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74 Comments
- wvannus, on 10/11/2007, -5/+46They don't mention the 42.8 million failures.
- Daniel591992, on 10/11/2007, -0/+28Summary: Start your own company.
- laserman92027, on 10/11/2007, -2/+25I started a number of companies in the Silicon Valley, including one of the first ISP's (lost money on that one). In the end after 20 years of scraping by I got rich. I pay my taxes in full and don't complain. I make sizable contributions to charity and support a clean water project in Africa.
All of you who wine about how capitalism sucks and business sucks and corporations are the devil have your head where the sun don't shine. All of those things make the very jobs you and your parents have. If life is treating you poorly do something else dont wine about it.
I grew up on welfare so I so not want to hear the silver spoon crap either.
I am a moderate Democrat politically, just as a reference point. Not all wealthy people are republicans. - egrumling, on 10/11/2007, -2/+23Actually, marry someone with health insurance and a steady income you could both live on if you had to. Then start your own company.
- blackolive, on 10/11/2007, -6/+26"and had stashed away $200,000" etc etc
This article is about rich people getting richer. - ablez3, on 10/11/2007, -1/+20the bets way to get rich is to sell
"how to get rich quick!" books and tapes to poor people.
..what...its the truth... - DruSam, on 10/11/2007, -18/+37These successful, hardworking entrepreneurs should be punished with higher taxes! I am entitled to their money by right of having a clean smelling fart.
/sarcasm - inertic, on 10/11/2007, -3/+18For every success story, there are dozens of failures. Sometimes it is not the fault of the people either, luck plays a part too.
- jemmrich, on 10/11/2007, -1/+14people make it sound like failing is a bad thing, how about just picking your self back up.. a failure is just a learning experience showing you what doesnt work, use it and try again.
- KWhat, on 10/11/2007, -0/+9Why do I never see the story about the 10 entrepreneurs I know and the $10 they collectively have.
- emom, on 10/11/2007, -5/+14You conveniently ignore the entrepreneur who "came to the U.S. with $15 in my pocket"
This article is about people poorer than you becoming more successful than you, too. - blackolive, on 10/11/2007, -3/+12How many of us have friends who can loan us $100,000 ?
- onlyafterdark, on 10/11/2007, -2/+11I gotta disagree! money should aways be formal or you going to end up having massive family arguments. Keep it written down and simple so no one assumes anything.
- movingtobc, on 10/11/2007, -5/+13I'm poor, digg me down
- bighed03, on 10/11/2007, -2/+9What a misleading article... all of these people had quite profitable jobs before they "dared" to go off on their own, AND most of them managed to get large sums of start up money from friends and family ( meaning they already come from wealth). Like the rich sitting upon hills in any state you go to in this country, it's all a shove in the face.
- atheinostic, on 10/11/2007, -10/+16Taxing people with more discretionary income at a higher rate != punishment.
- Error601, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6How to get rich:
* Can't do it working for someone else
* Can't do it reading digg all day - Corrosionx, on 10/11/2007, -1/+7It's harder to make it because government is in bed with big business, politicians make it more difficult to compete by raising the cost of entry through regulations that favor established businesses, themselves and their friends.
Someday we'll have to make a choice, either we keep government or we keep businesses.
And the government screws up pretty much everything it does. - jeff303, on 10/11/2007, -2/+8Very few people can afford to start the business they are cooking up in their mind out of their own pocket. That's why we have things like loans and venture capital.
- kuzotz, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5well success as a businessman is through trial and error.. More failures than successes.
- scispaz, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5Selling someone else's get rich quick goods is not being an entrepreneur.
I cringe at the word "guaranteed profit", because that is BS. - mcdaddy1, on 10/11/2007, -1/+6I don't really know much about business, but the most common mistake I see is people selling stuff for which there is no demand.
- scispaz, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Isn't the kid broke and in jail for fraud?
- emocean, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5I started my first business with about $2000 in my bank account.
:: - stevejobs, on 10/11/2007, -5/+9"If you must borrow from your friends and family, keep it formal.."
..Great advice to ruin your relationships with both friends and family. - inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3How NOT to get rich:
By suing your local small biz dry cleaner for 54 Million USD over lost pants - oriondarkwood, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4The great American dream owning your own business and making it rich.. I can speak from experience on this one since I have own my own company since I was 18 (17 years ago).. My company does software development/media development and visionary research
1st forget 40 hour work weeks, forget paid holidays, forget a hour for lunch, forget the annunal holiday party where hope Betty from accounting Xerox's her privates.. Owning your own business is 60+ hour work weeks, you lie awake at night trying to fiqure out how to market, how to get new clients, how to pay the bills.. You have to be a manager, marketing genius, sales guy, grunt worker, accountant and support all in one (and alot of times everything at the same time).. you have to have to willing give your business mind, body, heart and soul.
