Build Your Own Income Producing Assets

How to Start and Build

Your Own Income-

Producing Assets

By Chesney Bradshaw

How to Start and Build Your Own Income-Producing Assets

© Chesney Bradshaw 2015 P a g e | 2 www.ideaaccelerator.co.za

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Chapter 1: Getting started - Never too late (to

grow income assets)

It's far harder than it ever was before for two incomes to keep up with rising

expenses. Failed economic policies and debt-riddled and inefficient public

enterprises means that civilians have to fork out more each month. At any time

there is the risk of the taxman taking more money out of your monthly income.

Even at the local metro or municipal level ways are constantly devised to squeeze

more money out of you to pay for the reckless inefficiency and expenditure.

But these aren't the only reasons why right now you need to seriously consider

how vulnerable your income is against the political and economic circumstances

we all find ourselves in. For many, the response will typically be like the frog

placed in a pot of water that stays there and does nothing until it's too late and the

pot boils over. Yet there will be a small percentage which I estimate at about 3 to

5% of economically active people who will realise what is happening and take

action. Wealth is built over time – if you think there are shortcuts and ways you

can speed it up then go look for the silver bullet. What we are going to talk about

has nothing to do with silver bullets but rather using lead bullets every day, which

means that you take small focused and deliberate steps towards your goal of

accumulating income.

If you are starting out from scratch where you don't even have a savings account

to cover basic emergencies, there is still hope. If you don't have a basic savings

account that you can use for emergencies it's advisable to start one as soon as you

can. You've heard people say that you should pay yourself first when you receive

your monthly income. Paying yourself first used to mean 10% but with things as

they are now you might want to increase that, depending on your expenses, to

20%. It's up to you. Next up you need to think about medium- to long-term

savings. What I mean by this? You need to begin to build up a cash reserve or

cash kitty which will be your own seed money for the income-generating assets

you will eventually invest in yourself. Now, it's up to you how you invest. Yes,




we know that the mutual fund or unit trust companies rake off fees, and so do the

life companies but if you don't have savings what do you do? You've got to start

somewhere. Get yourself proposals from at least three financial advisers before

you invest in anything longer than a few months. Check the performance of

mutual funds. Go back into their history at least for the past five years. Do your

homework.

If you do have disposable income that you plan to use within a year to invest in an

income-generating asset – something that we will explain in a moment – then you

might want to park off the money in a money market account. The percentage

increase will be meagre compared to a savings account but at least you do get a

little bit more for your investment. Just make sure that you save your money with

a large financial institution because despite the exaggerated performances of some

smaller financial institutions in this dicey economy they can go belly up. For

example, one fund manager last year was providing the highest money market

interest rates but before the year had ended they were at the bottom of the pile

with the organisation losing key executives and starting to fall apart. It's hard to

trust anyone these days.

What do I mean when I talk about an income-generating asset? Basically, it's an

asset that provides you with income. Of course, cash in itself can produce income

through interest, so can stocks and shares but there are the pros and cons. Interest-

bearing accounts provide you with very little income and unless you know what

you doing in stocks and shares, the risk and volatility is too high. They may or

may not pay dividends. It's far better to look at income that becomes available

monthly from such assets such as:

Rent from property

Profit from a business in which you may have full responsibility or no

day-to-day role

Earnings from Internet advertisements in a blog or on a website you own

Patent royalties from an invention

Trademark licensing fees for characters or brands you've created

Royalties from books, songs, publications or other original works

Let's quickly look at the debate between passive income and active income. Some

say passive income is attractive because it frees you to spend your time on things

you enjoy. Someone like a doctor, dentist, lawyer, architect or media relations




person really only sell their time. They have to be there to earn the same amount

of money each month. And when they retire or can't work any longer what

happens? Their income stops and that's that. What I'm recommending is a blend

of passive and active income which you can find out more about in the next part

of this special report. Take, for example, the person who has worked as an

academic professional for many years. Working in an uncertain environment, she

slowly built up a portfolio of three properties and now, should anything happen to

her main source of income, she has three assets from which she is gaining cash.

This is the point where you need to decide whether you want to take the next step

of the journey. If you want to do nothing about your circumstances, then close this

page or delete this special report and continue with your life just as you have

always been doing. But if you have decided that you want to take action starting

right now, today, then you will need to find out more in Chapter 2 of this special

report.

Chapter 2: Find your purpose and passion

Before you start any step towards identifying, researching, developing or trying

out any plan towards growing and building your personal income or revenue

generating asset, you need to do a self-assessment to find out the strength of your

motivation. It's no use jumping into something and you quickly find out that your

enthusiasm fizzles. You will be investing time and effort as well as perhaps your

personal seed capital and you can't take decisions like this frivolously. When it

comes to dealing with money and investing, despite what the so-called experts

say, you need to be conservative, frugal and discerning.

To deliberately find your vision, purpose and passion wasn't important years ago.

Somehow all of this came about naturally and in your focus on finding a job you

were able to eventually find out what you love to do. Of course, this wasn't

always the case because people got "trapped" in unfulfilling work. Bumbling

along, trying to find your way just doesn't work like that anymore. Rather than

waste precious personal resources, you need to find purpose and passion.




To put in the hard work, the learning and training, the long hours involved in

growing and building an income asset, you must be passionate about what you do.

You've got to ask yourself, "Why" you want to do something. What gets you

excited? What do you think about a lot of the time? What comes naturally to you?

Finding the answers to these questions enables you to be clear about your

direction, your purpose and your passion in life and business. But not every

passion can be turned into a business opportunity for financial gain. For example,

I love cooking. I enjoy trying out traditional farm-style recipes, smoking foods

from chicken to fish and trying out different restaurants. Although I have a salad

dressing recipe in my back pocket, I can't commercialise this uncertain

proposition because the market, after doing my informal research, is much too

small.

My other big passion is small business because of the potential it holds to help

people rise above their circumstances. Over the years I have started several small

enterprises some of which have succeeded and others that have failed and this

experience has encouraged me to share lessons learned. I have distilled my 30

years of experience into setting up an information blog on small business ideas

and implementation, have written e-books, reports and even a book called

"Breakthrough Ideas". It is a work in progress and has value that can be

commercialised with the right business model.

Others who, for example, have an interest in fashion have started blogs and made

them successful. One fashion blogger has made $8,000,000. She is passionate

about what she does. Another woman started a reusable metal water bottle, which

is double-insulated and comes in a variety of attractive colours, and now has to

date sold 4 million units. A teenager who was passionate about gardening, came

up with the idea for seeds on a reel and has started and developed a successful

business in this field.

Where do you start to get a sense of direction or a better understanding of your

purpose and passion? One simple tool is the Hedge Hog concept. It's a simple tool

to get you to think about what you are passionate about and how that can translate

into eventual income when combined with your skills set. There are other such

tools. Try them if you like. Using the Hedge Hog tool, ask yourself these three

questions and write down your answers. The questions are:




What motivates me and what do I feel passionately about?

What am I really good at doing?

What can I do that generates a profitable income?

After you have completed the exercise, you may well have more clarity about

your ideal role. If you would like to see these three concepts working together in a

visual form, get a worksheet from Google if you like. If the exercise doesn't

immediately lead to what you believe is your passion and what you want to do,

give it a rest. Talk to friends, family and colleagues. Obtain their views on what

they think you do best.

When you know your passion, write out a brief vision for yourself. A vision

points to an important goal you wish to pursue. It may take years. But knowing

where you are going, your personal roadmap, is important. The entrepreneur who

manufactured the reusable metal water bottles worked initially in accounting but

always had a vision to be an entrepreneur. It was only after something like seven

years that she came across an idea that motivated her. She developed her product

over a year and established it in the marketplace through clever product design,

market positioning and promotion.

Finding out what you are passionate about is an important first step. But you also

need to examine your motivations further. Find out how important achievement is

to you. Think about your past accomplishments at school, in your career and other

areas of your life to give you an indication on whether you are an achiever.

Remember that achievement doesn't always come easily and an important

characteristic of a successful person is someone who can carry on towards their

goal even through difficult circumstances. Successful people can't get bogged

down in difficult situations, they need to see opportunities even when others are

negative and circumstances look bleak. This doesn't mean being blind to reality

but being able to maintain a confident, positive outlook on life and find

opportunities despite one's circumstances.

Chapter 3 Become an opportunity seeker

In these hard economic times when incomes are under threat and when many

people cannot even come up with funds to meet an emergency, you would think




that they would be deeply interested in opportunities to gain additional income.

Although people would like to spot opportunities, it's a reality that for many

opportunities simply don't come their way.

People with a mindset for spotting opportunities have learnt to see things

differently. How do you see things differently? Is it possible to change your

mindset after so many years of conditioning? It's thought that between 3% to 5%

of any given population of people are opportunity minded.

Why so few? Because it's not the common approach. It takes risk and courage.

And you need to do something about it. You can't wait around, sitting and doing

nothing and expect to get "lucky". You have to go out and make breaks for

yourself. As the golfer Gary Player says, "The harder I practice, the luckier I get".

What can you do to become opportunity minded?

Before we answer that question, let's take a look at three people who

unfortunately are so conditioned that they are unable to look for opportunities

even though they no longer have any income.

One example is of mature woman working in a local bookshop. Because of

economic circumstances and a greedy landlord, the owner of the bookshop has

had to shut it down. This woman is now looking for another job.

Here's another example: a man worked for several years in a local shop that caters

for runners. In these times, sales began to decline. The owner of the business

came up from another city and fired both the manager and his assistant and took

over running the business himself. The man who used to run the shop is now

looking for a job.

Yet another man worked on civil engineering projects internationally but because

of huge drops in green fields and brown fields projects found himself out of work.

This civil engineer as waited 18 months for a job. He could have done something

else but he cannot. He has been conditioned and, let us just say hypnotised, to

look for work.

In all three cases each person is looking for a job and won't be happy until they

find one. This is understandable because it is what people know and expect. Yet




when it comes to searching for alternative sources of income they remain like

rabbits steering at the headlights of an oncoming car.

These three people do have several options which we will explore in subsequent

sections.

Is it possible to change? Yes, but there is. But, and it's a big "But", you really

have to want to change. You need to rewire your brain or attitude. Here are three

ways in which you can "reprogram" yourself to begin to become more

opportunity minded:

1 Learn about yourself and your strengths and weaknesses. It is essential that you

do not limit yourself by defining all your accumulated experience,, skills and

contacts solely for the purpose of a job. Your personal assets can be used for other

income-generating pursuits.

2 Take small steps. After being conditioned working for an employer for perhaps

several years, it's very difficult to suddenly take a leap into even thinking about

identifying opportunities for alternative sources of income. Change requires

transformation. It can't be done overnight. Reprogramming yourself takes time.

3 Find your first opportunity, develop it and learn from it. It's best to get some

practice before you go out and try something that is beyond your present

capability. Finding your first opportunity, even though it might be only a small

source of income, gets you into the game and helps you to build up precious skill

and know-how.

Let's take a look at a couple who returned back to the country and were unable to

find "work" for two years. They've freelanced in various jobs until they hit upon

the idea of coming up with a healthy chocolate granola bar. The energy bar has

taken off in various delicatessens and speciality food shops and now they can reap

the reward of their initial effort and small seed capital that they put into

implementing their idea. Now they have income separate and in addition to their

invested capital which they can't touch because it is for their "retirement". It's a

small business but who knows how big it can grow?

The approach that I have suggested in becoming more opportunity minded takes a

natural and organic perspective. You could use other methods to speed up your

transformation but you're not going to break through if you force yourself too

quickly.




Whatever approach you use, just consider one thing: it is possible to rewire

yourself to become more opportunity conscious. But it can be frustrating and

challenging. Yet if you persevere you may be pleasantly surprised with the results

you achieve and for those who give it their all, you could end up delighted beyond

your expectations.

Chapter 4: Face your bogeyman

Earl Nightingale described the need for courage in "The Phantom Walk", a

chapter from his book "This is Earl Nightingale":

"Have you ever stopped to think about how much more people could have, know

and do if they would only try? When timidity, self-consciousness, and vague

memories of past failures all contrive to erect a phantom wall between us and the

things we would like to have or do, we need courage to leap or painfully clamber

over it and achieve our desires."

If you have ever tried any venture of your own before, you can be almost be

certain that fear of failure will raise its ugly head. Some people even fear making

investments with returns higher than the bank rate. They are suspicious and

consider them to be too risky.

