Rob is on a journey to becoming financially independent. Having read many books and articles on wealth building, passive income streams and cashflow, he is now putting the knowledge into practice.
Join with him as he blogs on his way to financial freedom at www.financially-independent.comBack in the Spring of 2008 I began researching wealth building. I wanted to learn how to turn money into more money. It became obvious to me that there are some people out there who are very good at this, and I decided that I should be one of them!
I was reading about people who were getting rich by purchasing assets, increasing their cashflow and developing passive incomes. I figured if they could do it, so could I.
One morning I was discussing some business ideas with a friend. I wanted to get into real estate right away, but he recommended that I start with something smaller. As my friend helps 2 or 3 people get into various businesses every year, I decided to pay attention.
He knows that I am a musical person, so his suggestion was for me to begin trading musical instruments. I had never even considered the idea before. I must confess that I was not excited about it, but after spending a couple of weeks researching and thinking about it, I decided to give it a try.
I first bought a guitar. I paid $100, then sold it as it was for $180. Next was a trumpet. It was advertised at $125, but was in need of repair. I negotiated with the seller and bought it for just $35. The repairs came in at just over $60, so the instrument had really cost me $105. However it sold for $320 - more than 300% of the combined cost of purchase & repair!
After the trumpet I picked up a flute. I paid $160, spend $39 on repairs, and sold for $450 through a music shop. After their commission I received $339. That gave me a profit of $140.
Since that time there have been many more. This week I puchased 2 trumpets for a total of $80. One is in fantastic condition and I will sell for $450! The other is a bit rough around the edges, but I should be able to sell it for $250-$350 once it has been repaired.
As I play 11 musical instruments, I have some knowledge about how they work. It is easy for me to go around, check out a used instrument, and to know if it is any good or not. I do all this in my spare time.
It is not that difficult to do. Buying the trumpet was a scary thing - parts of it were totally ceased. I had no idea how much a repair would cost, but I figured for $35 it was worth finding out. I was surprised when I took it to a repair shop (I had to look up the Yellow Pages to find one) and they quoted around $50.
The reason I tell my story is to encourage you to find a way to become wealthy. Running this side business has not made me totally rich, but it is bringing in an additional income which I can then use to invest with. It is what is funding my journey to financial freedom (not having to work in order to get paid). My goal is to use this money to acquire assets that cashflow - that is buying something that I can rent out or make money from over and over again.
To find out more about how I am doing, I strongly encourage you to visit my blog at financially-independent.com
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