i perform is in the business of assisting people and organizations with strategic training and development solutions. Behind the scenes they also have a team of copywriters. Coming on the heals of the Chef's Table for Entrepreneurs Telesummit the topic the emailed me about was intriguing. While by regular blogging isn't about such ideas, it, I hope you find a spark of interest as I did.

The skills list of a modern entrepreneur reads like a To Do list for leadership training. The basic requirements are strategic and tactical business skills, market expertise, good capital management, and excellent situational management. A really good entrepreneur with a phone can walk into a restaurant broke and starving and walk out owning the restaurant.

The multi layered entrepreneur

Entrepreneurial work is often oversimplified as mere buying and selling. That’s a view which is about 30 years out of date. There are more ways of making money than that, and the best entrepreneurs know them all. The layers of entrepreneurial business are far less obvious, and they’re all major money makers.

These are some of the less well understood areas of entrepreneurial business:

Equities - Most entrepreneurs maintain a working capital base out of their major commitments, and that capital is expected to be making money every second in several ways:
• Trading values- A good equity portfolio can make a fortune a day, particularly using good day traders.
• Capital values- Some forms of investment can be used as capital accumulators, like trusts, bonds, Exchange Traded Funds, and commodities.
• Futures trading- Tougher, but often extremely rewarding.
• Business equity- Entrepreneurs don’t mind holding interests in other people’s businesses in any form, and the value of strategic investments in this area can increase drastically.
• Franchising: Often stemming from other holdings, franchising can be a gigantic money spinner. In many cases, the entrepreneur will buy in to a strong business, then franchise, using the capital base of franchise fees to create a self sustaining capital base which generates money like a petrol pump. Most importantly, this can be done at a remove from the entrepreneur’s valuable current activities, and act as both a support for new business ventures and as a cash cow.
• Property: Entrepreneurs are natural experts in the property market. They buy low and add value. This strategy turns over money like clockwork. This is yet another capital reserve, if required, and a very healthy base for consolidating capital.
• Business broking- This is much more like the common image of buying and selling, and it’s excellent business practice. Having a natural eye for value, the entrepreneur buys and sells businesses selectively, making healthy profits over their outlays, and usually quickly. A professional business broker is used as a “talent scout” to ensure good acquisitions and sales values.
• Merchant businesses- These tend to be holdings, and they’re usually managed by industry professionals. This is a development of the business broking approach, and usually aimed at a longer term strategy of capital development.

Many entrepreneurs start with some borrowed capital. This capital is usually well within their means to repay, and it’s used in conjunction with existing capital. The multi level entrepreneur isn’t really a risk taker, but an investor with more options that they create themselves.

Study the famous entrepreneurs. They’re excellent businesspeople, with real talent. Study well, and you’ll learn a lot.

The reason I like some of these suggestions is I've often thought who ever said you need to work to create money flow? With some of these suggestions, in particular those of holdings, you create income streams from investments. That's leverage.

What do you think?

Related posts:

1. Art of Collaboration: Business Growth Strategy for the Busy Entrepreneur
2. What Can an Introvert Entrepreneur Learn from Collaborating?
3. Introvert entrepreneur: will you consider collaboration or choose be a team of one?