I will be a Millionaire by December 2010

Yo,

Getting back in the game has never been more exciting to me now!! I found my motivations, I found this thread, I have some solid ideas of how I will make it happen. Now I have to put the pressure on myself. I've probably read almost every post on here! lol. I'm starting by committing to my Fastlane Family that I will make this happen. I will outline how I will do it it journal style. I know I can do it!! I've done it before and now is the time!! My kids have been great sports throughout the whole process of me losing everything being that they have had abundance most of their life. I swear this is the last Christmas they get small shit.

Would love your suggestions.

The fire is BACK! This time next year I'll be back on top of the hill. I know it sounds crazy but I know I can do it.


The Goal: 1.2 million personal income
Date: December 3rd 2010

Plan: Clothing, music, real estate

Clothing:
Put together an undeniable line and use the internet as my vehicle, leveraging my relationships with Major chain stores, the NBA, NFL and Music community to ramp up the brand faster.

Real Estate:
Development. Buy land build custom homes/commercial property and sell. One of my good friends is a partner in a design & build firm. We will go in on this together.

Music:
This is the hub of the world and I love it and I have too many contacts in the industry not to leverage it. I know people still making money in this economy. I will partner with a small label. The goal would be to get a label deal with a big distributor.

I chose these three because of the time and income stream. RE is 3 to 6 month checks (sometimes more), Clothing is 1 to 60 day checks and music is 1 to 90 day checks. And the time factor. I can spend plenty of time on all three. Clothing: after designing there is a lot of WAIT time. RE investment is similar besides daily researching, meeting, checking up on construction, going to the city and dealing with their bullshit bureaucratic permitting system. Music is the least lucrative of the 3 now but biggest marketing tool in the world and the most time consuming. But I plan on dedicating 5 hours a day on RE/Clothing and about 3 hrs a day on music whether it's reading, working, building, researching & meeting.

My new strategy is to be home by 8:30pm everyday. Thats enough time to spend with my family before everybody goes to bed. Before I was midnight everynight. So this will be a slight challenge. So I will have to wake up earlier, like 5:30 to get a jump start on my day. Fuck sleeping. I'll sleep on vacation or when I'm dead.

So if I get out the house by 6:30 that gives me 13hrs of work time a day.

Job or NO JOB!
I got the job offer as a Supervisor for the City where I live to process the city's SHIT and PISS! It paid decent (90k/yr) And right when i was about to take it ( to stop the financial bleeding), I got some unexpected money in to last me 3 mo. Thats all I need!! That was my sign. It's time.

GO HARD.

This is gonna happen.

The highest respect,
C

Rock on C!

Best of luck man! From the tone of your story and this post it is very obvious that you know what it takes and are ready to do it. I cant wait to see what 2010 brings for you.

Kick some asss man! We are all rooting for ya.

Not only you sound like you have passion and conviction but a plan as well. I wish you the best!!!

-Edwin

Best of luck! Looking forward to seeing your updates here!

Good luck!!

Not trying to be a hater at all, but definitely curious how you propose making money in real estate development in the SF Bay Area in under 1 year. I worked on 3 major developments, all took well over 5 years from Day 1 through the end. Love to hear your game plan!

Go get em!

I love the drive. Keep us informed, can't wait to hear your success story.

Damn! Way to take some initiative!

I'll be following your story. Get into the Fastlane and I'll meet you there.

Best of luck!

you did it before! you can do it again!

You guys are dope! Thanks A lot!! Since I put the pressure on myself, thats out the way, now I have to really detail my plans. Sid23, I want to close 2 or 3 deals next year. My partner co-owns a Design and build company and always has what he calls "hang-nail" deals. Folks who ran out of money, or people who underestimated the cost and have to back out, etc. Some of those deals are sweet & juicy (permits approved, sign off by the city) and just need extra capital or construction work. Especially in this economy, there were so many half-built million dollar homes. We use his construction crew to complete it and get a piece of the deal when it sells.

Don't mean to make it sound so simple either. Thats like someone telling me they want to start a clothing line and be in Macy's tomorrow. I know there are a lot of interim steps. With this venture, I'm more the Padone and he's the jedi.

