There is a rich mining history here in my town of Butte, Montana. From around 1890 to 1906, there was a battle of 3 of the richest and shrewdest mining tycoons the world had ever seen.

It was called “The War of the Copper Kings.”

The third and youngest copper king was Augustus Heinze, who was able to do battle against the much richer and well armed other two copper kings with mostly his intellect.

Finally, the large conglomerate mining company bought out Augustus Heinze because he was such a thorn in their side. The company bought him out for roughly $10.5 million in 1906. Heinze was only 37 years old!

$10.5 million in todays dollars is around $293 million! And – again – he was only 37 years old!

So, Augustus Heinze heads out of town and makes his way to New York City.

His had become a world expert in finding valuable veins of copper, and that is where he made his riches. He purchased mines, built fantastic businesses around them, and then grew the businesses and sold them.

But in New York City, he got in over his head.

He tried to play the stock market.

The legend has it that the same conglomerate mining company (which was tied to Standard Oil) that bought him out in Butte, Montana, had its agents in New York City make sure that they destroyed the still young Heinze.

Heinze lost all his money when the conglomerate secretly caused a bull run on Heinze’s company stock, and then the conglomerate sold and made the banks call their loans on Heinze’s company. This act even caused a bank panic of 1907.

Heinze was ruined financially. It had only taken 1 year from being bought out in business to be financially ruined, and he died a few years after.

What’s the lesson learned here?

Well, there are many!

The key takeaway for me is that he gained his wealth by becoming a business owner in one niche, and growing that business. He didn’t gain his wealth on Wall Street, he lost it!

Now there are many mistakes that can be made in buying, growing, and selling businesses, don’t get me wrong!

I have made many mistakes!

Which is why I beat myself up so much in my Business Buying Course. I tell you all about the mistakes I made in buying, growing, and selling my businesses.

I air out all my “dirty laundry”!

Why? Because I want you to learn from my mistakes and not repeat them.

There are 3 separate mistakes chapters to the Business Buying Course. If you would like to purchase the course, go here:

www.businessbuyingcourse.com/course

When I was in high school, the movie Braveheart came out, and I can remember watching the movie at the local drive in movie theater! For the record, I am not THAT old, as our drive-in theater was one of the last in the state!

The ending of Braveheart is one of the most emotional scenes that I can recall in movies. You have the hero, freedom fighter for the Scots, William Wallace about to be executed. The man in charge of the execution is asking him for any last words, as Wallace is being brutally tortured prior to his execution.

Then, it cuts to Wallace’s love, the pregnant princess, as she hears the crowd roaring and bloodthirsty with anticipation of the coming execution.

Then, it cuts back to the execution scene, where the man in charge of the execution says, “the prisoner wishes to say a word!” And he hushes the crowd down, in anticipation of (they hope) William Wallace apologizing for his rebellion and begging for mercy.

The crowd is hushed.

The princess is weeping.

William Wallace, is lying there, in agony from being tortured.

And he opens his mouth to speak.

“Freeeeeedddoooooommmmm!!!!!” he yells out. If the viewer doesn’t get chills at that point, they are cold inside!

And of course they then execute Wallace before he can rile the crowd up and cause a riot. Even though the hero dies, he inspires the rebellion that eventually results in the freedom of Scotland.

Buying a business can be a freeing experience. It’s of course not a cure-all pill you can take for your financial concerns. In fact, at the beginning, things might be even tighter financially for you then they are now.

But being a business owner can results in all sorts of freedoms from the 9-5 job, like:

• freedom from human resources training meetings, where you are told NOT to do things you already don’t do
• freedom from having to clock in every single morning at the same time, and then watch the clock so that you can clock out every single day; true, you may work even more hours in a business you own, but at least (if you do it right) that added effort means more for your bottom line
• freedom from fear; when are totally dependent on a paycheck from someone else, you can develop a sense of fear that you have to go along, or you might put that paycheck in danger. Now buying a business doesn’t get rid of all that fear, you have your customers as your boss now of course, but you develop a sense of confidence that comes from having a business (or eventually multiple businesses!) that is dependent on your effort, and can’t be totally destroyed by the efforts of one or two people (like your paycheck can if you make someone in HR mad)

– freedom from the knowledge that all your hard work is making someone else rich; with your own business the harder (and smarter) you work, the more you make

• freedom from a general sense that you are wasting your time away . When you own a business, yes – you may stay very busy, and yes-you may not (at first) make as much as you did in your job. But, with some smart work, with a little bit time, when you buy a business you will have an asset that is really worth something, that you can someday sell, and if you want, you can pass it on to your children! You can’t pass on your job to them, most likely!

Buying a business can add so much freedom to your life, if you do it right. I have made many mistakes in my career of buying and selling businesses. I want to show you some of these mistakes, so that you don’t make them like I did.

Avoid some of these mistakes when buying a business, and your freedom will be there for the taking!

Are you ready to take the freedom that you deserve by starting down the path of buying a business?

Then yell out “Freeedddooommmm!!” like William Wallace, and go here: