I was thinking about this last night..
Let's say you have 10 Million Dollars and you are an IT Geek who wants to use your money to have or be part of a business.. What would you do?
Btw, I don't have 10 million. I was dreaming about what I might do if i have the money and I can't figure out the right path. Maybe you guys have some thoughts like what type of business are you going to do? What approach and path are you going to take in building your business.
Share it here!
I actually dunno how to answer this question, because technically I've already started my own business, although it's really my wife's
Check it out: http://inavtravel.com
Basically it's a home-based travel agency. It was painful for the first year, with nil income and negative profits, but when we put it up on a website and updated packages regularly and all that, the Google hits came along and word of mouth spread. Now it's earning a fair amount of money -- not as much as what I'm making as a software dev but way, way higher than what my wife was making when she was a 9-5 marketing grunt.
It has actually gotten to a point where she couldn't do all of it by herself anymore. We could probably hire someone but we couldn't really afford that yet, so the plan is for me to join her company. We're not ready to do it yet, but maybe in a year or two I'd be focusing on our company full-time. Of course I won't abandon software development: when I join her I'd simply be focusing on doing software to improve the business.
We'll see.
Hmmm... Haven't thought of a business yet but I will definitely go that route.
[]{""Become Rich", "Video Game Blog", "Java Blog"};
I want a business that customizes computers... something like "Alienware". Yeah that one!
Hmm.... ignore that. It's ten million dollars!!! Why work?!!! I'll let my son/daughter to decide what will do to the money. haha.
One thing, If I have that kind of amount of money... each member of devpinoy will own a MacAir!!! haha.
@LaTtex: Do you have a LAX-MLA package? lol. Me and my wife as a couple had never been to Boracay. Kung magbabakasyon kami sa 'Pinas and interested to go to Boracay or anywhere else, I'll surely contact you!
If I have $10M:
1. mmmmmm....
2. Buy apartment complex here in SoCal
3. Buy & Sell houses
4. Build a big house close to the beach (Newport Beach, CA, maybe)
5. Buy myself a $10, 000.00 PC
and ....
If I have $10M?
I'll invest in a banking business
whoah! $10M .
I'll probably invest it on a different types of business.
1. build a couple of townhouses
2. buy and sell houses
3. grocery stores
4. yung iba ipapamana ko sa mga anak ko :D
Hehehe! Thanks guys!
My approach is along the lines of what you suggested.
If i have that amount of money I would probably go with this route.
1.) Find a software company that has a good customer base and a great track record which I can buy or invest.
- This is the first thing that came to my mind. I realized that starting my own IT business would take a lot of time because building a good team takes time, hiring marketing smarts takes time and advertising your services takes even longer to get good results. I guess if you are not after quick results you could start your own team. But if you are after a quick turnaround you might as well piggy back on somebodys existing infrastructure and reap the rewards. Somebody told me a few years ago that 50-100M pesos can go a long way in the software market in the Philippines. I'm not sure if it's true but it might be.
2. Invest in realstate. A few years ago when my sister was studying in mapua, my sister told me about the outrageous prices for student dorms. My jaw dropped after hearing how ridiculous the prices are and it made me think that i could make a difference by building a low-cost high-quality student dorms around u-belt. The quickest way i could think of is buying an existing one and refurnish it. What's great about this business is that schools don't go out of fashion and as long as there are students your business will continue to have customers. I'm not sure how much this might cost but my guess is you might need to spend around 50-100M for the building and another 50 for rebranding and refurnishing.
3. Jollibee or McDo: Let's face it, a franchise of these two giants will give you a huge ROI. A Jollibee franchise can cost between 20-50M and probably another 20-50M for a suitable location. A McDonalds franchise a little bit cheaper than Jollibee.
Here's some numbers that I got from my research about franchising Jollibee and McDonalds via LiveInThePhilippines.com posted in 2006
"...either Jolibee or McDonalds would be a great money maker! If you ever notice, in the Philippines, these places are always full of customers buying burgers, fries, fried chicken or whatever. Food is always a hit! It is not cheap to buy one of these franchises, though. I have done some work with a Franchising Company, and know a little bit about this. Although the company that I worked with did not represent either of these two fast food chains, it is my understanding that the Franchise Fee for a Jolliebee is around P23 Million (a little over $400,000) and the Franchise Fee for a McDonald’s is around P17 Million (around $340,000). These figures are a few years old, so they may have changed a bit, but should be fairly close to reality."
