Just What's The Right Age To Become A Successful Entrepreneur

See this man right here? His name is Ray Kroc.

Born in 1902 to Czechoslovakian immigrant parents, Ray Kroc was 53 years old when he founded McDonald's, one of the largest food chains in the world.

Ray Kroc rose from humble beginnings - including stints as a paper cup salesman and jazz musician, to become one of Time's "Most Important People of the Century" by building McDonald's into the most famous and successful fast-food restaurant in the world[1].

Kroc was chairman of McDonald's Corporation from 1968 until he passed away in 1984. Many McDonald's executives still adorn their offices with scrolls carrying Kroc's favorite inspirational quote:

"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent."

I hope this story will inspire you and millions of young people to realize that in this world you’re not in competition with anyone but yourself.

At the age of 25 you’re probably luckier than millions of people who will drift through life unconsciously, without even getting worried that time is not on their side.

Most of these people will realize too late that they lost the most precious asset of their lives - TIME.

Your contemporaries are not ahead of you - they just appear to be:

This story by MJ DeMarco, bestselling author of The Millionaire Fastlane will inspire you even further:

The Parable of Fastlane Wealth

A great Egyptian pharaoh summons his two young nephews, Chuma and Azur, and he commissions them to a majestic task: Build two monumental pyramids as a tribute to Egypt. Upon completion of each nephew’s pyramid, Pharaoh promises each an immediate reward of kingship, retirement amidst riches, and lavish luxury for the rest of their natural lives. Additionally, each nephew must construct his pyramid alone.

Chuma and Azur, both 18, know their daunting task will take years to complete. Nonetheless, each is primed for the challenge and honored by the Pharaoh’s directive. They exit Pharaoh’s chambers ready to begin the long pyramid-building process.

Azur begins work immediately. He slowly drags large heavy stones into a square formation. After a few months, the base of Azur’s pyramid takes shape. Townsfolk gather around Azur’s constructive efforts and praise his handiwork. The stones are heavy and difficult to move, and after one year of heavy labor, Azur’s perfect square foundation to the pyramid is nearly finished.

But Azur is perplexed. The plot of land that should bear Chuma’s pyramid is empty. Not one stone has been laid. No foundation. No dirt engravings. Nothing. It’s as barren as it was a year ago when Pharaoh commissioned the job. Confused, Azur visits Chuma’s home and finds him in his barn diligently working on a twisted apparatus that resembles some kind of human torture device.

Azur interrupts, “Chuma! What the hell are you doing!? You’re supposed to be building Pharaoh a pyramid and you spend your days locked in this barn fiddling with that crazy machine?”

Chuma cracks a smile and says, “I am building a pyramid, leave me alone.”

Azur scoffs, “Yeah, sure you are. You haven’t laid one stone in over a year!”

Chuma, engrossed and unfazed by his brother’s accusation retorts, “Azur, you’re short-sightedness and thirst for wealth have clouded your vision. You build your pyramid and I will build mine.”

As Azur walks away, he chides, “You fool! Pharaoh will hang you in the gallows when he discovers your treason.”

Another year passes and Azur solidifies the base of his pyramid and begins the second level. Except a problem arises. Azur struggles in his progress. The stones are heavy and he cannot raise them to the pyramid’s second level. Challenged by his physical limitations, Azur recognizes his weakness: he needs more strength to move heavier stones, and to do so, seeks the counsel of Bennu, Egypt’s strongest man. For a fee, Bennu trains Azur to build bigger and stronger muscles. With great strength, Azur anticipates the heavier stones will be easier to lift onto the higher levels.

Meanwhile, Chuma’s pyramid plot of land is still barren. Azur assumes his brother has a death wish since, by all appearances, Chuma is violating Pharaoh’s mandate. Azur forgets about his brother and his nonexistent pyramid.

Another year passes and Azur’s pyramid construction slows to a disheartening crawl. It often takes one month just to place one stone. Moving stones to the upper levels require great strength and Azur spends much of his time working with Bennu to build greater strength.

Additionally, Azur is spending most of his money on counseling fees and the exotic diet required for the training. Azur estimates at his current construction pace, his pyramid will be completed in another 30 years. Unfazed, Azur lauds, “After three years, I’ve far surpassed my brother. He hasn’t placed one stone yet! That fool!”

