When you are playing Halo (or any video game) for the first time, you have no idea what the "environment" looks like. You don't know where the bad guys are hiding, or where you go to reload your weapons, or what buttons you have to push to deactivate the tractor beam or whatever. The same is true of the business environment, so let's look at the American business environment in the simplest possible terms: Here is how America works. What we've got is a $10 trillion economy. That means that, all over this nation, there are people handing each other $10 trillion in return for goods and services each year. You call up Domino's and pay $10 for a pizza -- that is 0.0000000001% of the American economy. You actually play a role in that $10 trillion figure every time you buy something. See Also The Teenager's Guide to the Real World by Marshall Brain (20 free chapters online) Making money with web sites About the Author Robotic Nation Robots in 2015 Robotic Freedom Robot news AltEng Manna Science on the Brain Interesting Videos Thank you for visiting today, How much money is $10 trillion? If you go down to Wal-Mart and buy a gallon of distilled water, it will cost about a dollar. So I want you to imagine a swimming pool that holds 10 trillion gallons of water. It would be a swimming pool that is about two miles on a side -- two miles by two miles wide and two miles deep. It is a BIG swimming pool. When you start a business, you get to swim in that swimming pool. Drink all you want -- you won't even make a dent in a swimming pool that is two miles deep. Or think of it this way -- If the whole pool is 10 feet deep, it is 67 miles on each side. $10 trillion is a HUGE amount of money! You can swim for a long time in a pool that is 67 miles wide. Your job is to look at the American economy and all the people in it. Now think to yourself, "What can I do that some of these people need? What can I do that would make their lives better in some way, and they would be willing to pay money for?" All you need to do is figure out a way to snag 0.00001% of the money flowing around in the American economy in one year and you have made a million dollars. It does not have to be a complicated idea, and it does not even have to be original. For example, let's take the idea of selling pizza. People like pizza -- you know that. If you can start a pizza restaurant, and if you make $1 profit off of each pizza you sell, and if you sell a million pizzas, you have made a million dollars. It has happened before. Ever heard of Domino's? Papa John's? Pizza Hut? Little Caesars? Chuck E Cheese's? Red Baron pizza? Tombstone pizza? DiGiorno's pizza? Freschetta pizza? Lots of people have made a lot of money selling pizza. And it will happen again. Let me give you three examples from my own life so you can see what I mean... << Previous Slide | Introduction | Next Slide >>