Using the Credit Crisis to Launch Another Business ...

I've been working eighteen hours a day for the past few weeks in preparation of a new business one of my companies is launching. Given the credit crisis, it seemed a perfect opportunity to expand into some areas where competitors have been hit hard, but that required moving very fast and committing quite a bit of time to the project. Unfortunately, my primary job and absolute favorite thing to do - reading, analyzing, and making decisions about which investments to acquire or sell based upon annual reports and other research - has been piling up at headquarters. I've got a General Mills report on my desk in front of me now and I've got to say that I'm seriously considering trading what little sleep I would have otherwise gotten tonight to fit it into the schedule.

It wasn't that long ago that I wrote about how you can utilize the Berkshire Hathaway model in your own life. This economic model, based upon not only intelligently investing in securities but creating or acquiring cash generators such as private businesses, is a great solution to the problems that are plaguing Wall Street because you can focus on bringing in more funds to take advantage of falling stock prices. In our case, some of the bank and food stocks we were purchasing during the fallout a few months ago have been up as much as 56% in only a few short months. That comes from being able to take advantage of opportunities when they arise. As for our holdings that are down, we are systematically adding to our positions and reinvesting many of our dividends.

One thing that I can't help thinking is that those companies that were disciplined enough to protect themselves from the current mess and who have shareholder friendly managements that repurchase stock are going to probably make their shareholders very, very wealthy over the next ten years. Some great companies are priced at levels that we haven't seen in a decade.