2nd The odds are against you, 90% of businesses fail in the 1st year, 70% of those fail in the first 5 years.. Most businesses operate in the red (ie at a loss for 3 years).. Failure will become your friend, learn for failure is a harsh mentor.. family, friends, lovers, even enemies are cast aside to the altar of owning your own business..
And sadly the slope of rags to riches is consantly getting steeper with offshoring, big corps, investors that will steal the coppers off your eyes if you don't make them 100% profit in the first year, exclsuive contacts that almost ensure your product will not get anywhere near the magic middle shelf spot..
Here is the ways to rags to riches I see for now and the near future
- Flipping companies - create a company, create a hot product sell to the highest bidder repeat
- Organic foods - nature is coming back in a big way.. feeding the every growing niche market
- Terrorist Prevertion - develop a method or device that does some to prevent terrorist and what the miltary money roll
- Storage/Backup and Reterival services - terrabytes of data are being generated by home and company users alike find a way to safely and securely storage it.. better yet organize it
- Neo-Amish retreats - cybershock is on the rise.. find a place away from tech.. a place where the words cell phone, email, internet, blackberry doesn't exist of course doing the opposite will bring in the cash.. out of the way places that are wired
- Offshoring mentoring and management - help people manage thier offshore factories and assets, teach people how to use the global market
- Research - for a small fee the average joe can have grid computing.. create a grid and offer to crunch numbers for a price - stevejobs, on 10/11/2007, -3/+6Ebay has that market cornered.
- blackoper, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3how to get rich:
A. work for soulless corporation
B. Save up money/manage your money well
C. Get married and they have a job - do not have children yet
D. Quit your job
E. Start your own business with savings - keep health insurance through spouse's company
F. Profit! - Corrosionx, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4@jonnyeuchre: like it's only way imaginable to achieve these results.
- pjam3, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4 You do realize the founders of MS and Apple sort of stole their ideas from somebody else. They became good marketers. Wait.... As good as Steve Jobs is a talker, Apple was dead in the water for years. Microsoft took over, Bill Gates made billions while Steve Jobs wasn't even the CEO of his own company anymore. The IPOD made apple billions. Again it wasn't exactly an original idea by steve jobs..but it made Apple Billions.
People do succeed who come from nothing. But the fact is, most people exaggerate.
Random people bragging about all their successes on an somebody else's internet forum probably aren't telling the truth. Who would ever know the difference or care.
It's like the theory of people claiming they worked their way though some big university and never got money from anybody. Yeah somebody making 50K per year has a hard time paying 30K per year in tuition yet alone a kid making minimum wage paying for college.
40 hours per week at 8 bucks an hour = 16640 per year.. And that's if they worked every week all year long. So that 16K ain't paying 30K. Simple math.
It's always only half the story. Maybe they had a trust fund that paid for their college. Hey it was their money. Or they got some scholarships and some loans. Either way it wasn't exactly them "working" through college. Yeah working through community college is feasible, but people who claim they work through a university that costs almost 30K per year, it's just another half true story.
Kind of like most of these "success" stories. There are people who come from nothing and then make it, no doubt. But most of these stories are created to bring the sympathy vote. The Lemmings will believe anything anybody says.
Remember Bill Gates wasn't exactly a poor kid. Rich grandparents, Lawyer father, mother on the board of a large bank, so while Bill Gates might have worked hard to get where he's at, it's a lot easier when your mommy is on the board of a bank, your grandfather is the president of a band and your daddy is a lawyer. Talk about a start in the right direction. Yeah he could have been lazy and did nothing and you have to give him credit for where he's at, but you also can't dismiss that his family knew law, knew business, and knew banking.
Donald Trump's father was already a successful realtor. He just went larger. He also was about 900 million dollars in debt at one point and had to borrow money from his own trust fund, from his brother and sisters trust funds.
No doubt about it, some people work hard and some people don't. But the fact is, it's a lot easier when you have a head start than it's not. If you deny that, then in all honesty, you either have that head start or don't look at reality.
As far as the person claiming they are now successful and earned it and don't want others taking your money. Yet at the same time you said you were on welfare at one point. Kind of an oxymoron because many people will say you were leaching off of society at one point and now after you claimed you made it, you don't think others should touch your money. Interesting. - tanto, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Employers are not in the business of making employees rich. No job is going to make anyone rich!
