secrets of building multi million dollar businesses book kho tài liệu bách khoa

#1 Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires National Best Selling Author of Master The Strategies Of Highly Profitable Businesses Do You Have A Burning Desire To Build A Very Successful Business Of Your Own? Do You Want To Create The Financial Abundance, Freedom And Lifelong Security That Your Very Own Business Will Bring? In This Book, Millionaire Entrepreneur & Success Coach, Adam Khoo Will Reveal To You His Secrets Of Building A Multi-million Dollar Business Starting From Scratch The Best Part Is That You Don’t Need To Have Lots Of Capital To Invest, A Prestigious Degree Or Years Of Experience Whether You Are Just Starting Out In Business Or An Experienced Entrepreneur, This Book Will Give You Powerful Ideas And Strategies That Will Multiply Your Business Sales And Profits Exponentially What You Will Master In This Book • • • • • Adam Khoo • • • • Why 90% Of Businesses Fail…And How The 10% Succeed The Mindset & Habits Of Successful Entrepreneurs Develop The Million-dollar Idea That Will Blow Away The Competition A Step-by Step Guide On Building A Business System That Works Without You How To Start A Business With Very Little Capital And Turn In Millions Within 18 Months Build A Powerful Brand & Establish Yourself As The Market Leader Powerful Marketing Strategies That Will Kill The Competition Build A Championship Team Of Employees And Partners Master The Art Of Cash Flow… How To Roll Millions With Just A Few Thousand Dollars Adam Khoo How to Take An Idea from Startup to A Million Dollars in 18 Months… With Minimal Capital #1 National Best Selling Author of Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires Secrets of Building Multi-Million Dollar Businesses How to Take An Idea from Startup to A Million Dollars in 18 Months With Minimal Capital Adam Khoo Published by Adam Khoo Learning Technologies Group Pte Ltd 10 Hoe Chiang Road #01-01 Keppel Towers Singapore 089315 All right reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of Adam Khopo Learning Technologies Group Pte Ltd This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser Copyright ©2008 by Adam Khoo Learning Technologies Group Pte Ltd ISBN: 978-981-08-1478-6 Cover, Design & Layout by: Seven Gallery Design & Consultant Edited by: Betty L Khoo Project Coordinator: Chris Shia Illustration by: Teo Aik Cher Printed in Singapore ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR Teo Aik Cher is an educator whose words and illustrations have been featured in numerous publications He has illustrated for Adam Khoo’s best-selling books ‘Secrets of Millionaire Investors’ and ‘Nurturing the Winner & Genius in Your Child’; the Speak Good English booklet ‘Speak Well, Be Understood’; illustrated and wrote for the first and second Singapore Kindness Movement books His cartoons are also featured regularly in the Chinese Newspapers Lian He Zao Bao where he has a weekly weekend column He is the author and illustrator of two best-selling books ‘Why Procrastinate?’ and ‘Why Take Action?’ which have been featured in Teenage magazine He was also interviewed on 938 Live Aik Cher is also a Graduate of Conrad’s Wealth Academy Pattern Trader Tutorial He can be reached at teo.aikcher@gmail.com Also By Adam Khoo I Am Gifted, So Are You! Master Your Mind, Design Your Destiny How to Multiply Your Child's Intelligence Nurturing the Winner & Genius in Your Child Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires Secrets of Millionaire Investors Clueless in Starting a Business DISCLAIMER This book contains the ideas and opinions of the author It is not a recommendation to purchase or sell any of the securities, businesses or investment discussed herein The author and publisher are not stockbrokers, broker dealers, or registered investment advisors We not recommend any particular stock, investment or securities of any kind If particular stock and investments are mentioned, they are mentioned only for illustrative and educational purposes Although we have made the best efforts to provide the most accurate and up to date information, no warranty or guarantee is given regarding the accuracy, reliability, veracity or completeness of the information provided herein The author and publisher disclaim any responsibility for any liability, loss or risk, which may arise as a consequence, directly or indirectly, from the use and application of any of the ideas, strategies or techniques in this book Praise for ‘Secrets of Building Multi-Million Dollar Businesses’ “Even since his undergraduate days at NUS Business School, Adam Khoo has passionately pursued his entrepreneurial dreams Today, he is a successful entrepreneur, a best-selling author, and a well sought-after peak performance