Having spent many years running traditional "bricks and mortar" type businesses, I didn't buy for one second numerous heavily hyped, or worse yet, scam operations that touted instant and fantastic riches that could be achieved (often with little or no effort required). While doing my research as to which business I would eventually pursue, this type of claim became an instant trigger for me to move on to check out some other "opportunity".

I mean, give me a break, if those claims were close to being true, why would they share their "secret" with anyone else? They would just execute their "magic system" and in short order would have made all money that exists in world...yeah, right!

In course of my investigations, a few other natural filters surfaced to help me narrow down realistic and legitimate opportunities from among far too numerous unfounded offers. Early on, I determined that "get in on ground floor" offers were essentially smoke. After all, if I wanted to take a chance on lottery, I would have purchased a ticket. Because of my business management experience, it soon became clear to me that three of primary factors that would influence my choice would be:

By James A. Gage

I have surfed in my life. Yes, quite a few years ago and believe it or not, sometimes people tell me I look like a old surfer. I surfed not really knowing what I was doing, but I did it for fun in Florida with my friends. The true art of Surfing fascinates me to no end. It was about eighteen years ago that I was standing at water's edge with a good friend. He was a surfer who had competed professionally and had hosted a surfing show on TV. We were watching surfers and I was asking questions about waves, boards, techniques, etc.

That day I got much more than a lesson on surfing. I got a lesson on life. My friend was telling me how to "catch a wave." He explained that before a wave comes, you must be moving in same direction as wave and at same speed, otherwise, wave will simply pass you by and you will not "catch it." If you are lying on board, on your stomach, and paddling fast enough toward shore, you will be synchronized with wave when it reaches you. You will then be able to ride it, stand up on your board, and surf! Simple stuff, huh? Makes perfect sense. It's one of those things you think about afterward and say, "I probably could have figured that out on my own." It's so simple that I had missed it. When it was explained to me, I instantly understood and it was as if Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and Donald Trump were speaking to me.