I recently received a sales email from a list I was on.  So far, nothing extraordinary in that story.  I bet you get dozens, maybe hundreds, a day.  This was a bulk email, but was from someone I knew.  She was pitching a seminar that she was going to speak at and teach business owners and would be business owners how to make a ton of money.  

Again, so far nothing unusual.  You probably see solicitations like that every day.  But the thing that struck me was that I knew her.  She claimed to have built businesses and sold them for a fortune, when I knew that wasn’t true. She lived in a rented house because she could never scrape together the money for a downpayment to buy a house.  

It got me thinking about how many “guru’s” I personally know who you most likely have heard of.  You know the guys - the ones telling you to come to their seminar so they can teach you about real estate, or about business, or about something that boils down to an easy “get rich quick” scheme.  But, I have an advantage when I heard those deals.  I’m a CPA and I’ve seen most of their financial statements, or at least can make a pretty good estimate of what they look like, based on insider knowledge.  The thing I’ve discovered is a lot of them don’t have a clue to do whatever they are teaching.  It’s that old saying “Those that can, do, and those that can’t, teach.”  

By the way, I hate that saying.  I teach not because I can’t do anything else, but because I think I’ve got something valuable to say, at least to the right person who needs that information at the time.  

That need to “walk the talk” is one reason why I started this Business to Investment (B to I) project.  I KNEW that I could take a professional business and turn it into passive and semi-passive income.  That’s because I did it once. I want to do it again, but this time I’m going to do it publicly and lay out the steps of what works and what doesn’t work, up close and personal, for anyone who wants to follow along.

I was working on the copy for other parts of the website today.  Chances are that it’s already up by the time you read this.  I had tears in my eyes as I typed up what my son David had to say about why this project was important to him.  His project is a little different.  First of all, he’s barely 17 and secondly, the money is for a charity, not a business.  But he already knows his business assets - a fascinating life story, well told, sensitive and graphically real, and the ability to just ask for what he needs.  He also likes to brag that he has the personal numbers to some of the most successful and powerful people around.  Granted, he met them through me, but you’ve got to give the kid credit for introducing himself, telling his story, soliciting offers of help and then getting their phone numbers.  

He’s learning what his business skills are and he’s developing them.  And, he’s publicly putting his name on the line by committing to a big project ($200,000 in 2 years!).  That’s walking the talk.

Now, let’s all get busy and get this going!  There is too much at stake to just “hope” we get the right advice from people who may or may not know what they are talking about.  The whole concept of B to I, is that you ALREADY have the knowledge you need. It’s just a matter of refining it, marketing it and then creating new systems of fulfillment.

Are you with me?