Millionaire Challenge

Deep_Ocean

THEMONEYSPIDER wrote: »

I talking about the time before he built his first Nursing home, the Bank had refused to loan him any more cash, he bought the land with a loan, but they refused more cash so he couldn't get on with the actual build. Resulting in him having to sell the ice cream business for less than its worth, selling his bedsits, and remorgaging his house in order to raise the funds, even then he still didn't have enough to complete the build and had to make an arragement with his builder to get the project finished.

Most people who have a nice steady income, like he did from the ice cream business and bedsits, would be happy to sit back and think they have done quite well for themselves.
I think this is what makes the difference, most would be happy with that, but then there are the few who dream big and just go for it.

Most of you will have seen the theory of starting with a penny investing it and just doubling it every day, Most people would bottle it around day 20.

I think I would bottle it by day 16 to be fair

I like this idea, if you keep in mind that you have only invested a penny, if you lose everything on day 15 you can start again thinking that you have only lost penny. However, other than betting on a roulette table I don't see where else you can get 100% return on your investment. To get a string of 20 consecutive wins on a roulette table has a probability of 0.0002%.

WorkSavePartayy

Just read the last 20 pages of this thread! Good read guys and hopefully I will be able to contribute in the thread from now on. After a couple years saving and working out how to make some good money I have decided to start in property development. Got a decent starting pot and will hopefully be buying my first run down house in the next 6-10 weeks!

lessonlearned

Deep_Ocean wrote: »

I think I would bottle it by day 16 to be fair

I like this idea, if you keep in mind that you have only invested a penny, if you lose everything on day 15 you can start again thinking that you have only lost penny. However, other than betting on a roulette table I don't see where else you can get 100% return on your investment. To get a string of 20 consecutive wins on a roulette table has a probability of 0.0002%.

Thanks for this.

It crystalises what I was thinking. The only way to hope for a 100% return in a day has to be highly risky - ie roulette wheel or illegal - drug dealing???

I think I'll pass on this one. :rotfl:

THEMONEYSPIDER_2

Deep_Ocean wrote: »

I think I would bottle it by day 16 to be fair

I like this idea, if you keep in mind that you have only invested a penny, if you lose everything on day 15 you can start again thinking that you have only lost penny. However, other than betting on a roulette table I don't see where else you can get 100% return on your investment. To get a string of 20 consecutive wins on a roulette table has a probability of 0.0002%.

:rotfl: Ha yes this is exactly my point, even though in theory your initial investment is only 1 penny, and say for example the odds of your investment doubling on day 20 were 50/50 most people would call it a day and stick with the 10 grand odd rather than risk losing it.

droopsnoot

RayKay wrote: »

droopsnoot, I never received the e-book download either, and totally forgot all about it until you mentioned it (pregnancy brain ) so thanks for reminding me. I'll chase that up.

I had an email from them the other day telling me I'd signed up on the web site for more information and they'd been trying to phone me and wanted to arrange a time to phone for a chat. I emailed back and told them I'd never received the PDF, no link or anything, and I've received it by email this morning. Haven't read it yet though.

GreatBigBookcase

droopsnoot wrote: »

I had an email from them the other day telling me I'd signed up on the web site for more information and they'd been trying to phone me and wanted to arrange a time to phone for a chat. I emailed back and told them I'd never received the PDF, no link or anything, and I've received it by email this morning. Haven't read it yet though.

Ah, interesting. I may well have given them a fake number, I tend to do that with sites that are likely to call. I like to read through stuff and then contact them in my own time if need be. Too busy to chase up right now, I've just had an offer accepted on a house and am sorting out solicitors, surveyors, etc. and am knee deep in flat pack furniture assembling for BabyKay, speaking of whom, I really must pack a hospital bag...friends are horrified that I haven't done so already when I'm over 36 weeks pregnant...

Happy reading. Let us know if it's any good.

lessonlearned

:beer:

THEMONEYSPIDER wrote: »

I talking about the time before he built his first Nursing home, the Bank had refused to loan him any more cash, he bought the land with a loan, but they refused more cash so he couldn't get on with the actual build. Resulting in him having to sell the ice cream business for less than its worth, selling his bedsits, and remorgaging his house in order to raise the funds, even then he still didn't have enough to complete the build and had to make an arragement with his builder to get the project finished.

Most people who have a nice steady income, like he did from the ice cream business and bedsits, would be happy to sit back and think they have done quite well for themselves.
I think this is what makes the difference, most would be happy with that, but then there are the few who dream big and just go for it.

/QUOTE]

Now you may think I'm nuts but I don't actually class what Ballantyne did as a "Massive Gamble". To me this was a calculated risk.

