Has anyone attempted to become rich?

Soldato
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I'm not sure why business owners have a tendency to believe that all the success is down to them alone.

So you make sure you "hire good people", yet they're just along for the ride... A tad contradictory.

Of the top five people within the firm - CEO and each of the international MDs - each had joined when the company was less than 20 staff in total and the owner had trained them up. The company is populated by good, quality people that have been hired in along the way. But the core management team all joined 15 years ago as grads.

The owner convinced people he'd be successful - that's one of the hurdles in growing as start up of that your - and they ultimately have been very lucrative careers and very much fit into the theme of this thread.
 
Associate
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Define being rich?
A million in the bank doesnt really buy much these days.
But for me, doing a job I really enjoy and be passionate about while earning enough to pay my way, with rent/mortgage (death grip), have enough to eat, dine out, buy things I want, go on holiday, have a bit of money for a rainy day is all I could ask for really.
 
Man of Honour
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I didn't make it up. It was in the news recently. If I wasn't going out now I'd spend some time finding the source.

Will do later.

It was some kind of league table for inequality and we ranked 2nd below the US.

It may have been the rate of increase of inequality or inequality itself. Sadly I don't record everything I see on TV so can't immediately recall where it was seen.

But 100% I remember seeing it.

If something you remember but could be two entirely different things was on tv, it must be true.
 
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Soldato
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ive already posted that ive tried to make money with domain names that didnt work ,a recent 1k gamble on some gold shares (im about 50 percent down ,but just letting it roll ,reverse takeover happening soon)
if im been honest i dont think i have enough knowledge or skill with anything to make mega money (im on under £9 hour also zero self confidence) but been quite lucky i.e one of the few houses i could aford up in west yorkshire 44k more than doubled (but paid off mortgage under 10yrs),same story in cornwall (suppose looked beyond an overgrown garden and a very scruffy house) but i think will soon treble 300k with my out buildings converted ,still peanuts to some of you guys but i feel lucky
 
Associate
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I’ve always coveted early retirement (I’m only 34), but the reality is that being retired and having nothing to do would be a total nightmare. I get bored enough having a couple of days off work.

Being self employed, mortgage/debt free and being able to work as much or as little as I please whilst also travelling the world at my own pace is my new ideal.
 
Soldato
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ive bought domain names in the past but not had too much luck ,my last wild card in recent years was 100.000 1p shares in a gold exploration company so only 1k but prepared to lose ,i dont do the lottery so figured if it makes a lot i will reinvest ect patagonia gold btw (mentioned before in trading thread)

It is a newbie mistake to think shares are cheap because they cost 1p. When making an investment, the key thing to do is assess risk. Penny shares are the highest risk profile. Also, because of the bid offer spread, you need a very large % increase in share price to make any money. Stay away from penny shares if you are new (experienced people wouldn't touch them anyway).
 
Permabanned
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by the tower the one up north ..
no .. i'll tell you why
my old feller always chased the golden coin .. he moved to Canada built up a very good painting and decorating business .. 20-30 blokes working for him ..
drinking dropping pills to keep at it .. (yeah hmmm ) but lost it all .. came back to the uk a broken man ..after 9 yrs
be happy with what you have try to get a little more .. but try to hard it will kill you or destroy you and your family
 
Soldato
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It is a newbie mistake to think shares are cheap because they cost 1p. When making an investment, the key thing to do is assess risk. Penny shares are the highest risk profile. Also, because of the bid offer spread, you need a very large % increase in share price to make any money. Stay away from penny shares if you are new (experienced people wouldn't touch them anyway).
tbh i could have sold for 60 or 70 percent more soon after so my initial instinct was ok ,but knowing when to hold em or fold em let me down !
they consolodated the shares so i ended up with 1000 at £1 now worth about 50p
they are going to be taken over so im hoping things go better but ive written the money off and can just watch the price plummet with no stress ,people spend hell of a lot more on holidays is the way i look at it .and its given me some enjoyment
 
Associate
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I’ve always coveted early retirement (I’m only 34), but the reality is that being retired and having nothing to do would be a total nightmare. I get bored enough having a couple of days off work.