Then, suddenly, one day while hauling a heavy stone up his pyramid, Azur hears a loud commotion erupting from the town square. The townsfolk, regular observers to his work, abruptly abandon his plot to examine the celebratory fuss. Curious himself, Azur takes a break and leaves to investigate.

Surrounded by a cheering crowd, Chuma trolls up the town square commandeering a 25-foot contraption, a towering machine built from a twisted maze of gantries, wheels, levers, and ropes. As Chuma slowly moves up the village street amidst the buoyant crowd, Azur fears the explanation. After a short trawl to Chuma’s barren pyramid plot, Azur’s suspicions are confirmed.

Within minutes, Chuma’s strange machine starts moving heavy stones and begins to lay the foundation to his pyramid. One after another, the machine effortlessly lifts the stones and softly places them side-by-side into place. Miraculously, the machine requires little effort for Chuma’s operation. Crank a wheel attached to a rope and cantilever entwined by a gear system, and bingo! Heavy stones are moved quickly and magically.

While Azur’s pyramid foundation took over a year to build, Chuma lines up the foundation to his pyramid within one week. The second level that Azur so arduously struggled with is even more shocking: Chuma’s machine does the work 30 times quicker. What took Azur two months takes Chuma’s machine two days. After 40 days, Chuma and his machine accomplish as much as Azur’s three years of toilsome work.

Azur was destroyed. He spent years doing the heavy lifting while Chuma built a machine to do it for him.

Instead of honoring the machine, Azur vows, “I must get stronger! I must lift heavier stones!” Azur continues the hard labor of pyramid building while Chuma continues to work the crank of his machine.

After eight years, Chuma finishes his pyramid at age 26: three years to build the system and five years to reap the benefits of the system. The great pharaoh is pleased and does as promised. He rewards Chuma with kingship and endows him with great riches. Chuma never has to work another day in his life.

Meanwhile, Azur continues to dredge away at the same old routine. Lift rocks, waste time and money to get stronger, lift rocks, and get stronger. Sadly, Azur refuses to acknowledge his flawed strategy and endures the same old process: Carry heavy stones until you can lift no more . . . then get stronger so you can lift heavier stones.

This mindless prescription leads Azur to a lifetime of toil. He never finishes his pyramid promised to Pharaoh simply because he decides to do the heavy lifting himself when he should have focused on a system to do it for him. Azur has a heart attack and dies while on the 12th level of his pyramid, just two levels from finishing. He never experiences the great riches promised by Pharaoh.

Meanwhile, Chuma retires 40 years early in a crown of luxury. Sloshing in free time, Chuma goes on to become Egypt’s greatest scholar and an accomplished inventor. He is entombed alongside Pharaoh in the same pyramid he built[2].

Footnotes

[1] Learn About Ray Kroc and the McDonald's Phenomenon

[2] How to Live Rich; Stop Climbing Pyramids and Start Building Them

Should I Become A Young Entrepreneur?

SURE! I love young entrepreneurs. In fact I envy them. Their minds are still fresh and unadulterated by the monotonous indoctrination of adults and peer pressure that injects FEAR and kills their dreams.

Courtesy: Ashley Qualls

I caught the entrepreneurial bug since I was a kid, helping my mother sell tomatoes.

Coming from a humble background living in the slums, it wasn’t easy. Life was tough and there were few alternatives for a family to survive. Criminal gangs were all over the place and gang members were both respected and feared. We thought that was all there was to life.

My mother started selling tomatoes to supplement the meager pay my father used to earn as a foreman in the engineering department of a toll-bridge company. Naturally, I would help my mother after school and during school holidays. Handling money was something I enjoyed because I would not lack a few extra coins of my own, even after accounting for the day’s takings.

I couldn’t help thinking that, “perhaps this could turn out to be a bigger enterprise that would eventually get us out of poverty and enable us to live in the more posh neighbourhood”. I envied children from those posh neighbourhoods. I wondered whether we had wronged God to live in such poverty.

But as fate would have it, this never materialized. At the time, getting an education was regarded as the only way out of poverty and a better life. My parents didn’t know otherwise. The mantra of the day was; go to school, study very hard, pass with high grades in order to secure a high paying job in a big company. That’s exactly what I did.

After all, landing a decently paying job after years of hard work, investing time and money to earn that prestigious college degree or diploma is an opportunity only a few people can ignore.