Ballantyne clearly knew he was on to a winner, he knew what he was doing. He is one shrewd cookie. He had spotted his niche and knew just how to exploit it. It was the bank who were being short-sighted. They forced Ballantyne's hand to shed assets and look for some kind of venture capital.

I think Ballantyne uses the term Massive Gamble out of his innate modesty. He seems like a nice man, quite self deprecating and I don't think it's his style to say " I damn well knew I was right all along". Beneath his bluff, gruff "Glasgow Hardman" act he's just a big softy with a great big heart.

I think the real problem that Ballantyne faced was not that his business idea didn't have legs but that the banks are far too reluctant to invest in new businesses. You only have to look at people like Anita Roddick, Laura Ashley etc to see just how timorous and uninspired bank lending can be.

The banks will sell you an umbrella when the sun is shining. When it is raining they don't want to know.

If, like Ballantyne, you come from a working class background, then getting finance can be very difficult. You find yourself in a Catch 22 situation. Banks will not lend to you until you have proven yourself, yet, how can you prove yourself without some investment help.

People like Branson, who had a far more privileged background, ex public school etc will tend to find getting finance is much easier. They or their families will have connections and contacts to oil the wheels.

I'm afraid that getting bank finance, as in so many things in life, is often not so much down to what you know but who you know.

I agree what Ballantyne did required courage and a leap of faith but then don't most things in life. If we wish to achieve then we have to step out of our comfort zone.

I have taken a number of calculated risks in my time, so did my OH. Our parents would have had heart failure if they had known what we got up to. :rotfl: All perfectly legal I might add.;);)

When we first went self-employed they were all of a panic. They fussed and fretted for months until they began to realise that we were becoming successful.

It wasn't that they wanted to hold us back - they just didn't want us to crash and burn. We didn't.

OH and I were the first members of our respective families to chuck in perfectly good 9 to 5 jobs to set up for ourselves and our parents just couldn't understand how or why we could take such a "gamble".

To them it was just a risk too far. Why on earth would we want to give up safe well paid jobs for the uncertainty of working for ourselves. They just didn't get it. "Gambling with your children's future" was a phrase we had flung at us over and over again.

To us it just didn't feel like we were taking a gamble. We felt we had done "due diligence" and so to us it was a calculated risk.

One that paid off handsomely.

It was only my husband's illness that wrecked our plans and that was one battle we couldn't fight and win.

THEMONEYSPIDER_2

Thanks LL

Massive gamble vs Calculated risk, not to get hung up on words, but both are basically the same thing, but mean different things to different people depending on their own personal point of view, as per your example above, you say it was a calculated risk to become self employed, your parents saw it as a massive gamble.

This is the point i was trying to make, not everyone has the guts to become a millionaire, it does take a gamble, risk, a punt at some point to move on out that comfort zone and take it to the next level.

lessonlearned

I agree change can be scary.......

All you can do is try and do all your research and preparation ie "due diligence". Then if you really think it's right then just shut your eyes, take a deep breath and dive in.

As I said sometimes it just takes a leap of faith.

With my OH and I - we both had complete faith and trust in each other's abilities, tenacity, committment, and dedication. We were both of the "workaholic persuasion" and were prepared to work long and hard if necessary.

It meant my OH often worked away from home, whilst I was left to bring up our children more or less single-handedly at times. To some people this might seem like a sacrifice too far but it worked for us.

Very similar to what Tink is now doing. She doesn't get to see much of her children and this must be very difficult for her - it is a huge sacrifice to make. Hopefully this will improve for Tink and in the future she and her family will be able to sit back a little and reap the rewards.

My OH and I certainly did. Although we both had well paid jobs that leap into self-employment took us into a different league.

My OH was more nervous than I was at first but he soon got over his initial collywobbles.

In our particular case it was my OH's redundancy that prompted us.

He had worked long and hard for his employers and he gave them his heart and soul. He was terribly upset when they made him redundant. We sat down and took a long hard look at our situation.

We made the decision that if this could happen once then it could happen again - any notion of "job security" was in fact a mirage.

If there was no such thing as job security then why settle for a wage whilst you make money for someone else. (My OH had made millions for his employers).

The same with me - I once sold £3.5m worth of houses in 3 months. Yes I got some commission but only about £3k worth. Not that great a return of my time and energy really.

We decided it was better to strike out and make money for ourselves. So we did.

lessonlearned

Update

Offer accepted on our first "Diamond in the Rough", a Victorian semi previously let out to students:eek::eek:

Underneath the years of grime there is a lovely house chock full of original features. Hopefully a good investment. Just have to hope that the survey doesn't unearth anything too dire.

This is a joint project between my two sons and myself - I'm the brains and they are the muscles........

It's going to be an adventure.

Hope you are doing well.

I still haven't started the markets or car boots yet - far too blimmin cold!!!