How to make a million and preserve it

To all Malaysian do get a copy of “Personal Money” magazine today. Why? Because there is one inspiring article in there with this title “How to make million….and preserve it”. All are about Malaysian who become millionaires in their respective field with their own talent or skill. Millionaires are not born but instead they are being develop.

In that article it says that this year's millionaires come form diverse backgrounds. One was a cleaner who earned £2.70 an hour, one was a helper at a char kuey teow stall at the tender age of 10. One started her career as a bank teller right after form five, earning RM400 a month. One made his million from the Internet over three years while another turned RM5,000 into a million over a decade. Some leveraged on their talents, while others invested their way to a million.

But all of them had one thing in common – they focused on their goals. Go out now and get the copy today and read on to find out how they hit their targets and here is what the experts have to say if you wanna be a millionaire one day.

1. Think again. Do you really want a million ringgit? “For a lot of people, a successful business is one that allows them work-life balance and a decent lifestyle,” says Jeremy Hand.

2. Assess your motives. “Far too many people think that [entrepreneurship] is about money when it’s really about building a good business,” Nigel Brown says. “Whenever you want to start a company, do it with passion,” Stefan Glaenzer says. This enterprise will become your life; you’d better like it.

3. Find out more. Attending a workshop or training session run by experienced entrepreneurs will give you a sense of the reality of running a business, Robert Tull says.

4. Keep it private. At least while you get things going. “Don’t focus on convincing other people or external investors,” Glaenzer says. “Just work on your idea… in the evening or at night… so that you have more than just an idea.”

5. Start small. How much funding you need to begin will depend on your business; generally it’s less than you think, Brown says. Banks, family and friends are all potential sources of support, Hand says. “As a young entrepreneur you’re not likely to find an institutional angel investor so look for one in your current network.”

6. Not everyone’s a critic. But you need one. “Your friends and family… will say you’ll be great, but what you need is someone who will ask ‘Is that a viable idea? Do the figures show that you will make money from it?’,” Tull says.

7. Get your structure right. Is it 50-50 between you and your co-founder? What will you do if someone else gets equity? “You have to think about ownership right from the start,” Brown says. “Assume that you will be wildly successful. If you don’t, you will be caught out if you are.”

8. Plan. “You need a clear idea of where you want to take the business,” Hand says. Once you know where you want to go, reverse engineering can help you to get there.

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Meet the experts

Jeremy Hand is vice-chairman of the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (www.bvca.co.uk).

Robert Tull is a senior enterprise awareness manager for Business Link in the East of England (www.businesslink.gov.uk).

Nigel Brown is the founder of N W Brown Group, which includes the Great Eastern Investment Forum, a business angels organisation (www.geif.co.uk).