The Ten Roads to Riches: The Ways the Wealthy Got There (And How You Can Too!)

Build a firm to sell or

to endure. Both are

lucrative.

6 The Ten Roads to Riches

to extremes.

One

gown can

run

$20,000 and up, with

hug

e profit

mar

gins.

Thi

s takes a convincin g, innovative brand

-tough

to do!

BUILT

TO

SELL

OR

BUILT

TO

LAST?

Third

key question

-wh

at are your future plans? Is this firm one

you'd like to make last for generations?

Or

is it one you want to

build, grow, sell, and walk away from? Either is fine.

Ther

e's

noth-

ing wrong with building a business you don 't want to run forever.

Some folks w

ant

a legacy.

Oth

ers just want to cash in.

Th

e average

founder wo

n't

want to do what it takes to create a legacy. But l

ot

s of

f

ounder

s have the stuff

to

build a business and sell it for $5 million ,

$20 million, even $500 million, and move on .

Up

to you!

Bu

ilt

to

Se

ll

Building to sell is easier. Succession managem

ent

is less of an issue.

You find some enticing

product

hole or improvem

ent

.

Th

en you

think like a buy

er-

"Wh

at would make so

meo

ne w

ant

to buy me

out?" Answer: profits or profit potential. Also, your business must

be transfer

able-which

means you must be replaceable. Building

to sell may make you wealthy

but

generally doesn't create mega-

wealth- and

that

's fine. R

ememb

er those

Na

ntucket N ectars c

om-

mer

cials? "H i,

I'm

Tom. And

I'm

Tom. We're juice guys."

Th

e

"two Toms" started serving homemade juice to tourists from their

little

boat

in

Nantu

cket in 1989. In 2002,

Cadbury

Schweppes envi-

sioned huge profit

pot

enti al, selling a

bur ...