Yes, i think you can call Philanthropy a 25$ loan. that is exactly what i have "invested" in a Paraguay family through Kiva.org. Anibal and his family bake a special kind of cookie called "Pan de Miel". Then they employ 4 more people to sell them on the streets. With this they will be able to buy more ingredients, process more food, sell it on the market and pay back the loan, thus making a profit for themselves. Soon they will be self sufficient if they act wisely. hopefully they will hire more people in need to sell the bread on the streets. Find more about them here.
I think kiva.org is a wonderful organisation. It enables you and me to lend small amounts of money to entrepreneurs in need on the poorest countries around the globe. Yes, that is right LEND to ENTREPRENEURS to rise them from poverty. I love the idea! Why i like it? there are a few reasons. by lending money, i help poor people rise themselves out of poverty. this is not charity, this is empowerment. when the recipient pay the money back usually in around 1 year, i can choose to lend it again or get it back into my pocket. that is wonderful. the same money can be recycled and help many people many times over. I like it because is concrete, simple and touching. you know who you are lending to, you get updates on how their business is doing and the repayments, and through that you get to know the person or the family.
As me and my wife progress on our own businesses, we plan to keep investing in charity. the more money we make, the more we will invest. and kiva.org is the right investment vehicle for us. Don't get me wrong, you don't actually make money from the entrepreneurs, they don't pay interests, so is not actually an investment, but i like putting together the words investment and charity. i think that is the way to go about solving the problems of the world.
I encourage you to go ahead and lend to an entrepreneur of your choice through kiva.org.
Saturday, September 1, 2007
Monday, August 6, 2007
My current biz idea
Check out the WeeMee avatar that I have created off myself. This is pretty cool!
Today there are lots of websites where you can create a virtual version of yourself, and use it as your identity on the net, for example, meez, stardoll, simpsonizeme and of course second life and WoW.
How about offering a web service allowing people to create a 3D figure out of their avatars? it can be a 3D sculpture (made with a color digital 3D printer) or a soft toy in cotton, which they can hang on their mobile phone or on their backpack, or hug at night while sleeping (they are different sizes of course). The potential is huge cos even people could offer a mini version of themselves to their girl/boyfriend for St. Valentines, or anybody could offer it as a present for their grandparents.
Here are 2 webs starting out on this niche: fabjectory and tinypocketpeople.
Create a real world version of your virtual identity and show it!
I need a little investment and contacts. If you like the idea, let me know!
Today there are lots of websites where you can create a virtual version of yourself, and use it as your identity on the net, for example, meez, stardoll, simpsonizeme and of course second life and WoW.
How about offering a web service allowing people to create a 3D figure out of their avatars? it can be a 3D sculpture (made with a color digital 3D printer) or a soft toy in cotton, which they can hang on their mobile phone or on their backpack, or hug at night while sleeping (they are different sizes of course). The potential is huge cos even people could offer a mini version of themselves to their girl/boyfriend for St. Valentines, or anybody could offer it as a present for their grandparents.
Here are 2 webs starting out on this niche: fabjectory and tinypocketpeople.
Create a real world version of your virtual identity and show it!
I need a little investment and contacts. If you like the idea, let me know!
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Dreamboard
I hope nobody was scared after my last post. It was just a declaration of principles, like my good friend Sergi said. I though better be positive than negative because thoughts attract the like. Positive thoughts attract positive thoughts and positive minded people, so, if i gotta have somebody read my blog and eventually become friends or partners, better be a positive minded person.
A very good tool to be optimistic through the day is to use a visionboard or a dreamboard. those boards where you stick pictures of your dreams. I stick mines on the wall next to my bed, so they are the first and last thing i see on the day. Here is one of them:
There i am on "my" private jet. This is just a thought that i keep everyday and i will achieve it pretty soon (the photo is real though). for me that is the ultimate freedom: fly anywhere you want when you want. and i want to pilot it myself. There are three countries that play an important role in my life and that i want to visit often. they are Spain, Switzerland and Singapore. I have lived there, i have friends & family there and i love them. they are wonderful on their own ways.