Fear of failure can kill all your plans to advance and improve yourself unless you

do something about it. It can be parallelising. Fear of failure is like a disease that

enters your body and soon, rapidly spreads and destroys your energy and

enthusiasm. Unless you can master fear of failure, hold it down and put it into

perspective, you won't be able to proceed with any ambition to identify, grow and

build income-producing assets.

How can you deal with your fear of failure?

I can't help you handle your fear of failure. You've got to do it. You've got to find

a way to shrink your beast of fear of failure into a minnow. Only you can do that.

No book, consultant, DVD or workshop can do it for you. Only you can.




Yet we can learn from successful individuals who built businesses from scratch

such as Mervyn Niland who together with his wife, Beryl, started in their

backyard with small capital, a broomstick, a 5 gallon drum and made a hand

cleaner (their own recipe) which they called "Flight Hand Cleaner". They grew

this product through ignorance and action from "backyard to brand leader".

Mervyn recalls the lessons they learned along the way:

– Cultivate convenient deafness. Hear only what you want to hear.

– Don't take advice from all the well-meaning friends and family. They don't want

you to take risks and get hurt.

– Remember, no risks – no reward. The bigger the risk, the bigger the reward.

– The greatest tragedy of all is to risk nothing. When we risk nothing, we do

nothing, we have nothing, we are nothing.

Let's look at three areas for helping to conquer your fear of failure. I'm not saying

that these are fool proof but they will start you thinking on how you can make

changes in your own life and attitude. Here they are:

1 Don't take counsel of your fears. Keep your goal in mind. If you have made a

realistic assessment of how achievable your goal is and can feel it intuitively that

things are right, you need to go ahead.

2 Don't listen to well-meaning people like family or friends. This is the point that

Mervyn Niland makes. You need to be realistic and face reality but don't be put

off by people, especially those who have never ventured out of their comfort

zones.

3 Conquer your fear in bite-sized chunks. Eat the monster one slice at a time. Do a

small project first. See how it feels. Rather than sit around doing nothing you will

at least move forward and experience what it is like to take positive action in your

life. You may even feel a sense of excitement and exhilaration that you have

never felt before.

"Many things which look impossible from a distance become quite feasible once

we muster the courage to make an attempt," says Earl Nightingale. "There is

always a way to reach everything desirable.… Yes, we cheat ourselves of the

lives we could know, the things we could accomplish, the things we could have,

because we're afraid to try, to ask. If we but knew ourselves better and the nature

of the world, we would fear less and attempt much more."




Remember that fear of failure has one advantage. It keeps many people out of

areas of opportunity. The competition is less, the more you advance with your

life. Felix Dennis, one of Britain's wealthiest self-made entrepreneurs, said think

of fear not as the King Kong or of bogymen, but as a mare. A nightmare. He says

a horse can be tamed, bridled, saddled, harnessed and (eventually) ridden. "Thus

the nightmare of prospective failure provides you with the very opportunity you

are seeking. Not only does it restrain smarter people than yourself from becoming

rich – and there can only be so many rich people in the world – it affords you the

chance of increasing your confidence, both when you confront it and when you

master it."

As Dennis says, fear of failing in the eyes of the world is the single biggest

impediment to amassing wealth. If you are able to muster your courage then you

can open the door to opportunity and get out of the starting blocks to begin

changing your life for the better.

Chapter 5: Choosing your income-producing

asset

The pick is yours. Many income-producing assets are available for anyone who

wants to grow and build an asset that will produce income for them. Income-

producing assets range from property to new products and services, licensing,

investing in high-growth start-ups and even hiring out assets you already own but

are not used or under-used – your so-called "lazy" assets.

The challenge is for you to identify income-producing assets that you will find

enjoyable and that will produce the desired income for yourself. It's no use

labouring at something you don't like doing. You also have to be realistic about

the income-producing asset you choose to identify, develop and grow. Each asset

class requires different levels of investment, expertise to establish and run and

differing levels of risk. A further complication is market demand. You can't make

income from any asset unless there is a demand for the underlying product or

service.




Let's look at examples: property in an over-traded local market will not produce a

desired level of income. A small business selling delicatessen foods will not do

well in a local market where customers go for cheap fast foods.

What income-producing assets best suit your circumstances, passion, skills set

and pocket?

Two of the big income-producing assets are property and small business.

Property, for example, requires a sizeable investments such as for a deposit and

bond costs. You need enough money saved to enter the property market. Returns

will depend on the demand where your property is located. For example, you

might want to buy into a townhouse or flat to let it out in areas that are close to or

offer easy access to the central business district. You might also look for a "young

and vibey" area that offers lifestyle attractions such as restaurants, bars,

gymnasiums and so on, says property expert Jason Lee. In a young-and-upcoming

area for young professionals, rentals will be attractive but perhaps not so in a

middle or lower class family area where households are battling in a poor

economy. One person, in his 50s, has accumulated three properties, all earning

income for his retirement (and possible job loss) in modest but attractive areas

where there is a constant pool of good tenants.

Starting a small enterprise from an idea requires taking risk and a reasonable

amount of investment capital. You need business skills and domain expertise. By

domain expertise I mean the required market or industry know-how in a particular

field whether it be a restaurant, gardening equipment or the Internet. Returns can

be high. Compare the return you would receive from bank interest or dividends

paid annually. With a small business you are earning profit on monthly turnover

which is much higher.

Another source: licensing or royalties. Books, songs, publications or other

original works, patent royalties for an invention, trademark licensing fees for

characters or brands you've created.

Earnings from Internet advertising on a blog or website of your own can be

another source of income.

Then there are what is called "lazy assets". These could be anything that you have

in either your business or at home. For example, you might have an empty garage




at home that you could use to rent out for income. It then becomes an income-

producing asset. Think about other assets that are being unused in your home

including spare outside rooms and cottages. A small business can rent out space

after normal business hours to other small business owners such as those who take

yoga classes and modern dancing.

Investing in start-up companies, for example, in high-return sectors such as

medical and information technology are also forms of income producing assets.

These investments are highly risky but if you focus in this area you may have

specialized knowledge and expertise that you can you use to minimise the risk.

Such an investment may form only a small part of an income-producing asset

portfolio.

It's a personal choice on what you decide to invest your time and money in.

Choose wisely. It's not something that you can jump into and out of like a low-

interest bearing money market account that pays annual interest. A farmer with a

sizeable land area said that it had taken him five years to plant the correct money-

producing crops and if all goes well he will turn a profit for the first time in the

next two years. Overnight success in producing income is just not realistic. You

need to invest for the longer term. If you want to invest in a certain income-

producing asset, take time to get educated and equip yourself before you get your

feet wet. Your learning period may well take up to a year or more but preparation

is critical.

