[jeff]

Yes – we will have 15 winners this week…Dave Ramsey’s team has graciously given me a case of EntreLeadership books to give away on here.

Deadline: 3pm Eastern on Friday – after that, the drawing will close.

Link: https://www.daveramsey.com/store

Entering is simple – Answer the following question in this thread:

If you were gifted $1,000,000 to start any business (edit: or non-profit :), what would it be?

AUD - 79
BEC - 80
FAR - 76
REG - 92

Jeff Elliott, CPA (KS)
NINJA CPA | NINJA CMA | NINJA CPE | Another71

[Anonymous]

If I were gifted $1,000,000 I would start a non-profit based in teaching and developing life skills. So often high school graduates or younger are faced with the difficult decision of stay in school or leave to work and support their family, in contrast, adults who have lost their jobs or perhaps came back from service and the system has failed them. Circumstances vary, but typically it is something that puts a strain on the family, and can be a multitude of changes. Through my non-profit several educational services would be offered, in addition to “life skills”. First, a GED program would be available to those who still have to work towards finishing high school, an accomplishment that some take for granted. Second, courses would also be implemented, for free and based on community volunteerism, to assist in learning basic skills to further employment. Too often, individuals are held back by the fact that they have little to no experience in certain field, but I believe that with the right help, they can help assisted in learning to type, appropriate phone answering skills, filing and organization, and other skills that would assist in productive employment for individuals. At the end of the cycle or semester however it is broken up, each individual is ready to create a resume and is rented a suit for various interviews.

The other side of the program would be more of a life skill series of seminars. Once participants have obtained employment there are other things that come with having a job. This can include things from how to open a savings or checking account, appropriate use of a debit card, preventing identity theft, how to apply for a car loan, home loan, and other financial endeavors that one will eventually encounter in their lives. Other basic courses in how to cook your own meals and how to take care of children, if there isnt anywhere else to go.

Ideally, my program would also offer some sort of housing agreement for those who may currently not have that option.

If my program were to ever come to light, I want to help those who have the desire to better themselves. Oftentimes those resources are not available, but we can build a better community through a helping hand.

[Anonymous]

Practicing for the written communication portion of BEC, brianna8915? 😛

[tomq04]

So many business ideas i have no idea where to start.

My childhood dream was to run a brewpub called “the place”, I would definitely fun that, however based on what I've learned, I doubt I would be the one running it.

Side note, I would love to run “the place” with a different twist, an after school location for students to come together with mentors to just get things done. Homework, “life” training, sports, etc.

Both of those have been 2 of my life dreams.

REG- (1) 76
FAR- (2) 64, (5)74, (7)83 (Over achiever!)
AUD- (3) 70, (4) 75
BEC- (6) 75

[Dawn T]

I would actually like to run a business like Dave Ramsey on financial education – but I'd like to focus on having classes for high school students and young adults. I think too many kids are coming out of our educational system with no clue of how to budget or how to deal with credit cards and borrowing money for college.

This is the time to shape their financial future. I remember learning from Dave Ramsey that for some reason people tend to hang on to their very first credit card because of the memories that it invokes every time they think about cutting it up or canceling it. This is why credit card companies target freshman college students. I want to change that and when college student think of their finances, they can sleep well at night knowing that they are not beginning their life in the hole feeling helpless.

The next generation of kids are growing up and they are seeing and learning about the amount of debt that their parents carry. This is the debt cycle that I want to help break and the only way to do this is to start teaching the next generation about finances and have them understand about credit cards and debt.

[misslowe13]

I am a part of a group of young individuals in the beginning stages of creating a corporate social responsibility firm that will start in USA and Europe. Finding funding is not simple so I would use one million dollars as the front seed money that we need to transform this from project into reality now versus later.

[jrosen92770]

I would start my own microbrewery. Same as diving Duck. The difference is, the brewery would be opened in a town near Houston that bares my name. I have a concept of a line of beers already planned. Promotion would be fairly simple as my wife is a graphic designer. The only thing I need to go is a brewmaster.

