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The Undercover Billionaire: Building a $1m business in 90 days

Fox

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I call that being realistic. Not that it invalidates the money, but it makes the entire premise irrelevant to the Average Joe watching the show.

It's similar to those challenges where a personal trainer gets fat, and then looks ripped within a few months. It's good publicity, but the results aren't typical (or even possible in that case). Those challenges probably give people unrealistic expectations too.

Speaking of that, didn't you stop your web design challenge because you had an advantage with the skills you learned from before and didn't find the challenge useful to your students?

Ya the main reason was I didn’t think it was a great idea to be making content about how I can make money compared to just making content that directly shows other people how to make money.

That was the reason for the switch - I was getting a lot of “well it’s easy for you because...” style questions. On this challenge it will all be there so any one can put it into use right away. It’s basically a free course that I’m sure others would charge 1k plus for.

Since a lot of success is down to internal mindsets and skills it’s very hard to give an accurate “from zero” challenge to someone who already knows what they are doing. The better challenge (I think) is someone who knows what they are doing teaching multiple people to do it also. The premise of this show is still really good though - just my personal thoughts.
 
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MILIANARD134

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Ya the main reason was I didn’t think it was a great idea to be making content about how I can make money compared to just making content that directly shows other people how to make money.

That was the reason for the switch - I was getting a lot of “well it’s easy for you because...” style questions. On this challenge it will all be there so any one can put it into use right away. It’s basically a free course that I’m sure others would charge 1k plus for.

Since a lot of success is down to internal mindsets and skills it’s very hard to give an accurate “from zero” challenge to someone who already knows what they are doing. The better challenge (I think) is someone who knows what they are doing teaching multiple people to do it also. The premise of this show is still really good though - just my personal thoughts.

Fox I think you can't convince people who says : "it's easy for you", it's like a lost battle. These people don't come here to the value or longshot. They come from the dropshipping era, make easy money easy lambo etc...
You really should do it, the only problem is, webdesign isn't a lot fun to watch aha..

By the way this tv show is gold, watched the first episode yesterday. I find it really interesting as a challenge and was wondering if that's could be possible for running. Like running 50 race in an unkown country and get sponsored, that could be so fun^^.
I'm really waiting the upcoming episodes, and i'm sure he will do it!
 

Roli

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Why are you all criticizing the show and the premise of it when you clearly haven’t watched it?

Because we were asked for an opinion.


BUT you can bet that whatever way they did do it “they had an advantage” (cue poverty mindset folk). It will be that they had connections/industry knowledge/deal skills/specific skills.

In four years of being on TMFF I've never read a thread that said I turned $100 into $1,000,000 in 90 days.

Not believing in this show has less to do with poverty mindset and more to do with having a reality mindset.

Remember TV's job is to make the unrealistic look credible and real, "reality" shows are no different.
 

Roli

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Ya the main reason was I didn’t think it was a great idea to be making content about how I can make money compared to just making content that directly shows other people how to make money.

Fox's Web School is an excellent resource! It shows a realistic path to making good money in a relatively short space of time, what's not to love?
 
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Andy Black

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Yeah. Very interesting. The first thing he thinks when he hits that city?
  • “What does this city need?”

He also wonders immediately how to build a team that would buy into his vision. @Kak often mentions how important leadership is.


Also... at the end of the video his wife summarises why her husband is a top businessman:
  • “He never gives up.”
  • “His word is his bond.”
  • “He does a deal on a handshake.” (The cowboy contract.)
  • “He’s a maverick who’s got old fashioned values.”
  • “He works longer hours than everyone else.”
  • “People trust him.”
 

Fox

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Because we were asked for an opinion.




In four years of being on TMFF I've never read a thread that said I turned $100 into $1,000,000 in 90 days.

Not believing in this show has less to do with poverty mindset and more to do with having a reality mindset.

Remember TV's job is to make the unrealistic look credible and real, "reality" shows are no different.

No but there are a lot of us who could do 10,000 plus and probably some would could do 100k.

Since this is a billionaire I would presume it scales up.
 

LittleWolfie

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Yeah. Very interesting. The first thing he thinks when he hits that city?
  • “What does this city need?”

Also... at the end hearing his wife summarise why her husband is a top businessman:
  • “He never gives up.”
  • “His word is his bond.”
  • “He does a deal on a handshake.” (The cowboy contract.)
  • “He’s a maverick who’s got old fashioned values.”
  • “He works longer hours than everyone else.”
  • “People trust him.”

One of his first thoughts was how to build a team that would buy into his vision

Also interesting how he says;

People are living hand to mouth and just need a break.

