GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 31 - February 2015

If you grow your project into a really big one and have employees while you're run- ning the show, you're a business owner, and chances are you're rich. If you happen to have multiple projects you're not work- ing on yourself but have people doing the time-consuming work while you oversee things, or have overseers while you do ab- solutely nothing, you have an investment portfolio of assets that generate revenue for you. If this is you, you're wealthy. It's a matter of preference. Some people prefer to have one project that means something, while others are more prag- matic and see projects as cash cows. Both style can be effective. Now the question to ask is how to go from a hobby to a business or an investment portfolio. If you're growing yourself by buying yourself things and indulging in all sorts of earthly pleasures, you'll still be just as tall as before and your hobby will struggle to become something more as you're draining it dry. If you do the opposite and focus on making your hobby stronger and bigger, it will soon outgrow you and it will be your big rich friend. The difference is not in the money you're making but in the way you handle your finances. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dan Horvat has been described as a serial entrepreneur, and has been involved in the gaming industry for several years on both the operator and the affiliate side, most notably with the sports betting website Oklade.net. Apart from his online and offline business projects, he is majoring in computer science at Harvard University. Case study: Saving 10 percent of every payment Two guys inherit two identical family businesses from their grandfathers: bakeries with identical revenue and income. Both are profitable, with a monthly net income of $2,000. The first owner just keeps taking money out of the cash register, thinking it's his money anyway and usually ends up spending it all, rarely saving something. He's doing all right but the bakery remains poor. He's investing ''his own money'' whenever something needs to be done at the bakery, such as a paint job. He's driving a nice car. The second owner does it the other way around. He's putting 10 percent of all income aside and is paying himself a strict $1,500 salary every month. If there's any money left, it stays with the bakery. After 12 months, there is $6,000 in the bakery's bank account, $2,400 of it being the golden reserve coming from the 10 percent. This guy can now afford an investment of some sort. If he plays his cards right, the bakery will soon be strong enough to pay him a $3,000 salary and his business will continue to grow. If your project is just something on the side which gets you a couple of hundred here and there, then that's all it's ever going to be." 13