Around six years ago I drove to Indiana in search of cubicles. I have just signed the lease to my dream 2400 sq.feet office. And I needed some cubicles. I was in for a rude shock when I found out that a new cubicle could cost as high as $6,000 each. I was making good money at that time but we were planning to fill this office with at least 15 cubicles and that just sounded crazy.
I started looking on the Internet and finally found a company in Indiana, which was going out of business and selling their cubicles cheap. Drove to their office and picked bunch of them for couple of hundred dollars. I was pretty happy with myself. Then I bought a copier. Then new computers. Then some shiny new furniture. Then new chairs. The crowning jewel was a gold logo that I installed at the front door.
There was no doubt in my mind that would convince anybody walking through that we are a "real company' open for business.
It took a good 12 months for the reality to sink in for me that all this means nothing. The cubicles, 20 line phone systems, logos on the wall, reception counters - they are there to stroke to my ego. They are all assets that depreciate every day and make no money for me. I was reminded of Rich Dad, Poor Dad definition of your primary residence being the biggest liability and not the biggest asset everybody has in their lives.
The real assets that were in my business were not bought - I created them from nothing. My website search engine rankings (where it showed up on all three major search engines when somebody was typing in something we can help him with) was a real asset. My list of bird-doggers hunting around Detroit for houses and the relationships we have built with them was a real asset. A meeting format I build to flip wholesale houses - that was an asset. A list of happy satisfied first time homebuyers who were sending us their referrals - that was an asset. My newly found obsession to learn everything I can get my hands on entrepreneurship, marketing, running a business, online marketing - they were all assets and every single singe day they made me money.
If you are thinking about starting a business Michigan or buying a foreclosure in your city to hold or flip: make a list of real assets that you would like to own as you launch and grow your business. Skip the logo on the wall.
