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How To Find The Next Big Thing: 3 Tips For Spotting Opportunities

Raise your hand if you missed the “invest in Amazon” train. Is your hand up like mine? Now, keep your hand up if you also missed the Bitcoin train. Mine’s still up too. Okay, last one. Keep your hand raised if you’re tired of missing the next big thing.

If you’re tired of missing out on opportunities, you’ve got to start acting on them early on. Do your research, identify potential pros and cons of a potential opportunity, and take action before you miss the train. In all sorts of investments, people tend to jump aboard when things are taking off. As soon as things start looking bad even in the slightest bit, people jump off the wagon, and that’s where they incur losses.

Like I always stress, action is key here. Sitting back and being indecisive will leave you in the dust while those that take action see success. If you never take risks, you’ll never potentially reap rewards. Now you should take action for new opportunities in general, don’t just look for the “next big thing.” Thinking of what will be big in 10 years is tough. Technology is always changing, a lot happens in 10 years. All we can do is make the best judgments possible with the available information. To be honest, I’m not even sure what’s happening next month, so I personally won’t try to guess what the next 10 years will look like. The only constant is change.

I want to review some things that seem like common sense. You may have heard some of them before, but they are extremely important. Be sure to truly understand them follow them closely.

3 Tips For Spotting Opportunities

1. Pay attention to things that a few people are starting to talk about, but the masses don’t yet know about.

Bitcoin is an example. I remember hearing a small amount of people talk about Bitcoin years ago. I had no idea what it was, most people didn’t. Heck, most people still don’t quite understand what it is or how it works. Those folks that got into it years ago and held onto that investment are the ones who benefited immensely recently.

2. Do your research. Is this really a viable opportunity that has legs?

Don’t just take your friend’s advice on investing in a new opportunity. Start reading up on the topic, listening to any relevant podcasts, and watching YouTube videos to learn more. Learn all the ins and outs and what risks you may be taking in the event that you decide to invest time or money in something new.

3. Diversify your portfolio. 

Seems like common sense, but common sense isn’t always common. Don’t put your life savings into the next cryptocurrency in hopes that it will become the next Bitcoin. That’s how people lose everything when things don’t work out. Split time and money into various areas across multiple industries. Try to invest in things you have researched and understand. Invest in what you know.

When Investing Money, Always Remember:

Buy low and sell high. When markets are doing poorly and stocks drop, that is the time to buy (everything is on sale!). Don’t buy after everyone and their mom has invested in a stock. At that point, you’ll be the sucker buying it at it’s peak. This also goes for reselling items, which I’ve been pretty successful at. Find items at clearance racks or garage sales and sell them online at regular price for a profit. 

Never invest more than you’re willing to lose. When investing, assume you will lose all the money you are putting in. Plan for the worst, and hope for the best. People get into trouble when they invest more than they are willing, or can afford, to lose.

 

Note: this should not be construed as financial or legal advice. This post simply expresses some of my personal opinions and how I choose to invest my own time and money. 

 

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Chris Bello

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Learning how and when to splurge

Shifting your mindset: getting from “I can’t afford it” to “how can I afford it?”

Those who have known me from childhood know I can sometimes be a bit frugal. I grew up in a good, middle class family and my parents always taught my brothers and I not to waste food, to buy only what we really need, and to keep expenses low. Combine that upbringing with the fact that I studied Supply Chain in college and you get someone who really can cut down on waste and unnecessary expenses.

Even into my late 20’s, I still take the extra 2 minutes to find free street parking and try to avoid paying for the $20 parking lots when I go out in Downtown Houston. However, I’ve learned how to splurge on things I want to splurge on, things that are important to me. I’m the type of guy that buys in bulk to save money but won’t hesitate to drop $2400 on skydive certification classes (I actually saved $400 overall by paying the total amount upfront, so you could argue I even saved money on that deal). I also stay with friends or family when I travel sometimes so that I can spend $400 on getting scuba certified in Koh Phi Phi, Thailand.

