Tom's Blog

Debbie from our School of Wealth Strategy asks the following question:

Q: Tom, what do you mean when you say we should build a business around our investing?

A: This is the question of all questions and gets to the core of ProVision and what we are all about. Let's start with a little background.

Historically, all great fortunes have been built in business. Whether it was Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Bill Gates or Warren Buffett, all great fortunes have business as their foundation. You really don't hear about great fortunes being made by investors. Ever wonder why? It's because business done right provides the most leverage, greatest velocity, and least amount of risk of any money-making activity.

I come from a long line of entrepreneurs. My father owned a printing company, his father owned an insurance agency. I learned early on in my life what it was like to run a business. But my father, while a great printer and a wonderful person, was not a great businessman. So I have spent my life learning what makes the difference between a great business and an average business. Why do some businesses grow and grow while others seem to hit a ceiling past which they can't grow?

The answer to this question lies in the foundation of the business. Small businesses stay small when the owner spends his or her time running the business. Effectively, these people own their job. They have no time to work on the business because they are always working in the business. The key is how to get the owner out of the business operations and focused on the business growth. The answer is for the business to create a strategy and a set of systems that implement that strategy. Then, and only then, will the business owner have time to grow the business. When the strategy and systems are in place, the owner only has to manage the systems, not the people. The owner isn't doing the work, the employees and other team members are doing the work.

In case you think this is a fantasy, let me explain that I have done this with my accounting firm. My partner, Ann, is a systems genius. My expertise is in strategy. So once I created the strategy for the firm, Ann created the systems. The result is that Ann doesn't spend any time at all on the accounting firm and I spend about 3 hours a week. If it can be done with a professional services firm, it can be done with any business.

So, back to Debbie's question. What does this have to do with investing? I have discovered that the business principles of strategy and systems can be applied to investing. Investors who create a business of investing, by developing a strategy and implementing systems, can enjoy the same results enjoyed by a successful business owner, i.e., higher profits, more growth, less time spent on investing, total control over their investing and less risk.

These are the principles I teach on T. Harv Eker's stage, Chris Howard's stage and Robert Kiyosaki's stage. These are the principles I have followed to create an accounting firm where I only spend 3 hours a week managing the firm. And these are the principles I follow in my real estate investing.

The good news is that Ann and I have decided to share all of our strategies and systems with you. And we have made it as inexpensive as possible. How? Through our School of Wealth Strategy and our School of Tax Strategy; two inexpensive subscriptions that each include hours of training materials and a monthly coaching call with me. To sign up, simply go to http://www.provisionwealth.com/products. It's fast and it's easy.

We want to share more of our strategies and systems, so we are continually adding more sessions to our Schools. The response from our current members has been fantastic.

Thanks to Debbie for asking this question.

Warmest regards,

Tom