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3 Strategies used by Multi Millionaires To build their fortunes:
1. Build One Business From Scratch ->
Start small, hone profit -making methods, discover multiplication method – fast expansion :
Bernard Lewis (now worth £1.15 Billion) – Started with 1 store – on an old bomb site, made of Corrugated iron and timber, in Holloway, slowly grew business to 15 stores called ‘Lewis Separates’, then changed name to Chelsea Girl – changed focus from product to customer, saw rapid expansion, further rapid expansion under River Island Brand - changed focus from customer to lifestyle…
Peter Jones, a builder from Cheshire, now worth £707 Million (4 times wealthier than the Dragon’s Den bloke with the same name!), started by building a first home for himself and his wife, but someone walking past the building site made an offer too good to be refused, so Peter and his fiancée Audrey, used the proceeds to build two houses on a plot down the road. His business grew slowly for some years, before he developed a focus on modern home designs for affluent buyers, at one point his customers included 20 premiership footballers. This niche focus was the key to multiplying his business and allowed Peter and his family to reap their fortune over the next decade.
Peter Hargreaves and his Business Partner, Steve Landsdown started their Investment fund from a bedroom in 1981, refined their marketing methods over first few years, and then expanded rapidly during the 90’s and have continued to grow at an astonishing rate, despite the recession, now the entrepreneurs are worth over £750m each, their company is still called Hargreaves Landsdown. These entrepreneurs have done things in the same way I would do them – I’ll be studying and emulating their methods over the next 12 months… I’ll keep you posted!
- 2. Buy a business that’s gone bust ->
Rebuild it and sell it for your first fortune.
This is a classic strategy for the Recession… ideally suited to the UK economy right now!
Michael Ashcroft, now Lord Ashcroft, worth £1.3 Bn, after a few years working for a cleaning services company, saw another cleaning company going into administration. Michael, aged 28 took the opportunity to pick up a bargain. For just £1, he bought the loss making company with its 1000 employees.
With a £15,000 bank loan he worked to turn the company around, selling it just three years later for £1.3 million. This provided the seed capital for more acquisitions, which ultimately produced his vast wealth.
Graham Kirkham, now Baron Kirkham rented a room above a snooker hall in Carcroft, Yorkshire, and started making furniture upstairs and retailing it downstairs. After a few years, he saw an opportunity when Direct Furniture Supplies, the biggest wholesaler in the North of England went bust with debts of over £900,000 on turnover of £3m. He bought the company for a song, turned it around, and renamed it DFS, now the biggest contributor to his £1 Billion Fortune.
Bernie Ecclestone, aged 41 raised £100,000 from savings, loans and a mortgage and bought an ailing Formula 1 Team from a colleague in the business. He didn’t sell the Team for fifteen years (for £3m), but ownership of the Team was his ticket to forming the Formula One Constructors Association (FOCA) with several partners in the Formula 1 industry. Aged 45, he became involved in negotiating the sport’s TV rights which became the primary source of his £2.5 bn Fortune.
Philip Green – Borrowed £20,000 to buy a container load of jeans – doubled his money, giving him the seed capital for a project to buy the clothes stock of ten designer labels that had gone into receivership. He bought a shop in Bond Street, in 6 weeks sold the lot, then sold the shop, making his first £250k… From this point he focussed on failing clothes retailers, turned them around with his own retail marketing system and then sold them to build his fortune.
- 3. Create Seed Capital ->
Then buy into a New Growth Area
Joe Lewis – now has a fortune of £2.8bn, he took over his father’s East London catering business, transformed it by targeting wealthy American Tourists, with luxury goods, then sold the business to provide seed capital for his start up in the Foreign Exchange Markets, helped by his mentor, George Soros. He grew this Forex Business for 20 years before selling up to make his fortune and move to the Bahamas!
Sir James Dyson, approached all the major vacuum cleaner manufacturers, who rejected his ‘bagless’ cleaner – they were concerned about the loss of income from consumables. So instead he did it himself – he started by getting his Vacuum Cleaners built by contract manufacturers and selling them in Japan to wealthy customers for £2000 each. This gave him the seed capital to start his own manufacturing facility in the UK. The UK Factory gave him a lower cost base and marketing advantages over the big institutions in his industry (like Hoover), and helped him to grow his business to one of the biggest Vacuum Cleaner brands in the world.
Douglas and Dame Mary Perkins took a 15 years to build their first small Chain of opticians around Bristol which they sold in 1980 for £2m. This provided the Seed Capital they needed to start Specsavers, now the largest privately owned opticians in the world, which now has over 1,900 stores and a turnover of over £2 Billion.
How will you make Your Fortune?
So your own fortune, (yes – YOURS!), will most likely be found within one of these structures:
a. Take one business, find the marketing sweet spot , and multiply your sales!
b. Search the plethora of failing businesses to find one you can buy cheap and turn around.
c. Work hard, save money or sell your small business to create a pot of seed capital, then take that money and invest in your chosen fast growth sector.
(Congratulations! You’ve already shown some of the character traits of a Millionaire, just by reading this report to the end!)
You’re probably thinking – “can it be that simple?”, well the honest answer is No – there’s quite a lot more to it. But the great thing is, you can do it – anyone can… it’s just like baking a cake – add the right ingredients, stir it up, bake it for a while and you’ll have a fortune!
My job is to provide you with the list of ingredients that you need to put into your mixture…. Show you exactly where to start on your mission and then to accelerate your sales growth and wealth creation within your chosen strategy.
The next report for you to read is 5 Key Characteristics (which you can develop!) for budding Multi Millionaires.
Charlie Wynne
Business 1 Million Your Quickest Route to a Million Sales
www.business1million.co.uk
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