Tuesday, February 06, 2007
I random stumbled upon the wikipedia page for Mark Cuban as I was reading the current news about the Viacom/Gootube copyright issues that are going on now (I already knew who Mark Cuban was).
This was interesting:
Cuban's first step in the business world occurred at age 12, when he sold garbage bags in quantities of 100 for $6
I was thinking about what my first steps in the business world were. My friends know I'm always scheming to find new deals and make extra cash wherever I can. Credit card arbitrage is my speciality. So where did this all start? Two big ones that come to mind.
1. When I was around 12 I delivered newspapers for The Daily Breeze. I probably made $50-60 per month for about an hour of work per day. Where I really made money was by signing up new customers. For each new account, which cost a person $10, I made $50. So I would cold call people from the phone book and offer them the paper for free for a month. I borrowed money from my parents to pay the $10 up front, then made back $50 later. I never signed anyone up in my own neighborhood because I didn't actually want to delivery additional newspapers :)
2. At Stanford I took advantage of some good discounts at the Stanford bookstore and made a little cash on ebay. I had so much fun doing this. For about 3 weeks I was working 10-15 hours per day. Good times.
Al just told me he's going to throw his Treo in the trash and asked if I wanted it. I'm going to take it and put it on ebay. I'll give him 10% of the proceeds.
This was interesting:
Cuban's first step in the business world occurred at age 12, when he sold garbage bags in quantities of 100 for $6
I was thinking about what my first steps in the business world were. My friends know I'm always scheming to find new deals and make extra cash wherever I can. Credit card arbitrage is my speciality. So where did this all start? Two big ones that come to mind.
1. When I was around 12 I delivered newspapers for The Daily Breeze. I probably made $50-60 per month for about an hour of work per day. Where I really made money was by signing up new customers. For each new account, which cost a person $10, I made $50. So I would cold call people from the phone book and offer them the paper for free for a month. I borrowed money from my parents to pay the $10 up front, then made back $50 later. I never signed anyone up in my own neighborhood because I didn't actually want to delivery additional newspapers :)
2. At Stanford I took advantage of some good discounts at the Stanford bookstore and made a little cash on ebay. I had so much fun doing this. For about 3 weeks I was working 10-15 hours per day. Good times.
Al just told me he's going to throw his Treo in the trash and asked if I wanted it. I'm going to take it and put it on ebay. I'll give him 10% of the proceeds.