Jeremiah Thompson has been working as a serious business owner since his mid-teens. He never went to college and actually never even finished high school. Instead he was focused on making money which netted him making six figure profits before the age of twenty. Jeremiah bought his first home at the age of 18 and made more than $40,000,00 in the past 20 years.
But he gave up a lot to make this happen, as he was burned out by age 27. He finally figured out there was more to life than making money. Looking back he realizes what a fool he was because he gave up a good part of his life all in the effort to make another buck. Fortunately he eventually figured this out and vowed to never again put himself through the same cycle. That was about nine years ago and in the time since he has been able to open a number of businesses and has learned to manage those companies while traveling. It’s helped his businesses to become more systematic and he enjoys the new lifestyle!
What are you working on right now?
My main effort is currently going toward managing a rock band from Brazil known as “South Cry”. I also continue the “Girls of Brazil” swimsuit project, have a medical staffing company (Missoula, Montana), a programmer company (Pune, India), and am developing a new company for aspiring models to get placed with top model agencies around the world.
3 trends that excite you?
The internet has changed everything. It’s so easy to develop businesses. You can test ideas and find out really quickly if you have something or not. Plus its so much easier to run a business now than it was before. You can run a business in one country and live in another. That wasn’t possible fifteen years ago.
How do you bring ideas to life?
Owning a programming company certainly helps. Of course you don’t need to own a programming company but having a good connection with someone who can develop your idea into a functioning website is a big step. Usually I sit on an idea until it’s a no brainer that it will be successful. In other words when I first get an idea I don’t jump all over it. I let it churn in my mind and I try to find all the reasons not to do it and of course all the reasons to go for it. I never know how long it takes but if it eventually kicks in that its something I need to try then the process of getting it going usually only takes a few weeks. First thing is always to get a name. Then register. Then layout the site. Getting the site implemented usually takes the most work. Finally I want to have a system in place before I start the business so I can hand it off to someone else to actually carry forward. I like to get a business 99% of the way and then hand the keys to someone else to manage. Otherwise I would get stuck in this business and it wouldn’t leave me free to do other things.
What inspires you?
The things that inspire me in life are nature, women, and other successful people. I really enjoy seeing other people making things happen. Everyday should count and the few people who get it I really admire.
What is one mistake you’ve made, and what did you learn from it?
Definitely trying to do too much myself. There’s always someone willing to do the work for you. And getting yourself away from the center of your business allows you to have a perspective on your business that you don’t get when your over involved.
What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?
Haha. Well a business I like because it’s simple and can make money is selling advertisements to local businesses and putting their business names on local maps. These are the free flyers you see at local hotels, restaurants, etc. I bought the name www.MapAds.com because I could see this would be a really great business but I never had enough passion to get it going.
What is one book and one tool that helps you bring ideas to life?
I enjoyed both of Tim Ferriss’ books (The Four Hour Workweek and The Four Hour Body) . He’s a guy I admire for getting things done and showing people the same.
I can’t really think of any software that helps me bring ideas to life. I do all of that through my programming company – www.iProgrammer.com (shameless plug : )
Who would you love to see interviewed on IdeaMensch?
Try one of my friends: Bill Saedlo (owns online businesses) or Hans Keeling (gave up being an attorney to live a better life if Brazil).
What’s something you haven’t done in business that you would like to do still?
I never worked in the corporate world. As an entrepreneur I always found myself being the boss. But I’d love to work in a huge corporation as one of the top people and see how I would do in that environment.
Any goals outside of business your trying to meet?
I’d like to keep traveling and seeing the rest of the world. I’m sure I’ll never get to all the places on my bucket list. But I don’t want to ever quit trying.
Connect:
Jeremiah Thompson’s Website:
Jeremiah Thompson on Twitter:
Jeremiah Thompson on Flickr:
Mario Schulzke is the Founder of ideamensch, which he started a decade ago to learn from entrepreneurs and give them a platform for their ideas.