I have my Tivo set to tape "Business Nation" on CNBC. It’s a great show! The last show I watched featured 10 Millionaires and the title of the show was "How I Made My Millions." I highly recommend that you watch this show. Check it out by clicking this link!
The show highlights how these entrepreneurs used simple ideas to re-invent their businesses.
Millionaire Number One: Turned his manufacturing idea into the super soaker water gun. He has since collected $20 million in royalties. He struggled for 7 years hearing rejection after rejection. Finally, he got a yes. His hard work paid off.
Millionaire(s) Number Two: Two partners struggled with their T-shirt business for 5 years. They were about to go out of business when the character "Jake" was created. Jake’s motto is "Life is Good." Their company went on to sell millions of dollars of Jake shirts with zero advertising.
Millionaire Number Three: A frustrated farmer tested an idea that turned non-income producing farm land into recurring revenue. He rented a large corn field alongside a freeway and turned it into a large corn maze. TV news stations picked up on his corn maze and included stories in their shows. This led to tons of free publicity. Now, he teaches other farmers how to add corn mazes to their farms. His idea has created a industry named "Agricultural Tourism" with revenues projected in the $30 to $40 million range.
Millionaire Number Four: Created a popcorn seasoning in his college apartment. Started his business by giving his seasonings to the local movie theater free for a week. Their popcorn sales increased. The theater’s competitors noticed the increase in popcorn sales and they placed an order. His business was off and running. He collected $6 million in revenue in 2007.
Millionaire Number Five: Burt’s Beeswaxs! This entrepreneur turned bee wax into a $177 million pay check. The idea started when they made wax candles. An accident led them to lip balm. Things grew enormously from there. One of the co-owners recently sold 80% of the business for $177 million dollars.
Let’s stop here for a moment. First of all, each of the entrepreneurs above specifically said that they struggled at first. This seems to be something in common for all entrepreneurs. This is the same for us as real estate agents. Nothing new here.
However, did you notice how these people saw an opportunity that others didn’t see? The corn maze story is the most amazing to me. We have all driven past these empty fields alongside the freeway. The millionaire profiled saw an opportunity to create a BIG business in these fields. We didn’t. Good for him!
What opportunities are in your business that you don’t see right now? I’ll bet you have them. Everyone has them. The problem is you don’t see them. A few years ago, I was trying to be a regular real estate agent. I was listing homes, signing buyers to contract and doing everything I could to grow my business. I didn’t realize it, but my break through was already in my business. I had developed a little system of helping investors profit from nice single family homes. I had a handful of investor clients that loved my system. When I decided to specialize with just investors, I tripled my businesses income. You can learn how I did it here.
Back to my question: What opportunities are you missing in your real estate sales business? Who are your most valuable clients? How can you get more of them? For me, my most valuable clients were real estate investors because they purchased multiple homes generating multiple commissions. Stop and look for your break through opportunity.
Rob Minton
