Start small and grow to whatever size you ultimately wish to be.

My business was started with $5,000. Seriously, that was it, just $5,000 back in late 1987.

It was a small entreprise and I worked from home as a side line to my normal job.

The revenues were tiny, in hindsight hardly worth the effort! However it started me on my way to growing a business that would create the lifestyle I have today.

I didn't get serious with the business until 1990 when I quit my job and went fulltime working in and on my business. It was a long hard slog. I had no idea what I had got myself into and debts started mounting up. It took me around 12 months to get into an uncomfortable amount of business debt and about 5-6 years to get the business out out of debt to the point of being debt free.

My timing was perfect, within 18 months of going fulltime in the business, our first child was born and we were hit with 17.5% home loan interest rates and 22% business overdraft rates. Then we were hit by one of the biggest recessions - just to top things off!

HOWEVER, I never once thought I would fail (stupidity does that sometimes I guess), I never considered quitting and I always believed that I would succeed.

To cut a long story short, by 1999, we not only survived the above, but we also had a second child, upgraded our house and purchased a small factory premises in Sydney to run our business from.

The business didn't start "firing on all cylinders" until my wife joined the business in 2001. She took over the accounts, admin and finances so I could focus on what made money. Then it just happened and we had a hugely profitable business generating income for us. We both had a vested interest to make it work well and together we made a great team!

My wife is a very smart woman and very adaptable. She will have a go at anything!

We started seriously investing in 2002.

I would come up with the ideas (one of my strengths, however not all my ideas were great ones!) and once we agreed on what would happen, we would execute the plan and then she would manage and look after the administration of the investment.

This was our modus operandi for the next two decades, and still is today.

We kept our business small and focussed on niche markets with niche products to minimise competition. It worked for us. I had to travel a lot, and spent more time in planes than I would ever had imagined.

Now, truth be told, you really don't need a business to create wealth.

Sure, a business makes it happen faster, and if your business succeeds you have a lot more control over your destiny than as an employee.

I had an aunty and uncle who came out to Australia in the early 50's and became process workers in a local factory in Sydney. They lived in a terrace house that they bought in an inner city suburb. They lived on the top floor and rented out the rooms below to create extra income. They eventually purchased a second house - an investment property which they also rented out. They had their jobs as well as other income streams from their rentals. A third property was purchased in the southern suburbs, which they moved into. They kept their inner city terraces for rental income.... and kept working.

They left millions of dollars in income producing assets to their heirs - and they were just factory process workers with limited secondary education.

They just stayed focussed on what they wanted to achieve.

To be honest, I learned a lot from my aunty and uncle with regard to investing in income producing assets.

They didn't actually tell me what or how they did it - I just observed as a child growing up.

In their latter years, I told my aunty that I watched and learned from their example, to which she was surprised (and happy) to think that she had influenced me in such a way.

As mentioned, my business started with $5000. It grew to the point of generating incomes and profit for my wife and I that were surprising - especially for a "mum and dad" business. We kept it small, because family time was important to us and if we chose to grow the business, their would have been less time for our family.

However, this "mum and dad" business generated some big profits above our salaries, and it was these profits that were invested over the years.

We always kept our incomes at a level where we were comfortable financially, but no more than that. We wanted to minimise our personal tax while maximising the funds available for investment.

Lessons:

• Start small.

• Avoid getting too big too quickly as you may not be able to handle the pressure.

• Once you believe you have control and know your business, grow as fast as you like, but be sure to stay in control otherwise it could backfire on your efforts and create huge blow-out costs.

• You don't need to actually commit to starting a full-time business. You may achieve your goals as an employee - if you sacrifice some of your spending and work to a budget.

• Invest in income producing assets that are cash flow positive.