Chapter 6: Make a start with something small

If you don't do something about investing in an income producing asset, you will

never even feel what it is like to make money through your own initiative and

creativity. Don't let the opportunity pass you by. You can start small. This helps

you to understand the challenges of producing income. It also gives you an

appreciation of what gaps you may have in your know-how and skills.

Any business venture comes with its own challenges. If you have no experience,

you can easily fall into unexpected traps. That's why it pays to do your homework

before you start anything. Talk to others in the field, read up on what others have

done, watch videos on-line – get educated beforehand.

How do you go about investing in a small income producing asset?




Start by looking at what resources you have available. You may want to draw up

an inventory of your personal assets. These assets could include:

– Your home (flat, townhouse, cluster home, free-standing residential property)

– Your car (a liability but which can be turned into possible income)

– Spare storage space

– Skills you have accumulated over the years

– Equipment you could hire out

– Unused rooms or dwellings

These are just a few items to jog your memory. Make your own list; write down

as many potential assets as you can. If your assets are limited, think of those that

others may have that you can reuse or rent out for income.

The list of ways you can earn income depends on your experience, knowledge,

skills, assets and your imagination. I am hesitant to put down suggestions because

you may see the list and dismiss the ideas as not relevant. Rather come up with

your own ideas that are applicable to your circumstances. But if you'd like, here

are a few ideas to get you thinking about possibilities:

– Sell your knowledge. You could run classes on cooking, gardening, playing a

musical instrument, dancing, yoga, computer skills and even foreign languages.

– Sell your produce or gourmet foods at a local Saturday or farmers' market.

– Sell soaps or hand and body lotions. One couple came up with a honey and milk

lotion that they sell as hand and body lotions, moisturisers and even aftershave

balm. They sell at morning markets, retail outlets and online.

– Sell crafts and art. Home-made clothing, gifts, painting, toys, kitchen ware and

ornaments all can be sought-after items if made well. Morning markets, speciality

stores and online can all be outlets.

– Sell sown objects such as totes and bags, custom bedding, draperies and

upholstery cushions. Alterations and designed for wedding clothes and customer-

fit close could be in demand in your local area. More alterations work can be

obtained from people on diet programs who need the clothes tailored to fit their

new physique.

– Sublease space for other support of businesses. For example, an auto repair shop

could less space to a coffee vendor or sandwich shop. You may have space you

could rent out for events such as parties and company teambuilding functions.




– Rent out unused or "lazy" assets such as power tools, trailers, furniture and even

a spare garage, tool shed or cottage. One entrepreneur uses his trailer to transport

furniture across provinces. He is sought after because he takes such care with

these customers' goods, something which is lacking with the giant furniture

removal companies.

If you can use existing assets, you can minimise costs. It enables you to get your

feet wet, learning the ropes as you go along. This experience will be valuable for

any future ventures. Start now by identifying your "hidden" and "lazy" assets and

work out how you can make them produce income for you.

Your search for making money from assets may not necessarily happen overnight.

This is good. You don't want to rush into anything only to find out later that it's

not what you enjoy doing. That's why it's so important to do your homework.

Professional small businesses and entrepreneurs don't just jump into something

without research whether formal or informal. They explore various facets of the

opportunity they think will make money for them and come up with various

options or scenarios before they invest their valuables seed capital. This same

kind of rigorous investment discipline applies to existing small business owners

who may want to look for derivatives in the business. By derivatives I mean, for

example, if you are running a small computer business, you may want to look at

other sources of income such as servicing computers, providing monthly

maintenance contracts, offering training to local businesses in your area and even

hire out some of your retail space to other small businesses that have allied or

associated product lines. Evaluate any opportunity carefully before you start, even

obtaining a second or third opinions from a trusted adviser who can help you

identify flaws in your thinking so you don't have to waste time, money and effort

through unnecessary trial and error.

Chapter 7: Income from property

Some people love property. It's all they talk and think about. They usually have

several properties. Others are lukewarm about property. They prefer more

"exciting" investments in paper assets such as bonds, stocks and unit trusts or

mutual funds. A small percentage of people get stirred up by investing in their

own ideas such as products and services and turning them into viable business

ventures. Then there are those who see property as a roof over their heads,




something they are paying for and which will one day become something their

own.

Which one of these three categories do you fall into?

Let's look at some people who have invested in income-producing property assets

and enjoy what they are doing. All these are real cases but I'm not going to reveal

names and locations because of client confidentiality. These cases represent

various aspects of income-producing property investment to help you consider the

possibilities that property provides.

Before we start looking at the case studies there is a formula that you need to

consider: what do you really want? Why do you want it? What is your action

plan? These three questions seem a simple but when you look behind each one

they have a specific purpose, which relates to making decisions and choices about

income-producing property assets. Ignore them at your peril. Make sure you

answer them perfectly clearly before you get involved in any income-producing

property asset.

One case I'd like to share with you is of a woman who came to Johannesburg with

very little money in her pocket, two children who she has to support and a skills

set way out of the present job market. But she had other personal assets such as

stamina, determination and street smarts. Her idea was to rent a property and

attract borders and lodgers. Within the first year she had more than 10 people

staying on the property that she rented in a low-profile suburban area. In the

second and third year she branched out to an additional house and is looking for a

third. If anyone says it's impossible within about 18 months to make 1 million,

then you only need to look at this woman. Whatever you may say about

overcrowding, she has used other people's property to earn an income that other

people only dream about making in a lifetime. However, not many people have

the will to succeed and stamina to deal with so many people as she does. But

realistically speaking, the principle here is that even if you don't have property

that you own, you can rent out property and sub-let on a reasonable basis (not

necessarily crowd a house with more than 10 people).

A case I find interesting is that of a young surfer from Pinelands in the Western

Cape who had new-age ideas long before they became fashionable. But as he got

into his 30s he realised he had to make income and do something with his life. He




started a small painting business and bought a property in the really rough area of

Observatory at the time. But later Observatory became a fashionable suburb. He

cashed out by selling his property and bought a unit in Pinelands. Here he rents

out part of his property to single tenants who subsidise his larger home. Now, he

has bought a plot of land near a coastal village which he wants to turn into a back

packers establishment for international surfers. Property investment doesn't occur

overnight but happens through gradual steps.