Is good to have dreams but that is not enough. we must work hard for them, the beauty of our society is that somebody is out there ready to give us our dreams (material), but of course they expect something of higher value in exchange. thats is why, whatever business i consider, it must be something that ads value to people. if i can add 1$ worth of value to 3 million people, i will in exchange receive a 3Million dollar private jet from "those people out there willing to give me my dream".
Recently i have read the book "The science of getting rich" and watched the movies "The Secret" and "What the Bleep do we know?" All belonging to the "New thought movement". I don't fully subscribe them as hey are pseudoscience and are using scientifically biased opinions about Quantum physics to explain how our thoughts can shape the universe and produce us whatever we want. As nobody has managed to materialize a thing yet, even if they are right, i think is much easier to start a successful business. Nevertheless there are valuable lessons to learn from them, and they are: the power of your mind (to imagine and create things), improving others life's, the power of focused hard work, and gratitude for what we have already.
A very good tool to be optimistic through the day is to use a visionboard or a dreamboard. those boards where you stick pictures of your dreams. I stick mines on the wall next to my bed, so they are the first and last thing i see on the day. Here is one of them:
There i am on "my" private jet. This is just a thought that i keep everyday and i will achieve it pretty soon (the photo is real though). for me that is the ultimate freedom: fly anywhere you want when you want. and i want to pilot it myself. There are three countries that play an important role in my life and that i want to visit often. they are Spain, Switzerland and Singapore. I have lived there, i have friends & family there and i love them. they are wonderful on their own ways.
Like Yogi Berra famous line:
If you don't know where you're going, chances are you will end up somewhere else.
If you don't know where you're going, chances are you will end up somewhere else.
Is good to have dreams but that is not enough. we must work hard for them, the beauty of our society is that somebody is out there ready to give us our dreams (material), but of course they expect something of higher value in exchange. thats is why, whatever business i consider, it must be something that ads value to people. if i can add 1$ worth of value to 3 million people, i will in exchange receive a 3Million dollar private jet from "those people out there willing to give me my dream".
Recently i have read the book "The science of getting rich" and watched the movies "The Secret" and "What the Bleep do we know?" All belonging to the "New thought movement". I don't fully subscribe them as hey are pseudoscience and are using scientifically biased opinions about Quantum physics to explain how our thoughts can shape the universe and produce us whatever we want. As nobody has managed to materialize a thing yet, even if they are right, i think is much easier to start a successful business. Nevertheless there are valuable lessons to learn from them, and they are: the power of your mind (to imagine and create things), improving others life's, the power of focused hard work, and gratitude for what we have already.
Friday, July 27, 2007
I made it!
I am so excited to announce this. i have made it into the world of the rich!
It feels very good. i have got a very big business success. i make now several milions euros a year and is all automated, passive cashflow. i can finally help out to all those around me who i sweared i will help; my mom, my dad, my sister, my wife, my kids. my business helps other people too. my clients are highly benefited by my product and services. I have improved several thousands of peoples lives.
My wife is very happy and we can travel to Singapore and malaysia any time we want. Our kids are growing happy and with a lot of love. They will do great things for the world. they are citizens of the world and very smart. they understand that anything we want to achieve comes from within. and helping others is the best way to achieve our dreams.
I now live in the house of my dreams, with a huge swimmingpool, heated by solar energy, lots of palm trees and strawberries, golden kiwis, mangostines, chillis, banana trees. my house is environmentally friendly and has no eco footprint impact whatsoever. my house is alive, with plants growing on the rooftop and the walls. I have a beautiful and powerful hybrid car that consumes less than 2 l per 100km.
Over the last months i have been helping hundreds of entrepreneurs in poor countries with microloans and teaching them how to start and grow their business. some of them employ hundreds of people.
I am so grateful to myself. i am grateful to my organs who keep me alive and in good health all this time so i could achieve my stellar success. i am grateful to the planet earth, for being my host and allow me to enjoy beautiful things such as the oxygen, the water, the sunsets on the malaysian beaches and the watermelon-lemon juice.