Driving a Mercedes SLS and Audi R8 on the Las Vegas Motor Speedway:  $500

Splurging on things you want feels good. But you must do so in moderation. Never let your lifestyle exceed your means. If you’re making $100K and living like you’re making $1M a year, you’re going to run into problems. If you’re making $100K and live as if you make $50K, you’ll find yourselves stashing up savings quickly and being able to use money for vacations or a few nice things that you want and can easily afford.

People ask me all the time “how can you afford to go on these amazing trips?” or “don’t you have student debt or car payments?” I’m pretty happy to say that I’m totally debt-free (other than my mortgage of course). My student loans are paid off, my Honda Accord is paid off, and the full statement balance of my credit cards is paid in full each month. What people don’t see is how I usually wear basic clothes that aren’t really name brand (unless Zara counts). I cook most of my meals and get something reasonable when I do go out to eat, which saves a ton of money. For $50 that you spend eating a mediocre dinner, you could get enough groceries to feed you for a few days. You can get chicken breast, ground turkey, and vegetables for probably around $20.

Mt. Fuji! What you don’t see is that I stayed with a high school friend and pitched in a few bucks for the ride from Tokyo

I truly appreciate everything I’m able to experience since I better understand the value of money. I feel like a few kids I’ve known that always got anything they every wanted from their parents take so many things for granted. For the average kids who don’t get their every wish granted,  working hard and being able to afford those things later on in life is that much more rewarding.

Ziplining in Mexico was pretty neat: I think it was around $200? I stayed with my cousin for free on this trip.

I feel that the frugal mentality that has been ingrained into my head from my childhood will never truly leave. Even as my savings grow and when (not if – Law of Attraction at play) I become a millionaire or billionaire one day, I feel like I’ll still live within my means and spend my money on experiences over things. Because at the end of the road, we can’t take stuff with us. But hey, if you’ve got the money and that Ferrari makes you feel happy, go for it!

Before You Splurge, Ask Yourself Some Questions:
  • Do you need it? 

If not, why are you getting it? Do you want it? If so, how badly do you want it? Think about if you’ll have buyer’s remorse after spending your money. If you really want it and think it’ll be worth it, go for it.

  • Can you afford it? 

If you have to check your bank account to see if there’s enough money in there to pay for something, you can’t afford it. When you’ve saved enough to where you can comfortably buy something with cash on the spot, you can likely afford it and can consider moving forward.

  • Will you remember it 5 years from now? 

If you want it and can afford it, see if you’ll remember it 5 years from now. A new cell phone or TV probably won’t bring a smile to your face years from now. A one-month backpacking trip through Southeast Asia definitely will.

  • Will the opportunity vanish soon? 

Are you planning on getting married, having a kid, or starting a career that will hinder your ability to do something you want to do? If so, consider jumping on the opportunities available to you now. Take that trip before starting your full-time career or pop 3 kids out. Go skydiving, drive a moped in Vietnam, and sleep at a train station in Germany before you end up taking yourself too seriously.

Trip to New York: I crashed on my friend’s couch so I could spend whatever on food and the trip.
What I like to splurge on: 
  • Good food at highly rated restaurants – I don’t eat out often, so when I go to a nice restaurant from time to time, I try to get whatever is recommended even if it means paying a little more.
  • Experiences – skydiving, scuba diving, parasailing, traveling, tours, and more. I love doing things that make memories (and also great photos).
Views in Beaver Creek, Colorado. Pitched in a little to stay with my buddy who was going with his parents.

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Is it possible to make easy, fast money?

Getting from 0 to 1 can be very challenging

When you have a huge “million dollar idea” that you’re nursing from scratch, you may do hours, weeks, and months of work without seeing a single dollar of return. I know firsthand that this can be extremely frustrating. You want the product to be finalized as fast as possible, but these things take time. Once your design is done, you want to roll it out right away, but you might find that it has to be done in phases.

