1. Take a look at the market and spot price.
Before you do anything else, you have to make sure that you know what's going on in the market. This doesn't only apply to silver. It also applies to other things like online marketing, off-line marketing, setting up our regular business, reselling anything, etc. If you know what's going on in the market, you will always stay on top of everything and you will never overpay for your product. For instance:
Let's say I'm looking into buying some silver. If I don't know the market, because it is a precious metal, in my head I'm going to assume that it's going to be really expensive for me to buy. Of course the facts are that I can buy silver for just a few dollars an ounce, but in my head I think I need to spend a small fortune for this precious metal.
So I prepare myself to spend a lot. I collect the money, I find a seller that gives me, as he says, a good deal, and I end up buying 10 ounces of silver at $50 an ounce. Now, because I don't know the market value, because I don't know the price of silver, I might actually say this was a good deal, but had I done a little research, I would probably realize facts. Silver is not expensive right now, and I should not pay $50 an ounce.
Suddenly a deal that I thought was pretty good becomes a rip off.
I hope you get my point. Always know what the spot price is. Find out who the reputable sellers are, find out who is good to work with, and take the time to learn who you should avoid.
Of course all of the research that you need to do to get started you can do for free online. Just go to Google and look up anyone you come across, look up things you want to know about silver investments and check out the people, websites and YouTube channels I point you to. You will be presented with a lot of great results that will educate you in no time. It won't take long and it can really save you a lot of money and you can keep your finger on the pulse of what's happening with silver with the knowledge that you have experts to tap into online.
Later on, when you become a seasoned investor and you're actually making profit from your silver investments, you can start paying people to do research for you, to stay on top of the market for you etc. For now, stay as far away from spending your own hard earned money as possible.
Another good research method is just going out and talking to a people. Maybe someone who has had some experience with silver investments. Sit down with them and just pick their brains for a few minutes. Take them out to dinner or something and they can tell you things you need to know to get you started. If they are a good friend, they will be more than happy to talk to you. They may not share their trade secrets with you, but they will protect you and warn you about scams and other dangers that await you.
If you don't know anyone who is trading silver at this time and you have done sufficient online research find your nearest dealer and pay them a visit. Last of all there's always the newspapers. In the newspapers, you will most likely find what the trends are, including what the prices are for silver. If there is a crisis coming up in the financial world, which might influence your buying and selling decisions, you will learn about it from newspapers and you can always verify the details online later, so don't hesitate to spend a few dollars on education here.
The one thing I want to mention before I finish up this chapter is that you should learn everything yourself before you pay any money. Before you decide to hire anyone to help you with anything relating to research, or actual buying and selling of silver, you should be successful with it at first. This way you will know the trade well, and you will be able not only to train your employees, but you will also be able to spot any inconsistencies and any problems as they happen and often times much before they happen.
Always do the right research before doing anything else. Sit down at the Internet, spent a couple hours online researching, buy newspapers and read them thoroughly, or at least scan to them to find information that is related to your silver investments, and most importantly find someone you can talk to that has the experience, and if possible try to find a mentor who will lead you along the way.
2. Learn what you have to.
Another thing you need to remember before you invest any money is to try to learn as much as you can, not only about the silver market, but about the art of investments itself and the macro and micro economic factors that affect such investments.
There are some very knowledgeable people running YouTube channels that are experts in this field and are accessible to you and happy to share their knowledge. Make sure you use that to your advantage and watch their videos, respond to their videos and ask them questions. Give them all the support you can so that they have reason to be there for you.
Now, the next step is verifying their knowledge.
Do they have any newspaper articles, published data and verification that they are experts on silver investing? Have they written any books about precious metals and how to make money with them? Do people generally come to them for advice?
Do that with people you identified as experts in investing in silver. When you're done with that, try to contact them. It is best to contact them by phone.
When you contact them, try to talk to them about what you want from them, being direct and honest with them. If they are nice, they will most likely want to help you somehow. If they don't have the time to help you out personally and talk to you, maybe you could pay for a consultation with them. If you have a few hundred dollars to spare, an issue when you get into this business, you can propose that you call at a scheduled time a talk for a few hours.
I understand that spending a few hundred dollars on education at this point might be a little difficult for you, but I can promise you it can be worth it.
You are going to learn a lot from them, and more importantly you will be more equipped to start investing in silver safely and effectively. Some experts have subscription based services that give you access to their latest information as they create it, so that may also be an option you might prefer.
So I certainly recommend you improve your education when it comes to investing in silver.
Books, of course, are much cheaper than a one-on-one consultation with a silver investment expert, but they don't give you the personal approach. They will give you the general information, but obviously, you're not going to be able to ask any questions.
If you don't have the money to spend for an interview just yet, books may be, and most likely will be, a good alternative for you.
When you choose a book to read, try to find authors that have been successful with investing in silver. You can find investors and determine whether or not they are successful by doing online research on them. Just look up their name, see if they have any videos posted, or comments. Once again, Google them and take a look at their information. If you feel you are learning a lot from them, and if you feel that the general population looks up to them as experts, maybe it is a good idea to buy their books and read them.