trainer.” This book captures the essence of entrepreneurship, integrated with Adam's real-life experiences as a talented and versatile entrepreneur He speaks from his heart and conveys his ideas in a compelling and engaging way Get ready to be inspired - I have no doubt that anyone who reads this book, even if it is for leisure, will benefit tremendously.” Professor Bernard Yeung Dean and Stephen Riady Distinguished Professor of Finance NUS Business School “Adam Khoo is an inspiring example of a serial entrepreneur, someone who has succeeded with multiple ventures in a broad range of areas This book provides clear and practical advice that will inspire readers to consider liberating the entrepreneur within, and will guide them on how to overcome the many challenges they will undoubtedly face An excellent starting point for all current and potential entrepreneurs Strongly recommended! Professor Kulwant Singh NUS Business School “I am inspired by many successful entrepreneurs Adam Khoo stands out Adam brings positive change in other people's life, yet making money out of it This is the characteristic of a true blue entrepreneur.” Thomas Fernandez Chairman & CEO, PestBusters Pte Ltd Best-Selling Author, Secrets To Dominate Your Niche “Adam has the unique knowledge, experience and passion to coach anybody to become successful in their business and their lives This book is a must read for anybody who wants to start a business” Andy Ong Chairman & CEO, ERC Holdings Pte Ltd “Success in business takes passion, hard work and the right combination of business skills While many people take years of experience and trial and error to learn these lessons, Adam’s book gives you the priceless opportunity to learn the trade secrets of successful entrepreneurs within the shortest period of time.” Douglas Foo Chairman & CEO, Apex-Pal International Limited Winner, Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2002 Praise for ‘Secrets of Building Multi-Million Dollar Businesses’ Adam Khoo is one of the most successful business leaders that I know today Ever since I met him at the Young Entrepreneurs Organization five years ago, he has impressed me with his ability to capitalize on opportunities and turn ideas into highly profitable businesses This book will reveal to you the thoughts, strategies and actions that go behind building any successful enterprise Ong Tze Boon Chairman, Ong&Ong Pte Ltd "I have known Adam for a number of years and every encounter or even playing golf with him is always refreshing He has the Charisma in attracting people to listen to what he says and possesses great leadership." Goh Kai Kui Chief Executive Officer, Goh Joo Hin Pte Ltd "If anyone knows how to become a millionaire through entrepreneurship, its Adam As an undergraduate not too long ago in my memory, he had shared with me his aim to make his first million by the age of 25 Today, he has surpassed that aim many times over The lessons that he has learnt along the way, along with the skills he has found useful in achieving his objectives, provide a case study in the making of an Asian entrepreneur This book should be a valuable resource for those who dream to strike out on their own." Dr May Lwin Division Head and Associate Professor Nanyang Technological University "Adam Khoo is an extra-ordinary young successful entrepreneur who has benefited from the business school training he received at NUS A very motivating person, Adam should be congratulated for his willingness to share his thoughts on entrepreneurship and to help the youth in Singapore and the region to achieve their dreams." Yeo Keng Joon, MBA 1985 Co-chairman, Startup@Singapore Member, NUS Alumni Advisory Board Acknowledgements A Big Thank-You to All Those Who Have Shaped & Touched My Life To my parents Vince, Betty and Joanne who have given me unconditional love and support throughout the years To my wife Sally who has been my pillar of inspiration and strength To my two daughters Kelly and Samantha who make me smile everyday To my partner, Patrick Cheo, who has been sharing my vision and continually pushing me to the next level To my partners Stuart Tan & Gary Lee for joining me on this amazing mission of empowering lives To my trainers Ramesh Muthusamy, Amin Morni, Melvin Chew, Danny Tong, Leroy Ratnam, Freddy Gomez, Candice Koh, Woei Tang, Yuan Yee, Jeff, Webster Ku, Pamela, Andrea Chan, Gopal, Ridhwan, Serene Seah, Adeline Wong, Ashok Menon, Joseph Ho and Cheryl Tham and who keep bringing our programs to a higher level through their passion and dedication who have tirelessly spent all their weekends and late nights working to build the companies at an incredible rate Especially to my dear friends Dolly Lee, Ivy Lim, Afdoli Rahmat, Serene Quek, Siva, Andrew Ling, Katherine