(Me thinking out loud right now)

Ok, it's Christmas eve and I'm sitting here waiting for an investor to get here for a 10am meeting. He's writing me a check to get my business idea started the same day the company offered me a good "JOB".

This couldn't be more "RED" or "GREEN" pill. Maybe God is testing my courage.
It's funny, I was sort of on the edge until I watched that WILL SMITH words of wisdom video that JScott posted yesterday.

Now I'm like. Ok he's here. Will post more after.

Got nothing to add, just intently following the story! Can't wait to hear your updates.

subbed. cant wait to see this unfold

I do all three. Music and Real estate have so many backdoors and methods not being explored that you can create a monopoly for yourself if your tactical..good luck.

Wow.

Ok, my investor is a CEO of a software company. Black. But not born in America. How we met, he has has a non-profit org that I came and spoke to the kids one day and he was there. And has been sort of my mentor ever sense. But never touched on my business. Been more there for emotional support while I was losing everything!!

The aftermath of it all. He came to me and said. "You can judge a mans character best not while he's on top, but after he's loses everything. I've saw you lose it all and I'm impressed that you are still here, and want some more. I want to one day do business with you. (That was 8 months ago.)

Fastforward to today when he walks in.
First thing he says:

"This system is built in America that you can get what you want without breaking the rules. I play within the rules. I don't fuck people over and I don't play the game illegally."

"So we can't do business if that's how you play."

I said, "I'm exactly the same. I do good business all around."

He's interested in the Clothing & Music, because that is what I do best. He's seen the clothing and heard the music and knows it's a niche I hold. He wants to invest some of his capital and use his investment banking background to raise money to really take it to another level. He asked me what I needed right now to clean up the LLC paperwork, copyrights, trademarks for the brands. I said about $5k. He gave me cash on the spot.
He wants 20% of my parent company that owns both companys in return invest $40k of his capital to get companies established, then raise money and use his resources in his circle. I said Yes, and Signed an agreement.

Meanwhile, my friends are texting me saying the company just got off the phone with them for references. I'm gonna turn the job down. I know it's crazy because I have a family, but I feel like this is what i'm put here to do. I can make it happen. (Damn, part of me feels selfish saying that, but I know my family will be better off if I'm doing what I know is best for me)

I'm going in. All out. Plan A is my business. Plan B is a distraction.

Awesome man! Congrats! Looking forward to updates!

This post has me really excited! So rooting for you!

My kids had a great Christmas. Some how it worked out. I'm now thinking about my plan. The resources I currently have, and my first attack. I want this so bad I can smell it.

Tomorrow, I need to organize my life & DETAIL MY PLAN.
My bills, my debts, my businesses. Insure my permits are current, my legal and administrative paperwork is proper. I have a team of people that believe in me eager and ready to serve as I am ready to serve them make this happen.

2nd, I need to step up and take the lead and start organizing regular meetings and put together timelines and assign tasks and hold us all to them. But I'll worry about that second.

I have my office set up. It has 4 desks with computers for administrative work and design. A clothing showroom area to show clothing retailers and a state of the art music studio to record and do light mixing. Thats all I need for now. When it needs to grow, we will grow.

I'm divulging some real private info, but hey maybe it could help someone. After organizing my life and debts and assessment. My business/Personal debt combined is about 115k. I met with two bankruptcy lawyers and erasing that debt looks really appealling for a fresh start. But a good part of me wants to just negociate that debt and pay it off next year. If I'm gonna make the 1.2 million like I say I am, then I shouldn't have any problem paying that debt off. right? Doing a BK is nice, but it can tarnish my score for 7 years!! Even though Entrepreneurs go into BK all the time I think I want to hold on to that wildcard in case I really get into some deep shit! lol. Naw, thats not the right thinking pattern. I don't want to ever use that card. I'll claw my way back into freedom "Richest Man in Babylon" style. I'll call and see what I can reduce the debt down to and pay it off every month based on a percentage of my income every month. Lets go.

Yeeeah! I'm pump up right now! I'm excited for 2010. I'm nervous and excited at the same time. I got a lot of work to do and I'm ready for it. I enjoyed new years with my family at home because I know I will be really busy this year. It's go time!