Before we go on, you must be worrying about nightmare tenants. Well one

property owner in Sandton, Johannesburg, landed up with a nightmare tenant who

would not pay rent for five months. The property owner was too kind but

eventually had to do something about it and hired a specialist task force headed by

a large former rugby player who evicted the nightmare tenant together with the

local police force. Another way of protecting yourself against tenants from hell is

demanding a three-month deposit upfront to pay for any legal fees. By the way,

this property owner in Johannesburg lets out four units as well as having a guest

cottage for local and international visitors. The income he receives net is as good

as if not superior to those working in high-profile company jobs.

In the Western Cape almost everyone you speak to is invested in some way or

another in property. One coastal town I visit annually has virtually no

accommodation for holidaymakers because it is booked out in advance. Every

cottage, room and even garage has been converted into holiday accommodation.

At one place where we have stayed the retired couple make in 10 days what

would be an attractive salary for a person in their early thirties. Remember that

they rent out their holiday cottage year round, except perhaps in the cold and

rainy winter months, which allows them to never have any money worries.

In another city, a man who is in his mid-50s and holds a professional job, has

slowly built up a portfolio of four rental units including flats and townhouses.

While other people are concerned about losing their jobs, constantly upgrading

their skills and scrambling for income-producing ideas, this man has already

sewed up his retirement and never has to worry about income again in his entire

life. But it's not an overnight success story. He started small, saved up, bought one

unit at a time and over a 20-year period now has four separate sources of income-

producing assets.




A last example shows you how big some people think when it comes to property.

One property developer in a medium-sized city developed a complex of about 30

townhouse units. He sold all the units and then used the money to invest in a new

complex development with more than 40 units. What makes this stunning is that

he has not sold one of these new units. Instead, he has kept every single one and

gets 40 sources of income monthly. He is now in his late 50s and has no worries

and never needs to look back.

The similar situation exists with people I have spoken to about property including

commercial and even industrial units on the edges of major cities who have

acquired property over time and now have many units which are all income-

producing assets providing a monthly income. The thing is with property is that

not only do you get your income monthly but you can increase your income

annually. This means that you are always above inflation and can expand your

lifestyle.

Make no mistake property also has its traps, pitfalls and fatal flaws. Before you

invest in even one square metre of property, make sure you know what you are

getting into. If you want to begin your investment in property, then I would

recommend a basic primer "Fast-forward Your Retirement Through Property" by

Jason Lee. He has many years in the property industry and will show you how to

find the right deals, minimise risk and finance deals using a combination of bank

and private-investor finance.

Those three questions that I mentioned in the beginning, which actually make up a

formula are:

1 What do you really want?

2 Why do you want it?

3 What is your action plan?

The first question is designed to make you think about the results that you want.

The second question forces you to think about your "why". You need to be clear

on your purpose getting involved in investing in income-producing property

assets. The third question is where the talk stops. This is where you need to come

up with an action plan that can grow your idea for property investing into reality.

Without specific and planned actions, you won't get anywhere. If making income




from property appeals to you, be keen to explore ways how you, starting from

right where you are, can take advantage of income-producing property assets.

Chapter 8: The fallacy of the great idea

Having a great idea is not enough. Ideas have to be implemented to make income.

It's not possible to patent an idea. You can only patent your own method for

implementing an idea. Some people have never had a single brilliant idea in their

lives yet they have been able to produce income from other people's ideas. Take

any category of product from running shoes to toys and you'll find that there is

nothing stopping anyone from coming up with their own version as long as it is

not a duplicate or replica of an existing product.

Felix Dennis, the UK entrepreneur, says, "… I have lost count of the number of

men and women who have approached me with a "great idea", as if this, in and of

itself, was some passport to instant wealth. The idea is not a passport. At most, it

is the means of obtaining one."

An excellent example of this is Ray Kroc, of McDonald's frame, who did not

invent the idea of fast food. What he did was to recognise the potential in fast

food at the time. He implemented a simple five-point plan: standardise the food

and prices, franchise the outlets, produce the food swiftly in clean surroundings,

offer value for money and market relentlessly. It was the implementation of this

plan that turned a 52-year-old multi-shaker-mixers salesman with diabetes and

asthma into a billionaire.

Saying that the idea is not as important as the implementation of the idea helps to

clear the mistaken belief that all you need is a great idea and the money will start

rolling in. But it doesn't mean that the power of new business ideas should be put

down, scoffed at or belittled. New business ideas for products and services can

provide the inspiration for an income-producing asset. A new idea can be

powerful such as we have seen with Ray Kroc's McDonald's. Many thousands of

fast food outlets were being developed in the United States at the time including

those owned by the McDonald's brothers, from whom Kroc purchased his outlets,

yet the genius lay in Kroc's imagination. He developed a system that would make

fast food attractive for customers as well as franchise owners and ultimately the

McDonald's franchise corporation.




So what is implementation? If implementation is so important what does it

involve? Implementation means taking your idea, concept or notion and turning it

into a physical product or service. How do you do this? You start by developing a

prototype or sample of your product. You then need to take your prototype or

sample and test it in the real world. Some entrepreneurs might go for market

research but surveys and focus groups are notoriously unreliable predicting

market demand. That's why there has been a whole new revolution in thinking

from the Lean Start-up movement which advocates getting your minimal viable

product (MVP) out into the market as soon as possible so that you can do real-

time, real-life testing. When you have established that there is a niche and market

demand for your product, what comes next? This is where you need to do

extensive business planning to map out how you are going to produce your

product, how and where you are going to market it, through which distribution

channels you will sell it and how to sell your product or service. But there are also

two other things that are important. One is that you need to run a business to

make, distribute and sell a product or service. So you have to acquire business

skills to run a small venture otherwise your product or service won't get off the

ground or may be successful for a while and then land up smashed against the

rocks like a yacht in stormy seas. You've got to know about sales, gross profit,

margins, breakeven points, stock control, cash flow management as well as basic

financial management. But there's also the human elements of knowing how to

build and manage a team of people in your small business as it grows and deal

with customers and customer relations.

The second thing that is often overlooked is that you need what I call "domain

experience or expertise" to operate in a market or industry. What this means, for

example, is if you are starting a new food product you need to know about food

production, flavourings, colourants, preserving food, labelling and packaging.