After that you need to have some extra money for the initial payroll which should be around 1 - 2 Million pesos.
Here's a breakdown of my conservative estimate based from what I posted above
Software Business: 100M
Realstate: 150M
Food: 1002M
------------------------
Total: P 352M
P 352M = $7.8 M on a P 45 - $1 exchange rate which means i should have atleast $2M for my family as our savings ;)
What do you think?
keithrull: Hehehe! Thanks guys! ....... P 352M = $7.8 M on a P 45 - $1 exchange rate which means i should have atleast $2M for my family as our savings ;) What do you think?
.......
Now, I definitely think that Keith got some money...the way he throws out these questions in this fashion makes me think he got this $10 Million! Last time I checked, the latest California Lotto winner is from the San Diego area... :-P
Wow!
I don't have that much money so I dont know exactly what to do. Let's just say I hadn't had any practice managing huge amounts of cash.
The first thing that I would probably do is look for a wealth manager (banks usually have those) and ask for advice. I'll probably put the money in very stable investments.
The second thing that I would do would be to start studying on how to invest it properly. Since I'm a newbie, I'll probably look on investing in cheap, low maintenance franchises (whatever that is) to gain some experience. Then continue on from there...
My initial goal would be to keep the flow of money positive, so I think would keep my current way of living. I know it's hard - $10M is a huge temptation! I know that I can handle the temptation and I know that my wife can too, but I'm not sure if my friends and relatives can. So I would like to keep this a secret if at all possible. Hindi naman sa ayaw kong mamigay, gusto ko lang tumulong sa tamang paraan at hindi lang pagbibigay ng pera sa mga nanghihingi. Ang kailangan ko munang gawin ngayon e magawan ng paraan para mapalago yung pera ng walang gaanong effort. Pag nangyari na yun, saka na ako tutulong ng buong buo - probably by creating a private foundation that will give scholarships, health services, loans, etc to my relatives. Ten million dollars would be more than enough for me, but it wouldn't be enough for me and all my relatives. If the money is going to that foundation, it only makes sense to think about growing the money until it can sustain itself.
I would also like to take care of my family. I think I'll invest on a house that is just small enough for my family so that I don't have to spend a lot of money on renting one. A huge house would require high upkeep so that would affect the flow of money. We already know how to manage our current house so that's just enough for us. Kung matatakam man kami at mapaisip kung paano ang pakiramdam ng tumira sa isang magandang bahay na maraming katulong, siguro mag- checkin na lang kami sa isang hotel or resort to satisfy the desire, and then go back to our little house. . Ganun din sa choice of cars - I'll just rent a Benz or a BMW for a day just to experience the act of driving it, instead of buying one and just keep it in the garage. We'll just buy a car that would be enough for our use -- probably a minivan.
Finally, I would still keep on programming. This is not just a job for my but also my hobby. I'll have more options now because I'm no longer programming just to earn money. I can now spend more time on open source projects or be a consultant for very interesting projects no matter how cheap they would pay me. I think starting my own software business is not an option for me. I'm in this for the programming. Managing a software business would only take away from my time on the keyboard.
[jop]
marl: keithrull: Hehehe! Thanks guys! ....... P 352M = $7.8 M on a P 45 - $1 exchange rate which means i should have atleast $2M for my family as our savings ;) What do you think? Now, I definitely think that Keith got some money...the way he throws out these questions in this fashion makes me think he got this $10 Million! Last time I checked, the latest California Lotto winner is from the San Diego area... :-P
Yikes! Nope.
1. I don't gamble. I think playing lottery is a waste of my money. I believe that working hard and praying harder is better than spending a buck on a numbers game. It gives better results.
2. If I have 10 million dollars I'd probably be in Manila already spending the money on the list that I have posted above :P
Heheh!