How I’d make 1 million dollars if I had to do it again

GM. This is Work "After" Work, the newsletter that turns the money maze into an easy stroll in the park.

Happy Friday Eve! Let’s jump in:

• 💸 How I’d make 1 million dollars if I had to do it again

• 😂 Meme of the day

Have you always wanted to start investing in real estate, but don't have $100k lying around? Don’t worry you’re not alone…

I recently came across this company called “Arrived” -  they allow you to invest in real estate for a fraction of the cost. (Think $100 and you can own real estate!)

• They do all the work on finding profitable properties 

• They deal with the maintenance, upkeep, cleaning, etc.

• They take care of all the legal jargon

All you have to do is buy shares of a home… kind of like a stock. And every quarter they’ll pay you on your investment!

It’s a great way to get exposure to real estate without having to put a lot of money down.  

Even if you’re not ready right now at least subscribe to their emails that way you can see potential deals that become available! (It’s completely free)

In today’s newsletter I’m going to do something a little different.

Instead of giving you a business idea and a guide on how to start it; I’m going to share how I’d make 1 million dollars if I had to do it all over again.

Being 24, I’m extremely grateful to be in this position but it didn’t come without working my ass off. And as I’ve dove deep into different businesses one thing has become very clear to me: there’s winning, and then there’s winning on easy mode.

What do I mean?
You don’t have to come up with some insane new invention that's going to cook me breakfast, make my bed, and pack my lunch.. although that would be dope.

You just need to take something that's already been proven to work and do something very similar.

Example - this plumbing company does $1.6M in revenue and $300k profit in Waco, Texas. Nothing ground breaking. 

So how would I make $1 million if I was starting from scratch? There’s two ways.

Option 1: Learn from people who have already done it

Go on any business marketplace like QuietLight or DealStream. 

Look at the businesses people are selling. What does it do, how much does it make, how does it get customers, etc.

Once you’ve found one that interests you, request information about it.

On a site like QuietLight, all you have to do is enter your name, email, sign an NDA, and you’ll be sent a package that lays out the business’ entire operations… aka all their financials and answers to the questions I had above.

I legit just did this for a listing. It was called “5-Year-Old SaaS Business | WordPress and Shopify | Low Owner Workload”. It does $600k in profit.

I received the company name, business owner, the last few years of financials, their SWOT analysis, and much more.

Now, here’s the test to know if you’ve found a good one. If you look at a business like this and go “I could do this.” then this is the business for you. I’d set up a call with the sellers and ask for more info about their business. 

Remember, you just need to act interested. You don’t actually need to buy it. They’re going to try and sell you “how great this business is” and how “easy it is”. That’s fine, they’re trying to sell that makes sense. Just get all the information you need and start a similar business yourself.

And remember, for selling purposes, you don’t need to create a business that does $1M a year in revenue to make $1M. You only need to make ~$333k (Assuming you sell for a 3x multiple, which most are, this will get you to the one million dollar mark ($333k * 3 multiple = $1,000,000))

This makes it much more attainable when you think about it like this.

Or you can follow option 2.

Option 2: Buy a business

This is what I just did.

There was a martial arts business on BizBuySell that was doing ~$500,000 in revenue with 25% margins.

I talked with the seller, learned about the business, negotiated the price, and closed the deal within a few months.

Obviously, it’s more risky to buy a business since you have money on the line. When you’re starting a business you have nothing to lose other than your time. The big BUT here, though, is it’s much easier and faster to scale a business that already has legs.

You could buy a $2M business that’s doing $600k profit with only $200k down with an SBA loan (which maxes out at $5M). 

You typically have to put down 10% of the loan so you’ll have to come up with the $200k somehow. But it’s usually easier to go from $2M to $10M than it is from $0 to $2M so that’s why this option is actually a good strategy. You just need to make sure you’re buying a good business.

Use the mentors or any business savvy people in your life to help you. 

I used a lot of people in my network to get this deal done.

Here’s how the math shakes out

If you bought a $2M business and made $600k profit every year (assuming you didn’t lose or expand revenues) it would take you ~4 years to break even when considering interest on the loan.

If it were me and I didn’t have any money I wouldn’t go this route. I’d make my first million then go this route and attempt to take a business from $2M to $10M.

It’s okay to be scrappy in the beginning and follow option 1. But it’s also important to know option 2 exists.

The worst case from spending time doing this: you’ll learn how different businesses operate and find out what you don't want to do. It’s basically like giving yourself a mini MBA for zero dollars.

So there ya have it, that’s what I’d do if anyone close to me asked how to make 1 million dollars.

If you have any questions feel free to reply to this email. I read them all!

MEME OF THE DAY

😂😂

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That's all I got for ya today folks! Enjoy your weekend :)

DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.