How to make your first million, and your first $1, $1K and $100K
161 sourced plans from 110 creators on making a first $1, $1K, $10K, $100K and $1M, each linked to the original video, book or post, 2020 to 2026.
First $1
- Liz Wilcox: Wilcox got her first sales by pre-selling a $20 book (with a $10 early-bird price) to an audience of about 300, arguing that a first small purchase leads to bigger ones later. AL 016: Can I Launch My First Product with a Tiny Audience? (18 Sep 2026)
- Ali Abdaal: Abdaal makes the first dollar a test of setting up payments: get through the merchant-account friction and ask warm contacts for $1. How to make your first $1,000 online (7 Sep 2026)
- Noah Kagan: Get paid before building anything: write a priced one-line offer, send it to ten people this weekend, and treat three paying customers as proof the idea works. 20 Business Ideas You Can Start This Weekend (First Dollar in 48 Hours) (4 Sep 2026)
- Noah Kagan: Your first paying customer comes from people you already know, reached with a direct priced ask and a payment link rather than a product build. How to Get Your First Customer (Then Your First 3) (4 Sep 2026)
- Noah Kagan: Practise asking for money by getting one person you know to send you $1 today, which proves you can make the ask and survive the answer. The Dollar Challenge: Ask One Person for $1 Today (4 Sep 2026)
- Travis Marziani: He says you can launch a first Amazon product with $0 by doing research and branding with free tools and pre-selling through crowdfunding to pay for inventory. The ONLY Way to Start Amazon FBA With $0 in 2026 (30 Jul 2026)
- Mak (Money With Mak): Her start-over plan for print on demand is one simple product, a validated niche, Etsy plus Shopify listings and email marketing for repeat buyers. How I Would Start Print on Demand Business In 2026 (If I Could Start Over) (7 Apr 2026)
- Ricky Hayes: His $0 starting plan treats dropshipping as a validation step toward a passion-led brand with repeat customers. How to Start Dropshipping With $0 in 2026 (Complete Beginner's Guide) (7 Apr 2026)
- Davie Fogarty: He tested whether AI could shorten a new store launch from months to hours, and the store made its first sale one hour after he launched the ads. My AI Shopify Store Made Its First Sale in 1 Hour (6 Mar 2026)
- Pieter Levels: Pieter Levels' bootstrapping checklist is to solve your own problem, ship in a weekend, charge from day one, keep costs tiny and market by building in public. How to build a bootstrapped startup without funding (24 Feb 2026)
- Vusi Thembekwayo: Restarting from zero in South Africa, he would build a scalable product-led business such as solar-powered cold storage for farmers. If I Lost Everything, This Is How I'd Start Again in 2026 (19 Jan 2026)
- Pat Flynn: If starting over today, Flynn would commit to daily short-form video in one curiosity-driven niche and funnel viewers to an email list. SPI 896: If I Had to Start Over Again (15 Oct 2025)
- Fadel: After 21 years of freelancing, he says a restart would mean a lean portfolio, one niche, recruiters, a few free projects for proof and early sales skills. If I Started Freelancing Again, I'd Do This (21 Years of Lessons) (14 Oct 2025)
- Tanner Planes: For a first $100 he says to make a problem-solving digital product with free AI tools, sell it from a simple Shopify store, and get traffic from organic short-form content. How To Make Your First $100 Dropshipping Digital Products (27 Jun 2025)
- Pat Flynn: Flynn treats earning one dollar online as the confidence-building first goal and gives a 30-day email sequence to get to that first sale. SPI 875: The First Dollar Formula: 30 Days to Earn Your First Dollar Online (18 Jun 2025)
- Riley Brown: On The Calum Johnson Show, Brown's path for beginners is to vibe code solutions to specific problems, document the build in public to grow an audience, and launch to paying users once security and payments are handled. The Million Dollar Vibe Coder: The Fastest Way To Get Rich In The New Era of AI (No Code!) (19 May 2025)
