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What other sources of income do you have? Businesses/investments/Day Jobs
 

I made my first real money off of Ebay but I always knew that the smart thing to do was to diversify. I bought some real estate and I'm still adding more to the portfolio. I opened a few franchises in different industries and I'm still looking to add more to that business. Now I'm looking to go big: I'm about to open my own start-up that I hope will someday be in every city in every state.

So what is everyone else making money off of besides Ebay/Amazon?

Obviously you are much more successful than me at this point so take no offense, but I am an accountant and I do know a few things about finance.

Your ideas sort of got worse as you went on. Real estate is probably the best investment you can make because its not as volatile as other investments, but it still offers great returns IF YOU DO YOUR RESEARCH!

Franchises are also safe, but depending on the franchise, your margin will be pretty small unless you own multiple stores.

And last, the start up idea is pretty cool, but I am pretty sure that route has about a 5% success rate. It might be safer for both your pocket and your health to stick to the other routes.

You might also want to look into FOREX if you dont want to get into the whole stock market scene. Although, if you have any spare cash laying around, it wouldn't be a bad idea to get some higher risk mutual funds. Find a good fund and I guarantee you could leave it alone for the next 5 years and it will make crazy profits.

Appreciate your opinion and advice but here is my response to that: You are right on a risk scale. Real estate is the least risky of all investments, franchises are a bit more risky and then a start-up is very risky but definitely not a 5% success rate. Closer to a 30% success rate.

The more risk the more reward. A good real estate investment can net on average between $600-$2500 a month, a good franchise between $5,000-$20,000 a month, and a good unique concept between $10,000-$50,000 a month.

As for stocks, funds, bonds, etc., I don't invest in anything I can't influence.

I bought property too. Just before the mining boom in Australia I thought about pouring all my money into some mining shares but stupidly with-held out of fear. Now look who's the richest woman in the world - Gina Rinehart - billionaire mining magnate! Doh!

I missed a huge opportunity in the early 1990s as the small town I lived in at that time had no franchise other then McDonalds and Burger King.

Always received the Entrepreneur magazine and thought Subway would be a wise choice to get into. Fresh foods and not grease!

Owned my own manufacturing business at the time and put it off.

Well, the guy who did not put it off opened his first Subway in my small town, now has 3 locations the same town.

Now has 15 other locations in several towns.

Now has several Hungry Howies locations as well.

Borrowed the first loan from his parents, parents put up the equity assets and away he has gone.

Opening a franchise as an investment has always intrigued me, however mainly just been sticking with stocks for the most part which has been giving me good returns.

Though I must admit franchises are tempting, but living in a big a city seems as if that market is already over saturated and would take some luck to dive in now.

I too live in a big city that is over-saturated with franchises but have found success from 3 things I have learned:

1) You have to seek out the location no matter how far it is from you. Your area might be over-saturated but there is always a gem of a location somewhere not yet taken. As long as the population of this world is growing, there is always new development. It is then your job to be the first to get a foothold in that area like those who first got a foothold in your city.

2)Even in a market where there are so many franchises, there is never everything. Bring something new into the market and you will make money off of being a change from what everyone is used to and bored of.

3) Location is the biggest key to a successful franchise. Even if there are dozens of the same franchise within a small radius, you can open a new location in busy spot and be very successful. For example if there are two Dunkin Doughnuts on the same block and you open a third in the busiest part of the block, you can close down the other two no matter how long they have been there.

Pimping Oranges and Peanuts!

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b4...anApproved.jpg

Stick with one thing might be two

Don't be Jack of all trades, master of none

I invest in real estate as well and if you want more,Invest in other states,built a hotel,build a commercial building and so on

Just my 2 cents

The one thing I have learned about investing over the years is that you need to keep your emotions out of it. Once you get emotionally involved in a deal, prepare to LOSE MONEY!

My criteria for investing is very strict. I only buy into existing companies/buildings/whatever and ONLY when I can get them at 30% below what I believe to be the fair market value. This means that I end up never owning the "hot" stocks like Apple. But it keeps me safe and leads to good profits.

The best property I ever bought was a 3 bedroom single family house. I knew the owner and she died. Her house had a ton of junk in it. Her daughter flew in to take care of the funeral and she wanted to get rid of the house QUICKLY. She did not much care about the price and I was able to get it at 50% of what I believed it would sell for if the junk were removed and the place fixed up a bit.