Sia, Rossana Chen, JD Lee, Desmond Eng, Natalie Lim, Leonard Goh, Terence Yao, Irish Ng, Wandy, Fred Tan, Dr Peter Yan, Dr Cheah Yin Mee, Queenie Lim, Pete Tan, Joycelina Fadjar, Yunike Wanti, Sherly Junita, Henry Aw Yong and Lawerence akalawoo I also want to say a big thank you to my amazing Indonesian partners and directors like Susanna Hartawan, Alien Tan, Sintawati Halim, Carmen Gomez and Anni Bahar Thank Yous also go out to my fellow Wealth Academy trainers Conrad Lim and Yeo Keong Hee Also to Ron Ianieri and Brett fogle of Options University Also to my friends Jovasky Pang, Gary Tan, Kenneth Wong, Dr William Tan, Andy Ong, Ong Tze Boon, Aaron Ang, Elim Chew, Douglas Foo, Sam Chia, Goh Kai Kui and Dr Dennis Wee This book is also dedicated to the hundreds of coaches who have volunteered their time to continuously come back and coach for the Superkids™, 'I Am Gifted So Are You!™', 'Patterns of Excellence™' and 'Wealth Academy™' programs We could not have done it without you! To all my principals, teachers & lecturers from Ping Yi secondary school, Victoria Junior College and The National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School who have played a tremendous part in shaping the person I am today Especially to Prof Wee Chow Hou, Mrs Lee Phui Mun, Mrs Ng Gek Tiang, Prof Kulwant Singh & Prof May Lwin To my mentors and trainers who have helped me discover the true power within myself To my first mentor, Ernest Wong who taught me how powerful I really was To my success and wealth mentors like Dr Tad James, Dr Richard Bandler, John LaValle, Tony Buzan, Brad Sugars, Robert G Allen, Michael Gerber and Anthony Robbins all of whom have taught me the invaluable strategies of wealth and success iii About Adam Khoo Adam Khoo is an entrepreneur, a best-selling author and a peak performance trainer A self-made millionaire by the age of 26, he owns and runs several businesses with a combined annual turnover of $20m He is the Executive Chairman and Chief Master Trainer of Adam Khoo Learning Technologies Group Pte Ltd, one of Asia's Largest Public Training Companies and Education Group He is also the Executive Director of Adcom Pte Ltd, and a director of the Singapore Health Promotion Board (HPB) Adam is also the best-selling author of seven other books including 'I Am Gifted, So Are You!', 'How to Multiply Your Child's Intelligence', 'Clueless in Starting a Business', 'Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires', 'Secrets of Millionaire Investors', 'Master Your Mind, Design Your Destiny' and 'Nurturing the Winner & Genius in Your Child' His books have consistently been placed on the National Best-Sellers list and have been translated into six other languages Adam holds an honors degree in business administration from the National University of Singapore As an undergraduate, he was ranked among the top one percent of academic achievers and became a pioneer in the Talent Development Program, which is the university's gifted program In 2008, he was conferred the NUS Business School Eminent Alumni Award Over the last 15 years, he has trained over 355,000 students, teachers, professionals, executives and business owners to tap their personal power and achieve excellence in their various fields of endeavor His success and achievements are regularly featured in regional media like the Straits Times, the Business Times, the New Paper, Lianhe Zaobao, Channel News Asia, Channel U, Channel 8, Newsradio 938, The Hindu, The Malaysian Sun, The Star and many more 'The Executive Magazine' ranked Adam among the 25 richest Singaporeans under the age of 40 in 2007 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS v A Big Thank You About Adam Khoo iii iv Chapter 1: The Making of A Millionaire Entrepreneur Chapter 2: The Success Factors of Millionaire Entrepreneurs 35 Chapter 3: The Million-Dollar Business Idea 69 Chapter 4: Building a Business that Works Without You 101 Chapter 5: Multiplying Your Business Profits 129 Chapter 6: How to Generate Millions in Sales and Profits 167 Chapter 7: Building a Championship Team 199 Chapter 8: Mastering Your Money 225 Chapter 9: Growing Your Business Empire 263 THE MAKING OF A MILLIONAIRE ENTREPRENEUR CHAPTER 01 CHAPTER GROWING YOUR BUSINESS EMPIRE Technology has made the world such a smaller place that any ambitious entrepreneur should aim to make the world his marketplace This is especially so if your home country is a small market like Singapore When we first started Adam Khoo Learning Technologies Group, we knew that Singapore was too small a market for our company to realize its fullest potential Our home market was merely a launch pad and an incubation centre where we would start, test and refine our business model Once we had a profitable business that worked, we started