Reams of information on how the rich become rich have been provided in books and articles both free and paid.
Income from your job should be seen as the seed to assist you in your quest to acquire for financial wealth.
Don't spend every dime trying to live the way the rich do.
Even billionaire Donald Trump, says"Shampoo is shampoo"
Don't have more children than you can comfortably take care.
Don't wear designer clothes if you cannot afford to.
Don't eat out at expensive restaurant on your credit cards
Stop Bashing the Rich! Learn From Them AND Do Something
http://orangtuamurid.info/blog/?p=314 - Solis, on 10/11/2007, -6/+8Oh please, if you can afford to start your own business you're not poor and you've got a lot more money than you think.
As much as I'd love to start a business of my own I know it's far from being something I could afford. - blackolive, on 10/11/2007, -6/+8"This article is about people poorer than you becoming more successful than you"
Really?
FTA:
"a 1,200-square-foot store with hardwood floors and stainless-steel tables. And it would cost more than the $130,000 they had saved."
FTA:
"[he] had stashed away $200,000 - half from savings, half from friends" - xSEED, on 10/11/2007, -3/+5the founders of MS and APPLE worked their asses off. most americans get fat cuz they don't.
- ozzum, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2I too live in the Silicon Valley and I have been up and down the ladder at least 3 times - (on my way down again)
I think it has a lot to do with where you live - here failure is tolerated and even venerated - because at least you got in the ring.
I too came here and slept on floors, washed dishes and painted houses - taught my self programming and started several successful companies. I have always been a moderate and not a Republican and I we have done loads of good works for both schools and music education.
Couple of things that need to be said - chance favors the prepared mind, creative success is in the ratio of ideas thought up and implemented and every failure is a learning experience - you just wipe yourself off climb back up - Babe Ruth once held the Home Run and strike out records simultaneously. - deity, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1@blackroper
That's actually not a bad start.
The one thing that I've found to be true is that the key to making money is to increase your cash flow. That can be done in several ways.
1. spend less
2. invest well
3. save money to a high interest savings account.
4. start your own business.
Once you've started increasing your cash flow to the point that you can afford to buy money making assets you will be on your way to getting rich. When your assets make you more money then your job you can retire and manage your assets whether they are stocks, bonds, real estate, or your own business. - bmson, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1top 10 most friendly countries to small business
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fsb/fsb_archive/2007/06/01/100049637/index.htm - Asianwaste, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2They should tax you for this forum space.
- GRTWHT, on 10/11/2007, -2/+3@jeff303:
Loans? Get a clue, banks will only loan up to the value of your current assets, so unless you are already wealthy, they won't loan you crap. If you can get a loan to start your business, you're already rich.
Venture capital? If you have enough money to stop working, travel to one of the meccas of capitalism and spend the time necessary (months or years) going around hyping your idea (or the opposite: hiring someone else to do all the above), you're already rich.
@emocean:
I really hope what you're saying is true, if it is, this article should be about you, not some rich SOBs getting richer.
Now, with that said: if you can afford to have $2000 sitting in a bank account and not have to pay it out for food, gas, rent/mortgate you aren't necessarily rich, but you sure aren't poor. I know that you folks that make $75,000+ think you aren't 'well off', but you are. - vaduzl, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2capitalism, you have capital you can make millions. I love that , i support that. But most in society lack that much capital. Most just get enough capital to live life and raise kids. its ok for millionaires to pay the taxes they did before 2001 and death tax ended
- bugsy187, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1The salaries and wealth of the rich in the United States have been growing for decades while lower income brackets erode more and more. Tax loopholes have been opened while social programs that the poor rely on have been eroded. Health coverage and education are part of this erosion. Businesses already get an enormous number of tax breaks while the rest of us pay taxes. That amounts to a subsidy. Social Security is will have trouble paying full benefits because Reagan pulled out billions for tax breaks for the rich, but we're supposed to believe that the growing number of baby boomers is stressing a system that worked perfectly fine. Giving more and more and more wealth to the rich is hardly solving the economic problems of the United States. Incentive is a flimsy argument that I feel insults the intelligence of the readers here. Stories like the article above are pure propaganda. I'm surprised people are still trying to perpetuate the fairy tale of the entrepreneur, though if you're doing relatively well financially, it may help to quell guilt. It feels bad to exploit other people to prop yourself up. You don't deserve (haven't earned) the wealth you possess. It's an ugly thought, but it's comforting to think that you're serving a greater goal. Falling into the economic abyss with the rest of the working poor seems pretty grim, too. Which is the lesser of two bad situations? I'm not saying you're a bad guy. You apparently believe passionately what you're writing. I believe that you probably have worked hard. I'm saying that others have too and are getting dicked over on a day to day basis. Other countries settle for less high range income and have better health care, education, crime rates, and retirement programs. I don't need the delusion of a Lamborghini to go to work every day. I don't think that Paris Hilton has the ideal lot in life. I'll go because I want a family and a modest life. I'll go because I need to eat, want shelter, good health and the satisfaction of accomplishing things in my profession. The carrot on a stick model is unnecessary, I feel, and is unsustainable. Capitalism is too draining and can't continue forever. We need something better and sustainable. I'm interested to hear your response.
