How to make a million dollars

Some people know how to quiet a crowd.

Conrad looked at the floor. He crossed his arms, standing lazily in the center of the stage. Subtle murmurs from the audience gradually died down. Slowly they focused their attention on him, waiting.

As he stood there, they looked more closely, drawing in their breath. Perhaps they were missing something. They moved their eyes slowly over his jeans and t-shirt. Why was he just standing there?

A few stray coughs echoed through the back of the auditorium.

The seconds ticked by.

Conrad could hear the audience’s breathing stop. Silence crescended through each row as they waited for him to say something – anything.

He looked up.

“How many of you are not where you want to be in your lives?” Conrad said. A few hands crept into the air.

“How many of you have started a business but are having a hard time making it a success?”

More hands.

“How many of you want more users, or more revenue? How many of you want to raise money?”

“How many of you want to be independently wealthy?”

More hands raised. Conrad smiled knowingly.

“I can help you with those problems. You see, I was once where you were. Broke, fresh out of school with no money. Working on a few business ideas on the side.”

“In 15 years I’ve built and sold two businesses, both for more than 100 million dollars.” Conrad spaced out the words ‘million dollars’ for emphasis as he walked to the left side of the stage.

“I’ve been featured in pretty much every publication you can think of. I’ve done it all. And now I want to give it back.”

“So what I’ve tried to do is take everything that I’ve learned over the past 10 years and condense it into this talk.” Continue Reading