The other day I received an email from the very successful businessman discussing advertising opportunities on his blog and why people should put their money in him, and it reminded me of something a fellow bond trader once told me. “You know you’ve made it when you don’t have to chase the money, the money will be chasing you”
This isn’t to say that there is anything wrong with working hard to earn money, it’s only to say that the top echelon of successful people have investors waiting in line to give them money. They have proven to their community that they are so influential or good at what they do, that investing in that person, his skill, company , or ideas is a good financial move. In domain investment, we are constantly in search of buyers. Investors with the best names on the other hand, turn away offers every day. They have reached a level where they can wait for the right price to come.
Perhaps the most common form of money chasing is in actors or athletes. They are in the eye of millions of people and top athletes and actors can merely pick and choose which companies they would like to work with. Another example would be Fred Wilson. He is one of the most successful venture capitalists in the world. It is an honor to have him invested in your company. Most venture capitalist boast of the successful companies that they are invested in. Fred Wilson is one of the rare examples of instances where companies can boost their validity and importance by saying that Fred Wilson is an investor.
We can even use the point on websites and blogs. You know you are successful when you can set the advertising rates based on the maximum price point that there isn’t a line waiting to advertise. Techcrunch requires you spend at least $5000 to advertise on their site. Meanwhile, most of the world has an empty 125 X 125 block begging for advertising. In our industry the Big 4 that have “made it” and have plenty of people wanting to advertise would be Elliot, DnJournal, The Domains, and DNWire. All deserving due to their longevity and breaking news and information. I might add that Morgan Linton is next in line for person that money will be chasing.
My goal in business is to get that point where other people want to invest in me. I’m not there yet but I realized early on that if you concentrate on a niche you stand a better chance than being good at many things and blending in with the crowd. Once I’ve achieved that level of success in a certain area I believe it is possible to take those finances, trust, and notoriety and expand it to other bordering niches. A perfect example was today’s article over at Elliots about Tabcom. They became pioneers in the online pet industry and expanded that into the gardening realm. A business that has been closely linked for many years. From the gardening world they expanded into the “green” industry. Again, another closely related business. They now have money chasing them and can use it to further expand and create.
All this isn’t to say that that the successful person ever stops chasing money. Their drive is most likely what got them to where they are and it becomes almost impossible to stop the desire for more money. People like Mark Cuban, Keith Richman, and Elon Musk, can never stop because they love developing and creating. There is only one thing that changes when the money starts coming after you? You can make even more, quicker and easier.
You might not be there yet but I know you’ll get there. 😉