Find Startup Money for Your Business

I’ve been getting emails from folks asking me how to find startup money for their business. Raising startup capital really depends on on the type of business you want to start. For example, if you want to start a consulting firm, the startup capital investment may be really low, basically computer, hi-speed internet, phone and marketing materials. If the business needs high priced equipment and other stuff then raising capital is more difficult. In either case raising money is much, much easier if you have a detailed plan and raising money is even easier if you already have people that want to buy what you are selling.

Having customers in advance gives you, the entrepreneur a tremendous advantage because having customers in advance allows you to know much more about your business. For example, in the infomercial business a company like Guthy Renker will produce the infomercial BEFORE they create the product. They create the entire machine in advance, they write the infomercial, hire directors, camera people, edit, produce and buy the airtime to show the infomercial.

They encourage people to call and hire people to answer the phones. They create the software to take orders and they actually ask the buyer all of the questions necessary to buy the product and when it gets time to actually take the money, they tell the customer they will notify them when the product is available.

Think about the mentality, Guthy Renker created everything in advance EXCEPT the product. They executed the entire sales process in advance without a product. They collected all the research data and AFTER they ran the sales process and analyzed the results they DECIDE IF THE PRODUCT IS WORTH CREATING.

This strategy can be used in any business with minimal costs. Maybe you can’t create a one million dollar infomercial, but you certainly create the marketing and sales material, start the marketing, get a bunch of research data and THEN create the product.

If you have customers in advance you know how a lot about what they want, where they want it, when they want it and how much they want to spend and you prove your business viability in advance. That level of detail will convince any investor including the banks that you are a responsible business owner and most often they will invest in your business

There is a great article in March’s copy of Black Enterprise called “Profiting From Consumer Behavior” featuring my friend David Bullock. Read the article and learn more about how to find customers first.

How to Get a Financial Education

In my past entries I’ve been harping on the need to get a financial education, on the need for you to DECIDE to STOP BEING A VICTIM and get on the road to creating your own financial future and until now I have not talked about how to start the process of educating yourself.

Before I reveal how I started, let me destroy some myths about understanding financial statements and getting a financial education.

Myth 1 - I’m not an accountant, financial planner or other financial guru. Well here is the interesting thing is many of the people that are financial planners etc, don’t know how to read financial planners either. Financial Planners are typically just certified sales people so they are only responsible for selling you products and getting their commission. Accountants understanding P&L statements and balance statements often don’t understand the relationship between the two, so if thats the case where do you learn.

Well, in the US there is no good source, Rikki Johnson, one of the guys I interviewed learned on his own by reading books like Rich Dad Poor Dan, Buffetology and Cashflow Quadrant. he started a regular study of stock markets and implemented his learning and quit his job.

For Rikki, investing is not risky becasue he understands how the markets work. He isn’t handing is money over to a unknown manager with the hope that the manager will return more money in the future. Thats like giving money to a stranger in the street and making him promise to come back ten years later with more money. Fat chance.

So, you owe it to yourself, your family, your kids and grandkids, to get a financial education. You owe it to all of them to teach yourself and then teach them.

You an start easily with a game from www.Richdad.com. Robert Kiyosaki sells a game one for kids and one for adults that teaches financial literacy by playing the game. Go buy it now. I don’t get anything from referring this game but I recommend you buy it immedialtely and play it with your family. Thats the place to start

To your success

Start a Business with a Financial Education - Why School isn’t enough

I spent over 16 years in school, from elementary, high school, college and others and while I learned a great deal, in this country people only get two types of education. They get an academic education, you know the a,e,i,o,u and the 1+1=2 or 2×2=4 education. This education is the basic education that a person needs to function in this society. Productive people must be able to read and count and if where lucky they will have a sense that there was something that happened before them (you know history). They also got an academic education (in some cases), that education is focused on getting a job and joining the drone (job market). While both types of education is very important, in this society, the most successful capitalist society ever created, where entrepreneurship runs rampant and where robber barons created the story of the American Dream during the 19th century, we still don’t get a financial education at any school in this country. Citizens go thru their entire life not understanding financial statements, investor words and how to even balance a checkbook. Then, we are asked to make all types of financial decisions but the most dastardly is the financial decision we are asked to make surrounding our retirements.

