Most of us can find ways to save $100. But how do we use that money to boost our finances? We asked nine successful investors, self-made millionaires, and advisors at The Oracles to share their ideas on how to turn $100 into $1 million.
1. ‘Invest in something you love.’
“It’s difficult to acquire wealth. You either have to save diligently, make a lot of money on a business deal or invest. Creating absolute security requires saving a lot more than you think. It’s also expensive to continue growing a business after it’s successful.
That’s why I’d invest. Find a solid group of people you trust and combine your $100 with theirs to make an educated, solstableet aggressive investment. Invest in what you know — and have a vision for it. You can even invest emotionally. For example, I always pick where I would live if everything went wrong with real estate. Whatever approach you choose, like something you love. I believe that if you love something, you’ll be good at it.” —Bethenny Frankel, founder of Skinnygirl, cast member of “The Real Housewives of New York City,” New York Times best-selling author, and guest judge on “Shark Tank.”
2. ‘Buy and sell items from garage sales.’
“Go to garage sales and look for underpriced items like action figures or stuffed animals. Then search eBay’s ‘sold’ listings to see their worth. If there’s a large enough price difference, buy and sell it on eBay for a profit.
Use the rest of your $100 to cover transportation and shipping costs. (You might be thinking: But Gary, that won’t make $1 million! And you’re probably right. But if you try hard enough, you can make, at the very least, $100,000.) Then comes the hard part. You have to save what you made.
In my 20s, I didn’t go on vacation or buy fancy things. I kept my money instead. And by the time I was in my 30s, I had hundreds of thousands of dollars. Then I invested those hundreds of thousands — and they made millions. You have to be patient.” —Gary Vaynerchuk, founder and CEO of VaynerX; New York Times best-selling author of “Crushing It!”
3. ‘Improve and invest in yourself.’
“Of course, there are people who have invested in an opportunity at the right time and made a fortune. You would’ve done well if you had invested $100 in Bitcoin in 2010. But to me, that’s like playing the lottery.
A more reliable way to get rich with just $100 is to invest it in a course, book, audio program, or event that will help you improve yourself. Spend on developing new skills, gaining knowledge, and making powerful connections.
When you invest in yourself, you can’t lose.” —Grant Cardone, a sales expert who built a $750 million real estate empire, and New York Times best-selling author. Follow Grant on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
4. ‘Learn a high-income skill.’
“If you don’t have money to start a business, then don’t start a business. Instead, spend your $100 on books and training to learn a skill that will make you $10,000 per month or more. Choose a high-income skill that helps organizations generate revenue, such as copywriting, marketing, or sales. You can learn them relatively quickly, and are transferable across many industries.
Once you make enough money, you can turn your side hustle into a full-time job. Then, scale and invest your profits. That’s how you build real wealth. You’ll get there if you’re persistent and good at what you do. But it won’t happen overnight, so take baby steps.” —Dan Lok, global educator, best-selling author of “Unlock It!” and founder of Closers.com. Follow Dan on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.
5. ‘Write an e-book.’
“Six years ago, I hired someone for $100 to design my first e-book, ‘Crush The CPA Exam Study Guide.’ It only took about a week to create — and all I had to do was write the copy. It’s been selling on autopilot, and I’ve made at least $100,000. It was shockingly easy. Use your knowledge and resources to write a book.
Then, pay a designer from a global freelancing platform (e.g., Upwork) $100 to make it look nice and incentive people to sell it for you through an affiliate marketing program. Contact the websites on Google when you search for your e-book topic (e.g., type in ‘best CPA study guides).
Offer to pay them a commission for any sales they send to you. You don’t even have to build a website when you leverage their traffic and the trust they have made with their audience.” —Bryce Welker, CEO of online education company Crush Empire and founder of Crush The CPA Exam. Follow Bryce on LinkedIn.
6. ‘Buy a multimillion-dollar business with other peoples’ money.′
“You don’t need $100 if you’re willing to buy an established company. Many baby boomers are looking for someone trustworthy to take over their multimillion-dollar companies so they can retire. Negotiating a deal where you pay just 30% of the purchase price at closing is common.
Financial institutions specializing in acquisitions will lend you the down payment regardless of your credit because they can use the business assets as collateral. You get the business with no money down and pay the remaining 70% over time using earnings from the company.
You don’t need relevant experience — you need to find a business that has been around for five or ten years. The owner will mentor you through the transition, and you can give expert equity to manage the company for you.Why doesn’t everyone do this? Because starting the next Uber or Facebook seems sexier than buying professional services or businesses (e.g., in construction or plumbing).
But with this approach, you get to skip the struggles that cause 90% of startups to fail.” —Moran Pober, founder and CEO of Acquisitions.com and former partner at Wekix.com and ABD Assets. Follow Moran on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
7. ‘Build a personal brand.’
“Entrepreneurship is the sexy thing everyone wants to be involved in today. You can make millions by building your brand as an influencer or business. But anyone can have a voice, thanks to social media, so it’s not easy to get heard above the noise. With many brands pushing online offers, building a trustworthy one is a secret to success.
To do that, you need a clear statement that defines your mission and how it helps others. This message should be based on how you solved your problems.
People will only follow you if they understand why you do what you do and if they identify with your mission. Film a video explaining your story, then invest $100 in Facebook ads to get it in front of people who are like you and maybe in your situation.” —Torben Platzer, founder and CEO of personal branding agency TPA Media GmbH, founder of business education program SELFMADE, and host of the German podcast “SELF-MADE.” Follow Torben on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
8. ‘Start a business on Amazon.’
“I would invest $100 in business education. Start with free online content from proven business leaders, then read every book you can get from the ones that resonate with you.
Next, find a product that you can buy on Alibaba.com for 10% to 30% of what you can sell it for on Amazon. To find products that sell well, look for those with a ‘Best Sellers Rank’ between one and 5,000 in the high-level categories.
Save, hustle or borrow to get another $500 to buy your inventory. Try different marketing strategies to sell the product — starting with social media, online advertising, and content marketing. Then stop doing what isn’t working and start doing what is working.
To grow your business, focus on increasing the profit margin and the quantity you sell. Eventually, you want to own the brand, to have a valuable asset that produces wealth.” —Matt Clark, co-founder and chairman of Amazing.com and co-creator of Amazing Selling Machine. Follow Matt on Instagram.
9. ‘Launch a coaching business.’
“I’ve built two seven-figure businesses from nothing and helped others reach similar success. While I had more than $100 to start, it wasn’t much more. Once you’ve invested your $100 in developing skills that make you an expert, you can build coaching, consulting, or mentoring business in your area of expertise.
This model is famous for many reasons: It’s fast, effective, and requires minimal investment because the only cost is your time. When you’ve made money from your business, invest the profits in Facebook ads to get more clients.
If you’re good at what you do, you can grow that investment into tens of thousands of dollars. To exceed the million-dollar mark, automate some coaching and hire other coaches to work for you.”