Plus you would have to know about food distribution and how to deal with

customers in the food chain. So this means you also need to gain experience,

skills and have a plan to educate yourself on whatever market you wish to enter.

Yes, you can bridge this gap by bringing someone aboard who has had prior

experience in the industry or market place. But this is a dicey move because in

most cases you will be beholden to this individual and you never know how

competent that person is until you hire them and get them working at making

decisions for your business. But without the experience you will need to be




careful that the so-called "experts" that you bring into your business make the

right choices and decisions.

Let's take a real example of someone who took the idea and turned it into an

income-generating asset. Sara Kauss was a graduate who wasn't cut out for tax

auditing, according to Fortune magazine, but she decided to make a water bottle

that would be "cool" enough to convert users of plastic. Kauss always wanted to

be an entrepreneur but it wasn't until about five years after graduation that she

went back to her university to listen to a panel talk about the global clean-water

crisis. Sometime later she was on a hike with her mother. All she had for water

was a cheap, thin metal bottle that had warmed up in the sun. Suddenly, she got

the idea about creating a more upscale, fashionable, reusable bottle that would

keep the liquid cooled. But here's where implementation is so important. When

she got back home, she hired an outside designer, found a manufacturer in China

and within several months had her prototype. Her prototype was a double-

insulated, stainless-steel bottle in a single colour, ocean blue. Through clever

hustling she was able to find publicity and promotion on some important

platforms for her water bottle and to date has sold four million bottles. So there

we have it – someone who came up with an idea, developed an implementation

plan and made an income-producing asset for herself.

But if we look at that story as it is told in Fortune magazine we forget about other

important elements. Sara understood positioning. There are many water bottles on

the market made from materials such as glass and reusable plastic but how come

her bottle made from metal took off? Positioning. Sara understood the power of

positioning her product against others. If you look at a positioning matrix of what

was available on the market, she found the area all gap where water bottle

products had not been previously positioned effectively. This is what some may

call "blue ocean strategy". She took the trouble to hire a designer to make sure

that the product was well-designed. She found a manufacturers who was able to

bring the cost down. A good business decision. It provides a much higher margin.

Then, to take her positioning further she went for upmarket distribution outlets

such as Crate & Barrel, J. Crew stores, Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom. She also

got into Starbucks. But she has been choosy by not going into the discount stores

which don't align with her upmarket product positioning. By the way, the water

bottle now comes in a variety of fashionable colours.




One last thing before we close this section and that is people who come up with a

product but don't know how to market and sell it. This is one of the biggest

problems or obstacles for so many entrepreneurs. And it's not only the small

entrepreneur or business person. Large companies come up with new products

every year and they bomb within a year. What goes wrong? The problem is that

the market for products and services is highly competitive and contested. To

break through the noise and clutter, you have to know how to cut through the

noise to position your product in the mind of the consumer or prospect. It means

knowing your product and the benefits that it delivers and being able to

communicate this in a clear and powerful way. It's not about coming up with

headlines with puns in them to entertain. Leave that to the ponytails in advertising

agencies who want to win creative awards. As a founder or owner of a product or

service, you need marketing and selling that moves product. To do that, you have

to know the buying triggers and motivators of your potential customers and work

out how you are going to persuade them to buy. In short, you can have a fantastic

product but if you don't know how to close the deal, you will miss your

opportunity to produce an income-generating asset.

Chapter 9: Avoid the risks of developing a new

idea yourself

You would think that the big companies know more about innovation, taking new

business ideas and turning them into profitable products, then individual

entrepreneurs or start-ups. But according to the Harvard Business Review, several

studies show that between five, and as many as nine, out of 10 new products end

up being financial failures. A case in point is Polaroid that enjoyed a near

monopoly in instant photography when it went the wrong way around trying to

develop digital photography. The company used its in-house research to

manufacture its own high-quality product as it always at done. But Polaroid's first

digital offerings were expensive and didn't catch on. When Polaroid launched its

first digital camera, the PDC-2000, targeted mainly at commercial photographers

but also intended as a platform for entering the consumer market, its camera was

so expensive that it couldn't compete with digital cameras already available on the

market. Relying on the wrong innovation approach, according to the Harvard

Business Review, proved fatal for Polaroid, which finally filed for Chapter 11

bankruptcy court protection in October 2001.




The risk in developing a new business idea means that you have to be a pretty

sharp start-up founder or entrepreneur to make a success of developing a new

product or service. Even Lean Thinking introduced especially in the high

technology sector with its minimal viable product (MVP) is not a guarantee of

success. A minimal viable product simply means making or manufacturing your

product or software, putting it into the market as soon as you can and testing it in

real time to see how many orders you can secure. If your minimal viable product

doesn't work out you can "pivot" which simply means change in a different

direction and try again.

Another way that takes out the need to start a business to profit from a great idea

is licensing. Some people get excited about licensing. They are not only

professional inventors but people who enjoy coming up with new ideas. Yet

others are intimidated by the whole process and pursue licensing instead.

Licensing is not something for the amateur unless they are assisted by people in

the know. You can't just get into licensing. You need to know the basics of how to

register your idea, negotiate with potential companies who will manufacture and

sell your product and bring on patent attorneys where necessary.

What do you need to know about licensing so that if this appeals to you can

explore it further and use it to your advantage to produce income generating

assets through your new ideas?

An example of someone who has successfully licensed is Stephen Key. He started

out freelancing for toy manufacturers and eventually started producing his own

inventions. One of Stephen's products that he invented was a small indoor

baseball back board that was designed to look like a basketball player with his

arms outstretched. Ohio Art licensed the idea from him and sold over 1 million

Michael Jordan Wall Balls in the first year. Stephen went on to develop the

Rotating Label which provides information for products on the outer label and

when the label is spun around the container whatever is printed on the inner label

is viewed through a clear window. The rotating label is manufactured and sold in

countries around the world. Stephen received over 13 industry awards as a result

of this innovation and the benefits that the label offers to its users. Stephen was

also involved in developing the guitar pick called HotPicks which are sold in

10,000 stores worldwide.




Selling your intellectual property patent means that you have permanently

transferred ownership of your property to another person or company for an

agreed fee. Licensing means that you continue to own your own invention but you

rent out the rights to make, use or sell your invention. You can give an exclusive

licence to one party or a non-exclusive licence to more than one party. You can

also set a time limit on the licence. In exchange for the rights to your intellectual

property, you can charge a flat fee or collect a royalty for each unit sold, or

combination of both. Just remember that royalties are a much smaller percentage

than most people think they are. For first-time inventors they are often under 3%.