Here’s how it works, the retirement guy (girl) shows up at our job and they have a meeting about the three investment choices you have for your 401k. The retirement guy has three buckets, conservative, growth, riskier and he explains how they each work and they ask you to pick. Well how do you pick. Do you understand the difference between the 3 buckets.

Do you understand the risk involved in investing and more importantly, do you understand if and when you will get more money?

Well, thats why we advocate getting a financial education and tomorrow we will talk more about how, when and how you start to get that education and how having a financial education will help you create a business and earn financial freedom

Starting backwards (part 3), Nail the Info

After you have clearly defined your customer you can now TEST your message. With each step in the process we take in this process, we are tailoring our business to the customers and getting closer to what our customers want to buy and by knowing more and more about what our customers want we are more likely to sell our product or service to them. The goal is to match the conversation in going on in their head and they are having a conversation.
But before we go further we Starting Backwards, let’s clear up our understanding how customers buy. Every customer is on a buying line at some point in time. Lets say you sell cars. There is the period when your customer owns a great car and doesn’t want to buy a new car but with every passing day, they get closer to buying another car. So after they’ve owned the car for a few years they enter the car buying timeline. Perhaps their old car is starting to have trouble or maybe they are just tired of dringin that car and they start to think about buy a new car. At this point they are just thinking about buying a new car but what happens if you enter that conversation when they are just thinking about it. As time goes on they start looking online at new cars and then they go to a dealer and sit in a car and then their old car breaks down and they get a big car repair bill. Now they are in they’ve moved down the timeline (like moving from down the alphabet from A to Z, where A is the very beginning and Z actually bought the actual car)

The whole point is to enter the conversation they are having in the beginning (A,B,C etc) and build trust and a relationship and this can happen with ANY type of business. You build trust and a relationship by constantly staying in touch with the customer ( a prospect) and by educating them about what they you sell and how you sell it. If they agree to get your information continually stay in touch via email, snail mail, phone etc.

How to Start Backwards (continued)

I’ve gotten emails asking “Dwight How do I start backwards?” and “How do I find customers in advance?” Well lets start from the beginning, most people that start businesses start from their own prospective with products or services they want to sell. When I ask them about their customers they look at me like I’m crazy. I understand that opening a business is important to you and I understand the need to open YOUR business, but business success is all about the customers. So the basic step and the first step is to define your customer.
So, who is your customer, if your starting backwards, you want to define your customer completely and totally, how much do they make, where do they live, what do they eat, how do they talk, where do they go and what do they buy. You want to describe your customer in detail.

You also want to know one of the most important questions and that question is “What is the conversation they are having in their head?” You want to know what the little voice in their head is saying and you want to enter that conversation. If you enter that conversation, if you understand what they are thinking and you enter that conversation and you provide a solution, thats the start for starting your business backwards.

In my interview with David Bullock, he talks about how you can enter the conversation that your customer is having in their head and how you can customize your message to the conversation thats going on in your customers head.

If you want to learn more, if you want to create your own business and control your financial future, get your charter membership to the Black Genius Network NOW. The charter memberships are limited and going fast so start NOW

How to Start Backwards

I am excited today, by the time you read this I will have completed an interview with David Bullock about starting a business backwards. If you don’t know David it is my pleasure to intorduce him. David is my friend and a brilliant business mind. David is currently a marketing and testing consultant to both large and small companies helping them to understand how to find more customers and how to get more money out of their existing customers.

I’ve interviewed David before and you can get a copy of his first interview as a bonus for signing up a charter membership with the Black genius Network. You can sign up at http://blackgeniusnetwork.com/langingpage.

I was talking to david about the importance of owning a business that added an additional leg to your financial stool. If you don’t remember, most people are sitting on a one-legged financial stool called a job and if the stool is kicked out from under them, then their financial stool is gone and the end up struggling financial. We encourage people to add additional legs to the stool in the form of owning business and real estate for investment purposes. I left out stocks and mutual funds because they don’t allow you to CONTROL the investmet, the investment is controlled for you.

