The Framework Overview

Have a skill. Either learn about it through getting an internship or low paid job and progressively get better. Depends on the technical difficulty of the skill and your comfort level.

Have a Skill

You need a skill. Some way to provide value. The SKILL can be almost anything but it needs to be related to adding value to someone with money because that person is going to trade money for you to use that skill.

What about cleaning houses. That’s a low end skill where you are basically trading time. You can use that as a skill but you will need to leverage people eventually. Or as an offshoot to that skill, you learn the skill of lead generation for cleaning business.

Flipping

What about flipping which includes investing. This can certainly be a skill. Sourcing deals, knowing how to flip etc. In the beginning you may be able to do this on your own with your own money but to really grow quickly you will need other people’s money. This includes stock investing, flipping houses, flipping cars, or flipping rugs.

Lead Generation

Lead generation, marketing, whatever is a skill.

Going to College

Some people blast going to college. I’ve seen marketers or some business people blast it. They say it is a waste of time. I disagree though. I could be biased but it is not a waste of time if you are focused on what you do there. Some skills, high level technical skills, are hard to learn outside of a structured setting. This includes computers, science, mathematics, medicine, law, etc. Maybe art also? On the other hand other courses of study are a waste of time unless they are pursued for academic purposes – like you are going to be a teacher. These include social sciences.

If you are going to college,

Art & Writing

Your skill in art has to be sufficiently valuable enough that it can turn a profit for someone rich. They can use you and pay for your skill and turn around and make a profit because of their position.

Banksy – Starting as a street artist until brand is recognized. Prolific posting on public walls and locations where the public looks. Then it becomes a collectors item for the rich. Now the rich sell to flip for profit. Before that, exhibitions where items sold for profit, prints etc. Tough model to go on, selling prints unless brand is clearly established.

Damien Hirst – He seemed to align himself quickly with with big money collectors and making the art almost about the making money part.

Basquiat – Similar to Banksy. Posting constantly in public spaces. Developed brand. Then was used by rich people for status and for a man made object to flip.

It is like creating something out of thin air that can be flipped for profit by rich people.

Have People Pay You While You Learn The Skill

Some people skip this step but some skills take a really long time to really develop. You will need income. One way is to start at the bottom and make some money learning the skill. The alternative is to get people to pay you while you learn that skill freelance. It is a lot harder to do this for highly technical skills or skills that required expensive tools. But one benefit to devoting time learning a more technical skill is that the competition is lower. The downside is that it is hard to delegate the work. It has to be done by highly trained people.

Start A Business

Be A Middleman

Most people who start a business don’t have money. So they need to find a way to add value without spending a ton of money. The fastest and easiest way to to this is to become a middle man. Or maybe not even be a middle man but be an originator, someone who get the business. Be a rainmaker. Broker deals. Be a broker.

If you are not a broker you need to a meet someone who is. If you are highly technical, with no sales or marketing skills, you need to connect with that type of person. The problem is the person who is brokering has more leverage because there is likely competition and if you won’t accept the deal they will go to someone else. The exception is if you are a big enough brand which can be hard to develop in the beginning.

Finding Allies

In the beginning, without much capital you will need allies to help take down large projects or large deals. It is important to find allies to help you. You want trustworthy allies that will assist you and not screw you over. Think about how Genghis Kahn rose to power so fast. He needed allies with a joint goal.

Sell Tools

Along the way, sell your tools. Tools can be more than just software. It could be systems, education, training, etc. Sell the tools to you becoming successful. This is unique items that are separate from your service. Easier to scale.

Invest

After you have generated cashflow and built a business, it is easier to invest in other opportunities. Before this you could be investing also but investing well requires time and energy. You need to be analyzing deals and scouting. This can be very time consuming and it makes more sense to generate a cash flow positive business.