building a presence into Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Hong Kong, Thailand and more recently, Vietnam Our international expansion continues as our ultimate aim is for Singapore (our home country) to contribute no more than 20% of our total group sales revenue Overseas expansion of your business is necessary if you want to achieve double-digit sales and profit growth for more than five years In addition, by diversifying into different markets you are essentially reducing your risk For example, if Singapore were to enter a recession or if the market for personal development programs started declining, our explosive growth in Indonesia and China should more than make up for it! When Are You Ready for International Expansion? Companies usually start to expand aggressively overseas when they make the transition from the early growth stage to the advanced growth stage So, how you know when you are ready? I usually recommend that you start opening your first foreign office only when your local operations have achieved stability and SECRETS OF BUILDING MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR BUSINESSES 279 CHAPTER GROWING YOUR BUSINESS EMPIRE are making consistent profits At the same time, your business model should be refined and your operations systems and procedures should be in place Only when your local business can run smoothly without you doing the day-to-day operational work can you (and your top directors) afford to spend the time needed to build more businesses overseas Another indicator that you can use to tell you when you will be able to open an overseas office, and make a success of it, is when you start having demand from that new market For example, we started venturing into Indonesia two years ago because we found that there were increasing, a large number of Indonesians who were flying down to Singapore to attend our courses Many of them learnt of my courses through the Internet and through the word of mouth of friends who were working in Singapore At the same time, we found that my books (translated into Bahasa Indonesia) were selling like hotcakes there The same was true when we entered other markets like China, Malaysia and Vietnam So, your best to build a demand for your products and services even before you officially enter a foreign market The best way to so is through the Internet Advertise your company’s products and services through the Internet and specifically target those countries you are interested in penetrating You can even sell them your goods or services direct through your website For example, Options University (from the United States) decided to enter the Asian market recently because they were already selling many of their options home study courses through the Internet to the Asian market In the two years 280 SECRETS OF BUILDING MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR BUSINESSES CHAPTER GROWING YOUR BUSINESS EMPIRE before they entered Asia, they found that many Asians were also taking up their online courses To learn how to effectively market and sell your products and services on the Internet, read ‘Secrets of Internet Millionaires’ by Stuart Tan or visit www.internetmarketingsingapore.com Another strategy would be to appoint distributors or agents in a foreign country and export your goods through them Once a strong following has been built for your brand, you can then decide to start your operations there Do bear in mind that lots of preparation and research has to be done before you actually start a foreign office On average, Patrick (my group CEO) and myself spend one and a half to two years researching and laying the groundwork before opening an overseas office During that time, we would have flown to that foreign country at least 8-10 times Here is an overview of the three steps that you must take to start to penetrate a foreign market Step 1: New Market Research Market research involves making repeated visits to the potential new market to get a feel of the country and its people and to meet up with potential customers, suppliers, partners, investors and even competitors Like I said earlier, this process can take anything from six months to two years Before you can develop an effective market penetration plan, you would need to constantly ask questions and find answers to the following: 1) • • • Target Market (Your Customers) How big is the market for your product/service? Is the market growing or contracting? How the customers’ tastes/preferences/needs differ? SECRETS OF BUILDING MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR BUSINESSES 281 CHAPTER GROWING YOUR BUSINESS EMPIRE • What is their disposable income? (i.e what price can they afford) • How are their demographics different? (i.e age, sex, race etc…) • What are your customers’ psychographics? (i.e how different is their mindset and culture?) • Which is the best media to reach them with? (i.e newspapers, TV etc…) 2) • • • • Competitors Who are they? How strong are they? What is their pricing strategy? What is their marketing strategy? What is their distribution strategy? 