- Vaibhav Yadav: Starting freelancing again from zero, he would skip marketplaces at first, build a portfolio, send daily personalised outreach with free audits and invest heavily in the first client. What I'd Do If I Had to Start Freelancing Again in 2025 (With Rs 0 & No Skill) (8 May 2025)
- Dylan Jahraus: With zero sales, she would validate products through Facebook group polls, simplify listings and sacrifice margin early to get the first sales. If I Had 0 Etsy Sales, This Is EXACTLY What I'd Do (28 Oct 2024)
- Pieter Levels: On Lex Fridman, Levels describes validating ideas by launching small paid versions fast and doing early customer work by hand until demand is proven. #440: Pieter Levels: Programming, Viral AI Startups, and Digital Nomad Life (Lex Fridman Podcast) (20 Aug 2024)
- Marc Lou: For a founder with no audience and no budget, Marc Lou lists four free ways to land the first paying customer: launch platforms, cold outreach, audience building and free tools. How to get your 1st customer (6 Apr 2024)
- Pat Flynn: Starting over from zero with a $1,000 budget, Flynn would pick a niche carefully and spend the money on attending an in-person industry event to build relationships. SPI 774: If I Had $1000 and Started Over... (5 Apr 2024)
- Jesse Itzler: Itzler landed the first sale for Marquis Jet by putting himself where rich buyers were, buying up a coffee shop's muffins near the TED conference and pitching the first attendee who wanted one. How I got My First Sale for My Private Jet Company (6 Mar 2024)
- Justin Welsh: For people who have never earned online, Welsh says to aim for $100 in seven days by learning a problem, putting up a presale page and driving traffic with content. A Challenge: One Week to Make $100 Online (10 Feb 2024)
- Tim Ferriss: Ferriss funded his first business, BrainQUICKEN, by pre-selling the unmade product to coworkers and later used distributor pre-orders to pay for ads before running them. How I Started My First Business (25 Jan 2024)
- Grant Cardone: Grant says with no money he would raise cash immediately by selling possessions and door-to-door selling, tracking sales daily until he can buy cash flow. What I Would Do if I Had No Money Today (21 Dec 2023)
- Marc Lou: Marc Lou says making the first $1 online was harder than later scaling, and he got it by pre-selling a growth tool to one business before writing the product. My first $1 online (9 Dec 2023)
- Pieter Levels: Levels says he would validate ideas by posting daily TikToks about mockups and taking Stripe pre-orders, then build whichever idea people actually pay for. How I'd validate 30 startup ideas in 2023 with TikTok and Stripe preorders (13 Nov 2023)
- Tony Dinh: Tony Dinh made his first internet dollar by shipping a two-week macOS dev tool with a $9 price and posting it to Hacker News, then built a Twitter audience as a lasting distribution channel. My solopreneur story: zero to $45K/mo in 2 years (22 Sep 2023)
- Ishan Sharma: Starting over with no money or skills, he would aim for Rs 10,000 in a week through brokering influencer deals, commission lead generation or outsourced creative services, all driven by cold email. From Scratch How to Turn Rs 0 to Rs 10,000 in 7 Days (If I Had To Start Over) (12 May 2023)
- Pieter Levels: Levels' start-from-zero plan for a graduate is to stretch a small savings pot into a year of runway in a low-cost city while bootstrapping a startup. If I was just out of school I'd fly to Bangkok to bootstrap my startup for $240 a month (11 Mar 2023)
- Kayse Morris: Morris made $50 in her first month selling lesson plans on Teachers Pay Teachers while her family was on government assistance, then grew it by teaching herself SEO. Kayse Morris: from government assistance to multimillion dollar membership (15 Nov 2022)
- Simon Squibb: He says 10 of his 19 companies started with no money, using client deposits to fund delivery before turning to friends, angels or crowdfunding. How To Start A Business With NO MONEY (What The Rich Don't Tell You) (1 Aug 2022)
- Andrew Cheah: His seven steps for restarting a Malaysian small business are demand-checked idea, clear offer, six months of runway, free early customers for testimonials, then marketing and systems. Starting a Small Business from Scratch in Malaysia [2022] (3 Jan 2022)
