell the owner that you will sell parts and trim pieces online and split the profit. You have no out of pocket expenses and if you don’t sell it in a week, they can send it out to salvage and make their money anyway.

Did you know that many bars and restaurants throw their used bottles away instead of recycling? They dont want bums and street people tearing apart their dumpsters and it takes up a lot of room in their trash containers. Do you have a car or truck? You can drive from place to place and either they will give you their bottles for free or you can offer them $.25 to $.50 on the dollar for their redemption value. You can make an extra $50 to $100 a day doing this. I know because I have done this myself. All they care bout is that you are clean and professional.

These are ideas off the top of my head. Eventually I will get around to posting all the jobs I have had and all the things I have done to make a buck. Until then, look around – there is a million dollars laying at your feet. You just have to find it.