This is because the licensing party is taking a financial risk and has to

manufacture, market, advertise and distribute the product.

One of the first steps you need to take when coming up with a new idea or

invention is to check if there are similar products on the market. You need to be

careful that your invention is not so unique that it can't be found anywhere else.

As an expert noted, if you only have a niche market for your idea or invention,

your invention may be only solving a very small problem. You need mass appeal

otherwise your invention won't sell or at least not big enough to make a profit for

you and whoever takes on the manufacturing and selling of your invention.

The advantages of licensing is that the licensee assumes all of the business risks,

from manufacturing to marketing to stopping those who infringe on the product's

patents. However, you must understand that the odds of licensing success can be

low. A study showed that only about 13% of inventors who attempted to license

their invention were successful. The research was limited because it was only

based on people who responded to the study but it still gives an indication of how

competitive the market is for licensing inventions.

Let's quickly look at the process of coming up with an invention or new idea to its

availability on the market. The process involves:

– producing a prototype

– creating tooling or moulds

– mass-producing the product

– finding distribution

– collecting payments

– enforcing patent rights




Inventors Digest, the invention magazine for idea people, says it is important to

keep good records about your idea in case some day they may be the backup you

need to prove your idea is yours. You need to get a bound notebook and record in

a professional manner everything you do with your invention. Record the name of

every person you talk to, including the date and brief recap of the conversation.

Also staple into the notebook receipts of materials you have purchased to build

prototypes. Record ideas you have for other invention so that you don't forget

them. Have a trusted friend witness your notebook periodically. Your notebook

will become your invention diary that will be a very valuable tool as you develop

your idea.

It is also important to build a model. There is no need to be too sophisticated at

first. But no matter how simple your idea, you have to prove it works. It's also

important to try out invent yourself because once your product is on the market,

you can be sure competitors will try to improve on it. You should also have your

invention evaluated by a non-biased professional. There are non-profit inventors

associations that offer an invention evaluation.

If, despite all the potential risks involved in starting a business to develop and sell

your idea, you want to go ahead and do it yourself then you need to get guidance

on developing a new product from scratch. You will need to educate yourself

about business basics and finding a system or roadmap to help you in the process.

The website ideaaccelerator.co.za offers a proven process to show you how to go

about new product development step by step without having to reinvent the

wheel.

You will also need to do a patent search and even get hold of a patent attorney to

search local an international patents. You will receive a patent research report that

should give you an opinion of the patentability of your particular invention or

idea.

When you have filed a provisional patent application (PPA) you will be able to

state that your invention is "Patent Pending", which can help you keep

competitors at bay. Your PPA provides the same legal protections as a regular

patent and for significantly less money and waiting time. When you have your

PPA it will be time to organise your invention information into a sell sheet. The

sell sheet is a one-page advertisement that describes the main benefits of your




invention. It will include diagrams or drawings of your invention and your contact

information. A marketer or graphic designer as well as a copywriter can help you

create a winning cells sheet at a reasonable price. If you hire any such suppliers

make sure they sign a nondisclosure agreement (NDA) before you provide any

invention information to them.

A serious side to inventions is to ensure that you comply with the requirements of

any consumer product safety requirements and testing. The safety rules governing

children's products are especially strict. Visit websites to determine the consumer-

safety rules that apply to your product before having a prototype made. When you

have a prototype you will need to submit it to a lab for a product design

evaluation report which will include a list of mandate retesting that needs to be

done.

Licensing, when it works for the person who came up with the invention or ride

idea, can be a great source of income. John Janning of Bellbrook, Ohio, in the

United States was asked by his wife to find the bad bulb in a string of Christmas-

tree lights. Inspiration struck and he came up with a way to keep tree lights lit

even if one burnt out. Jenning, a retired engineer who holds dozens of patents,

thought the idea had potential but did not believe he could do the marketing. So

after he obtained a patent for his lights, he researched manufacturers and found

one that was willing to mass-produced his product and sell it. The terms were

$30,000 upfront, plus a royalty of 5% on future sales.

If you are intrigued by making money from licensing your invention ideas, you

may want to begin your own journey by starting with a problem. You need to find

a problem that a large group of potential customers have so that you have high

enough demand to be profitable. Listen to other people when they complain,

speak to existing customers about products available on the market and get in

touch with your own problems that you experience from the products and services

you use. Problems need not be major. Think of the Windshield Wonder which

cleans windshields from the inside of a car. Many car owners complain about not

being able to effectively clean the inside of their windshields and this product

solves the problem. To get your first idea going, look for problems by becoming a

problem finder and then develop solutions that make you a profitable problem

solver and solutions provider.




Chapter 10: Grow one income asset at a time

When you start your search for income-producing assets, you may well be

presented with one or more opportunities that all seem attractive. Which one do

you choose? You have limited resources and time which means you need to select

what will work best for you and that will move you towards a realistic income-

producing asset.

There is always a temptation to do more than one thing. But with limited time and

resources you could quickly end up with a scattered approach and even burn

yourself out. Jumping from one project to the next can leave you confused and

frustrated. You won't really know if something will work until you have carried it

through and tried everything you possibly can to make it a success.

How do you go about starting and developing an income-producing asset and

stick with it?

The simple answer is to select the project that you are most passionate about. You

also need to choose the project that will give you the best chance of success in the

marketplace. A product or service may seem attractive to you but unless it is

attractive to potential customers who buy, you don't have a business. Ultimately,

you need to select the project that will give you the best possible return.

Each income-producing asset requires different levels of effort, investment, time

and educational training. If you, for example, want to find and acquire a property

income-producing asset, it may mean months or even longer researching the

market, looking at properties and even taking a seminar or course to educate

yourself on what properties to look out for, how to go about financing a property

and how to deal with property contracts. Such an undertaking is not to be taken

lightly. Investing in anything is a serious business and if you don't give it the

seriousness that it deserves you only have yourself to blame.

You need to watch out for becoming easily bored with projects and moving on to

something else that you find more exciting. You could quickly end up with

several uncompleted projects that have wasted your time, energy and resources.

