What Would Admiral Stockdale Do?

The only memorable moment from the 1992 Vice Presidential debate was when Admiral Stockdale, who was running as Vice President with Ross Perot, raised the question, “Who am I, why am I here?”  VIDEO:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1w3FgB0Ohc

In keeping with his spirit, my name is Chris Koomey, the Business Godfather.  For over two decades I have helped growing companies as a business attorney, business consultant and business owner.  My passion is helping people take their dreams and make them a reality.

As Business Godfather, my job is to provide guidance, offer protection and serve as a mentor to those who have pledged their loyalty and support by engaging productively in discussions on this site and in person.  I will be a good role model and bring forth lessons from our collective experience.

Right now most of my efforts are focused on helping individuals generate more income and prepare for retirement through the Online Trading Academy Washington DC Metro and Online Trading Academy Baltimore.  LINK: http://www.tradingacademy.com/washingtondc/  We have helped thousands of students learn about how they can generate income and grow wealth in the financial markets including stocks, bonds, options, futures and FOREX.

I have helped information technology companies grow including ThorBen Consulting, LLC, my wife Katrina’s company, which delivers enterprise solutions for growing businesses and provides trusted technology professionals for SAP and other enterprise system integration planning, design, implementation and maintenance projects.  LINK:  www.thorben.us In the 1990’s, I helped set up and supported hundreds of companies as a business attorney.  These businesses ranged from sophisticated IT companies, to restaurants, to shoe repair shops and many businesses in between.  The common factor was the passion of the owners to achieve their dreams.

Now most of my personal time is spent coaching youth sports including baseball, basketball and football so you may learn a thing or two about coaching as well.

Why is the Business Godfather here?

Because we need to take care of ourselves but can’t do it all by ourselves.  Businesses are getting squeezed.  Workers are happy to have a paycheck even if they won’t be getting a raise.  Retirement plans are in shambles.  America is trying to find its way in this New Normal economy.  And we will.

Younger workers know they need to treat themselves like a business to make their own raises and to have a real retirement plan.  LINK: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/young-workers-retirement-hopes-grow-bleaker-amid-economic-downturn/2012/11/05/3ea7ed3c-13c1-11e2-ba83-a7a396e6b2a7_story.html

In life as in trading, you can choose to be a victim or to get on the right side of the trade.  As business owners and people who treat ourselves like a business we are not going to sit back and accept mediocre results.  We will keep striving until we get beyond exceptional results.

Welcome to the Business Godfather!

Turning Every Day into Veterans Day in Washington DC and Baltimore

With Veterans Day upon us, I want to spend some time reflecting on how we can show our appreciation for the men, women and families who serve, protect and sacrifice for the liberties and security that we cherish and enjoy here in the United States.

Now we can’t change the world but we certainly can clean up our little corner of it through out business and personal efforts.  One of the primary scourges of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan is unemployment.  While the general US population’s unemployment rate is just shy of 8% at last tally unemployment for returning veterans is over 9% and over 20% for disabled returning veterans.

Since 2010 I have sponsored over $1 million in scholarships for disabled veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan through the Project VETS (Veterans Educated in Trading Skills) Scholarship Program. LINK:  www.projectvets.com  These scholarships have funded education programs for over 50 veterans focused on generating income and building wealth through the financial markets at the Online Trading Academy Washington DC Metro & Baltimore.  LINK: http://www.tradingacademy.com/washingtondc/

Project VETS scholarships are dedicated to establishing dignity through self reliance in the financial markets for our disabled veterans returning from Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom – Afghanistan.  Project VETS scholarship recipients have the opportunity to develop multiple streams of income as they learn to treat themselves like a business.  Whether through time, money or a constant sense of accomplishment, trading provides the opportunity for the realization of freedom and is a perfect fit for our returning veterans.

Josh Himan, one of our Project VETS recipients, generates income through trading and is looking to apply his trading skills with a local hedge fund. Josh is confined to a wheel chair but he is not letting that hold him back.  If you want to find out how you can help Project VETS go to www.projectvets.com You have the power to impact a returning vets life as well.  If you are a business owner, actively recruit some returning veterans.  Serve as a mentor.  Provide seed money and guidance for a veteran entrepreneur.  Inspire those around you to help our returning veterans.  Trips to baseball games and discounts on coffee are appreciated but you have the power to do more.

