The Big Gamble

So heres how it all started back in 2002. One day while sitting at the office tired of making the same check every week for doing almost nothing it took me about six months of getting my work for the day completed within the first hour and helping other finish theirs before it hit me. I have always been a guy that absolutely loves money. I love it. It comes before everything with the exclusion of family and loved ones. So I started reading every article that I could find online that contained the words business, money, stocks, small business, entrepreneur and the list goes on. I did this for about another 6 months.

So here I am 1 year later and I have finally decided that I don't exactly have the funds to start my own business and I have even less knowledge of how to operate one. So I began reading everything once again and it goes on for months. I read every startup book I could find online or at local book stores again I realize that I do not have the funds to start up any type of company that I would actually love running. See I realized that for the company that I start I would have to love it like a person loves another. Sounds strange but I think if you can connect with your business on this level your going to be successful. I have read about a lot of people that simply look for the next big thing and buy into it not really caring what it is. Widget Magic... Then once the boom is over so are they. Great companies are able to beat these widget booms.

So I finally realize that my goal is to start my own Corporation one day. There are many reason to do this and I will go into that on another blog. So how am I going to find the time to do this.... I dont have the capital or the time to start something serious. I am only 25 year old so theres many years to set myself up for success. I realize that I need multiple streams of income. Sounds like a obvious plan. This isn't as easy as it sounds. Look back at my first paragraph. I have 7+ hours a day that I am being paid and have access to a computer. Wow all of the sudden the idea of somehow creating a small online site makes sense.

I start research. I find a site called www.CafePress.com I read the terms and conditions of the site as I do for everything involving my grand plan. I open my first Cafepress shop. The first months I spend creating multiple items and learning the system and reading how keywords work within search engines. I eventually buy some traffic from some small search engines and it pays off. I get a few items sold however my marketing costs were more than what I made from the shirts. Ok most people would maybe stop after this. Not me I see that people that were probably not looking to buy my t shirts ended up making a purchase. I read more about search results and how to improve them. I made a few adjustments and waited for the organic search results to kick in. About 3 months to the day I started getting sales every few days and have been every since then. Whohooo I have my first steady stream of income. Keep in mind its only about $50 a month but its a start.

Hmm now what to do next and where to put my newly found income stream to use. I stumble completely by accident to sharebuilder.com this seems like a nice place to put the money until I find something else to do with it. So I start making regular deposits into their money market account. Earning a modest rate I was happy but why not take advantage of their services while im there. I start researching some companies that I would like to invest in. I find 2. Keep in mind I have very little to work with here but sharebuilder is friendly to small investors. I start to put 50% of the cafepress profits into both Trinsic Communications and Calpine Energy Company. Both companies provided some quick cash influx over a few months and I sold them off. More money to play with... Yippee... Try to keep in mind that this started as nothing but a idea and now I have a steady income from cafepress and have now bought and sold stock.

Next idea...eBay seems to be a viable avenue to find a additional income stream. So I do some research and I find collectibles seem to be the thing that will hold value over time. So I decide to choose a item that takes up minimal space but can bring in great returns. I finally lose my mind and make a orders for marbles from some large dealers with the cash from the stock sale. Im ready to start my eBay business. I decide from the start that I am going to have a store. It seems the only way to keep fees down and offer many items and allow for growth. I open a store with 100 items and list 10 items a day auction style. Not much business the first month. I decide to take a short vacation from work and pump up my listing volume. More listings mean someone has to see them right... Well within the next few days I jack up my store listing to 500+ and I start to see results almost immediately. Today I usually have about 1000 marble lots listed and I can mange a store of this size with 300+ sales a month just a few hours a week. I now have my second income stream. My Ebay.com Marble Shop

What to do with the new found money once again. I start buying more stock. This time I choose something that will not be as speculative as Trinsic or Calpine. I do some research and find that Alcoa is the largest most sustainable company in the world and they pay quarterly dividends. This is a win win situation. A great company and a possible third income stream every few months. I start to buy my first blue chip company via sharebuilder on a weekly basis.

So I look for other investment opportunities. I find something in early in 2006 that really excites me. Prosper.com is the widget boom of the moment. Now I am not normally into widget booms but this has some real benefits to my goals and the US economy. Prosper.com is a place where people lend money to other people who are in need of a loan and are having issues getting a loan form a brick and mortar bank for whatever reason. Now you might be asking yourself why would you want to lend money to people that cant get a loan at a normal bank. First off they may be able to get a loan at a bank of simply put it on the old credit card but would rather give the interest to other hard working Americans rather than institutions. Wow now I want to try this out. Interest rates as high as 29%. I transfer the minimum amount ($50) in and make my first bid. I chose a borrower that is looking to finance his Xray tech schooling at a amazing 29% now what bank is going to give me that kind of rate. To date this guy has not let me down. Its a good feeling when you help fund someones loan and know that you helped a individual or family out of a hard spot. Hold on a minute this is no charity after all money is always business unless its a donation and then its just a tax write off. lenders get monthly payments from the borrower that are deducted directly from their bank accounts. To date I have funded 48 loans and plan to double that by the years end as I have become more confident in the borrowers on prosper.com

Prosper currently only offers 3 years notes. So everytime I lend money to someone that becomes a income stream for the next three years. Wow this is adding up quick. I now have income from my day job, ebay, prosper.com and cafepress. Things are looking good. I decide to take a new job that will allow me to bank more money for retirement.

I know what your thinking hey didn't this guy just say he wanted to own his own corporation...Yes I did but I also want to make sure I have enough saved up just in case. So I move jobs and start at a higher salary but sacrifice 2 weeks of vacation. So now instead of 5 weeks of paid vacation I have only 3 and work much harder. Thats fine with me because I want the money. I love it. I work for about 10 months before accepting a promotion that more than doubles my income.

Ok so heres the issue. We are now present day. Prosper.com has questionable abilities to run their collections department but hey that isnt a issue for me just yet. I'm lending for almost 2 years and I don't have any lates. Yeah I did just knock on wood. haha I have been a active member in the prosper community making suggestions for collections fixes since I know they will be coming in the future is just the law of averages that is working against me at the time. I at one point will get a late and I want collections to be quick and efficient when that day comes.