That's why it's so important to have a single-minded focus on the project or

investment that you have chosen to turn into an income-producing asset for




yourself. You will need the self-confidence and energy to stay the course with

your project or business venture. You will need it when you find out that

competitors are stronger than you thought, that the demand that you projected or

estimated isn't nearly as optimistic as you believed, that the advertising you are

doing is not attracting potential new customers and the cash flow that you

projected falls far short of your real requirements.

It may not be the information that a would-be investor in an income-producing

property or business wants to hear but it's important to be aware that commercial

ventures often don't turn out as expected. This is where you need to determine if

you should continue or throw in the towel. One solution comes from the lean

start-up philosophy which is to come up with a new direction and "pivot". This

simply means that you look at all the available options, perhaps even

brainstorming them, and change direction towards what new market research may

tell you is a more profitable avenue. You should keep on trying but don't hammer

your head against a brick wall. Find an alternative route. If you are really stuck,

get a second or third opinion. This is why it is important to set up your own

network or ecosystem of resources such as your bank manager, attorney,

accountant, financial adviser, an informal board of advisers, suppliers,

promotional experts, subcontractors and people outside your core business but in

related fields such as people you meet through belonging to business

organisations, chambers of commerce and even technology hubs.

Remember too that life and business often involves a series of mistakes. You need

to constantly self-correct, to get back up after your falls and head again towards

your goal. A missile reaches its target through constantly correcting errors caused

by weather and other conditions. Mistakes and failures actually lead you towards

your goal if you do something about them.

If the income-producing asset you are developing suddenly hits a roadblock or

doesn't seem to be going anywhere, perhaps it's time to think about repurposing or

finding new uses or markets for your business idea or even property. As Michael

Michalko in "Cracking Creativity" says "Fortunes have been made in business by

people finding the latent potential in a subject and recycling it into something

else." A fascinating example is the one involving the Jacuzzi brothers who

invented a whirlpool bath as a treatment for people with arthritis. Michalko says

they sold a few, but essentially did little with the invention until several years

later they discovered new potential in their invention, modified the design and




recycled it into a luxury bath. If you want to examine your income-producing idea

for latent potential to transform it into something different, use the SCAMPER

checklist of questions that help you to substitute, combine, adapt,

magnify/modify, put to other uses, eliminate and rearrange/reverse. For more

information see "Cracking Creativity: The Secrets of Creative Genius".

In this special report I have showed you various ways to create, start and develop

income-producing assets. What I have avoided is to recommend any specific

income-producing asset. That is up to you taking into consideration your

particular circumstances and inclination. If you need advice, consult with a

reputable business adviser, an accountant or lawyer, depending on your

preference and the nature of your issue, problem or challenge. The only thing I

would advise is not to get involved in any "biz op" scheme. When people are in

difficult circumstances they can believe what they want to believe. The temptation

to believe people who claim fast sales or profits can become too strong. A

warning: even top business people get taken for a ride as did some a few years

ago by a seemingly legitimate business opportunity backed by prominent business

people. It turned out to be a pyramid scheme. Any promise of fast and easy

money should be an instant red flag. Walk away. No, run. It can ruin you.

It may be more challenging and difficult to start something of your own whether it

be in property, creating a small venture, using "lazy" assets or even licensing. But

you will have full control over putting your plan together and making it work.

You will also understand exactly how your business model makes or generates

income for you not like the business opportunities out there that often don't make

sense when people deliberately avoid transparency. Do your own research or

homework beforehand. Get educated in whatever market or industry you want to

enter. Pay your dues in hard work, experience and a hard-won education and you

will stand a far greater chance of reaching your goal of realising income-

producing assets that can serve you in the years ahead.




About the author

Chesney Bradshaw is the founder of

ideaaccelerator.co.za, an on-line resource for

people who have the fire to innovate. He has

worked with start-ups and businesses in

publishing, websites, public relations,

photography, fishing, diving, consulting and

business broking. His own ventures have been

in distribution and publishing. Chesney has

consulted to small and medium-sized

businesses as well as having owned and

managed over five of his own businesses.

Qualified in business management,

marketing, sales and public relations, he offers innovative insights, advice

and information for business owners and managers. Chesney has

published several business books to assist startups, small independent

businesses and professional consultancies. His publicity experience

includes more than 20 years, promoting large and small businesses.

Chesney holds an MBA degree from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh,

Scotland, and a degree in Communications Science from the University of

South Africa. He is an Accredited Public Relations Practitioner (APR),

Public Relations Institute of Southern Africa (PRISA).




Other Titles from Bell & Cray Publishing

Secrets of Generating Ideas For Profit: how to quickly and easily get viable

business ideas by Chesney Bradshaw. Published by Bell & Cray Business Books.

Seven-day crash course: Turn Your Idea into a Viable Business by Chesney

Bradshaw. Published by Bell & Cray Business Books.

How to Promote your Business through Blogging by Chesney Bradshaw.

Published by Bell & Cray Business Books.

Cash Flow Survival Guide for Small Independent Businesses by Chesney

Bradshaw. Published by Bell & Cray Business Books.

Marketing Lessons from Ozzy Osbourne by Chesney Bradshaw. Published by Bell

& Cray Business Books.

Secrets of Generating Publicity by Chesney Bradshaw. Published by Bell & Cray

Business Books.

Selling Strategies for Start-ups, Small Business Owners and Professional

Services Firms: Proven Sales Ideas, Methods, and Techniques by Chesney

Bradshaw, Published by Bell & Cray Business Books.




Courses and workshops

Business Idea Clinic. A confidential one-on-one face-to-face session or

online cloud-based virtual meeting that shows you the steps you need to

take to develop your most promising idea. Advice, guidance and

suggestions cover business idea generation, feasibility studies, market

research, business planning and marketing and selling. You will end the

session with a clear action plan for commercialising your business idea for

a product or service.

Business Idea Generation Workshop. For anyone who would like to

generate business ideas and turn them into viable products or services.

Presented by Chesney Bradshaw, Masters of Business Administration,

Herriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK, and founder of Idea Accelerator.

Content covers idea generation, product development, market testing,

evaluation and market introduction.




Copyright © 2013 by Bell & Cray Business Books

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or

transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, or mechanical

including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and

retrieval system.

Published by:

Bell & Cray Business Books

PO Box 786078

Sandton, 2146

Johannesburg, South Africa




Website: http://www.ideaaccelerator.co.za

E-Mail: Visit us on the web at [email protected]


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