ONE
Assessing Resources—What’s in Your Pocket?

After I wrote my first book, Bootstrap Business, which told the story of how my partner, Ron Porter, and I took $5,000 and within one year grew it into a $1.2 million business, I had the opportunity to be interviewed by Garrett Gunderson for a national radio show. Garrett is the author of the New York Times bestseller, Killing Sacred Cows, and he started the interview by asking, “Rich, tell me about how you started this last business.” I said, “Oh, I took $5,000 and …” Garrett interrupted me midsentence and said, “No! No you didn’t.”

I was kind of stunned and tried to explain, “Well, yes, I actually did start it with $5,000.” He corrected me again, “No you didn’t.” And I retorted, “Yes, I did!”

After what I initially thought was a rather awkward beginning, Garrett went on to explain that the $5,000 my partner and I put up was the smallest part of the equation. In fact, in his words, the money was really meaningless. And in making that point, Garrett was teaching an invaluable lesson.