BEC - 5/26/2013 75
REG - 8/31/2013 82
AUD - 11/24/2013 74, 2/9/2014 92
FAR - 5/25/2014 85

NY CPA

[OnmywaytoCPA]

If I was gifted with a $1,000,000, I would start an LLC, and use the money to buy a chain of GameStop and T-Mobile stores. Outside of accounting, my passion is video games and cell phones. Then I would quit my normal day job, and use the time to study for the CPA Exam. After passing the CPA Exam, I would play video games everyday throughout the year except for tax season, because I really enjoy doing taxes.

AUD - 83
BEC - 79
FAR - 77
REG - 90

CMA Part 1 - 360 (Barely made it but I made it)
CMA Part 2 - 360 (Made it by the skin of my teeth)

REG - 74, Retook 6/10/16, scored a 72 (Hate this exam)
BEC - 69, 79, 8/1/15
AUD - 83, 4/4/15
FAR - 77, 2/27/16

[J.kms]

If I had $1,000,000 to start up a business, I would start a company that provides college students educational or career advising services. In my personal experience, and that of my friends at various other universities and departments, student advising is beyond terrible. It is next to impossible to get an appointment, and when you finally get a sit down you get some cookie cutter comments that this “advisor” has probably spouted out to thousands of individuals and leave the office after 3 1/2 minutes feeling worse and more lost than you felt before.

University advisors don't seem to care about you as an individual or recognize that not all students follow the same educational/career path. Specifically, my advisors really pushed getting your masters of accounting and working at a big 4 firm. If students felt that was not the path for them, they were not told of different options or flat out told them they deserved “better”. I felt my advisors were salesman in disguise, really only pushing courses or picking a minor up for the financial benefit of the school.

I believe many students feel lost during their years as an undergraduate and would take the opportunity to pay a small fee for a face-to-face consultation and some personal attention. Potentially even help with interview techniques or resume building.

AUD: 99 (11/26/2014)
BEC: 1/5/2015
REG: 2/27/2015
FAR: 5/18/2015

Using Becker Review, but will add Ninja MCQ for FAR&REG.

[Anonymous]

I do volunteer work with an organization that provides tax prep and financial counseling to low-income families in the Minneapolis-St Paul area. I would use the money to expand their services into rural areas around the state and into South Dakota.

[Lucky11189]

If I received $1,000,000 to start a business, I would create a company that gave classes to high school kids about some of the basics that everyone needs in life (ones that I sadly never got and taught myself) such as how to balance a checkbook, proper business etiquette, what to say and what not to say on an interview, etc..

I would then open a company that researched the deep dark world of how they grade the CPA exam and ways to expedite the process…

FAR- 84 (August 2014)
REG- 85 (November 2013)
AUD- 85 (January 2014)
BEC- 83 (May 2014)

[TX_Accountant]

I'd start a microbrewery with my roommate from college.

[jaredo155]

If I were given a $1,000,000 to start any profit or non-profit organization, I would start a non-profit to both help disadvantaged youth to become more financially literate as well as to advise economically disadvantaged adults on their financial decisions and opportunities. There really isn't much money to be made in giving financial advice to those without high net worth (unless you have ridiculous volume), but those who are economically disadvantaged are the ones who need that assistance the most.

AUD - 2/2013 - Passed!
BEC - 5/2013 - Passed!
FAR - 8/2013 - Passed!
REG - 11/2013 - Passed!
"Do or do not, there is no try." - Yoda

[Tallcpa]

I would take half and start my own Accounting Business. I would give half to my husband and future son-in-law so they could start their own small engine/boat repair business.

BEC 5/27/14 PASSED
FAR 8/13/14 PASSED
REG 10/11/14 PASSED
AUD 11/28/14 PASSED

[Anonymous]

I would build vacation rental homes/cabins and rent them out using sites like VRBO. In WA, we have the ocean, lakes, mountains, islands, etc., so it would be easy to fill those places. We have quite a few ski resorts, which the surrounding areas turn into hiking trails when there is no snow. People love weekend getaways.

[Anonymous]

I would start a non-profit foundation to build group homes for children of parents with substance abuse problems. I don't think there is nearly enough support for families with substance abuse issues, especially if the parents are not yet willing to seek help.

[Author]

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