When you're done with books, you should look into getting some magazines on the subject. The reason why magazines are good is that they constantly watch out for what's going on in the market. They are more up to date on trends than books, which have a longer shelf life. That is precisely why you should pay attention to what they have to say.
The magazine publishers always want to make sure that they keep readers satisfied and to do so they are going to research the market and tell us what's going on as soon as it happens.
3. Keep track of the spot price.
As I have already mentioned, spot is something that's very important for you. It is the price that the public is willing to pay for your silver. Now, I don't mean to repeat myself because you can just go back to it easily, but I want to emphasize the fact that keeping track of your spot is extremely important.
This is probably something that will make or break your business when you first start.
4. Find the right sellers.
Another thing that is important when you do not have much experience is finding the right sellers. The right seller will be the one that will sell you silver at spot plus a reasonable fee. Of course, you don't expect them to give you their silver for free, or to sell it to you at spot price, because if they did they wouldn't make any money.
You want everyone to be happy. You want your seller to make money, but you do not want him to rip you off. You want to pay a good price for your silver, so always do research before you decide to buy anything from anyone. Chances are that in your area or online there are many sellers that sell silver. Many of them don't actually sell their silver online because of high transaction fees, so be prepared to contact them and ask them any question you want, and based on feedback you can make a decision whether or not you're going to buy from them.
Never rush when it comes to investing your money. Remember that every dollar you're investing is hard earned money that you have to work to get, so don't throw it away foolishly. Take the time to get offers from different people, think things over and after you're done with that make a decision.
5. Start small.
Starting small is also something that is extremely important, or at least should be. Even if you have a lot of money available to you, you should never buy a lot of silver from someone you don't know. You should always start small. Buy a small amount of silver. If you feel that investment in silver is good for you after you have tried it, then go ahead and invest more money in it.
Go to the same person and buy more from them. Always re-member, to check the quality of silver which you are getting. The best way to do it is has been described, but I'm going to outline it briefly for you just so that you don't have to go back.
When you want to make sure that the silver and you are getting is of high quality, you should do a few things.
1. Buy a few ounces and check the quality of that.
2. If the quality is good, come back to the same seller and buyer more.
3. Check the quality of your second purchase.
4. If the quality of that is good, come back to the seller again and buy even more silver from him.
5. Check the quality of that.
6. If everything is good, you are fine.
Remember that you can always sign a contract with your seller that will say something along the lines that if the silver is not of sufficient quality, you have the right to return it and get a full refund of the money you have to paid..
6. Keep your silver for at least five years.
Remember we have talked about how silver is supposed to be-come extinct in 2020. The US Geological Society said a few years ago that silver would be the first metal on the periodic table to become extinct and this could happen by 2020. This is of course just a prediction, but it does indicate that silver is becoming more and scarcer. I know I have talked a lot about it, so I'm not going to go over it again, but I'm just going to remind you that the fact that silver is getting more and more scarce means that the prices are going to be getting higher and higher. In the past rhodium went from $3000 to $10000 almost overnight and most people in the public never even noticed, so don't expect those around you to be aware of this silver opportunity.
If you leave your silver and don't sell it for the first five years, you have a great chance of making a whole lot of money for not much work. Of course not touching your resources and not reselling your silver requires patience, but trust me, you're going to be glad you did. At some point we'll have to get better at recycling with the mindset that we currently have with gold. Ultimately silver will become more valuable than gold at the point where we've used so much of it that there is less silver than gold.
At the same time, you should always be on the lookout. If you see that the price of silver is beginning to skyrocket, you can think about selling before the five-year mark because maybe the rapid increase could be temporary. However, the general rule is, after you buy silver, let it sit for at least five years.
7. Make friends in the market.
One of the last things I want to talk to you about is something that you're not probably going to think about before you become very successful. That thing is making sure that you always have partners and friends that you can work with. Running a one-man show is a hard thing to do. It is much easier if you have some allies you can talk to, you can partner with and you can brainstorm with. Partners are awesome, in fact they're one of the best things that can happen to you in any business.
Let us say there is a great opportunity for you to buy a lot of silver at a very discounted price, but there is so much silver that you can't finance it out of your own pocket. Now, if you are completely on your own, you're going to have to pass on this opportunity. You're going to have to buy as much as you can then let other people buy the rest. But if you have a partner or two, you can join forces, and you can all take out the cash necessary to buy the silver you would like to buy. Now you own that silver, and you can move it. Of course, for that you would probably have to know each other pretty well and trust each other. You would have to communicate with each other frequently to make sure that the precious metal is managed properly, but in the end you'll have the silver, you can sell it when you all decide that it is a good time to sell it and share the profit.
I don't know about you, but for me it looks like a pretty good story. Again, of course this is just a theoretical example, but hopefully after examining that possibility, you will realize how important partners are in your business.
