Wealth Rule #2 Sell it, Then Buy It….And the Lemonade Story….

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Johnny and Jerry decide to sell lemonade.

Johnny asks his mom to borrow $20 for supplies.

Thrilled to see the entrepreneurial spirit in her little boy, the mother says "Sure. in fact, Johnny I'll drive you to the store and help you pick out the supplies."

Jerry rides his bike to his rich uncle and says, "Uncle Pete, can I borrow twenty dollars to start a lemonade stand?"

Uncle Pete says, "Where are the customers?"

Jerry says, "I don't know, but me and Johnny want to sell lemonade and be rich.  Right now, Johnny's mother is driving him to the store to help him with the supplies."

Uncle Pete smiled and said, "Jerry, Remember this rule in business. Sell it First, then Buy it."

Jerry thanked his uncle for the advice and hopped on his bike and drove to the local baseball game. There he sees a crowd of fifteen year old boys with their parents sweating in the hot, summer sun.

He walks up to the coach standing in the shade.

"Hey, mister, would you like some lemonade?"

The coach says, "Sure, how much?"

Johnny says, "I don't know, how much do you and your players want?"

The coach says, "Well, there are 20 guys on each team so I'd say 3 gallons should do it."

Johnny says, "No problem, I'll give you a discount. That will be $20.

The coach hands him a twenty dollar bill and says, "Can you come here every weekend?"

I first heard this story after my first failed business. I was distraught after the company I was representing declared bankruptcy, and I was forced to call my customers to report the bad news. I was humiliated and upset.

After I settled down, I called an old friend and very successful businessman.

The first thing he asked was, "What did you learn?" and  he told me something I'll never forget.

"Mark, businesses may fail, but YOU will only fail if you quit on yourself. Take the lessons you learn as a gift and don't ever let ANYONE steal your dreams."

He then told me the Lemonade Story and I've used the Lemonade Story to build my own businesses ever since.

The essence of the Lemonade Story is this. If you have a business, you don't need to shell out loads of money to get started. In fact, the opposite is true.

Sell It, then Buy it.

Here are some examples.

Options on Real Estate. Putting big down payments on real estate will only hurt if deals turn bad. Don't do it and do what the rich do. Put an option to control a large parcel of real estate.

Sell an annual contract. In the lemonade story, Jerry found the decision maker and sold him a long-term contract without any supplies, or investment or overhead. This means exponential growth and very little risk for the business owner.

Pre-sell memberships or subscriptions. I use various membership websites to give both value to my members and generate revenue. it yields passive income and means I build the product it once and repackage it and sell it over and over.

Sell Limited/Unlimited Access for a premium. Restaurants know that by selling "All You Can Eat" Buffets, the numbers of increased customers will defray the cost of service or production.

And one of the most important secrets to Growing Your Business is this:
ALWAYS MONEY IN BEFORE MONEY OUT.