So, in this interview David is talking about how to start a business with guaranteed customers and how to eliminate most of the risk when starting a business. David talks about how you can find customers in advance and that allows the business owner to predict how much money he will make each month with much greater certainty.

If you want to learn more, if you want to create your own business and control your financial future, get your charter membership to the black genius network NOW. The charter memberships are limited and going fast so start NOW

Learn the Secrets to Starting Backwards

Thinks about the businesses that have been started and what they have in common. Most people will think about the money the owner needed to raise to start the business or the product that was created or sold in the business or some other nonsense.

When you think about how people start business it generally is about them and there is the mistake. Business is NOT about the OWNER, business is ALL ABOUT WHAT THE CUSTOMER WANTS and here’s the rub, most businesses that are started think about the customer.

I was talking to a friend that wanted to open a restaurant, when we talked the first thing he described was the decor. He described in detail all the colors, layout, where the bar was going, where the kitchen was going and all the stuff he had to buy for a state of the art kitchen. Then he went on the describe in great detail the menu, he even had a mockup menu that described every item in great detail with pretty pictures of food. He described the signature drinks, even where the coat room would be and not ONE TIME did he mention his customers.

When pressed, he had absolutely NO CLUE about his customers, you know how old they are, income levels, food preferences, he had nothing, not a clue.

How backwards, How shortsited is it to create a business and invest all of the money that he did without knowing exactly in great detail every possible piece of information about his customers.

So my friend opens the restaurant and in six months goes bust. What could he have done differently? How could he have know exactly what his customers wanted, how much they wanted to pay, where they lived and what clothes they buy. Could he have created his business with customers available in advance ready and waiting for the day they can go to his restaurant over and over again.

The answer is yes and in the first issue of Conversations with Black Millionaires and The Black Genius Network Newsletter, we will reveal the secrets that almost guarantee success in business. We will describe how you can have customers in place before you open any business. This information is invaluable.

So Join US Today, Charter Memberships are still available for a VERY LIMITED TIME. If you are serious about business and your financial future RESERVE YOUR MEMBERSHIP TODAY.

Dedicated to your success

How to Earn the Money You Want Doing Work You Love

How to Earn the Money You Want Doing Work You Love

Are you earning all the money you want?
Do you enjoy your work?
Are you living the lifestyle you desire?
Do you have the freedom and security you want?

Are you financially free?

If you answered no to any one of these questions, you are not alone. In this article I will reveal the five secrets that will literally change your life and give you the freedom and security you have been looking for. Read on …

Don’t Have All the Money You Want?We have a financial crisis. Most people are struggling financially and don’t know how to get out of the trap. The sad reality is that 95% of all people at age 65 must still work or depend on their family, welfare, or social security in order to survive, according to the Social Security Administration.

But wait … there’s hope. Let’s look at the remaining 5%. The next 4% of people at age 65 can meet their basic needs. But that’s it. This is still not looking good.

Only 1% of the population is really financially free. This means 1 out of every 100 people live the lifestyle they want at age 65 and don’t have to worry.

I know you are wondering, “Is there a way for me to be in the 1%?quot;

There is a way, but only when you truly understand the five secrets and take action.

How to Get Out of the Trap - Secret #1 Andrew Carnegie said it so well when Napoleon Hill interviewed him. Carnegie said “To succeed, you must love what you do.” I couldn’t agree more. Let’s discover why this is true.

Do You Hate Your Job? You’re Not Alone Everyone is looking for freedom and security and a way to live a comfortable life. The problem is that more than 95% of all people in the United States hate their jobs. And it’s becoming a global problem. Recently in Japan, where workers used to be dedicated to their company and stayed their entire working career, the workers are changing their tune. Over 72% of Japanese workers are now dissatisfied with their job and their employers.

So why are so many people dissatisfied?

They are doing work they DON’T love. Does this sound familiar? Could this be your situation?

When you hate the work you do, you will only do the minimum even though you are working very hard. Your enthusiasm is most likely low and your energy drained. I remember when I worked in corporate America for Fortune 500 companies, most people didn’t even smile. It was a struggle for them just to be there. My energy levels were drained, and I was always tired during the week. But magically when the weekend came, I had lots of energy and did what I enjoyed. Can you relate to this phenomenon?

