Ron Douglas: Who is this 'Blue Collar Backers' Millionaire in Overalls?

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Discovery's Blue Collar Backers will be premiering on Friday August 26th, and one of its main characters is Ron Douglas. Who is he? We'll take an in-depth look at this millionaire in a cowboy hat.

Ron Douglas is an entrepreneur who takes pride in turning around small businesses that nobody else will. What he does is look for businesses that are in need of help, identifies what they need, and decides whether he can be of help.

Generally the businesses Douglas looks at are ones with large profit margins that for some reason are in financial distress. When he finds an appropriate business, he makes a deal to help with both day-to-day operations and management.

Ron Douglas appears in Blue Collar Backers along with food truck mogul Cameron Davies, builders Brian Stark and Wes James, and serial entrepreneurs Cain and Cam Roberds.

Ron Douglas: Getting Started in the Biz

Ron Douglas got started as an entrepreneur after he got sick of doing manual labor in the hot sun. His first solo gig was flipping cars (and financing them).

He would take an old car, refurbish it, and resell it. Often, the buyer wouldn't be able to make the payments, so he would repossess the car and sell it again, making large profits on each car.

From there, Douglas started helping fellow entrepreneurs, guiding them on their businesses and turning them around. This naturally developed into investing, and his investor career was born.

Ron Douglas on Building a Business

Ron Douglas is always looking for new opportunities.

Along with the many small, local businesses he has his hands in, he also is involved with nationwide businesses and organizations.

He is president of the National Self Reliance Organization, which not only hosts large conventions but also has a radio show and books.

Douglas also runs bluecollarshow.com, a site about the show, which also has an email list with tips and more info about building a business.

How Ron Douglas Invests

Ron Douglas looks for businesses that he believes he can help with, when identifying an opportunity.

Not only does he invest money, he also does everything from managing the books to construction labor. He tends to take about 50% over a short term in exchange for his help and investment.

In one instance, as an example, he helps out with a bike shop that was recently robbed.

He decides he likes the opportunity because of the high profit margin, and he realizes that the owner has drive and passion to turn his business around.

Douglas then comes in to the business and starts to make changes. He changes the layout of the store, doing the demolition and construction by hand. He also helps work on the bikes.

Want to see more of Ron Douglas? Watch the premiere of Blue Collar Backers, this Friday on Discovery.

Photo credit: Twitter / Ron Douglas