3) Business Laws • What are the company structures? (i.e private limited, partnerships etc ) • What percentage of foreign ownership is allowed in a company? • What are the corporate taxes? What are the reliefs? • What other country specific business laws are important? (e.g minimum age law, discrimination law, copyright law, termination law etc…) 4) Political Situation • How stable is the political situation? • How may the laws change if a new party is in power? 5) Economic Situation • Is the general economy/specific industry growing or contracting? • What are the income levels? How fast are incomes rising? • What are the property prices and rental rates? 282 SECRETS OF BUILDING MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR BUSINESSES CHAPTER GROWING YOUR BUSINESS EMPIRE • What is the inflation rate? What are the interest rates? • What are the foreign exchange rates? As you can imagine, all this information is crucial to you in planning your costs structures, sales projections, profit margins, marketing strategy etc… Because every market is different, you will have to modify your business practices to adapt to the different environments, in order to maximize your chances of success I have found that there is a different formula to succeeding in every new market Let me give you examples of the changes I have had to make in order to adapt my product overseas In Singapore, the best way to reach our target markets for our students’ program (i.e parents of kids and teenagers) is through newspaper ads At the same time, the primary school segment is much larger than the secondary school one The reason is because parents of primary school children tend to take a bigger role in their children’s education and see their PSLE (Primary school Leaving Exam) at age 12 as crucially important to their future success As a result, my advertisement message tends to be skewed more towards helping primary school students to excel in their exams In Singapore, the average income of a middle-income family is about S$4,000 to S$5,000 and therefore my program (which costs around S$2,000), is pitched at the mass market The situation however is completely different for the Indonesian market In Indonesia, I have found that radio and referral programs work much more effectively than newspaper advertisements At the same time, parents of secondary school students are much more willing to send their kids to our programs as compared to parents of primary school children SECRETS OF BUILDING MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR BUSINESSES 283 CHAPTER GROWING YOUR BUSINESS EMPIRE The reason is because there is less pressure for primary school kids to perform in the exams (since there is no streaming) and parents in Indonesia would rather wait for their children to be more mature before sending them to personal development programs like mine At the same time, the average income of a middle-income Indonesian family is the equivalent of S$2,000 And so we are only able to target the upper middleincome and rich for our programs As a result, our advertising and marketing strategy is Indonesia is very different from the one we run in Singapore Step 2: Setting Up The next step is to decide on how you are going to set up your operations You have a choice of starting a wholly owned subsidiary, establishing a joint venture with a local partner/company or to franchise your business to independent business owners While starting a wholly owned subsidiary will give you total control of the foreign business and give you 100% of all the profits (if it makes money), it is certainly not easy to run an overseas business as a foreigner When we started our Malaysian company back in 2004, it took us two years to figure out how to succeed in the Malaysian market and to start making a profit This is because we did not fully understand the intricacies of this new market and could not devote all of our time to build this new business The staff we hired could only run the simple operations and were not experienced enough to build up the company However, when we entered the Indonesian market in 2006, we managed to achieve phenomenal success within the first year of operations By establishing a joint venture with an existing training company in Indonesia (in fact, one of the 284 SECRETS OF BUILDING MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR BUSINESSES CHAPTER GROWING YOUR BUSINESS EMPIRE largest), and having a team of highly experienced