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I long time ago I was playing bridge with a genius named Arno Hobart. I asked him what he was up to, and he told me he was in the vending machine business. "Oh?" I asked, surprised that such an intelligent man would work with such mundane products.

"One of the things I like about this business," he explained, "Is that I make money while I sleep." Yes, he really is smarter than the average bear.

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In every one of my business ideas, I look at the bottlenecks. IE: What will prevent me from making more money (my time, etc).

This is why I love software and services. Your time isn't directly related to your money, which is the only way to get rich.

The examples I use to illustrate situations like these are urinal cake companies, or toilet paper manufacturers. These people are rich. Rich beyond your wildest dot com dreams.

Are these people (who own the above mentioned firms) any less "smart" than the "genius" engineer who sits in a cubicle and makes 100k and is at the mercy of his mortgage banker?

Paul put it well when quoting the aphorism: "Where there's muck, there's brass."

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