Tenth Edition - Harsh Reality Newsletter

Today is the Tenth edition of the "Harsh Reality" newsletter! If you're new here, welcome to the fight. If you want to see previous editions of the newsletter they'll be available at the link below. And if you want to join us on our social media platforms click on those links as well. Our intent is to always provide you more value than we acquire so thank you for being here and enjoy the show.

Weekly Dose of "Harsh Reality"

The national average for income in the United States in 2022 was $54,132. You could also say, $4,500/month. That's top line, gross revenue, prior to taxes. Now think about your expenses. How much of your monthly income is going out the door before you ever see it? Things like taxes, student loans, car(s), rent, cell phone, internet, health insurance, etc. They are all eating away at your income leaving you with very little to invest at the end of the month.

Harsh Reality - You could make more income than the national average without ever going to college, working years at a J.O.B., or "grinding it out" doing something you hate on a daily basis.

Today we're going to discuss buying a business. You could also think of it as buying an income.

It may or may not be a surprise to everyone to hear that 50% of businesses fail within the first year. Even worse, 90% of businesses fail within the first five years. An even "Harsher Reality" is that less than 1% of businesses ever earn $1M a year in gross revenue. This makes the idea of starting your own business seem overwhelming and pointless. That's because instead of teaching you about this stuff in school, you learned about good ole "Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally" and line dancing. Very useful life skills no doubt..

**Disclaimer** I love small business. I love seeing people put sweat and effort into their passion and swinging for the fences. Having said that, those with a little more experience tend to see the world a little more practically.

For the practical team out there, we know that it's much easier to buy that first $1M in revenue than it is to build it. In other words, would you rather start a business from scratch with nothing but your hopes and dreams backing it up; or would you prefer to take over a business with a proven track record, a customer base and verifiable income? Yeah, we like cheat codes too.

Some of the nay-sayers will say, "How could you buy a business with that kind of revenue?!? You don't have any money!" The reality is, just like with the house hacking we talked about in the last edition, how you go about everything makes all the difference.

Here are a few useful facts to consider. First, we're entering the biggest transition of business ownership in history. The Boomer generation is retiring at a rate of 10,000 -15,000 people.. A.. Day.. That means that opportunities abound. In addition to that, only one in twenty businesses will actually sell. That means that it's one hell of a buyer's market. Lastly, 60% of small business deals are purchased with seller financing. That means that the majority of businesses are acquired with very little out of pocket capital.

The Small Business Administration is a valuable resource as well. If a company you wish to acquire can pass the screening process, the SBA will finance 90% of the purchase price. There is much more inherent risk in this funding mechanism, but it's out there.

Some people use a combination of the SBA loan and seller financing and acquire properties without putting up a dime. Do understand that you have to be able to float the operation until you can bring in revenue; but that's a lot easier prospect than finding a $300k down payment.

As always, we try to challenge your perspectives on how business and life works. We hope we've inspired you to start looking into some of these things for yourself and possibly putting them into practice! Our recommendation is to start on YouTube, invest in some books and check out some of the websites where businesses are posted for sale. Learn all you can and start small with unsophisticated businesses.

** Cautionary Note ** Do not approach this like you're buying a job. You're buying a business to manage and earn from. If you can't have people manage the business for you then it's the wrong business.

Shit That Matters

Finland Becomes 31st Member of NATO - Finland has officially joined NATO breaking a 78 year policy of military neutrality.

Harsh Reality - This will cause further issues between NATO and Russia. Now that Finland has joined it's likely that Sweden won't be far behind lending credence to the Russian assertion that NATO is the initial aggressor that prompted their invasion of Ukraine.

Now I'm not saying they're right.. But if we're being intellectually honest, we can see where they're coming from. They shouldn't have invaded a sovereign nation; but NATO has been advancing east consistently since the fall of the iron curtain. Finland also has a very large and competent military that they're brining into the NATO alliance. Channeling our old "Red Dawn" energy, hopefully this doesn't end with the two toughest kids on the block getting into a fight.

Russo-Ukrainian War - Russia assumes highest role among the UN Security Council. Documents leaked this past week could prove valuable to Russian intelligence. They are reported to show the readiness posture of various military units in Ukraine. As that story develops the troop buildup continues on both sides along the line of contact.

Harsh Reality - We have no proof of this, but our guess is that the document leak is disinformation attempting to bait the Russians into a more risky attack than they would normally commit to. In military strategy this is called a baited ambush. You show your enemy weakness in the hopes of drawing them into an exposed position as they press an attack. While that happens your forces are massed waiting to capitalize on their overzealous offensive.