As an individual, go through your closets and donate clothes that you have not worn in over a year.  Dig out those gadgets and toys that are gathering dust in the basement.  Uncover the untapped gold mine of stuff in your house.  There are numerous reputable organization that can monetize that gold mine to help our returning veterans.

Military Order of the Purple Heart:  http://www.mophsf.org/ Full List of Charitable Military Organizations:  http://www.military.com/spouse/military-life/military-resources/military-charity-associations.html

Veterans of Foreign Wars:  http://www.vfw.org/Contribute/

We have an immense abundance of ways we can improve our corner of the world by helping our returning veterans beyond a token thank you.

Let me know ideas you have for helping returning veterans so we can turn every day into Veterans Day here in the Washington DC & Baltimore Metro region.

You, Inc. – Beyond Marketing

Whether we are focused on You Incorporated (LINK: http://www.amazon.com/You-Inc-Art-Selling-Yourself/dp/B003UHUBFY or http://www.amazon.com/You-Inc-John-McGrath/dp/0732276365)  or as a Free Agent Nation (LINK: http://www.amazon.com/Free-Agent-Nation-Working-Yourself/dp/0446678791, individual responsibility for careers and economic well being is and will continue to be a recurrent theme in the 21st century as companies and governments show less inclination and ability to provide for individuals well being.  Most people realize, absent a legacy job in the government or at a big company, they need to be promoting and developing themselves as their own personal business.  Here is a great article on people becoming solopreneurs:  http://www.nationaljournal.com/next-economy/you-inc--20120607

The Business Godfather takes this theme and goes beyond simply generating income through your efforts as a consultant or employee.  As we look at ourselves as complete economic entities – businesses that drive our own net worth and economic future – we need to realize we can make money from our efforts but we can also make money from our assets.

No matter how you slice it, there are only 7 ways that I have figured a business (including you) can build income and wealth:

1.    Generate Income from Your Efforts

2.    Generate Income from Efforts of Others

3.    Generate Income as Profit Margin from Buying and Selling Commodities

4.    Generate Income from an Interest in an Asset (royalties, rents, etc.)

5.    Own an Appreciating Asset

6.    Create an Appreciating Asset

7.    Make Yourself or Your Business Attractive to Others

We will have separate post that goes into this in more detail but these are the basic ways to generate income and grow wealth in a business and for yourself.

As we look at ourselves as a business, we want to learn from other more successful business owners.  The most successful business owners I have worked with did not have just one business stream of income.  The most successful business owners I have worked with might own a restaurant, but they also had rental real estate, they might have ownership in another business or generate income through other financial interest.  The most successful business owners I have worked with have at least 5 streams of income within a single business or through multiple businesses.

Let’s look at how this might work for a person with a 40 hour per week job.  The most obvious stream of income comes through your efforts as an employee.  You can develop a stream of income through a second job, by performing odd jobs or through monetizing a hobby like selling crafts at a farmers market on the weekends.  You can use your 401k as an income stream for retirement and actively trade in an IRA or taxable account as a fourth stream of income.  A fifth stream could be owning an appreciating an asset such as a house.

Not so far-fetched for most people but before you start patting yourself on the back and falling into the slumber of complacency, the key is to make sure that your additional streams of income are actually working for your benefit and not just sitting there growing moss or generating income for others and not you.

By developing multiple streams of income you will protect yourself from overreliance on a single stream of income.  Diversification of income streams is how you are going to build a happy, healthy and growing business.  If you remember the go-go Internet days, one of the hottest companies was Iomega whose claim to fame was a single product – the Zip drive.  Those of you brought up in the digital age won’t appreciate how cool the Zip drive was.  LINK: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zip_drive  Instead of waiting all night for your tape drive to back up your data (complete with a lot of whirring and spinning), all you had to do was put a Zip disc in the Zip drive and your data was backed up in a matter of minutes.  Awesome, time saving, a must have product – until USB technology and writable cds allowed you to copy data even faster.  And Iomega, with its single stream of income, fell into the dustbin of history.  This story has played out thousands if not millions of times.  Don’t let it happen to you and your business.

How many productive streams of income do you or your business have? 

How are you diversifying your streams of income and sources of wealth in your business – personal or professional?