and wellconnected business partners, they were able to accelerate our learning curve and turn in a huge profit almost immediately So, a joint venture can be extremely useful provided you team up with the right foreign partner(s) Not only will they already on home ground with the market, but they will be able to run it full-time for you The third strategy is of course one that we discussed earlier which is franchising Franchising is of course the lowest cost and least risky alternative as the franchisees that you sell your franchise to will have to come up with all the capital instead of you At the same time, by having many independent business partners as your franchisees, you spread your risk of putting your overseas venture into the hands of a single partner as in the case of a joint venture However, franchising comes with its own set of challenges You will have to ensure that your franchisees adhere to your business procedures and standards and more importantly, they keep paying the royalty fees that are due to you Step Expanding the Overseas Business Once your company is set up, you then begin the whole process of taking the new company from the startup stage to the growth stage and beyond again Except, this time, it would be much easier and faster since you are replicating the proven business model and systems from your home country Once you have put in place a very capable and experienced management team, your job as CEO would be to monitor the company’s sales, costs and profits very closely to ensure that it is on track to meet the goals and budgets that have been set SECRETS OF BUILDING MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR BUSINESSES 285 CHAPTER GROWING YOUR BUSINESS EMPIRE Taking Your Company Public: The Key to Joining the $100 Million-Billion Dollar Club Taking their company public is the ultimate dream of most entrepreneurs This involves listing your company on a stock exchange and offering your shares to the public and to institutional investors for the first time This is also known as an IPO (Initial Public Offering) The money paid by these investors for these newly issued shares goes directly to your company, which can then be used to fund its growth Listing your company is therefore a strategy that will allow you to tap a wide pool of stock market investors, providing you with millions of dollars of capital for future growth However, as an existing shareholder, you will see your shareholdings being diluted as a proportion of the company's shares This will be compensated because the market value of the entire company will usually increase substantially at the end of the public listing, the absolute financial value of your shares (and hence your personal wealth) will increase significantly For example, let’s say at the beginning of the public listing, your company has 100 million shares, of which you own 60 million and your partner owns the other 40 million Let’s also imagine that your company is valued at $5 million as a private enterprise Since you own 60% of the company (i.e 60 million shares out of 100 million shares), the value of your shares would be $300,000 (i.e 60% x $5m) 286 SECRETS OF BUILDING MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR BUSINESSES CHAPTER GROWING YOUR BUSINESS EMPIRE Note: Private businesses are usually valued by taking a price-to-earnings ratio (PE Ratio) of This means that for every $1 the company earns in net profit, the company will be valued at $5 Let’s imagine in this case that your company makes $1 million in net profits a year The company will thus be valued at $1million x = $5 million As a result of listing your company, you would have to issue new shares to the public in return for their invested capital For example, your company decides to issue 50 million new shares to the public at a price of $0.13 each The $6.5 million raised (i.e 50 million shares x $0.13) can then be used to fund your company’s growth plans Notes: A listed company’s price-to-earnings ratio is usually 15-20 times Investors are wiling to pay 15-20 times the annual net profit So, once your company is listed, its market value will be about $20 million (i.e $1 million x 20) Since there will now be 150 million shares (50 million new shares added to 100 million old shares), each share will be priced at $20 million 150 million = $0.13 each But notice that the proportion of your shareholdings has been diluted Since there are now 150 million shares, you only own 40% of the company (i.e you own 60 million shares out of 150 million) However, the great news is that the value of your shares is actually much higher Your 60 million shares are now worth $0.13 each, which equates to $7.8 million! Your wealth has increased from $300,000 to $7.8 million as a result of listing your