No, I DIDN'T screw over the daughter of the owner. She had to get back to her job quickly, she and her husband were wealthy and the little house her Mom lived in was a nuisance to her more than anything else. She practically begged me to take it. So, we both got what we wanted.

My first thought was to go through the junk and sell what I could on eBay. I quickly let go of that idea and hired a junk removal service to clean out the house. It would have taken far too much of my time to go through it all, and most of it was doubtlessly worthless anyway. I DID keep a lamp and a couple of vases, but 99.9% of it was tossed.

The fix-up took about a month. I did what I could do myself and hired professionals for the rest. There were no major issues, it was mostly cosmetic work - painting, floor sanding, etc.

I put the place up for sale using a realtor. I don't recommend the 'For Sale By Owner" route - I would rather pay a realtor. Too many buyers looking at FSBO properties are looking for a deal. They want the house for $20. VERY ANNOYING! Anyway, it sold in the first week (sold, NOT closed).

When all was said and done, I nearly tripled my money. Of course, those deals are few and far between. Also keep in mind this was BEFORE the real estate market crashed.

The other trap I see people falling into is they take a sub-par deal just because they feel they have to be invested in SOMETHING - ANYTHING. Trust me, you are better off staying on the sidelines until the RIGHT deal comes along. There is NO SUCH THING as a once in a lifetime opportunity. The world is full of deals, and it always will be.

Actually tried my hand at re wholesaling a few items in bulk by listing them as bulk wholesale on CL.

Sold all lots I posted in hours.

Might be a new thing for me to do.

All options on the table for me.

I have a wholesale business that runs outside of EB, doing pretty well recently as it buys in and sells pretty much everything under the sun

I also have a few properties that I bought during the crunch, so I was very lucky in that regard

Dabble in the FX, stock and options markets

And a couple of race horses, have yet to have any win a race though....

OMG MM you are a HOOT!!

Location seems to be the key to just about anything that involves a physical location. It trumps every other feature of a property or business idea

Consultations for me - trying to get into something of a franchise - thinking

Love threads like this.

:ranger: Saying hello from another accountant. :smash:

Agree with this.

Location matters AND taking the plunge.

Carefully looking at all options then deciding to go ahead.

About 60 miles from the CBD of Sydney, land went up for sale when I first arrived here in the late 1990's.

Talk was a second airport would go in the area. People actually sold up because they did not wish to be near an airport. This saga had been going on for years.
We brought 90 acres, filed the papers to subdivide. That meant putting in power, roads, sewerage. Sat back & did nothing. (By choice). Paid the rates only.
Developer came along & offered to buy. We waited him out. Eventually sold at our price. By then we had done the same in 3 other cities in OZ. Looked for land on the outskirts of cities. Urban growth is such the land sells eventually, IF you can wait.
:ranger:

Wow horses!

Location in everything in real estate. The empty piece of land no one wanted that I bought in the middle of no where but close to a 6 lane highway turned out to be an awesome risk.

Town completed an outer belt last summer and all of a sudden everything starting popping up, gas station, food chain etc etc.

Directed traffic stopped going through town and use the outer belt now and traffic went from 0 to 100,000 cars a day real quick.

My land was almost land locked in a way, small portion getting in and out to a side road is all I had.

When Sams club bought a piece of land and started building then I was approached by several local realtors if I was interested in selling this HORRIBLE PIECE OF LAND. :>>>> Nice try anyway.

Now several cos including Lowes is tossing numbers at us. Lowes is land locked as well because they need xx number of acres or they cannot build and they need a piece of my ground. They would have road frontage on the outerbelt and access out the back was down my small part also so it becomes a perfect fit for them.

I am forcing them to buy it all as I dont want a hidden piece of ground behind all that is being built now.

Price goes up every time something else starts building.

Pure luck... Price was right back then. Originally thinking of building a pole building with an office on the property to use as a warehouse.

Nice one, Sandy

That decision is as good as money in the bank

:pop2:

Pure luck.

Wish I had bought more of it now.

Some was for sale but in small lots and not close to me so I did not even attempt it.

All I wanted was the land to build a pole building on.