8 Ways to Get Filthy Rich

Follow these get-rich-quick schemes and this time next year you could be a millionaire

1 Do an existing idea better

A decade ago, Brian Shultz, now 40, was a staff member for a US Senator when he made a campaign stop at a Maryland pub-come-cinema. It gave him his eureka moment. “Though the quality of the food and presentation of the film left a lot to be desired, I still thought, ‘This is it!’,” Shultz says. “I knew I could do it better.”

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Brian is now CEO of the Studio Movie Grill chain of cinema/diners across Texas, with seven venues and plans to go national. And it was all originally someone else’s idea.

Simon Woodroffe’s YO! Sushi restaurant and its seemingly innovative conveyor belt system was actually nothing new when he launched it in 1997: Simon had copied an idea from Japan in the ’50s, but made it work because no one was doing it in England. Today, he’s a multi-millionaire, and his advice for anyone wanting to emulate his success is to want it like nothing else on earth. “I wanted to be a millionaire when I was 20 but it was all love and peace so I thought I’d wait till I was 30,” he says. “But your 30s are the hardest decade because you take everything so seriously, ‘My mortgage! My wife!’. I got divorced, was down to my last 150k tied up in my home, and the big break was the realisation that it was now or never. I hit on the idea of YO! Sushi, and we took a million within a year.”

Perfect for: Dedicated and determined men who can spot a golden opportunity. For inspiration, see the business ideas section at entrepreneur.com

2 Be a serial entrepreneur

The term “serial entrepreneur” has become increasingly popular as more and more hopefuls try their hand at not one but five or ten different ventures, very often web-based. After all – if you’re going to set out as a businessman, why limit yourself to just one thing? Keep your start-up costs low and your ambitions high, and your hit-rate might surprise you.

“A serial entrepreneur is someone that can create a successful business in different sectors,” says 29-year-old James Simpson (james-simpson.com), a super-smart businessman who has fingers in multiple pies and who made the Sunday Times Young Rich List in 2010. “What appeals to me is the variety, plus the fact that a recession affects different markets. I find it interesting being in recruitment, in property and having web-based firms. I’ve started nine businesses and I’ve had success with all of them.”

James reckons we’re due another internet boom in “three to four years”, meaning there’s never been a better time to start thinking about how you could make your killing out of selling goods or services online. For a little over £45 a year at moonfruit.com, any numpty with a computer can design a decent-looking website, and that price includes a co.uk or .com web address.

But do your homework first. Says James: “It’s all about due-dilligence. A lot of people see a market and see the potential but don’t properly get into the costs, the staffing, the weaknesses. Focus, know what you’re doing, and have a business plan, too.”

Perfect for: Wide-eyed creative types with big ideas and time on their hands.

3 Become a day-trader

In the late ’90s, a new breed of money- mad geeks was born: day-traders, who feverishly watched the markets 24/7, bought low and tried to sell at a profit later that same day. Markets were so volatile – but generally on the up – that many of these screen-watchers made a killing. Even then-Ferrari ace Eddie Irvine got hooked, once telling FHM that he’d made a hundred grand while eating his breakfast. But then the bubble burst and day-traders fell by the wayside. Now they’re back.

“Quick trades, often lasting less than a day, appeal to people who want to make quick money,” says Robbie Burns, who calls himself the Naked Trader and reveals his share-dealing exploits at his website, nakedtrader.co.uk. “But it takes balls, and you’ve got to work hard to be one of the few that make it.” In 1999, share prices could double in a single day, and nothing got day-traders in a tizz like a good IPO (initial public offering), where a company was floated on the stock market. The day-traders would order as many shares as they could and then sell them almost instantly at a profit because demand outstripped supply. It was glorious.

“The best way to start is with a spreadbetting account,” says Robbie. “For every grand you put in, you can get access to betting on £10K-worth of FTSE 100 shares. But make sure you have enough cash to cover any losses.”

Perfect for: Newly-redundant, ballsy idlers with a bit of nous – and some time on their hands.

4 Launch a franchisable business

Laban Roomes, the amiable, gold-toothed businessman who appeared on Dragons’ Den in 2007 with his gold-plating business Goldgenie, recognised the franchise potential for his enterprise early on: more so, in fact, than his would-be investors.

“A franchise is a business that has a track record of making money, and it has to be something that can be replicated,” Laban tells us. “What makes a franchise different to simply copying someone else’s idea is that franchisees get the support of the company, an existing presence in the market and access to a product that has already proven itself.”

Laban – a “millionaire on paper” today – admits he had plateaued when he went on Dragons’ Den and had put the business on the shelf, lacking the self-belief to give it 100%. But then James Caan came on board and under his guidance, the firm initially sidelined the franchise side of the business. Through popular demand, it bounced back.

“A good franchise needs to have low overheads, high profit returns, good media potential and a marketing budget,” says Laban. “The only other thing you need is a good idea.”

Perfect for: Forward-thinking wheeler-dealers with the dedication needed to prove their business works.