company! SECRETS OF BUILDING MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR BUSINESSES 287 CHAPTER GROWING YOUR BUSINESS EMPIRE Subsequently, these shares will then be traded between investors on the stock exchange and the market price of your company will eventually rise as your company’s profits & value increases Investors holding on to these shares (including you and your other shareholders) will benefit financially as the share price increases For example, if the share price of your company doubles to $0.26, your wealth will double to $15.6 million You can see why taking their company public is a dream that many entrepreneurs have It is a way to multiply their wealth by many times over In fact, most billionaires in the world never made their money through their salary or profits from their companies Rather, their billion-dollar net worth came from seeing the value of their shares multiply as a result of the stock market Although Warren Buffet’s annual salary has remained at just US$100,000 over the last 50+ years, he is now the world’s richest man with a net worth of US$60 billion This is because the shares that he owns in his company (Berkshire Hathaway) have increased from $8 a share (1962) to $116,500 a share today (2008) When Google’s founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin listed their company in 2004 at the IPO price of $85 a share, they became instant billionaires with net worth’s of US$7.2 billion each When Google’s share price subsequently shot up to $750 per share in 2007, their wealth jumped to $18.5 billion (they had sold some shares initially) So What’s the Catch to Be a Billionaire? So, is there a catch to listing your company and joining the $100 million- billion-dollar league? You bet there is! I must admit that when I first started my businesses, I too had the eventual goal of taking my company public It would allow me to massively increase my net-worth within a short period 288 SECRETS OF BUILDING MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR BUSINESSES CHAPTER GROWING YOUR BUSINESS EMPIRE Criteria for Taking a Company Public Different stock exchanges have different requirements before allowing a company to be publicly listed For example, to get listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange’s (SGX) Mainboard, one of the criteria that your company must fulfill is to have cumulative consolidated pre-tax profits of at least $7.5 million for the last three years, and a minimum pre-tax profit of $1 million for each of those three years For more information, go to www.sgx.com of time and allow me to cash out by selling some of my shares through the stock market However, after much consideration, I have personally decided not to take this route The catch of listing your company is that you will be converting it from a private enterprise to a public company One of the things that I value most as an entrepreneur is having the freedom to make whatever decisions I want without being accountable to anybody I can raise my salary whenever I want and pay myself as much profits as I choose to at the end of the year All this changes once you run a public company You will have to answer to your shareholders (the general public and financial institutions) and your board of directors (that are also made up of independent directors) on every major decision you make In addition, you will have the added pressure of reporting ever increasing sales and profits to your investors every quarter The moment you miss profit targets, the market will punish SECRETS OF BUILDING MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR BUSINESSES 289 CHAPTER GROWING YOUR BUSINESS EMPIRE your company by selling its shares and causing the share price to fall When this happens too often, you can bet that there will be many angry shareholders banging down your door, demanding better results Well, that is the price you have to pay for getting a few hundred million more! Staying Focused on Your Primary Aim So, should you make listing your company on the stock exchange your ultimate goal and in so doing multiply your net worth very fast or to keep it private and slowly collect $1m-$5m in profits every year? It all depends on what your values and personal goals are Do you value recognition, power, security or freedom more? Would the couple of extra million be worth the freedom that you would have to sacrifice? What would make you happy? These are questions that only you can answer! Ultimately, you have to go back to the primary aim of why you started your business in the first place As for me, I started my business for the sole purpose of giving me more life and more freedom I am living an extremely happy lifestyle with the wealth that I have built so far and find that a couple of