10x harder than I thought.

Once you get past food and shelter is a lot easier to have some of that money to invest and get things going.

Do you guys think the billionaire is making excuses for them?
 
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Andy Black

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Also interesting how he says;

People are living hand to mouth and just need a break.

10x harder than I thought.

Once you get past food and shelter is a lot easier to have some of that money to invest and get things going.

Do you guys think the billionaire is making excuses for them?
No, I don't think a billionarie has the word "excuses" in their vocabulary.

I think he might have been genuinely surprised how hard it is to struggle to keep a roof over your head AND grow a business (fast).

Also... bear in mind who the bulk of the audience will be. It does make sense for him to highlight this.
 

Andy Black

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Since this is a billionaire I would presume it scales up.
Without having watched an episode, but having watched that 5 minute interview with him, I think his idea of scaling fast could be building a team around him with a shared vision for the city.
 

Dan_Cardone

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A few thoughts after watching the first episode:

  1. His plan seems to be flip scrap for some money -> buy cars and flip them -> use money to buy house and flip it -> find a business for sale with potential and convince people he meets along the way to invest in this company. Going to be fun to watch this play out.
  2. Why is he out trying to sell dog toys for a dollar each to individual people? This really makes me doubt how real this show is. Then again, all reality TV is pretty much fake... If he was going to try and sell dog toys on a commission why wouldn't he call up stores that sell dog toys and try and sell them in bulk to them? That makes way more sense.
  3. He clearly wants to flip scrap which he has trouble finding. Why not use craigslist/facebook and his truck to find things people are giving away for free that he can flip? Lots of people are willing to give away couches, large furniture, pianos, all kinds of stuff just to get rid of it fast.
  4. Speaking of which, why not use his phone and internet to find any commission only sales job that pays a high commission? He said hes been a salesman all his life so he should have the skills to make some good money fast; surely much faster than cleaning a house for a few bucks or selling dog toys for a dollar each. That said, I think they want this show to appeal to the "every day working class" American and most of the shows viewers probably wouldn't connect with that strategy as much.
  5. He seems to be a genuinely likable guy and I find myself rooting for him.
 
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Andy Black

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A few thoughts after watching the first episode:

  1. His plan seems to be flip scrap for some money -> buy cars and flip them -> use money to buy house and flip it -> find a business for sale with potential and convince people he meets along the way to invest in this company. Going to be fun to watch this play out.
  2. Why is he out trying to sell dog toys for a dollar each to individual people? This really makes me doubt how real this show is. Then again, all reality TV is pretty much fake... If he was going to try and sell dog toys on a commission why wouldn't he call up stores that sell dog toys and try and sell them in bulk to them? That makes way more sense.
  3. He clearly wants to flip scrap which he has trouble finding. Why not use craigslist/facebook and his truck to find things people are giving away for free that he can flip? Lots of people are willing to give away couches, large furniture, pianos, all kinds of stuff just to get rid of it fast.
  4. Speaking of which, why not use his phone and internet to find any commission only sales job that pays a high commission? He said hes been a salesman all his life so he should have the skills to make some good money fast; surely much faster than cleaning a house for a few bucks or selling dog toys for a dollar each. That said, I think they want this show to appeal to the "every day working class" American and most of the shows viewers probably wouldn't connect with that strategy as much.
  5. He seems to be a genuinely likable guy and I find myself rooting for him.
Is there a link to this first episode anywhere? Asking for a friend.
 

ChrisV

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A few thoughts after watching the first episode:

  1. His plan seems to be flip scrap for some money -> buy cars and flip them -> use money to buy house and flip it -> find a business for sale with potential and convince people he meets along the way to invest in this company. Going to be fun to watch this play out.
  2. Why is he out trying to sell dog toys for a dollar each to individual people? This really makes me doubt how real this show is. Then again, all reality TV is pretty much fake... If he was going to try and sell dog toys on a commission why wouldn't he call up stores that sell dog toys and try and sell them in bulk to them? That makes way more sense.
  3. He clearly wants to flip scrap which he has trouble finding. Why not use craigslist/facebook and his truck to find things people are giving away for free that he can flip? Lots of people are willing to give away couches, large furniture, pianos, all kinds of stuff just to get rid of it fast.
  4. Speaking of which, why not use his phone and internet to find any commission only sales job that pays a high commission? He said hes been a salesman all his life so he should have the skills to make some good money fast; surely much faster than cleaning a house for a few bucks or selling dog toys for a dollar each. That said, I think they want this show to appeal to the "every day working class" American and most of the shows viewers probably wouldn't connect with that strategy as much.
  5. He seems to be a genuinely likable guy and I find myself rooting for him.
So there may be some balance of real/fake here. Often even with the real ones the producers give them some instructions on what will be entertaining or not.
 