Sometimes, it’s nice to just make some “quick & dirty” money while you wait for the big plans to come to fruition.

And no, I’m not implying you should become a stripper, although I heard strippers make a ridiculous amount of money a year. I really have to credit the podcast Side-Hustle School for helping me adopt this hustle mentality. You can create a side-hustle literally in a few hours and start acting upon your ideas. For me, flipping items for a profit (also known as reselling) became my side-hustle where I started seeing really good returns with little time and money invested.

One way to make easy, fast money: flipping, or reselling, for profit

To get into specifics, I flip products that I find for huge discounts at garage and estate sales. Sometimes there are warehouse or business sales when they are trying to clear out old stock or if they are shutting down. I price check similar or the exact items online to ensure there’s enough profit margin in there for me to feel like it’s a safe bet. One of my favorite flips was when I found 2 pairs of hiking shoes for $25/pair and sold them for $120 each on eBay within a week. I also had a Buddha statue that I bought for $25 and sold for $100.

 

More recently, I came across a small cell phone accessory store that was selling some plastic bins and tables. The plastic bins, as I learned later, are actually called “bus tubs.” They were for sale for $1/piece. I bought 5 just since they were so cheap, but I didn’t think much of them. Within 10 minutes of posting these on Facebook Marketplace at $5/piece, I had five people who had messaged me who were interested. I immediately knew I could raise this price to at least $10/piece. I found the same, exact bus tubs for sale on Amazon at $18 a pop, so even at $10/piece, people would be getting a steal. I sold the 5 the next day for $25, profiting $20.

I returned to the store and bought 77 more bus tubs (everything that would fit into my Honda Accord). $77 for 77 tubs. It’s taking some time to sell, but I know that it’s an item people want and can use for storing various things. If I sell them for $5 each, I’ll make $308 in profit. If I sell them for $10 each, I’ll make $693 in profit. I’m aiming to meet in the middle, to sell some for $10 when people are willing to pay that and others for $5 if they’re looking to pay a little less.

Storage containers

Flipping can be easy, but you have to develop a knack for finding the deals without spending too much of your time. You also have to start learning what types of items will sell quickly and which ones you might want to avoid.

The Bottom Line

Of course, flipping isn’t the only side-hustle out there. There are other ways you can make money as well. You can offer services with skills you may have, but you have to market yourself so others can find you. The beauty with selling products is that you don’t have to convince people of their value. The value and price is defined by the marketplace. Where I might have a tough time selling someone on my ability to transform their website, they don’t really think twice to purchase brand new hiking shoes for $120 that I have in the original box (and paid only $25 for 🙂 ).

Find yourself a side-hustle if you haven’t already, and try to find something you enjoy that makes you money, preferably. At least find something that helps you make a pretty decent amount of money per hour when compared to your regular job. I probably spent a total of 2 hours finding the hiking shoes, taking pictures of them, and then boxing and shipping them once they sold. I profited $190 for 2 HOURS of my time. That comes out to $95/hour of “income.” Fun fact, if you were to get paid at a job at a rate of $95/hour, your annual salary would be $190,000. Sure, you’re not working or getting paid for 40 hours a week with the side-hustle, but it’s money that you didn’t have and made in a short period of time.

Let’s do some math. Assume you have a “good” job and get paid $30/hour. You’d have to work 3 hours to get paid $90 (actually, a little less after taxes and all that good stuff). Imagine having a side-hustle where you’re averaging $95/hour profit or more. You would be profiting close to 3 times what you’re getting paid at your day job per hour of time. Can you see the potential here? It’s not just about money, it’s about time. If you can make more money in a shorter amount of time, you can clear up more time to do things you love and want to do. For 8 hours of your time at a good job at $30/hour, you’d make $240 in one day. That’s only $50 more than you could have made if you flipped the two pairs of hiking shoes like I did.

Want to learn more?

Check out my free PDF on flipping items for a profit here.