Fire Your Boss

In fact, more people than ever are seeking ways to fire their boss. There are over 33 million entrepreneurs in the United States alone. More and more people who are being downsized by corporations are now seeking to become entrepreneurs. These people are taking control of their lives and want to become financially free.

Yet there is a challenge that has to be overcome.

Statistically, more than 50% of all businesses fail in the first year. More shocking is that approximately 95% of all businesses fail in the first five years. This doesn’t look too good. In fact, this looks like quite a scary proposition to leave your job and become an entrepreneur, doesn’t it?

On the surface it does. The challenge is that most people look at the statistics and say, “That’s too risky for me.” In reality, being an entrepreneur is far less risky than working for someone else when you know the secrets …

Let me give you an example to help illustrate the risks. Let’s assume you earn $1,000 per month from your job. (I’m sure you are making more, but I am using $1,000 just to make the numbers easy.) If you are downsized tomorrow, how much money are you earning now?

ZERO!

That’s not a good situation to be in, is it? Of course not.

Now let’s look at being an entrepreneur. Let’s assume you have 1,000 customers that purchase something from you at $1 each month. You’re earning $1,000 per month. Assume now that one customer stops purchasing from you. How much do you have left at the end of the month?

$999.00

I don’t know about you, but being an entrepreneur seems a lot safer than being employed. In fact I know it is. I was downsized in 2001. I went from a six-figure income to zero overnight. The bad part was I didn’t know the secrets to being successful doing work I love that I’m going to share with you.

The first thing you must do is Make the Decision to do work you love. Make the commitment right now that you are going to take control of your destiny.

The next question is, how do you become successful doing work you love?

Do Work You Love and Get Paid Well - Secret #2To become a successful entrepreneur, don’t quit your job tomorrow and dive into a moneymaking opportunity. This is what most people do. Someone tells them, “You can make millions in real estate” or “You can make millions from the Internet” or “You can make millions in _____.” You fill in the blank.

I’m sure you have seen and heard these claims. The truth is they all work. The bad news is they don’t work for everyone.

The key to being a successful entrepreneur is to find your true purpose in life. This is your passion, something that you would actually do for free. Now this may seem counterintuitive. And you’re right; it is. Most businesses fail because the person who started the business gave himself or herself a job. That person went into business to make money instead of doing what he or she was passionate about. Do you know anyone like this?

I work with clients all the time, and not doing what they’re passionate about is the number one problem that I see constantly. The amazing part is, when you find your true passion and express your true purpose in life, it is as if you cannot fail.

Let me give you an example of this. I had a client, Ray, who went into real estate investing. In the hottest market ever, he managed to lose $70,000. He was in a lot of trouble. He came to me and asked me what he was doing wrong. I looked at the system he was using, and it was a good system. After digging a little bit deeper, I discovered that he went after the money instead of after his passion.

As soon as Ray discovered his purpose in life and followed his passion, within six months he was out of debt and making lots of money in his new business. His new business was selling healthcare products through a network marketing company. It was as if he could not fail.

I, too, had a similar experience after being downsized. I thought that by using the skills I had developed in my corporate career, I could become financially free in my own business. Guess again. I failed miserably. In fact, it took me several failed businesses to discover the problem.

Once I focused on my true passion, which is so different from what I used to do, I went from being unemployed to being a millionaire in less than three years. This is not to impress you, but to impress upon you that doing work you love is absolutely a must in order to succeed.

Find what you are passionate about and explore the possibilities of how you can turn that into a business. When you do what you love, you will be enthusiastic and you will succeed!

You may be saying, “Well that’s fine, but how am I going to pay the bills if I quit my job and start my own business?”

Fire Your Boss Slowly - Secret #3

Sure, it would be nice to get out of a job you don’t like right away. However, there are bills to pay, and you don’t want to set yourself up for failure.

The secret to becoming a successful entrepreneur is not to quit your job right away. Stay there and work your own business part time, even if you can only work it one hour per day. The important part is to work your business consistently. This is what most people find challenging. Make sure you plan regular hours to work on your business. Consistency is the key. The more consistent you are, the faster you become successful.

So, when can you quit your job?