Dan_Cardone

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Fox

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How would you guys make the first 1k?

I think my approach would be to look for free items being thrown away when people move (beds, couches) and you resell for cash. I did this was back in Canada and could make a few hundred very easy.

You do need a truck for this though and a place to store.

It’s a good idea for a show - us talking about it shows it has the right level of controversy that makes a show go viral.
 

1step

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How would you guys make the first 1k?

The area he is in looks really poor and run down. I think this would really affect how to make the first thousand.

Like you said, in my area there’s a lot of free stuff you could flip but I wonder if in a place like Erie, where he is, if that stuff exists.

When I was watching I was thinking I would probably drive around and see if I could sell a power washing service or something else that requires renting a machine like a power washer.
 
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biophase

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I'm guessing that they don't want him to use any of his "skills" that would make the viewer say, "Oh, that's because he already knows banking, is an expert in cars." If this billionaire owned an autofranchise, they wouldn't let him apply for a job at a car dealer.

I think this is why he's not going into factories and saying I can scale your manufacturing business in 90 days for you. He also can't give away that he has alot of knowledge. It might be too easy.

Now if this were anyone on this forum and we could use our knowledge (but not network), we could walk into factories and other B2C's and tell them that we noticed that they didn't have an online presence and that we could get them online sales and social media and 10x their sales within 90 days. Ask them to give us a shot at doing it and tell them your background and experience.
 

Xeon

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This show is one of those things that leads the common man astray, making them think starting a business and making $$$ is easy.
 

Dan_Cardone

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This show is one of those things that leads the common man astray, making them think starting a business and making $$$ is easy.
He said twice that he underestimated how hard it was going to be.
 
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Kak

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This show is one of those things that leads the common man astray, making them think starting a business and making $$$ is easy.

On the contrary. This show supports the notion that success is NOT LUCK.
 

ApparentHorizon

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Stating the obvious...
  1. He's not starting with a truck and $100. He's starting with a truck, $100, and 20 years of experience. That's like taking Ronaldo (top soccer player), and putting him on the Canadian national team. He doesn't lose his striking skills in the transfer.
  2. He doesn't have the same worry in the back of his mind that he needs food and shelter. Leading to more mental capacity toward achieving his goals.
 
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GPM

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Isn't the whole point of this forum to develop our "20 years of prior experience"? We are developing it now. Our goal is to be this guy in 20 years. Not NOW, in 20 years. Real, attainable success does not fall from trees. It is earned through hard work.

This sounds like something I would like to watch once it has finished airing.
 

MILIANARD134

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Stating the obvious...
  1. He's not starting with a truck and $100. He's starting with a truck, $100, and 20 years of experience. That's like taking Ronaldo (top soccer player), and putting him on the Canadian national team. He doesn't lose his striking skills in the transfer.
  2. He doesn't have the same worry in the back of his mind that he needs food and shelter. Leading to more mental capacity toward achieving his goals.

So basically he is just a proof that success is the result of hard work.
 

ApparentHorizon

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So basically he is just a proof that success is the result of hard work.

That and I took it as, there really are formulas to success. Hence why some people can create profitable businesses after profitable business.
 
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Kak

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That and I took it as, there really are formulas to success. Hence why some people can create profitable businesses after profitable business.

Business, in my view, is 80% art and 20% science.

Complete formulas exist only temporarily.
 
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AlexDep89

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The episode is online on themovies.me (won't share exact link since I assume this is not really legal to view it there ).

Just watched the first episode. Not that spectacular yet. One gem was the fact that he says: "find your buyer first" (and see what they want, and how much they want to pay). Then see if you can find it / make it for less. Other ideas I got from the show is if you have a pickup truck or small van, you get earn an extra buck by helping moving stuff.

This is only to hustle and make small bucks. But the first episode is all about earning some basic money so he can at least eat ,rent a motel room,....
 

Fox

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$250 doubled every week for 12 weeks would be 1,000,000.

I haven’t seen any clips yet but I’m guessing he makes it.
 
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Kak

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$250 doubled every week for 12 weeks would be 1,000,000.

I haven’t seen any clips yet but I’m guessing he makes it.

A business "worth $1m" is not a million in cash balance either. He only needs a quarter mill annualized profit to safely claim he "did it" considering a conservative 4x multiple.
 
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