The law of attraction is the secret of my success. i knew it for a long time but i did nothing about it. once i started visualizing my success everything came into place and everything that i wanted started to unfold beneath my eyes. I am so thrilled today to say that i have achieved my dreams. I got my pilot license, i have homes in the places that i care for, Sant Cugat del Valles, Singapore, Malaka and Switzerland and i am planning a trip to the stars in the coming weeks.
i have built beautiful relationships over this time that i appreciate and i am grateful for. I have make sure at any time that all my friends benefited in some way from our relationships. and i urge them to do the same with their own friends. one by one, we all can achieve what we want by helping others first and being grateful for it.
today i am the happiest man in the world and i will build on all this positive energy to achieve even more.
Dear reader, I wish you the best!
It feels very good. i have got a very big business success. i make now several milions euros a year and is all automated, passive cashflow. i can finally help out to all those around me who i sweared i will help; my mom, my dad, my sister, my wife, my kids. my business helps other people too. my clients are highly benefited by my product and services. I have improved several thousands of peoples lives.
My wife is very happy and we can travel to Singapore and malaysia any time we want. Our kids are growing happy and with a lot of love. They will do great things for the world. they are citizens of the world and very smart. they understand that anything we want to achieve comes from within. and helping others is the best way to achieve our dreams.
I now live in the house of my dreams, with a huge swimmingpool, heated by solar energy, lots of palm trees and strawberries, golden kiwis, mangostines, chillis, banana trees. my house is environmentally friendly and has no eco footprint impact whatsoever. my house is alive, with plants growing on the rooftop and the walls. I have a beautiful and powerful hybrid car that consumes less than 2 l per 100km.
Over the last months i have been helping hundreds of entrepreneurs in poor countries with microloans and teaching them how to start and grow their business. some of them employ hundreds of people.
I am so grateful to myself. i am grateful to my organs who keep me alive and in good health all this time so i could achieve my stellar success. i am grateful to the planet earth, for being my host and allow me to enjoy beautiful things such as the oxygen, the water, the sunsets on the malaysian beaches and the watermelon-lemon juice.
The law of attraction is the secret of my success. i knew it for a long time but i did nothing about it. once i started visualizing my success everything came into place and everything that i wanted started to unfold beneath my eyes. I am so thrilled today to say that i have achieved my dreams. I got my pilot license, i have homes in the places that i care for, Sant Cugat del Valles, Singapore, Malaka and Switzerland and i am planning a trip to the stars in the coming weeks.
i have built beautiful relationships over this time that i appreciate and i am grateful for. I have make sure at any time that all my friends benefited in some way from our relationships. and i urge them to do the same with their own friends. one by one, we all can achieve what we want by helping others first and being grateful for it.
today i am the happiest man in the world and i will build on all this positive energy to achieve even more.
Dear reader, I wish you the best!
Monday, July 23, 2007
Books & mentors
If you are looking for some interesting books about entrepreneurship, investing and business, you can find my favorites in LibraryThing.com, a wonderful site to introduce all your books and get recommendations from readers with similar books in their personal libraries.
From the previous list the main books that have steered my mind are:
Rich dad poor dad (R. Kiyosaki); Biography of Richard Branson, The tipping point (Malcom Gladwell), D. Trump biography, The science of getting rich (W. D. Wallace),How to be rich (J.P. Getty) and Leadership and self deception (Arbinger institute)
One of the most important things to do if you are starting out in business is to find a mentor. Of course, i have tried that and is pretty tough, cause you have little to offer them. I follow the advice from R. Kiyosaki and offer my time to work for free in exchange of being there and see how they work, but it didn't work out. He was a very busy venture cap. it would have been great but anyway he did teach me a lot of things. By all means find a mentor. He/she will provide you with advise and contacts, CRITICAL for business success. on the meanwhile, read, read and read. books are your best mentors. Read about successful stories, entrepreneurs and history. get positive momentum from them to get started. This is how i am doing it.