When your business produces more income than what your living expenses are, it’s time to quit. At this point, going to your job takes away time that you could be spending on your business. You can no longer afford it.

When you get to this point and actually quit your job, you have now removed the lid on your income. The only limitation is your imagination.

Remember: If you can imagine it and believe it, you can achieve it!

Tune Up Your Mind to Earn More Money - Secret #4

Everything starts in thought. And as Zig Ziglar puts it: “If you aren’t getting what you want, you may have some stinking thinking.”

Zig is right on the money. Your results (and that means every result you get) are nothing more than a reflection of what’s going on inside your mind. If you are achieving great results, that means you have great thinking. However, if your results are not so good, you are getting exactly what you are thinking about.

Let me explain how this works. Donald Trump at one time lost everything he had and then some. He went deep into debt after having millions. It was an unfortunate time for Donald.

Instead of giving up and becoming a homeless person, he regrouped and came back in a few short years even wealthier and more powerful than ever. How did he achieve this? It was his thinking. He thinks like a billionaire. Poverty and being wiped out don’t even cross his mind.

A big mistake that most people make is that they give up when the going gets tough, and say things like,”It’s too hard” or “Money doesn’t matter that much.” These are nothing more than excuses.

But why do we have so many excuses? It is our conditioning! You have been programmed to think like a poor person instead of a rich person. Before you start blaming everyone around you, especially your parents, remember: It’s nobody’s fault. All those around you did the best they could with what they had. They couldn’t give you what they didn’t have.

I could blame my parents for my problems, but the truth is, they didn’t have rich thinking to give me when I was struggling. The only thing they knew how to do was go get a job and work for someone else.

There is a bright side to this …

You can change your thinking by reading good books, by listening to empowering tapes and CDs. Stop watching TV and listening to the radio with all that negative garbage! Fill your mind with things that will help improve your life. If you think watching Jerry Springer or soap operas on a regular basis is good for your mind, then there are only two words I have for you: You’re Broke!

You know that what you feed your body is important. If you eat junk, you will feel terrible. Imagine eating McDonald’s three times a day for the next 30 days. Do you think your body will have some adverse affects? You bet. The same holds true for your mind. You must feed your mind empowering material in order to succeed.

Listen to or read empowering material every single day for at least 30 to 60 minutes per day. You can listen to great tapes and CDs in your car while you drive. You can read a little bit before you go to bed or when you first get up. When you do this, you feed your mind, and soon your thoughts will produce much better results.

Who You Associate With Determines Your Financial Results - Secret #5

There is one last thing to do. The people you associate with regularly actually determine your financial results. Now, I’m not suggesting that you dump your friends and family today. They love you and want only the best for you.

However, if your friends and family are negative, consider spending less time with them. Find new friends who are upbeat and positive and make the kind of money you want. When you associate yourself with people who are more successful, you begin to start thinking the way they do, and, before you know it, you will be earning lots of money too.

When I started my journey to success, I didn’t realize this key step. Once I did, I started to associate with people who are wealthy and positive. The results speak for themselves. You may think, “Why would a wealthy person want to associate with me?” Wealthy people - from my perspective - are the most giving people around. They remember where they came from and are willing to give back. If you are serious about your success - and I’m sure you are, otherwise you wouldn’t have read this far - then wealthy people will help you as well. All you have to do is ask. When you ask and are sincere, wealthy people will help you and mentor you.

Having a mentor is key. I asked many times, and some successful people turned me down, but others said yes. In fact, Dolf de Roos, New York Times bestselling author of Real Estate Riches, is now a good friend and business partner. All because I asked. I also provided value to my mentors by offering to do things to help them make more money and be more successful. Providing value is easy. You have a unique talent, and others will be grateful to you.

Remember: You become like the five closest people you associate with. In fact, your income is the average of the income of these same five people. The choice is yours. Who will you now associate with?

I encourage you to find a mentor to help you. Find someone who has achieved what you want and ask that person for help. You will be glad you did.