5 Target rich people

Rich people are a funny breed and often fall to pieces when it comes to hiring tradesmen – hiring anyone, in fact, who has to come into their home and get a glimpse of their hallowed, special world. Your trick is to penetrate that world, make them feel like you could be trusted looking after their first born… and then charge a mint for a job well done.

Charlie Mullins, the multi-millionaire owner of London-based Pimlico Plumbers has done exactly that, building up a client list that reads like a who’s who of the capital’s rich and famous. Daniel Craig, Keira Knightley and half the Chelsea football team are on his books, and his employees famously earn in excess of £60,000 a year – little wonder when they charge £80 an hour, rising to £130 an hour after 6pm.

“In plumbing you get what you pay for,” says Mullins. “I would ask, ‘Are you that rich that you cannot afford to pay us?’ Because it could cost you twice as much if you get someone else. There’s a lot of cowboys out there.”

Playing on this kind of fear – and the image of a dodgy, chain-smoking sleaze-ball who would go through the lady of the house’s underwear drawer the minute she went out – is exactly what you need to do to flourish in the elite band of tradespeople who cater for the well-to-do. Knock up a brilliant, stylish, professionally-designed flyer advertising your business – be it catering, building, home-cinema installation or personal fitness training – and leave it under the windscreens of the poshest cars in the area. Back it up with a gorgeous-looking website that screams “respectable man who will not molest your daughter” rather than “wanker” and watch them come running. Do one good job, and the whole street will want you.

Perfect for: skilled opportunists who know the difference between “classy website” and “craigslist”.

6 Seize the magic threesome

A tracker fund wrapped up in an ISA can be a beautiful thing, even more so if you factor in the power of “compounding”, which makes the value of things grow exponentially when markets are on the up.

“A tracker tracks the prices of specific markets,” says David Kuo from the financial website The Motley Fool. “What makes them clever is that they do all the thinking for you. You don’t have to spend hours wondering what to buy and sell because the tracker does it. When the stock market index moves up, the trackers will do likewise. But if the stock market heads south, then the value of your investment will fall.”

The smart place to shield your stock market investment is inside an ISA. These are tax-free wrappers that ensure everything you put inside them – is exempt from tax. “You can put up to £10,200 in a Stocks & Shares ISA every tax year,” says David.

To unlock the power of compounding, reinvest any dividends you get. By doing that, it’s not impossible to double your money every few years. And since this summer, global markets have been slowly rising…

Perfect for: Lazy, optimistic types with some spare cash.

7 Start a buy-to-let empire

“Buy-to-let relies on collecting rent instead of having to go to work,” says property millionaire Ajay Ahuja (ahuja.co.uk). “I’ve got 210 properties and aim to have 1,000 before 2012.”

Ajay started with a £500 gift from his mum and his rules are simple: negotiate a great price so that you can get a good return, rent your properties out unfurnished and accept DSS tenants.

The key calculation to consider in your quest to make it big in property is what the experts call “yield”: the return on your investment. Ajay aims for a whopping 12% on everything he buys: if he gets a place for £100,000, he wants to take £12,000 a year in rent from it.

“Now is the time to buy,” he says. “Prices are cheap and no one is buying. I’m making cheeky bids with estate agents and some are getting accepted. I’m buying at 2000 property price levels and never dreamt it could be this good.”

Finally, if you’re wondering what will rent out and what won’t Ajay reckons you shouldn’t worry. “Virtually everything lets sooner or later,” he says.

Perfect for: Ballsy but meticulous people who can let themselves be ruled by their head and not their heart. You’re not buying for you – you’re buying to make money.

8 Set up an eBay shop

It’s an oldie, but boy is it a goldie. By 2006 more than 70,000 Brits were said to be making a living out of the ubiquitous tat-flogging website, and today the number is even greater. There’s one simple route to success: buy your products cheap, sell them at a profit. The rest is just in the details.

“When you’re trading on eBay, a lot of the rules for buying and selling in the stock market apply, like not flooding the market and not showing your hand,” says Mordy Eisenberg, a 34-year-old New Yorker who runs a store called GSM Cellular and pulls in millions every year selling electronic goodies. He’s right: eBaying professionally has become an artform, with software tools like Turbo Lister and countless others helping bedroom entrepreneurs make sale after sale.

“The key to success on eBay is finding items that sell,” says James Anderson of Anderson’s Wholesale which sells accessories for iPods. “You can have 10,000 items listed on eBay, but if they don’t sell, then you’re losing money in listings fees. To be successful on eBay, you’ve got to find items that sell and sell again. That’s the Holy Grail.” For a daily snapshot of what sells well on the auction site, see pulse.ebay.com. Then find a cheap supplier in China, work on your descriptions and get cracking.

Perfect for: Anyone with determination and patience. You’re not going to make it overnight, but the possibilities for big bucks several years down the line are very, very real.

From the January 2011 issue of FHM India.