Flipping 101 picture

I also wrote a book that dives into much more detail.

It’s available on Amazon now:

Low-Risk, Profitable Flips

 

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Picking The Right Team

In a recent post, I stressed the fact that you shouldn’t get so hung up on a name. I honestly think that it’s best to brainstorm a decent amount but to ultimately just pick something and move on. Every day you waste thinking about the “perfect name” is a day you cannot spend growing your business. When it comes to picking a team, this is NOT the case. You’ll want to do your due diligence here to make sure the team you’re assembling is the best possible fit.

Who should be on your team?

People with complementary skills should be on a team. You don’t want two marketing guys and zero web developers. It’s best to have a representative from each key function who is skilled at their craft. Here’s an example of a great mix:

  • A graphic designer – good with editing photos, videos, creating marketing material, etc.
  • A product developer – if creating software or a website, this person should be capable of creating an SEO optimized website and customize areas as necessary. If creating a physical product, this person should help design, prototype, and test products.
  • A sales lead – responsible for finding new customers, distributing marketing materials, etc.

Chances are that the functions will overlap in some areas. The sales guy may be involved in video editing or filming. The web guy may have to use Canva and do some free, easy edits when the graphic designer is tied up. Be flexible, but always reach out for clarification from the subject matter expert when in doubt.

Complementary skills

Experience Pooling

Make sure that members have experience in their areas. One cannot simply decide to be a graphic designer. He or she should have previous experience, have gone to school for it preferably, and have a proven track record and portfolio. Once you pool all this talent together, you’ll be able to achieve things quickly and effectively.

Assigning Equity 

Before getting excited, assigning equity, and drafting up business papers, you should do one thing: work together. Try working together for a few weeks at minimum. Heck, even a few months. Gauge everyone’s work ethic. Are there slackers? Are there “talkers” that don’t get to the “doing” part? If so, really see if those individuals are necessary. If anyone does not add value or consistently lets the team down, avoid them like the plague. That’s some solid advice I wish I had myself on my first LLC, so I could have avoided some issues down the road.

A recent podcast I listened to, “How To Start A Startup” by Y Combinator, recommended having vested equity. You can either check out the podcast or feel free to see the recorded videos here on YouTube. Vested equity means that founders earn certain percentages over time. This way, they can be in it for the long haul. If a founder leaves early, they won’t take a huge chunk of the company with them.

Are you trying to pick a team now? Or do you have a team member currently that isn’t contributing? Feel free to ask any questions or post any comments below.

 

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Picking a name for an idea or business

I don’t have any children, but I can imagine that picking a name for a kid can be very difficult. There are so many potential names and you want to make sure to pick the BEST one.

Picking a baby name
Picking a name can be hard

However, nobody cares what your kids’ names are, sorry to break it to you. Not until they make something of their name. Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos were names that meant nothing 100 years ago. Today, of course, those names are known globally.

The same, in my opinion, goes for company, product, or app names. Think of huge companies out there where consumers likely don’t know the meaning of the company names themselves. Uber, Spotify, Adidas, even Amazon. Those companies meant nothing until they made something of themselves and became known.

I suggest that you not get too hung up on names. As I’ve progressed in side-hustles and my business ventures, I’ve gotten less and less hung up on names. Coming up with Flexthetics took forever. We had to do all the research, make sure the domain and social media handles were available, and all that good stuff.

Now, I’ve built a sales funnel for iPhone X cases I’m selling and I made up a name in about 5 minutes. I made up a random word, Siirenz, in an attempt to find an unique spelling for the word “sirens.” Sirens, from Greek mythology, are those tempting mermaid type women that would cause ships to crash upon the rocks. It has nothing to do with phone cases, but again, I don’t want to spend weeks coming up with a name, I just want to put a logo on there and start selling products.