extra millions won’t make much of a difference to me right now I must say that it has been an amazing journey for me and it has been a great pleasure to share a part of it with you I hope that my words have inspired you and given you the start-up knowledge to make your own entrepreneurial dreams a reality I wish you the very best and hope to meet you one day in one of my seminars Take Action and Create the Future You Deserve Adam Khoo 290 SECRETS OF BUILDING MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR BUSINESSES Adam Khoo's Life Transformational Programs Public Seminars Division • Patterns of Excellence™ o Empowerment (3 days) o Influence and Mastery (3 days) • Wealth Academy (4 days), Wealth Academy Trader (5 days), Wealth Academy Forex (3 days) and Wealth Academy Options (3 days) • Millionaire Entrepreneurs Intensive (7 Days) • 'I Am Gifted, So Are You!' Camp for Teens (11 weeks) • Superkids™ Camp for Children aged 10-12 (11 weeks) * Selected seminars are currently being conducted in Singapore, Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur) and Indonesia (Jakarta), Thailand and China (Su Zhou) Schools Division • 'I Am Gifted, So Are You!' Workshop for Teens • Superkids™ Camp for Children aged 10-12 • Customized Life skills Training • Outdoor Adventure and Leadership Training • Transformational Teaching • Money & Business Workshop for Teens Corporate Division • Accelerated Learning for Business • Peak Performance Selling • Public Speaking & Communication Strategies • Personal Mastery & Team Building • Leadership Training For more information, call 65-62740105 or visit www.adamkhooeducation.com Adam Khoo Education Group Singapore Adam Khoo Learning Technologies Group Pte Ltd 10 Hoe Chiang Road #01-05 Keppel Towers Singapore 089315 Tel: (65) 62740105 Fax: (65) 62245291 Visit us at: www.adamkhooeducation.com Adam Khoo Learning Centre Pte Ltd 238 Thomson Road, Novena Square, #03-28, Singapore 307683 Tel: (65) 6765 5516 Fax: (65) 6765 6959 Visit us at www.superlearner.com Malaysia Adam Khoo Learning Technologies Group Sdn Bhd 12-02 Menara Amcorp Amcorp Trade Centre 18 Jalan Persiaran Barat 46050 Petaling Jaya Selangor Malaysia Tel: (603) 79567879 Fax: (65) 79562879 Visit us at: www.adamkhooeducation.com Indonesia PT Adam Khoo Learning Technologies Group Wisma Kyoei Prince 8th Floor, JI Jendral Kov 3-4 Jakarta 10220 Tel: (62) 215723315 Fax: (62) 215723364 Visit us at: www.adamkhooeducation.com Thailand Adam Khoo Education Group Co., Ltd 10th Floor, Dusit Thani Building, 946 Rama Road, Silom Bangkok 10500, Thailand Tel: (66) 2636 3211 Fax: (66) 2236 3059 #1 Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires National Best Selling Author of Master The Strategies Of Highly Profitable Businesses Do You Have A Burning Desire To Build A Very Successful Business Of Your Own? Do You Want To Create The Financial Abundance, Freedom And Lifelong Security That Your Very Own Business Will Bring? In This Book, Millionaire Entrepreneur & Success Coach, Adam Khoo Will Reveal To You His Secrets Of Building A Multi-million Dollar Business Starting From Scratch The Best Part Is That You Don’t Need To Have Lots Of Capital To Invest, A Prestigious Degree Or Years Of Experience Whether You Are Just Starting Out In Business Or An Experienced Entrepreneur, This Book Will Give You Powerful Ideas And Strategies That Will Multiply Your Business Sales And Profits Exponentially What You Will Master In This Book • • • • • Adam Khoo • • • • Why 90% Of Businesses Fail…And How The 10% Succeed The Mindset & Habits Of Successful Entrepreneurs Develop The Million-dollar Idea That Will Blow Away The Competition A Step-by Step Guide On Building A Business System That Works Without You How To Start A Business With Very Little Capital And Turn In Millions Within 18 Months Build A Powerful Brand & Establish Yourself As The Market Leader Powerful Marketing Strategies That Will Kill The Competition Build A Championship Team Of Employees And Partners Master The Art Of Cash Flow… How To Roll Millions With Just A Few Thousand Dollars Adam Khoo How to Take An Idea from Startup to A Million Dollars in 18 Months… With Minimal Capital ... Author of Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires Secrets of Building Multi- Million Dollar Businesses How to Take An Idea from Startup to A Million Dollars in 18 Months With Minimal Capital Adam Khoo... application of any of the ideas, strategies or techniques in this book Praise for Secrets of Building Multi- Million Dollar Businesses “Even since his undergraduate days at NUS Business School, Adam Khoo... Dell (CEO of Dell Computers) become creators of billion dollar empires SECRETS OF BUILDING MULTI- MILLION DOLLAR BUSINESSES CHAPTER THE MAKING OF A MILLIONAIRE ENTREPRENEUR I am definitely not