A topic for debate for you

[Team Leith Training]

We all hear how the likes of Lord Alan Sugar and Sir Richard Branson made their billions

Two questions, do you think if they were both in their youth and started again from scratch in this currently climate they and others like them could do it again?

Second question, what conditions do you think are needed for a millionaire? (apart from choosing the right lottery numbers!)
Is it the ability to find a niche market and act on it?
Is it luck?
do you think it is easier or harder to succeed during these tough times, or do you think this is an excuse?

One thing is for sure, when the question is asked "how did you make your millions?" its almost like your hoping the same bullet that worked for them would for you. Which is seldom the case as we know.

I would be most interested in your responses

 

[legalskunk]

I think they would both make it again in current climate but maybe not to the same extent. I think there's always an element of luck and being in the right place at the right time

 

[LanaSim]

I do think that luck plays a certain part in our life, However a lot of entrepreneurs see the opportunities where others don't.. I call it a talent

 

[BVisible]

i dont really think they would make it... at least not in the same fields... and yes, that is a talent and luck as well... read Jamess Caan book... inspiering!

 

[LanaSim]

Also both of them had a lot of mistakes on the way...., they had some serious business failures BEFORE they become really successful, so I think experience in business failure helped them a lot

 

[Charles Chance]

...do you think if they were both in their youth and started again from scratch in this currently climate they and others like them could do it again?

Of course they would. I don't think it's ever a case of "right place, right time". A true entrepreneur will always succeed in the end, because they know they will. Neither of them got it right first time, or second. But they were, and still are to this day, hungry for it.

Is it the ability to find a niche market and act on it?

Partly, but it's not everything.

Is it luck?

Don't believe in it.

do you think it is easier or harder to succeed during these tough times, or do you think this is an excuse?

Depends on the business and the industry, but more often than not it's a bit of a cop-out if you ask me

 

[internetspaceships]

We all hear how the likes of Lord Alan Sugar and Sir Richard Branson made their billions

Two questions, do you think if they were both in their youth and started again from scratch in this currently climate they and others like them could do it again?

Yes because they had the right attitude and would have found something else out there to allow them to express it. The only reason I can think of that would be a counter to this, is if they had been brainwashed by the previous labour government and the press into celebrating mediocrity. Like the huge majority of people in the UK nowadays.

Second question, what conditions do you think are needed for a millionaire? (apart from choosing the right lottery numbers!)
Is it the ability to find a niche market and act on it?
Is it luck?
do you think it is easier or harder to succeed during these tough times, or do you think this is an excuse?

The lottery numbers don't come into the equation if we are talking about business so it's really an irrelevant point. What's required is grit, determination and an ability to never give up. Coupled with either having the talent to complete the circle in your business dealings or alternatively having the right people around you to do so. Alan Sugar had partners and so did Richard Branson. They are just the public face of their empires.

One thing is for sure, when the question is asked "how did you make your millions?" its almost like your hoping the same bullet that worked for them would for you. Which is seldom the case as we know.

I would be most interested in your responses

People who wait for (and I use your phrase) the same bullet are silly. You make your own bullets. Very few people get exceedingly rich with one company. Neither Branson nor Sugar did it. They grew, acquired, grew, and acquired more, from their foundation company base. The occasional single company mega rich deal is exactly that. Occasional. Rare to the point of being less probable than winning the National Lottery.

Regards

Jon

 

[Psl]

When Lord AL and Sir Dicky started there was no interwebs, so all dealings were done face to face. Now you can get online, negotiate,ship goods and sell them or have them dropshipped and never see the goods or even see a customer face to face.

Would they both be as prosperous if they started today, I doubt it. Why? Well they would make mistakes and all their mistakes would be available online for all to see. They may well end up as CEO's.

What makes a millionaire, the ability to spot a opening, the ability to start, manage and close a deal and they must not be afraid to take a risk.And a great work ethic wouldn't go a miss.

 

[Fred_the_frog]

Well the ability to actually get going is a good start (which I am already struggling with )

I don't think there is any special formula.

I was thinking about it the other day- there is plenty of millionaires, but the ones we know are just the ones who became public. I think the reason they made millions is not because of their business idea or spotting a gap in the market, but it's just that they have the ability to motivate themselves easily and the determination to keep going.

I don't think it's down to luck or down to spotting a gap in the market. It's the fact they know how to grow the business then grow it again.

To be honest, I haven't got a clue. I'm just aiming for me to be able to do it!

 

[Matt1959]

didnt Sugar and Branson make their money by being pioneers in their own fields? when being at the forefront of their respective businesses gave them a huge advantage? Here now in the 21stC there doesnt seem much left to be pioneering at in the same context as they were. So no I dont think they would get on as well at all.

 

[Jet Virtual]

I think they will for the same reason they did back then ... they had a winning attitude.
They had a 'work hard - play hard' attitude.
They had a 'never give up' attitude.
They had a 'Slowly but surely' attitude.

Bottom line: It had very little to do with their 'situation' and mostly to do with their attitude.

 

[10032012]

1) They wouldn't stand a chance. Everything has changed since... the shift away from Europe especially with India, Asia in general and South America... and everyone wanting to be a minor celeb with their t**tter accounts and youtube comments. Add extreme red tape especially as of Europe, money laundering laws and more open information.... (anyone can find information on anyone) along with a rapid boom in world population and increased aspirations and ambitions amongst human beings. Then add the increased insight the average person has of business - back then it was largely work for a living... considering running a business was unheard of and not much support available. The economical climate... and how judgemental everyone is these days. Back then you could trust people, go out or go sleep and not lock your front door... you cant do it these days too many opportunists. The death penalty was only abolished completely in 1998! Fast internet and technology... who would buy music or films when you can illegally download it for free? Its killing those industries. Then you got the huge boom in property prices that occurred in the late 1990s and later.

Sugar... started in technology business in the 60's wrongly predicted only several years ago that the ipod will be a flop. If he set up a technology business then he would unlikely to go anywhere. He has a bad discriminating stance against women... if he didn't have his wealth it wouldn't be tolerated. The Amstrad emailer flopped big time - this was also of more recent times.

Branson... famous for starting off with a magazine... unusual then but really common these days. Then selling records cheaper then elsewhere by mailorder... before setting up a record shop in prime location and then a record label but wouldn't be able to compete in a dying high street and really cheap digital downloads.

2) I think its best described as destiny. Some people are just gifted to make it if they work hard - others wont make it no matter how hard they work or how talented they are. Sometimes that gift is by dishonesty, fraud, theft, murder, intimidation or sheer influence.

 

[sallysqueak]

I think they would make it, maybe not at the same level and obviously not doing the same thing, but I do believe that being an entrepreneur is in the blood and if you are born that way, you won't rest until you have made it. I see it in my dad, my brother and myself constantly. My grandparents ran their own business on my dads side. Our brains are constantly ticking and looking at things in a different light to how most people would see things. Constantly looking for a gap in the market, loving everything there is to learn about how business can work. We frequently get into trouble for it (or at least I know I do), people telling us to go and get a normal job, stop dreaming, but you can't, not if it's in your blood.

The truth is I get a thrill out of trying, some people like sitting on an xbox for fun, I like dreaming about how I'm going to make my millions!

 

[sallysqueak]

Oh and I don't believe in luck, you make your own luck in this life!

 

[Working First Aid]

"Luck = Preparation multiplied by opportunity"

 

[mhall]

My Dad always told me that the harder I worked, the "luckier" I'd get. He was right, as ever.

 

[internetspaceships]

My Dad always told me that the harder I worked, the "luckier" I'd get. He was right, as ever.

Sounds like your dad and my dad could have been brothers