Bill Myers

When it came to learning the entrepreneur's philosophy, I was lucky.

See, after working in the corporate world for 10 years, I met a man my age who had never held a real job in his life.

Raymond hadn't been to college, just barely graduated high school, and came from a family with little money. But Raymond had figured out a few 'secrets' to making all the money he wanted whenever he wanted to.

When I first met Raymond, he was selling a car I wanted.

Our paths crossed again when I called about a rent house for sale. Raymond was there again - he was the seller.

After a few more chance meetings like this, we eventually did some business deals that worked out well for both of us. After that, Raymond would often contact me when he something for sale (or needed something to buy).

What I learned was that Raymond was mostly involved in 'short attention span' projects.

His 'job' consisting of finding someone needing to sell something expensive, and then he'd look for buyers.

Or he'd find someone who wanted to buy something, and he'd locate a seller.

Either way, he made sure he was in the middle. He would 'work' the deal - buying from the seller, selling to the buyer, and using little of his own money.

Raymond bought and sold cars, trucks, boats, real estate, office equipment - whatever the market wanted.

He was always sniffing around for buyers wanting to buy something. And then he'd find a seller and work out a way to be involved.

One of the biggest secrets he shared with me was this - there are seasons when you should be a buyer, and seasons when you should be a seller.

For example, in the dead of winter when no one wants to buy fishing boats and everyone is trying to sell them, you should be a buyer. That's when the prices of used fishing boats are lowest.

And then on the first warm day of spring, when everyone suddenly wants to buy a boat so they can be out on the lake, you want to be the one with the boats for sale - because that's when people will pay you the most for them.

To this day, Raymond has never had a real job. He still makes a very good living just buying and selling things.

The last time I saw him, it was in the winter and he was out crusing the neighborhoods looking for trailer boats that might be for sell, hoping to find some bargains.

Because he knew that come spring, trailer boats would be exactly what the market would want to buy.

As Raymond showed me, understanding the 'secret' of knowing when to be a buyer and when to be a seller can be a big step down the road of independence.