Can you make a 1 million dollar business in 90 days? - My Trip to Tanzania (Post 3) - Writing Wednesday
Hello everybody and welcome back to another blog post,
Recently, I've been watching this American TV show called Undercover Billionaire with my family, after my dad was recommended it by a friend. It's a series that brings in these rich and incredibly successful entrepreneurs and, going undercover, they have to make a business that is worth a million dollars under a set time frame. The first successful entrepreneur that they brought in was a guy called Glenn Stearns. Unfortunately, his business recently filed for bankruptcy which is a little bit awkward. 😂 However, before this, he owned the multi-million dollar business called Stearns Lending which was a private financial support company. They couldn't keep up with the 2017 change in exchange rates but up until that point, they were incredibly successful and Glenn was even able to sell 70% of this multimillion dollar business in 2015. What's probably even more amazing is that Glenn was not naturally gifted in school. He was a bit rebellious, he failed 4th grade because of his dyslexia and at the age of 14, he also fathered a child. Not exactly a head start in life but I do respect his work ethic and how much he's put into his career to get it running. He started at the very bottom and he clawed his way up the ladder and got himself into a position that many people could only dream of; running a business and working for himself. However, could he gather a group of people and get them to build something out of nothing too?
Under a 90 day time frame, Glenn went to the abandoned industrial town of Erie near Pennsylvania to see if it was possible to set up a business there. He was very positive at first but, perhaps going into it somewhat naively, he soon realised that he was going to need a job to bring about his start up fund for his future business. Long story short, he wasn't able to find much apart from working at a T-shirt store but he was once involved in the real estate business and he knew how to manipulate the financial system to his advantage. He got a designer to redecorate and repurpose this cheap old house and he sold it for a higher price. Meanwhile, Glenn was bringing together a group of talented people with the entrepreneurial spirit to help make his dream of owning a barbeque/craft beer business a reality. Glenn had conducted some market research with some advisers prior to this and he realised that people in Erie really loved their barbequed brisket and beer so he decided to combine the two ideas together under one company called the Underdog Barbeque. It was a lot of work and the team definitely struggled to work together at times but I was amazed at how successful the business was. At the barbeque festival in Erie, Rib Fest, Underdog barbeque was able to make a $21,000 profit, which was just enough money for Glenn to open up his proper restaurant. They also won an award for best barbeque beef at the festival. I can't even believe that Glenn was able to achieve all this in 3 months, it almost seemed impossible to me. As for if his business was worth a million dollars, you'll have to see for yourself.
However, what this shows is that anyone can adopt the entrepreneurial spirit and run a successful business if they really want to. Glenn's formation of the Underdog Barbeque in just 90 days in a barren town like Erie, really just says that in the right time and place, you could run your own business too. Some of things he does, doesn't necessarily work in every country because of some differences in rules and regulations and I don't know how someone could start a business without the knowledge that he already had. However, what Glenn did just proved that it is still possible to start a business with not a lot of money and initial resources.
I think that this is especially useful to me now going into fundraising for my trip to Tanzania. Things have not looked great in terms of group fundraising because of the issues of Covid-19 amongst students and staff. However, I must say that this programme has given me some small tips to help me raise money in slightly more difficult situations. I'm not looking to start a 1 million dollar business but it has taught me about persistence, how to persuade people to buy something even if it's not valuable, and how to delegate work to people to ensure that the overall effort is evenly spread out amongst everyone. I think that this advice will help me to come up with some creative ideas for future group fundraising projects post Covid-19 and it will also help me to, hopefully, sell things in the future too. I know now that in order to run a business you need to be motivated because it takes a lot of hard graft to keep things going. I think that this advice will be useful to take forward with me when it comes to me fundraising for my trip to Tanzania.
As for the people involved in Glenn's business and who put in the most amount of time and effort into making it work, they were rewarded with a substantial paycheck by Glenn. I was really inspired by the co-operation that went amongst the team in order to keep things together and I hope they continue to reap the rewards from this effort because it was truly amazing.
I would highly recommend watching this programme. It's a bit American in terms of its dramatic scenes and its reality style way of filming. However, it is informative and entertaining at the same time so you should watch it now.
iHollywoodTV
Who's your favourite/most inspirational entrepreneur? Let me know in the comments below and I'll be sure to reply to them. I ♡ hearing from you!
Tap one of the reaction boxes below to let me know what you thought of this post. It would really help me to make some improvements in the future!
Be sure to follow and subscribe so that you don't miss anymore of my brilliant posts and share this article with a friend who might enjoy it too!
See you next time,
Bye,
XOX, Juliette
Comments
Post a Comment
Thanks for leaving your comments! I really enjoy reading your positive and constructive messages. They really make my day! 💜