We do know that both the Ukrainians and the Russians are massing personnel and equipment for the upcoming offensive we've been hearing about all winter. The Russians are massing personnel near the area of Siversk while the Ukrainians appear to be massing south of Bakhmut along the line of contact. Both sides are approaching 1,000,000 personnel mobilized for this conflict. This number does not include potential North Korean personnel discussed in last week's edition.

Reference the UN Security Counsel, no surprises here. Unfortunately for the UN, the Presidency of the UN Security Counsel is a position that rotates among the members. China, who is currently committing genocide, is also a member who will take charge at some point. Russia took control on schedule per the laws of the counsel. The real question is, what will they be able to influence now that they're in charge?

Response To Nashville School Shooting - The administration and Country Music Awards give tone-deaf response to the Nashville school shooting that occurred two weeks ago.

Harsh Reality - These people are total idiots. The administration's response is about is politically charged as anyone could imagine. Not only did they blame assault rifles, which weren't used in the shooting, they defended trans kids saying that they were under attack. You can see two instances of that here and here. Talk about gaslighting..

The CMAs decided to jump into the fray as well. Their show, based out of Nashville, included a drag show on the heels of a tranny shooting up a school and killing six people. Talk about classless.

Here's a thought, stop making sensationalist claims that are sure to divide people. The only assault rifle used in the shooting was the one the police used to kill the mentally deranged transvestite shooter. While we're at it, stop implying that there is any acceptable instance where someone can be pushed to murder unarmed kids.

Honorable Mentions -

French Riots - This week the rioters made headlines again by attacking the BlackRock investment firm in Paris. For those who don't know, BlackRock is the largest investment firm in the world. That's definitely one way to get attention; hit them in their wallet.

Afghanistan Report - A report released this week by the Biden administration refuses to accept responsibility for their disasterous withdrawal from Afghanistan. Instead, they blamed the previous administration (shock). Anyone with an ounce of military experience knows that this was a disaster and everyone involved from the president to the general staff should have been fired on the spot. Unfortunately, we don't do accountability in politics these days.

CDC Warns of New "Ebola Like" Virus in Africa - The Marburg Virus has been spreading throughout Tanzania and Equatorial Guinea. The CDC warns of its "Ebola Like" characteristics. You can read more about it here.

Weekly Market Recap

Shit That Doesn't Matter

Biden Family Bank Records Subpoena - The Republican lead house oversight committee subpoenaed several banks with records regarding the potential Biden family corruption and influence peddling.

Harsh Reality - We are of the opinion that the Biden family is one of the most corrupt families in America. Having said that, there is zero chance that anything comes of this prior to a republican presidency. Whether its political blocking by the democrats or a flat out pardon from Biden himself, this will die on the vine.

Bud Light and Nike Sponsorships - Bud light decided to embrace wokeness in their ad campaign featuring a flamboyant transvestite. Kid Rock responded with his own opinion on the matter.

Harsh Reality - The manipulation in America continues. Bud light is dumb and has disregarded their customer base. Nike is just trying to profit off of all the useful idiots who pretend to care about this garbage. Imagine being in China and Russia and seeing all of this play out. Pretty embarrassing if you ask me.

A word on manipulation.. Watch this video and imagine how it's being applied in our current culture via the news, social media, etc. Watch the video before reading below.

In reality, 0.6% of adults claim to be trans. Shockingly (not so much) the numbers decrease based on the age of the sample. In other words, its not as cool to be a tranny when you're older. You realize that genuinely no one gives a shit about you so the desired response is lost. If the media and woke companies stopped talking about this, it would die overnight. Unfortunately, the 0.6 percent of the population is driving a significant percentage of media coverage so we still hear about it. This is called.. Manipulation.

Trump Indictment - The former President surrendered himself to a court preceding in Manhattan this week following a sealed indictment. Trump then raised $4M in 24 hours following the news.

Harsh Reality - This is nothing but political f*ckery and sensationalism run amuck. Based on all of the feedback from various attorneys we can find, DA Bragg has used every single technicality he can to draw this indictment. The 34 counts of falsifying business records are laughable. In reality, Bragg used legal parsing to turn one alleged instance of a crime into four or five. Here's a good explanation starting at 2:07.

That's A Wrap!

Thank you for taking the time to read this edition of "Harsh Reality." Each edition will only get better going forward so if you got value from this content please consider inviting your friends and family to subscribe using the link below. Once we make it to 10,000 subscribers this will transition from a weekly to a daily newsletter and we need your help to get there! Also, hit us on our Facebook page, Twitter, YouTube channel or Discord server to keep the conversation going! We welcome your feedback and discussion!