Putting It All Together You have learned the five secrets to making the successful transition doing work you love and getting paid well for it. To recap the steps:

• First: Decide to do work you love. Take control of your life and your destiny.
• Second: Find your purpose and passion in life. Find a business that expresses your purpose and passion.
• Third: Start your business and work it part time until you make enough money so that you can’t afford a job. Then quit your job.
• Fourth: Tune up your mind by reading and listening to empowering material. This is a critical step. The more you tune your mind, the better your results.
• Fifth: Associate with positive and successful people. Find a mentor who has achieved the success you are looking for and ask for guidance.

By following the five secrets, you will have an easy transition to wealth, freedom, and security. I look forward to hearing about your success!

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The Importance of Starting Your Own Business (continued)

February 5, 2007

I am passionate about helping you create a financial success plan for your future. Why, because too often black folks find themselves broke and destitute, relying on the governement to care for them and their families and that MUST change. It is serious, I won’t bore you today with all the bloody details but very soon the US is going to face major financial challenges and if you are to survive you have to change. Change is not pleasant, it hurts but we all have to plan and create our own financial future.

So how do you do that, well you start by getting a financial education. That education will allow you to become an educated investor and in control of your financial future. I’m listening to Donald Trump & Robert Kiyosaki’s book, “We Want You To BEe Rich” and they are talking about the exact same thing, that the future will elong to the people that have taken the time to get a financial education.

So, you may say but Dwight, I went to school and got a good job isn’t that enough. The answer to that question is ABSOLUTELY NOT. It’s NOT enough to go to school and get a good job. You have to learn to manage your own finances and that means more than just sending your money to a mutual fund. That’s a strategy to get POOR.

So, start by getting the education, join us at BlackGeniusNetwork.com and start a business regardless of size, destroy any myths about starting a business, get on the fast track to financial wealth.

We will be there to help you

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The Importance of Starting Your OWN Business

February 4, 2007

Has anyone been paying attention and understands why the US is facing tremendous financial difficulties. Has anyone been paying attention to the pending disaster when 75 million baby boomer’s retire and start to withdraw billions of dollars from the stock market and the treasury monthly.

Well if you’ve been paying attention and not hiding with your head under a pillow you understand that the days of government and corporate babysitting and entitlements are gone and the folks that are going to get hit the hardest are brothers and sisters that haven’t taken the time to plan a way to take care of their own financial future.

Thats, why you need to plan for your own future. Create your own plan. Stop giving money to a mutual fund hoping and praying that they will give more money back. You need a BETTER PLAN and one way to achieve that plan is to either buy or create assets that you control.

But Dwight, my planner said I should “diversify, into a broad range of stocks”, well is your planner actually an adviser or a flimflam lying salesperson. have you asked your “Financial Planner” how she gets paid? Most likely it’s commissions, thats right, the girl advising you to “diversify” is a commission salesperson, more often looking after her retirement instead of yours.

So, what to do, well here are my suggestions

1) Get a financial education. In this country, we all get a really good professional education so we can get a job. But let me ask you a question “How’s that working for you?” When jobs are being shipped to India, China and other countries “How is the professional education working?”. I say, IT’S NOT WORKING, you are probably hoping and wishing that there will be a retirement, hoping and wishing that you will one day leave your job and live in some type of luxury. WRONG, WRONG, WRONG. Start your financial education today and learn how to protect your assets instead of hoping that some “Money Manager” will make your life better.

2) Start a business, any business, invest in real estate, build an Internet business, anything. Learn the language of business no matter what. Use a business as your financial educational tool, learn how to make more money than you spend by building your own business. DECLARE YOUR INDEPENDENCE from the RAT RACE NOW.

So, teh question is “Who is Responsible for Creating Your Financial Independence?” Who will pay for your retirement, your healthcare and your future? Will you rely on the government and social security, hoping and praying that you can survice on a measly government check? Will you continue to live in an entitlement world, a welfare society, dependent on the crumbs from the table or will you take matters in your own hands?

Start Now, Learn More, Create your Future, Every month, Conversations with Black Millionaires and the Black Genius Network Newsletter will feature specific instructions about how you can create your own financial success. Every month a different black entrepreneur will tell specfically what they did to be successful and break free from financial bondage.   Learn more now RESERVE YOUR CHARTER SUBSCRIPTION for Conversations with Black Millionaires and the Black Genius Network Newsletter and

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