If your side-hustle products become wildly successful and start selling a lot, then I would consider filing a trademark and doing all of that good stuff. Otherwise, why set up an LLC, file a trademark, etc. for something that might not even work (again, I’m drawing from my own experience of filing an LLC and trademark then throwing it all away for another name anyways)?

Remember this when coming up with your own name in the future. You can also consider naming it something very obvious. An episode on the Podcast Side-Hustle School mentioned a woman who invented coffee for moms and literally named it “Mommy Coffee.” It doesn’t have to be difficult, you just have to pick something! From there, you can move ahead with creating your logo, website, marketing materials, etc.

 

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How To Invent A Product

Have an idea? Don’t leave it at that. Honestly give it a try. Think it through, think of all the pros and cons, and minimize the cons. Draw your idea on paper, come up with a name for it, and treat it like a product you believe you would see on store shelves or the show Shark Tank one day. This post will give some insight on how to invent a product, including my suggested steps.

For those that might not know, my friend and I invented a supplement organizer product called the Flexthetics Pro. We sketched the idea on paper in December 2016 and had a 3D prototype designed and printed within a day.

Flexthetics Pro – V1

My friend just so happened to own a 3D printer and know how to use the engineering software. Without him, the idea could very well still be on paper as it is often expensive to get an engineer to draw up your idea and to have a prototype printed out. Things add up even more if you honestly believe in it and want a patent filed before you even share the idea with too many people.

Working with my friend to iterate, print out prototypes, and do some initial patent research really helped us keep costs down. The only real costs other than plastic we bought for prototypes went to having an attorney draft and file a utility patent.

Initially, I actually had a list of all kinds of app or apparel ideas. I was a little frustrated once I heard quotes on how much it would cost to get any of those things started. Even if I paid $60k to get an app made, there was no guarantee people would find it valuable or use it for that matter. With the Flexthetics Pro, a physical product that someone can pay money for, selling seemed so much easier.

Where are we with Flexthetics, in case you’re curious? We have a utility patent pending on this product and are taking preorders. We are currently manufacturing the molds and then will manufacture final units once the tooling arrives from overseas. Could we have done things better or in a different order? Probably. But that’s the beauty of a startup. You kind of figure things out as you go.

Renders depicting final products

The steps I recommend to invent a product are as follows (at least this is what we followed):

1. Write down your idea. 

Write as much as you can about it. What it does, how it works, the pros, the cons, any competitor products that are similar and why yours is better, etc.

2. Bring your idea to life. 

Try and have a prototype 3D printed or created. If you have a friend with a 3D printer and know-how on using engineering software, perhaps you can approach them and offer equity in your idea or company for their help. This can save you money upfront, but if you truly have a million-dollar idea, make sure this person taking equity will pull their weight and not just freeload. You don’t want to find yourself doing all the work down the line and see that they are making as much as you just for helping sketch it up initially.

Once you have a functional prototype you are happy with, consider filing a patent. More on this in Step 3. Keep in mind that finalizing the design can take a lot of time. We had over 35 revisions to the cap alone on our Flexthetics Pro. We experimented until we got something we were truly satisfied with.

3. Protect your idea (you can never be too careful).

I suggest getting manufacturers you talk to about potential costs to sign Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) to protect yourself, especially before sending drawings to them. I’ve heard that people roll their eyes at this and say that nobody will steal your idea, but I don’t like taking chances, especially with the amount of time and money that is invested into bringing a product to life.

While it’s unlikely someone will steal your idea, pay thousands of dollars to have it patented, and then thousands more to get tooling done for manufacturing, why risk it?

I would also consider hiring an attorney to have a patent filed. I really believe in this idea and wanted to protect it as much as possible. For this reason, my Co-Founder and I paid an attorney to draft it for us and file it. My worst fear was that a competitor might somehow find out about our product before we protected ourselves and get something out before we could even blink an eye. If you’re a startup or sole inventor, your competitors likely have much more money, resources, and expertise than you do. No offense, that’s just how it is.

