Erik’s Blog: Board Shorts and Business Suits

Did you know that in 2004 there were 8.2 million households in the US that had a net worth of a million dollars or more excluding their primary residence? Well neither did I. But msn.com knew. 8.2 million households. If we figure that each household has two income earners that means there are now 4.1 million people equivalents that are millionaires. That comes out to an average of 82,000 per state. This means the chances are good that you will drive past or walk past a millionaire (or millionaire couple) every couple of weeks if not days. Chances are probably good that you already know a millionaire.

So I bet you’re thinking to yourself, if there are that many people out there that are millionaires why aren’t I? Well I have been asking myself that question for the past couple of years. When I was a freshman in college I stated the goal that I would become a millionaire by the time I was 27. Well I have now just turned 24 and I am in debt. Big time. Approximately $90,000 in debt. $88K of which is due to undergraduate student loans and $2K of which is due to credit card debt. The circumstances are too long winded to discuss how I got myself into such debt as an undergraduate but it mainly deals with 4 things:

1. Not preparing enough to get scholarships (I come from a middle class Caucasian family, not too many scholarships out there for us)
2. Making the decision to go to an out-of-state college
3. Getting cancer
4. Not earning enough during school to help pay off loans

Let me first state that I wouldn’t complain about any of the decisions I made. I enjoy where I’m at, I am still with the reason I went out of state, and I have learned a lot from cancer.

Ideas that may work for you

Getting past that lets get down to how we are going to make a million dollars in three years. Since moving to Hawaii I have sold silver bars on eBay, I have resold surfboards, and I am currently starting web pages. Selling silver bars on eBay is a good racket if you have a good source for silver. If you can find a place where you can buy 1 oz silver bullion bars at $0.75 or less over spot (the current market price of silver) you can resell the bars on eBay for $1-$5 dollars over spot and then, as some do, even make money on the shipping and handling. Now if the market crashes in a two day time and you have a lot of silver on hand your SOL. However, look at the prices for that last 20 years, pretty steady with trends up and down. If you see it trending down and are worried, post a lot. If you don’t believe me go to eBay and check out the prices.

Next up is selling surfboards. I began buying surfboards because I saw a good deal one day on craigslist and decided I could try it for a week then sell it and make money. Turns out I made $100 on the first board I sold. Within three months I had bought, tried, and sold 15 boards and made $1200. Bad thing was people started catching on to craigslist and would sell them for a price where I could only net a $10-$30 profit. A lot of work for such a little profit. If you live in an area where people move in and out a lot I suggest finding a product that can only be used there, checking the classifieds, or craigslist, and buying and reselling. You sell in the same classifieds you bought from!

These are the only two businesses I have tried to start since moving to Hawaii. The bullion business slowed because I had no easy way of getting silver bars. The other, as explained.

These two businesses are great but they don’t accomplish one main thing. Earning passive income, letting my money work for me. When I was in college a roommate of mine told me of this book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad. I didn’t read it until this year and I had to kick myself at all the ideas I could have come up with in college to make money.

Within the book, Rich Dad Poor Dad the author Robert Kiyosaki explains how the rich have their money work for them while the poor work for their money. Interesting concept and it can be as simple as putting your money in a savings account. The way Robert Kiyosaki makes his money work for him is through real estate. He buys a house, apartment, or complex and then rents it out. This way someone else is paying his mortgage payments and possibly generating a small stream of cash while he waits for the property to increase in value. Even if it doesn’t increase he makes money from the principle payments every month.

Now this is no big secret, people have been making money off real estate for quite a while but it’s the idea behind the example. The author says his Rich Dad tells him to use his mind to make money then let the money make him money. (If you don’t have the book, get it. It’s cheap and a quick read. I have already bought a copy for my brother.)

How do you use your mind to make money? Simple you think of ideas. Just look around you at what you use every day. What could be improved? What could be easier to obtain? What service have you always wanted, chances are so does someone else.

How I’m going to make a million dollars

Although I don’t have the how down just yet I am much more motivated to get there after realizing I am just 3 years shy of my goal. My current venture is in designing web pages an finding a way to use them to make it for me. This has both aspects talked of in the Rich Dad, Poor Dad book. First off I will be using my mind to generate useful content and then having that useful content generate money for me. Did you know there are people out there making $5K to $10K a month just through advertising on their websites! I know this is not the case for everyone out there but why not me? I won’t know unless I try.

This whole idea behind generating income through a website is nothing new. I have actually tried before although it was furthest from a try. I started a website for about 10 days and had no useful content what-so-ever. Then for the past year I have been discussing with people the possibility of starting a few sites here and there but nothing came of it. Then my girlfriend and I were discussing a new site idea and the very next day one of my co-workers showed me a site called The Million Dollar Experiment. That was it, that night I signed with a hosting service and was on my way. Within a night I had a site up and running. I signed up through Netfirms who has a great service that generates web pages for you. It’s a blogging service called WordPress and is easier than ever to use.

So here it is, making a million dollars is added to the list. In the beginning I realize that things are going to be slow. The process of getting people to come to your site is tough and you need to be persistent with writing good useful content and getting your search rank up. Of course I am wondering are people going to want to read something about trying to become good a things, or everything for that matter. Won’t know unless I try. Stick with me as I try new things and learn the easiest ways to do this.