

How to Make a Million Dollars - marcofloriano
http://www.marshallbrain.com/million.htm

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johnrob
This was a good quote:

"All you can do after a failure is get up and try again. If you keep doing
that, one of two things will happen -- either you will succeed eventually, or
you will die. And if you die, then you won't care anymore."

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GavinB
_In America, starting a successful business is the surest, most controllable
path available to you for making a million dollars in less than 42 years._

Sadly, this is just not true. Getting a high paying job (doctor, lawyer, MBA,
programmer) and living well below your means is the easiest way.

There are lots of great reasons to start your own business, but they are not
because it is "sure" and "controllable."

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steveitis
The easiest way is to simply find a way to make one dollar (anyone can make
one lousy dollar), find a way to automate that (hire people, code something,
yadda), and repeat a million times (assuming the original process is
scalable).

Simple, and effective.

~~~
mattmaroon
That sounds far from simple and totally ineffective. Finding a way to make $1
that scales to that extent is non-trivial, in fact it is probably harder than
opening a successful restaurant.

Hiring people is out unless it could be repeated quickly (they charge an
hourly rate that you have to fade) and if that's true, the minute you show
someone how to do it they'll cut you out. Unless there is a barrier to entry,
which generally means cost, in which case you probably already have a million
dollars.

~~~
steveitis
None of those steps are actually 'non-trivial'. My statement was meant to be
sort of tongue-in-cheek. It's a true statement. It's also a gross over
simplification.

This method has worked for me in the past, especially on the internet. Outside
the internet however it's virtually impossible due to fundamental market
restrictions.

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mattlanger
> The whole point of creating a successful business, of course, is to have it
> generate money.

I like to think that the whole point is to make something
awesome/memorable/useful/meaningful/worthwhile that _also_ creates jobs and
produces wealth.

~~~
ryanwaggoner
_awesome/memorable/useful/meaningful/worthwhile_

Nice thought, but that definition is so broad that only outright scams don't
fall under its purview.

~~~
mattlanger
It's not the retrospective assessment of a business that's important here but
the motivation that sets it in motion in the first place. Take a company like
Facebook: those guys are _really_ serious--almost evangelical--about the goal
of making the world more connected; they also happen to be cornering a Google-
size market in the process. Or think back to Microsoft before hating on them
became so vogue: they had a mission to put a PC in every household which is a
pretty admirable goal; it also happened to be the case that it was a damn good
business move.

~~~
ryanwaggoner
Agreed, just pointing out that almost any business can be started to fulfill
one of the goals you pointed out, especially useful and memorable, from a
corner store to a trash collection company to a collections agency. It's
useful to someone :)

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flooha
It was thin, but the one gem that you don't hear very often is to approach
being an employee as a way to learn how to successfully run a business, rather
than a way to get a paycheck. Sound advice for entrepreneurs who, for whatever
reason, can't yet take the plunge.

~~~
mattlanger
> approach being an employee as a way to learn how to successfully run a
> business

Or as is so often the case (and also a valuable learning experience) how to
_un_ successfully run a business.

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pkrumins
Some day I will also have a million dollars. Then I'll write a guide on how to
make a million dollars as well.

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xinsight
i was going to summarize, but it's thin and we've heard it all before: work
hard, solve a problem, etc.

~~~
gcheong
I find it sad commentary on the state of our educational system that this
might be news to the average student at Duke.

~~~
Tichy
Most people know about the "work hard" part, but they try it within the system
as employees. They somehow trust the system to reward them, if only they work
hard enough. I think that is a part where education is still necessary,
because I don't think the system really works for you.

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scottjackson
You say "Steve, how can I be a millionaire and never pay taxes?" First, get a
million dollars. Now you say "Steve, what do I say to the tax man when he
comes to my door and says, 'You have never paid taxes'?"

Two simple words. Two simple words in the English language: "I forgot."

~~~
steveitis
Is that a quote from something?

I remember back in grade school when I asked my Mom what the penalty for not
paying taxes was "Do they take you to jail or something?", and this simple
fact dawned on me and me mother simultaneously.

~~~
scottjackson
It's an old Steve Martin bit.

<http://snltranscripts.jt.org/77/77imono.phtml>

(Video of it is a bit hard to track down, sorry)

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hyperbovine
If I had a million dollars I think I would hire a graphic designer to craft me
a presentation template that did not look like it came from the ass of
PowerPoint, ca. 1998.

Otherwise, good slideshow :-)

~~~
joshstaiger
Actually, this presentation has been around for a while. I remember reading
this around 2005.

Not exactly 1998, but still :P

([http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.marshallbrain.com/mi...](http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.marshallbrain.com/million.htm))

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Olivero
Say I'm a college student with $70,000 available at this very moment with a
networth of around $150,000, with zero debt. How would you turn it into a
million? Hypothetically speaking.

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abijlani
Start a business become a millionaire. It's like saying to a VC we just need
to capture 1% of this $100 billion market.

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vaksel
sure it's easy to create a business, but that just means there is more
competition. For every Walmart, there were thousands of mom and pop stores
that crashed and burned.

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c00p3r
Borrow money from the FED. Buy a gold futures. Sell them next week. =)

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rwebb
i stopped reading at 10% for 42 years

