How to Make Millions Without Really Working

Like innumerable young men before them, Peter Whitfield and Robert Tanner dreamed of making a pile of money fast without much work or capital investment. Unlike most, these two former Oxford economics students have succeeded. The inspiration that sent them on their way came to Whitfield in bed one night in 1962. He leaped up and began scribbling down his idea; then he called on his friend Tanner. After putting up $200 each, they established headquarters in one room of a small hotel owned by Tanner's family in Golders Green, a polyglot district of Northwest London. They were in business within two weeks. Today, at 33, they are multimillionaires.

Whitfield's brainchild was The Clubman's Club. It is designed to take advantage of Britain's stiff licensing regulations, which have led to a proliferation of "private" clubs. Gambling houses have to be licensed as clubs; so do any drinking places that stay open after 11 p.m. Anyone who joins Clubman's is provided with full membership in 400 not-so-choosy gambling, drinking, golf, tennis, striptease and other clubs, most of which charge a nominal yearly fee of $2.40 or more. Clubman's members, who pay $15 a year, receive little red booklets that list the clubs and serve as entrance passes. In return, the clubs get the extra business from 50,000 members of Clubman's. Though the exclusive British clubs have kept their distance, Clubman's members still have ample choice. They can pick from Soho discotheques, an Edinburgh roulette parlor and some spots where hostesses double as "dining partners" and occasionally something more.

One key to Clubman's success has been low overhead. There is not much more to do than process memberships as they roll in, and a staff of six handles the work. Whitfield and Tanner spend only five hours a day on the job and devote the rest of the time to their homes, their wives and children. Their spartan personal office contains little more than two desks for the bosses. "It's just a place to sit," says Whitfield. "If we were all cluttered up, we couldn't be making money because we wouldn't have time to think. If we have an idea, we discuss it and come to a conclusion. I haven't written a letter for years."

Knocking on Doors. Since going public in 1967, Clubman's has increased its capitalization to $50 million. It has acquired an advertising agency, a vending-machine company, and a chain of betting shops that now number more than 100. The company has also spread into liquor sales and auto rentals; three weeks ago, it signed a conditional agreement to acquire Ace Industrial Holdings, an amusement-machine manufacturer that earned $1,400,000 before taxes in 1968. Last year, spurred by acquisitions, Clubman's revenues leaped from $1,100,000 to $37 million, while profits reached $1,300,000. On the London market, its shares rose by 358% last year, making Clubman's Britain's second fastest growth stock (after Bolton Textile Mill Co., a firm that manufactures paper underpants). The joint holdings of Whitfield and Tanner stand close to $12 million.

The entrepreneurs first met at Oxford, where both were "slightly below average" students. After graduating in 1957, they took a series of jobs, including selling the Encyclopaedia Britannica at U.S. bases in Britain, France and Iceland. Whitfield says that the book-selling stint inspired them to try new ideas. "It taught us about knocking on doors, and that if you keep on going, one is bound to open." Their next ambition is to open some doors in the U.S., where they figure that the leisure business is "100 times bigger" than it is in Britain.

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