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    How I Made a Quarter Million Dollar$ From the Trunk of My Car: Real-Life Lessons on Making Money, Entrepreneurship & Success
    How I Made a Quarter Million Dollar$ From the Trunk of My Car: Real-Life Lessons on Making Money, Entrepreneurship & Success
    How I Made a Quarter Million Dollar$ From the Trunk of My Car: Real-Life Lessons on Making Money, Entrepreneurship & Success
    Ebook117 pages1 hour

    How I Made a Quarter Million Dollar$ From the Trunk of My Car: Real-Life Lessons on Making Money, Entrepreneurship & Success

    By James Bird Guess

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    About this ebook

    What does speaker and entrepreneur, James “Bird” Guess have in common with Nike Inc. founder and billionaire, Phil Knight, Carmex lip balm founder, Alfred Woelbing, and multi-millionaire financial guru, Dave Ramsey? They all started their businesses from the trunk of their car.

    Learn how this street savvy entrepreneur created a 99% risk-free business model. Now often called the “Michael Jordan of Motivation,” James details the emotional and mental qualities and skills, that made him an overnight six-figure success, despite starting out broke, living paycheck-to-paycheck, no business plan, no bank loans, and poor credit.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJames Bird Guess
    Release dateFeb 1, 2012
    ISBN9781452443362
    How I Made a Quarter Million Dollar$ From the Trunk of My Car: Real-Life Lessons on Making Money, Entrepreneurship & Success
    Author

    James Bird Guess

    Homeless after high school and at rock bottom of his life, James Bird Guess discovered a success process called Grinding, in which a person creates success using ambition, vision, strategy and perseverance. Starting with only $1,000, poor credit, and a dream to become a millionaire, James single-handedly built a quarter million dollar enterprise selling products from the trunk of his car. Deciding to pursue his passion more than profit, he founded James Bird Guess International Success Academy, a leadership training and research company that trains thousands of managers and business leaders from organizations across the world, with one goal - to inspire the best performance out of people. From homeless to successful boot-strapping entrepreneur, to a world-renowned speaker and trainer, James is also the best-selling author of the book, How I Made a Quarter Million Dollar$ From the Trunk of My Car.

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      Book preview

      How I Made a Quarter Million Dollar$ From the Trunk of My Car - James Bird Guess

      Dedication

      This book is dedicated to the financially poor, yet ambitious individuals who with determination and opportunity are destined for financial freedom and independence!

      Acknowledgments

      GOD!

      "But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today."

      —Deuteronomy 8:18

      Special Thanks

      Shashea L. Adams, Kendria Taylor, Maurice Reese Lewis, Chad Taylor, The Executive Capital Assembly of Dallas, Inc.

      Introduction

      Becoming the American Dream

      Although all men and women are created equal in The Game of Money & Wealth, they are not born equal. Most people financially begin life where their parents ended. Wealth and knowledge are transferred from adults to children, who eventually inherit the family estate, shack, or debts.

      Unfortunately, we are not taught how to prosper in the wealthiest country in the world, instead we are taught only how to become one of the poorest players—the Employee. It is critical that you understand the rules, players, winners and losers. You must also develop a financially intelligent mentality to make certain that you have a chance at winning in the Game of Money & Wealth.

      In this book, you will discover every financial and business secret, strategy, and innovation I have learned from being a broke employee to street savvy entrepreneur, and millionaire in the making. Unfortunately, I had no one to teach me the basics to the game of making money and accumulating wealth. It was only through my relentless desire and pursuit of Wealth, and fear of poverty that made me veer off the path to middle class and led me toward the path of the millionaire class.

      From the time I was homeless to making hundreds of thousands of dollars and losing hundreds of thousands, I continue to overcome, rise, achieve, attain and pursue my greatness. Although my net worth fluctuates year to year, my self worth only elevates and every time I lose and learn, I actually breakeven. Being able to start out broke, from scratch and nothing and become something represents the essence of the American Dream.

      I am the American Dream, because I consistently came from nothing and became something. Now you can take everything from me—my money, my credit, my house, and even my car, and I will have it all back within three to five years because of what I know, the mentality I have acquired, and the person I have become.

      Chapter 1

      Ambitions of a Hustler

      Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life’s about creating yourself.

      —George Bernard Shaw

      On May 19, 2002, I graduated from Austin College in Sherman, Texas, and received two diplomas—one from the college and one from the streets of life. You must understand that five years earlier, my mother threw my clothes into trash bags and set them outside the garage door. As she turned her back on me she said something I would never forget, you will need me, before I need you. As I gathered my belongings and tossed them into the back of my Ford Probe, I promised myself that I would never need anyone again for emotional or financial support. I had simultaneously turned my back on my mother and the entire world.

      As I sat in the car, my thought process worked like a perfect product of public school education—a multiple-choice question. If you are homeless, where do you go? The available answers were: a) homeless shelter, b) friends, c) other family.

      Since I had no other family and thought of myself as too good to stay in a shelter, I drove to a high school friend’s apartment. When I walked in, there was alcohol and drug paraphernalia everywhere and multiple people snorting short lines of cocaine off broken mirrors. I asked my friend whose name was Junior where I could crash in his efficiency style apartment. He said I could have the spot on the floor by the bathroom. It was a long way from a soft bed in the suburbs, but nonetheless, was a roof over my head for the time being.

      It was 2 a.m. and the party was still going strong. I learned how to sleep by controlling my mind to focus on one piece of sound—the loud music, and I eventually fell asleep.

      The next morning I got up to get ready for work at the local car wash. I loved working there because it provided me with multiple sources of income. My primary source of income was simply my paycheck earned for the number of hours I worked. The secondary source was the money and products I collected from under the seats, ashtrays, and glove compartments of the customers’ cars.

      My goal was to make an extra $50 a day, simply from my secondary source. But before I knew it, greed began to multiply inside my mind, and like the old saying goes—pigs get fat, but hogs get slaughtered. One day I was vacuuming a new Ford F-150 and found a small book underneath the seat. I pulled it out and a credit card dropped from it. My eyes blinked dollar signs, as I stuffed the book with the card between my belt and waist.

      Once business slowed down and there were no other cars to wash, I went to the bathroom and examined my new found goods. I pulled the credit card out of the book and it was a Platinum Visa. I knew the window of opportunity was only 24-48 hours before the customer realized the card was lost and reported it.

      During lunch breaks, I would go to Wal-Mart and use the credit card to purchase food and other essentials, along with items that could easily be liquidated in the streets. The items with the highest profit margins were video consoles, televisions, CD players and other electronics. Lucky for me, Wal-Mart never asked for identification, especially if you were willing to split the profits with a selectively recruited employee.

      Another reason I liked Wal-Mart was because more than likely the customer lived in the neighborhood and shopped at the local store, so any new purchases would look normal to the credit card company. But after purchasing over $1,000 in products, it was time to cut up the card and trash it, because I knew the credit card company would eventually red flag it for irregular purchase activity sooner or later.

      For my own sanity, I usually waited a week before capitalizing off the next customer. This time it was a soccer mom who left her checkbook stuffed between the seats. Before I took anything from a customer, I would always quickly evaluate their intelligence. If their car was extremely clean, it meant they were organized and would notice immediately if they lost something. So my window of opportunity was shorter and more risky. But if their car was dirty or they had lots of kids, I knew their minds were either unorganized or very occupied and it would take them a

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