One of the most heralded accomplishments in today’s mostly urban culture is securing the coveted 9 to 5 job. The prospects of a monthly pay-check with full benefits, and a loving community of fellow office workers striving towards a similar goal as laid out in a staff manual by a board of directors, is regarded as the ultimate achievement.

And it was not until I had to first go school, graduated from high school and secured a nice job in a large multinational company, while still a teenager, that I began to realize that I had lost my childhood entrepreneurship dream.

However, after only a few years or even months, of mechanical monotony accompanied with a few salary raises and promotions, I soon realized that I was getting deeper into debt than I was able to get out. And as I struggled through the “rat-race”, the prospect of saving enough money for myself and my children’s future became ever more elusive.

I began toiling with ideas, but by then it was too late. I was already sinking too deep into the corporate culture and the comfort of a monthly paycheck plus benefits made it harder to get out.
One day a friend introduced me to a book called Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki, which I began reading. This got me on the right track and revived my entrepreneurial spirit, which had died many years ago. I will forever be grateful to that friend.

By 2004, with no particular business background, business education or business plan, I was ready to quit my 9 to 5 day job.

[I don’t encourage anybody to follow this path unless you know what you’re doing]

Armed with an accounting background and internet programming skills, I became another victim of the emerging breed of self-taught internet entrepreneurs.

I would encourage young entrepreneurs to start now, but not to give up school. Initially, you may need to get a job if you’re starting from zero, and from there, continue to build your business knowledge and skills.

With internet-based business models such as Affiliate Marketing and eCommerce, you can start from little-to-nothing and gradually build a lucrative business that can earn you a steady income and financial freedom.

But first, you should go to school. Only this time you should never let your dream die; having in mind that you aspire to become an entrepreneur.

If you aspire to be really good in entrepreneurship, study courses that give you an edge in the business world.

Particularly, I would recommend courses that are rich in the following skills:

Selling

Marketing

Entrepreneurship

Managing People

Managing Money

Managing Systems

Remember, entrepreneurship has no age limit. I know of several young teenagers who are richer than their parents and many young people have become successful entrepreneurs at the ages of between 8 and 23 years.

All you need is motivation, passion, business education and a business idea.

Entrepreneurship is just a matter of changing your mindset through business education and the right mental attitude. Fortunately, there are many courses and education programs that help build motivation, teach entrepreneurship and help to change your mindset.

Tony Robbins is considered one of the greatest motivators of our times. Here are some of Tony Robbin’s courses and education programs that you may find interesting:

Wealth and Lifestyle

Unshakable – Your Financial Freedom Playbook

Money Masters

Mind and Meaning

Ultimate Edge - Make Your Life Extraordinary

Personal Power II - Turn Your Dreams Into Reality

Career and Business

Mastering Influence - Become a Master of Sales and Persuasion

Creating Lasting Change - Inspire Others To Make Positive Change

You can find more courses and education programs at Tony Robbin’s website.

What To Do When You Want To Start a Business But Don't Have Money

The first thing you need to have is a business idea. And since you want to start a business I’m assuming you also have a business plan. No one goes to the battlefield unarmed.

Secondly, I’m assuming that either you already have some business education or background. If you have neither, then that’s just too bad, because business is littered with many challenges and risks. In this case I would suggest that you enroll for a good business course that will teach you all the fundamentals of business.

Arming yourself with a good business education will equip you with valuable skills and knowledge to manage all types of business challenges such as money, staff, selling, marketing, systems, risks and failure. The failure rate for business startups is exceptionally high (more than 75% according to some studies). Businesseducation helps to equip you with the knowledge to manage risk and other challenges.

This applies to all kinds of businesses whether offline or online.

I would then assume that the only resource you still don’t have is money.

However, money is just a small part of the big business equation.

For example, do you have a business plan?

A business plan is an important component of business and comes from a great business idea. And a business idea is derived from a business solution to a human problem.

Assuming that all these things are in place, then you’re asking how you can start a business if you don’t have money.

Most people who want to go into business think that you need money to start a business. This is a recipe for failure. Maybe you need money but this is not where to start.

This brings us to one of the most fundamental principles about money, but also the most difficult to understand

Money Is The Effect; Not The Cause – Mind Is The Cause.

I will try to explain this as simply as possible.

Most people think that you need money to start a business, buy things like food, clothes, house, car and anything you want. This is the wrong perspective and results from the fact that most people do not understand what money really is.