You can try to save some money filing a patent a couple of ways:

  • You can try to research how to file a patent and do it yourself completely. I heard a Podcast about Sarah Blakely from Spanx doing this.
  • You can research other patents of products that are similar and write how yours is different. Reference each US patent number and add your notes below. Give this to the attorney you are working with, and this should save some time and therefore money (attorneys bill you by the hour).
4. Market your product. 

Your idea is now a product. Congratulations! I kept hush hush about our product until our patent was filed. Once it was, I quit my corporate job to focus on building the website, marketing the product, growing social media, etc. This all takes a lot of time!

5. Bring your product to market. 

We grew our following after we filed the patent. We did try and do a Kickstarter campaign, which was quite a bit of work. It took months to perfect our website and a campaign for Kickstarter prior to launch. Unfortunately, we did not get funded on Kickstarter, but we’re not giving up. We are taking the risk and putting quite a bit of our own savings into initial tooling. High risk, high potential reward.

I feel much better launching a product since we already have followers that are not just family and friends on social media. We have more of an audience to reach out to. Coming up with a product and then marketing with 0 followers on any platform seems like it would be much more difficult.

So that is how to invent a product, at least how we did it. After inventing and protecting your product, the gears shift to marketing and sales, which is where Flexthetics is focusing efforts on currently. If you need help bringing a prototype to life, shoot me a message or comment and I’ll be happy to chat.

 

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I’m Starting a Podcast

Hello everyone, welcome to chrisbello.com ! This new site is basically going to be my personal resume. How cool is it to own a website with your own, actual name? I had to resort to chrisbello09@gmail.com years ago because [email protected] was taken, so I’m happy my actual name was available as a domain name. By the way, big shout out to my friend Jake Trevino for the suggestion in taking this step. He owns a domain name with his actual name, too! Check out his page at http://jaketrevino.com/ . 

In any case, I had the crazy thought of starting my own Podcast. I listen to so much audio content via Podcast or Audible that I figured, “why don’t I create a Podcast to summarize key takeaways and actions from other resources?” I’ve even spent hours listening to Podcasts that aren’t even that great production-wise but that I find value from. I think that I can provide value and do so with decent production skills, but we’ll see how I do. My thinking is to have a general layout as follows:

Podcast Episode Layout 
  • Introduction
  • Today’s goals
  • Show discussion
  • Key takeaways from each episode
  • Daily motivation
  • Actionable steps
  • Sign-off
Podcast Length

I’m aiming for short and sweet episodes. Maybe 10-15 minutes in length. Why so short? Because I think that it is enough time to get important information across while remaining concise. Once Podcasts start getting to be one or two hours long, it’s easy to get overwhelmed or lost. Or even worse, you might get distracted with something else and never finish the episode.

What’s the Podcast About?

This Podcast will provide motivation for entrepreneurs. Whether you just have an idea or you already have a successful company that is up and running, I will summarize key takeaways that are applicable to you. I will provide actionable steps to move closer to your goals, no matter what stage you are in. Goals are dreams with deadlines. It’s important to make a plan and work the plan. Having a bunch of knowledge in your head is useless if you don’t take action. I’m here to motivate you to do things that will help you move forward. Less dreaming, more doing.

Air Date

I have already recorded 4 episodes of the Podcast but just need to figure out where and how to upload them all after I clean them up a little bit. The internet is so great for learning how to do anything. A few YouTube videos on “How to Create a Podcast” were all I needed to feel pretty comfortable with this. I plan to edit my audio using Audacity and share to a few Podcast streaming platforms for anyone not using iOS. I’ll be sure to update everyone when the first episodes are live. If anyone is curios, I am recording directly to my phone using an IMDEN lavalier microphone, link below. This has been an awesome microphone and is under $10. Note that this is an affiliate link and that I’ll receive a small commission if you do choose to purchase one for yourself.

Thanks for checking this out and stay tuned! No matter where you are in life or what your goals may be, remember: less dreaming, more doing!

 

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