Many people associate the term leverage with financial leverage or borrowing money. Here are the simple steps to leverage:

Step 1 Look at all cash transactions: I can invest $1 cash and double it (2x) and have $2 cash.  I made a $1 profit ($2 – $1 original investment = $1 profit).

Step 2 Look at the alternative of borrowing: Or, I can still invest $1 but borrow $9 and invest a total of $10.  If I double my total investment of $10, I now have $20.

Forgetting taxes and interest on the debt, I can pay back the $9 I borrowed: $20 – $9 borrowed (my leverage) = $11 net cash. $11 – $1 original cash investment = $10 profit

In my all cash example, I made $1 profit.  In my leverage or borrowed money example, I made $10. 

In sum, with leverage I enlarged my bet from $1 to $10 and made 10x the profit ($10 profit in example 2 versus $1 profit in example 1).

Now, this example shows positive leverage – you make money on the money you borrowed or leveraged. 

The reverse can happen – negative leverage - where you lose money on borrowed money.  That is what was at the heart of the financial crisis – over-borrowing personally, in business and in finance. 

In effect, investors put too little money down to buy and control real assets.  Personally, people borrowed to buy stuff – not real assets, which include their house.

Go to http://www.stepsto.com/home to learn how to start up your business, grow your business, make money and live the life you want! We have advised and evaluated thousands of companies from start-ups to Fortune 500 Companies. Steps To combines this knowledge with 25 years of research on the right steps the Greatest Minds in History took to achieve extraordinary success.