MONEY IS SOMETHING USED TO ACQUIRE VALUE.

This may sound crazy, but actually, money is not the only way to acquire things. However, money is the most commonly known method to “acquire” goods and services, and only one known by most people. Notice that I use the word “acquire”, instead of “buy”.

Why do people need money?

People need money because they think that this is the only way to acquire things. Actually what we want are the “things” themselves – not the money. The truth is that we just want to “feel” the re-assurance of money in our pockets or bank account.

There are many alternative ways to acquire things…

For example, did you know that you can get food simply by working in a restaurant? Notice I didn’t say you can “buy” food. Similarly, you can get a car by exchanging with something of value.

Now that we’ve cleared that out of the way, let’s see how we can apply this principle to start a business if we don’t have money.

To start a business, we need to apply another principle known as “leverage”.

The Oxford English dictionary defines leverage as:

1          the exertion of force by means of a lever.

2          the power to influence: political leverage.

3          Finance another term for gearing (in sense 2).

          verb [usually as adjective leveraged] use borrowed capital for (an investment), expecting the profits made to be greater than the interest payable.

Here, we will only focus on the third definition. We see that leverage also means “gearing”.

From the definition, we see that there are many forms of leverage. Money is just one form of leverage:

Business idea

Business plan

Niche market/customers

Skills + experience

Money

Property

Influence

Political connections

Other resources

ETC..

You get the picture…

This means that if money is what we don’t have, then we can ask someone else who has it to lend us the money based on the other forms of leverage that we have (e.g. business idea, business plan, marketing plan, marketing data, skills and experience, passion, etc.).

This is because people don’t invest in businesses – they invest in people.

 But then the potential lender may ask us what’s our leverage and what’s in it for them.

This is where we can pitch our proposal. We can then inform them that we can borrow the money for a certain fixed or equity return on investment (ROI), usually expressed as a percentage.

Potential lenders are usually people who have the money and are looking for a great business idea to invest in.

You get the money by selling your business idea to people who have the money, but don’t have the idea. Of course you will also have to concede a part of your business to the people who will lend you the money.

This is what is known as “capital gearing”.

Now that we know where to get the money, let’s explore the kind of people who can give us the money we need.

Family, Friends and Colleagues

First approach your soft market (family, friends, colleagues, acquaintances, etc.) and present your business plan clearly indicating how they will profit financially by funding your business. Your soft market may respond out of sympathy, but make them see the seriousness of the business and believe they own the business.

 [Be warned: Your soft market will respond only if they know you well enough and can trust you].

Contacts, References and Acquaintances

Forward your business plan to people who are in your contacts database and people you have references from friends, even people who are outside your sphere of influence (your hard market). Someone along the way will see an opportunity and buy your business idea.

You may need to show some proof about your business potential. Good marketing language and copywriting skills will come in handy.

Make an irresistible offer. An irresistible offer is an offer so compelling that only a few people can refuse it.

Related Industry or Market

Get a job in a related industry (e.g. Food company, restaurant, etc.) and offer to work for them for free. Meanwhile become friendly with management and float your idea secretly.  Most people will think you’re very smart and will perhaps give you a job offer. Take the job offer and finance your business with your savings.

[This is one of my favorite strategies].

Other Businesses

Sell your business plan to people who are already in business. These people are more likely to appreciate the value of your business since they already understand business, and are likely to give you the capital you need in exchange for a high return on investment (ROI).

If you target your potential investors carefully you’re likely to score. You should build a good network with potential investors before contacting anyone. They usually ask for references.

Angel Investors

Find angel investors. Angel investors are serial entrepreneurs who are constantly looking for an investment opportunity with potential for high returns. They tend to invest in several businesses at the same time and will expect a high return on investment (ROI). You can easily find out where they hang out (e.g. social media, forums etc.).

Join these forums and begin to share good ideas. Don’t contact people immediately or share your idea with anyone first. Soon or later someone is likely to notice you and contact. Patience is the key.

Offer free services to analyze a company or an investment. Build trust, confidence and reputation among the group. This will give you the social proof you need to approach other potential investors. Be careful. Let logic and your instincts do the talking.

Recommended Business Courses:

Master Business Foundations from the Wharton Business School

Prepare Yourself for an MBA Study and a Career in International Business

Learn Business Strategy from the University of Virginia