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1*claps courteously
- Asianwaste, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1You forgot the step between D and E which is: "????"
- FoxyRoxy82, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1The interesting thing is that though they may have had "profitable jobs" they lived in an area that insured them they couldn't get any higher. One of the brothers couldn't even own a home. His wife was forced to work two jobs when all she wanted to do was stay home with their son. Does that sound like the life of "the rich" to start with? I don't think so. And it isn't hard to find people to invest in you if they believe in you. I'm sure they would've had a lot more come in, but because they DO NOT come from wealth in any way, a lot of people were unable to support them financially as they wanted to. Most people do know at least a couple people who are of a higher financial situation than themselves. So if that means that you "already come from wealth" it seems to me that would include a hell of a lot more people. Probably even yourself. These brothers have worked for everything they have. Another interesting point, they STILL have to work their original "profitable jobs" in addition to running their successful business. MMMMM......... sounds like paradise!!!
- deity, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1pjam3
"Yet at the same time you said you were on welfare at one point. Kind of an oxymoron because many people will say you were leaching off of society at one point and now after you claimed you made it, you don't think others should touch your money. Interesting."
Actually if you are referring to my comment, I never said that my family was on welfare I said that we were poor and that in the community that I lived in 50-60% were. I was simply making the point that even someone that grew up poor in a bad environment could be successful. I don't claim to be rich although that's in the plan I just claim that it can be done.
As for college tuition. I went to an ok school not a great school. The tuition was reasonable and if necessary I could have take a somewhat lighter load and spent less while working my way through. I saw an article recently that was based on a study claiming for most jobs the school you got your degree from wasn't that important to your wages. I'll look for the reference to back post.
Just because Bill Gates and Donald Trump had a jump start doesn't mean that you should take more of their money. That's the American dream for a family to be able to improve its lot from generation to generation. You hear Edwards talking all the time about how poor his family was. He succeeded and is running for president.
How someone earns their money is not really even part of the issue when talking about taxes. If Bill Gates had been given every single penny that he had it still wouldn't entitle the government to take more of it then they would anyone else. The problem with restrictive taxes is that people use Bill Gates, Donald Trump, and other rich individuals as poster children for their socialist tax schemes then the taxes also hit the people who work hard to earn their money. So what they are really really rich. Their being rich in and of itself does not prevent you from doing the same thing. So quit trying to take what's theirs and instead create wealth for yourself.
I can see that the liberals finally noticed this story any pro business or you can succeed if you try post is being buried faster then a liberal can spend money in government. :)
From my point of view the less government and regulation the better. The less government the less taxes are needed. The more rich you can become the more incentive you have to create a business and in the process improve our economy and create jobs for people. When you take your company public then everyone that wants to can share in the success. - Solis, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1@GRTWHT:
Perfectly said. - toppgun, on 10/11/2007, -2/+2Rad
I'm still in school. Its that the first reaction people have when they find out my economic status is comment on it in one way or another. It gets annoying just because I hear it so much from people when I first meet them and they find out my background.
I'm not trying to please, placate or win over people. I am just trying to say what annoys me and what people can not say to make me feel more comfortable around them. When I get into the working world I hope it will tone down but being in school and living off my parents and having people see that is different than me living off my own merit. - Gilart80, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0This makes me think of...
I am fat because that other guy has better metabolism.
I am a crappy football player because that other guy has natural talent.
I am poor because that other guy was born rich.
I failed the class because that other guy was smarter.
Way to go! Let's take no personal responsibility! After all "That Other Guy" is really your problem! - mfab, on 03/01/2009, -0/+0it's easy to draw conclusions from stories of 0.1% of entreprenuers who made it big - sometimes it's more educational to summarize mistakes of the remaining 99.9% - those who had less luck and favorable cicumstances
the comments above are more valuable and helpful then the article itself -
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