The 100K Project
The 100K Project is a test. It's my personal challenge to my creativity and entrepreneurial spirit, to find opportunities and discover value, to plan and accomplish, and to share my experiences along the way. But mostly, it's a journey to help me discover how to choose my own path, make my own way, and define my own destiny. If I can do it, maybe we all can do it.
I'll be making money, but this isn't a journey about profit.
I'll be doing lots of work, but this isn't a career blog.
100K may be the end goal, but this is a story about starting.
I'll be making money, but this isn't a journey about profit.
I'll be doing lots of work, but this isn't a career blog.
100K may be the end goal, but this is a story about starting.
The Specifics:
The terms of The 100K Project are simple. I will start with $250 cash in hand, and as quickly as possible (within the rules below) turn it into ONE-HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS.
How do I plan on doing that? Well, we will discover that along the way. I foresee starting small, maybe buying and selling things, small web stores, perhaps some freelance work. That will likely reach it's limits, however, and I might need to expand to starting micro businesses, consulting, maybe even inventing, developing, and marketing products. But that's the point of the project, to explore different avenues and define my strengths and weaknesses... To gain experience and insights, to see successes and to feel failure... To find my niche and share the value I can create, and prove that I (and anyone else) can make it my own way.
How do I plan on doing that? Well, we will discover that along the way. I foresee starting small, maybe buying and selling things, small web stores, perhaps some freelance work. That will likely reach it's limits, however, and I might need to expand to starting micro businesses, consulting, maybe even inventing, developing, and marketing products. But that's the point of the project, to explore different avenues and define my strengths and weaknesses... To gain experience and insights, to see successes and to feel failure... To find my niche and share the value I can create, and prove that I (and anyone else) can make it my own way.
The Rules:
- Starting Budget will be $250
- I can make money by any (legal) means, though this is not an effort to just find a second job
- I can use tools I already have (laptop, cell phone, vehicle), but I cannot sell anything I currently own
- I cannot borrow money, ZERO debt allowed (Thank you Dave Ramsey!)
- No crowd sourcing, investors, or donations. This is bottom-to-top bootstrapping project, every dollar will be earned
- All finances of the effort will be transparent and included on this site
- When the $100,000 cash-in-hand goal is reached, I will make three donations to causes with personal meaning to my family and friends:
- $5,000 to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society
- $5,000 to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
- $5,000 to St. Jude Children's Hospital
The Why:
During the day I'm an engineer (pronounced "NERD") , and currently work at a fantastic company in a J-O-B that I actually really enjoy. I have a passion for building and improving things, developing systems, learning and teaching concepts, and creating things others haven't yet. But working for someone else, I'm doing those things for someone else... And my inner compass, like many of us, wants more.
I started The 100K Project because I wanted to "start something", or to "do my own thing", but hadn't had that eureka moment that I'd heard about from those brilliant, super-human entrepreneurs on TV. I didn't invent the next best thing or solve the world's most irritating problem, and I didn't dream of any groundbreaking technology or find the next medical breakthrough. So I found myself waiting on that moment, casually looking for a gap I was capable of filling so that I could start a company and pave my own road to success.
Well, waiting is boring. And frustrating. And unproductive. So after a while, I decided to just start. I am just going to go make some money on my own, look for ideas, and try to feel things out. I will try to grow the ideas that I like and that work, and be able to change or stop the ones that don't or that I don't enjoy. Being the daydreaming engineer that I am, I decided to give this effort some structure as a project, with an end goal and rules to guide me along the way, with some sense of urgency and a target. Thus The 100K Project was born.
I'm not sure how long it will take. I'm not sure if I'll like it, or if it will really "work". I don't have any idea what kinds of adventures and experiences I'll have along the way. I definitely have no idea if anyone is interested in reading about it, or if this project will guide me into finding a real niche I can pursue on a grand scale. But what I am sure of is that just waiting isn't for me, so I'm going to give this a try.
"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step..."
I guess it's time to lace up the hiking boots.
I started The 100K Project because I wanted to "start something", or to "do my own thing", but hadn't had that eureka moment that I'd heard about from those brilliant, super-human entrepreneurs on TV. I didn't invent the next best thing or solve the world's most irritating problem, and I didn't dream of any groundbreaking technology or find the next medical breakthrough. So I found myself waiting on that moment, casually looking for a gap I was capable of filling so that I could start a company and pave my own road to success.
Well, waiting is boring. And frustrating. And unproductive. So after a while, I decided to just start. I am just going to go make some money on my own, look for ideas, and try to feel things out. I will try to grow the ideas that I like and that work, and be able to change or stop the ones that don't or that I don't enjoy. Being the daydreaming engineer that I am, I decided to give this effort some structure as a project, with an end goal and rules to guide me along the way, with some sense of urgency and a target. Thus The 100K Project was born.
I'm not sure how long it will take. I'm not sure if I'll like it, or if it will really "work". I don't have any idea what kinds of adventures and experiences I'll have along the way. I definitely have no idea if anyone is interested in reading about it, or if this project will guide me into finding a real niche I can pursue on a grand scale. But what I am sure of is that just waiting isn't for me, so I'm going to give this a try.
"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step..."
I guess it's time to lace up the hiking boots.