044: Small Change, Big Profits with Eve Picker

The ideal business is not one that is necessarily glamorous. I have a cosmetic surgery business that is uncomfortably glamorous for me–I’m not a really flashy guy. Nevertheless, my plastic surgeons do a great job of making people get over their body hangups. It’s not just about changing a person’s physical appearance, it is actually more about changing their mental state. That translates into their lives as confidence. It’s a good business. Lot’s of work and competition but my team does an outstanding job and we make money. However, I cannot say that it is an “ideal” business.

In my humble opinion, the ideal business is one where everyone wins and the business makes a difference in the world. One example of this is Jorge Newberry’s American Home Preservation. AHP is one of our sponsors but I have been talking about them long before we ever had a sponsor relationship. American Home Preservation actually started out as a non-profit organization. The idea was simply to buy failing mortgages in bulk and rent the houses back to those getting foreclosed on—keeping families in their homes. What a great deed right? Eventually Jorge figured out that doing something socially responsible didn’t mean he had to be non-profit. In fact, what he found over the years is that by getting investors involved and scaling his business, he can actually do more good and make quite a bit of money for himself.

Meanwhile, the people he keeps in their homes are happy and, of course, you are happy because you are getting 12 percent annualized return on your investment as a monthly check. Oh yeah–Jorge is pretty happy too! In this scenario, EVERYONE WINS and that is why American Home Preservation is, in my view, very close to the definition of an ideal business. You can learn more about them at AhpFunding.com. Gene Guarino’s assisted living model featured in episode 29 is another example of a business where everyone wins. His model helps seniors live in homes rather than in institutions. It’s better for the individual who needs extra help with daily living but does not want to move to a sterile box. It helps the elderly person’s children feel better about where they are leaving their parents. And,  it helps entrepreneurs like Gene by making him money while giving him a sense of doing good in the world.

There seems to be an onslaught of hate in this country which is sad. For some reason, it seems like it’s okay to be hateful as long as you put an American Flag on your Facebook page. We are better than that. I was heartened to see even George W Bush speak out about it last week. This is not a political show but I will say that as a father of three little girls I am very concerned about the trajectory of our national rhetoric.

I want to stay positive and continue to promote people who are doing good things. Don’t get me wrong… I am a raging entrepreneur and capitalist. We are not gong to start interviewing non-profits on this show anytime soon. I have my own non-profit organization so of course I certainly endorse good causes. However, Wealth Formula Podcast is about making money. But, whenever possible,  I want to showcase people who are making money by doing good. In that spirit, this week’s guest on Wealth Formula Podcast is Eve Picker of Small Change.