I will be posting reviews of the good books i will read in the future, stay tuned!
After 3 years of search i have got a mentor. I get great advice from him. Actually the strength of a mentor is that he will make you think clearer than you can think by yourself. Is just a second view, powered by experience. Don't expect a mentor to solve your problems, he will guide you but you STILL will have to solve them.
From the previous list the main books that have steered my mind are:
Rich dad poor dad (R. Kiyosaki); Biography of Richard Branson, The tipping point (Malcom Gladwell), D. Trump biography, The science of getting rich (W. D. Wallace),How to be rich (J.P. Getty) and Leadership and self deception (Arbinger institute)
One of the most important things to do if you are starting out in business is to find a mentor. Of course, i have tried that and is pretty tough, cause you have little to offer them. I follow the advice from R. Kiyosaki and offer my time to work for free in exchange of being there and see how they work, but it didn't work out. He was a very busy venture cap. it would have been great but anyway he did teach me a lot of things. By all means find a mentor. He/she will provide you with advise and contacts, CRITICAL for business success. on the meanwhile, read, read and read. books are your best mentors. Read about successful stories, entrepreneurs and history. get positive momentum from them to get started. This is how i am doing it.
I will be posting reviews of the good books i will read in the future, stay tuned!
After 3 years of search i have got a mentor. I get great advice from him. Actually the strength of a mentor is that he will make you think clearer than you can think by yourself. Is just a second view, powered by experience. Don't expect a mentor to solve your problems, he will guide you but you STILL will have to solve them.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
MegaVending
Megavending is my first business venture.
I started it right after quiting my job at Attogenix, a biotech company in Singapore.
After I came back from Singapore to Spain, i was eager to start any business. specially those ones that make money without working much.... Then pretty fast I got a tip from my banker! he was investing in chewing gum mini-vending machines. I wasn't convinced at first but i took a look on the internet. It fitted exactly what i was looking for: low risk, low investment, high profits and work only 2-3 days a month. Obviously i plunged into it. I imagined a small and simple business plan (i didn't even wrote it) and started installing vending machines.
The first ten machines i installed were hard to install (it took me 1 month) and profits much less than expected but i didn't get discouraged. then i found some partners and pretty fast i was having 200 machines running in Barcelona. after a few weeks they let me down and the business stagnated at this 200 machines. Sales at first were acceptable (around 0.8 gum a day) making me a profit of 2400 euros a month. not bad considering i have to work only 3 days.
After one year, i still own the business and i still making some profit, is not much but it pays the rent and some expenses. Income have gone down because some machines has been stolen, and i have been forced to take some others back either because they don't sell enough or because the owner of the business hosting the machine is not interested.
Lessons i have learn from this business:
- Don't get overexcited with promises from business partners. don't commit resources until they prove their commitment. I realize people don't take any risk just by talking.
- the public likes novelty. new things excite customers, when they get bored with a product or service they simply change to something else.
- when facing a problem with somebody, a partner or a client, SMILE. think of this person as a beautiful person who wants the best for you, even if he is scolding you. This is really a good way of solving problems. POSITIVE THINKING WORKS!
- After some months i have become discouraged and lost interest on this biz until i read this quote from Bill Gates: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping – they called it opportunity. It has made me see my buiness under a whole new light. anyway this is my only source of income so i better take good care of it!
Mission Statement
Hello,
Welcome to my blog. I am an entrepreneur in the making. Actually i don't even know if I have what it takes to be an entrepreneur, but i am decided to find out!
There are so many books and blogs around of entrepreneurs that have achieved success. I guess when looking back they will tend to minimize mistakes and talk stories of success, But I haven't found a single one where somebody documents the process including the failures right now and then. Any entrepreneur knows that failures are the only opportunity to evolve, a chance offered to us to find solutions.
I write this blog mainly to organize my thoughts. You will be able to peek my mind and see how i go about investing, starting business, the books I read, crazy biz ideas i have, market trends that i am following and personal chapters too. I guess no need to say the following: feel free to comment on my postings!
David
Work hard for your luck!
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