Being self employed, mortgage/debt free and being able to work as much or as little as I please whilst also travelling the world at my own pace is my new ideal.

This is so true! I honestly think 99% of people who say they will 'travel the world' when retiring early will be watching (video copies) of Jeremy Kyle or be one of those people wandering around B&Q looking in detail at the specs of garden hose. :p
 
Soldato
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I wouldn't say I went out to become rich, but I absolutely hated my day job so started my own business.
The business was slow to start, but has boomed in the last few years - I've bought a couple of houses and paid off historic debts incurred before I made the switch to self-employment.

6 years (and a bit) later I'm in the middle of a deal I can't say too much about, but if it goes through at the end of July I'll be suitably 'compensated' and can take myself out of the daily struggle to spend more time with the family. :)

It's not been easy, I've done 80+ hours most weeks since 2013 and it has taken a toll on my personal life - but I believe overall it has been worth it.
 
Caporegime
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I wouldn't say I went out to become rich, but I absolutely hated my day job so started my own business.
Related to the day-job you hated or something completely different?

I'm always curious as to where people who start their own business get the idea for the business from.

I can't say I've ever had an idea for a business (or when I have there are already 100 other businesses doing the same thing).
 
Caporegime
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I've never actually attempted - maybe I should some day.

I've been fortunate enough I've never really wanted for money, within reason, so I've never really had much motivation to get rich. My life has been kind of weird in that way in that whenever I've needed serious money some kind of opportunity to make it has arisen.

If I did I'd probably go down the video game route - I have all the programming, level, model and sound design, etc. skills but I prefer just dabbling for fun.



I've worked with people like this and generally they've not been nice people and usually can't understand people not having the same motivations as them.

This. My old boss couldn't understand why his employees weren't prepared to work 80+ hours and weekends like he does. I tried explaining that he paid himself a £1m a year and those employees he was referring to he only paid £40k and wouldnt pay them anymore if they did work 80+ hours per week but it seemed to fall on deaf ears
 
Associate
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Related to the day-job you hated or something completely different?

I'm always curious as to where people who start their own business get the idea for the business from.

I can't say I've ever had an idea for a business (or when I have there are already 100 other businesses doing the same thing).

I've always wondered this too. I've always hated working a "day job" but have learn't loads of skills, and trying to find that gap in the market to create that business is where i struggle. I've always wanted to be self employed but never really known how to go about it.
 
Soldato
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This is so true! I honestly think 99% of people who say they will 'travel the world' when retiring early will be watching (video copies) of Jeremy Kyle or be one of those people wandering around B&Q looking in detail at the specs of garden hose. :p

I don't know why people would wait till they retire to travel the world.

Why do it when your body is too old to keep up with certain things and health insurance would cost a bomb. Do it while you are still young like I do :)
 
Soldato
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Related to the day-job you hated or something completely different?

I'm always curious as to where people who start their own business get the idea for the business from.

I can't say I've ever had an idea for a business (or when I have there are already 100 other businesses doing the same thing).

Completely unrelated :) I was a team leader (using the term loosely!) at a call centre, and I went into reselling car parts for MG Rover vehicles.
I've always had an interest in them, and thankfully they break down a lot - £££ :p
In all seriousness, a lot of the business focus has been working with enthusiasts to create products which make the cars more reliable - we've been directly involved in several large projects to fix common issues (particularly with the K Series engine and Rover 75 / ZT which can have some expensive problems)

It's been an absolute ball-ache at times, but telling my old boss to 'do one' once I realised the business was self-sufficient in terms of finance was amazing.

I'd always encourage anyone to do the same if they can - however it's not as easy as the 'get rich quick' links make out, and you'll likely sink a lot of time and effort into it in the first few years.
 
Man of Honour
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I'm always curious as to where people who start their own business get the idea for the business from.

In my case and like many other people, I set up a business doing something similar to what I was doing previously for an employer. Not every business needs a light bulb moment.
 
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