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He was now older, more experienced, certainly wiser about investing, and definitely a lot richer. And he knew one thing for sure. He would never work for someone else again. He was ready to be his own captain.

      Chapter Ten of One Thousand Ways to Make $1000 is titled “Selling Your Services.” The chapter begins by asking the reader to take a personal inventory. Figure out what you're good at, Minaker instructed, what you do better than anyone else. Then figure out who needs help with that and how best to reach them.

      Through his teaching at the University of Omaha and his popular column on investing, Warren had already begun to build his reputation in Omaha; the time at Graham‐Newman only added to his credibility. So no sooner did he arrive in Omaha than family and friends pounced, asking him to manage their money. His sister Doris and her husband, his loving Aunt Alice, his father‐in‐law, his ex‐roommate Chuck Peterson, and local Omaha attorney Dan Monen—all wanted in. Collectively, in the spring of 1956 they gave Warren $105,000 to invest. Thus was born the investment partnership Buffett Associates, with Warren as general partner.

      First, the financial terms. Limited partners would receive annually the first 6 percent return of the investment partnership. Thereafter, they would receive 75 percent of the profits, with the balance going to Warren. Any annual deficiencies in performance goals would be rolled over to the next year. In other words, if the limited partners didn't get their 6 percent return in any one year, it would be extended into the next year. Warren would not receive his performance bonus until his partners were made whole.

      Lastly, Warren told his partners he was not in the business of forecasting the stock market or economic cycles. That meant he would not discuss or disclose what the partnership was buying, selling, or holding.

      At dinner that night, everyone signed up for the partnership. Over the years, as more partners were added, they were given the same ground rules. Lest anyone forgot, Warren included the ground rules with the performance results sent every year to each partner.

      In addition to the annual 6 percent performance bogey, Warren also believed it was helpful for the partners to judge how well he was doing compared to a broader stock index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Over the first five years, the results were impressive. From 1957 to 1961, the partnership achieved a cumulative return of 251 percent compared to the Dow's 74 percent.

      Hearing about Warren's success, more investors joined in. By 1961, the Buffett Partnership had $7.2 million in capital—more than Graham‐Newman managed at its peak. By the end of the year, $1 million of the Buffett Partnership belonged to Warren. He had just turned 31.

      In 1957, Warren had set a goal to beat the Dow Jones Industrial Average by 10 percentage points each year. Over its 13‐year period, 1957–1969, the average annual compounded rate of return for the Buffett Partnership was 29.5 percent (23.8 percent net to partners); the Dow return was 7.4 percent. In the end, Warren beat the Dow not by 10 percentage points per year but by 22! From its initial asset base of $105,000, the partnership had grown to $104 million in assets under management. For this, Warren earned $25 million.

      In shutting down the Buffett Partnership, Warren took extra care to ensure all the partners clearly understood the next steps. He outlined three different options. For those who wished to remain in the stock market, Warren recommended Bill Ruane, a former Columbia classmate. Twenty million dollars in Buffett Partnership assets were transferred to Ruane, Cunniff, & Stires and thus was born the famous Sequoia Mutual Fund.

      Early in the Buffett Partnership timeline, Warren bought shares in a New England textile manufacturer, a merged enterprise of Berkshire Cotton Manufacturing and Hathaway Manufacturing. It was a classic Ben Graham purchase. The stock was selling for $7.50 per share with working capital of $10.25 and a hard book value of $20.20.

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