- Sabri Suby: Asked how he would restart with $100, a car and a phone, he says he would study the market, make an irresistible risk-free offer and pitch it through cold email and Loom videos. What I Would Do If I Had No Money Today (Undercover Billionaire) (8 Sep 2021)
- Ali Abdaal: Abdaal describes his first YouTube ad income of a few pounds a day after about 77 videos, and advises building a large library, repurposing content and outsourcing editing early. Ali Abdaal - Making a living as a part-time YouTuber (Creator Science) (15 Dec 2020)
First $1K
- AC Hampton: To reach a first $1,000 he picks a product with proven demand and no store competing for it, checks the margin, and builds the store quickly with AI. I Locked Myself In a Room Until I Made $1,000 With Claude (18 Sep 2026)
- Ali Abdaal: Abdaal's 1K ladder steps up over about 30 days from a $1 sale to a $9 pre-sold product to a few high-priced coaching sessions, because reaching $1,000 is price times customers. How to make your first $1,000 online (7 Sep 2026)
- Sabrina Ramonov: Ramonov uses three AI prompts to pick one business idea grounded in your existing skills and reach, aiming for a first paying customer within 30 days. How to Make Your First $1000 (3 Claude Prompts) (28 Aug 2026)
- Mark Builds Brands: His case study of reaching $1K a day argues that winners come from marketing a painful-problem product with strong margins, so endless hunting for a 'winning product' is wasted effort. f*ck it. ZERO to $1k/day in 3 days with ai dropshipping. [full case study] (30 Jul 2026)
- Hannah Ebeling: She made over $1,000 in her first established month on Etsy mainly by uploading a large volume of t-shirt and sweatshirt listings in proven niches ahead of the holidays. How I Made $1,000 My First Month on Etsy (Beginner POD Strategy) (23 Oct 2025)
- Hasan Aboul Hasan: Starting from zero, he would sell a simple digital product that solves a problem he has solved himself, promoted through three content platforms, aiming for about 37 sales in 30 days. How I' Would Make My First $1000 in 2025 (If I Had to Start Over) (15 Sep 2025)
- Nick Huber: Starting over with no capital, Huber would sell his own labor in a boring local service business, find customers through guerrilla marketing, and only hire once demand outgrows his time. How I'd Start Over With $0 Today (17 Aug 2025)
- Iman Gadzhi: Gadzhi's route to a first $1,000 online is to copy a proven digital product category with AI and sell it through other people's audiences instead of paid ads. Copy & Paste THIS Strategy To Make Your First $1,000 Online (7 Aug 2025)
- Ryan Trahan: Trahan tried to double 1 dollar every day, reselling small items, doing deliveries and launching a bath bomb product, and reached about 908 dollars before failing the 1,024 dollar target on day ten. How Many Days Can I Double $1? (12 Apr 2025)
- Alek Sheffield: He says the fastest route to a first $1,000 on Etsy is to model proven shops, build highly clickable listings and keep producing them without fixating on the money. How To Get Your First $1,000 on Etsy (the easy way) (16 Mar 2025)
- Dan Koe: Make a first $1,000 within 60 days by posting daily on social media and selling a single $1,000 coaching package through DMs. The Fastest Way To Build A One-Person Business (Beginner Guide) (7 Sep 2024)
- Justin Welsh: Justin Welsh's challenge is to earn $1,000 in one weekend by selling a fast service offer to a narrow audience through posts and direct outreach. The $1,000 Weekend Challenge (24 Aug 2024)
- Daniel Vassallo: Vassallo made his first self-employed dollar by texting a founder in his contacts and offering a few hours a month of fractional programming, and he advises chasing the easiest $100 before bigger targets. How To Make $ Millions from Scratch with Daniel Vassallo (26 Jul 2024)
- Arvid Kahl: Arvid Kahl reports reaching $1K MRR on Podscan through constant customer conversations, a defined ICP and an API-first product, while noting cold outreach underperformed. Podscan, 2 months and $1k MRR in (3 May 2024)
- Pat Flynn: Starting over with $1,000, Flynn would spend it on in-person events in a chosen niche to meet the people and brands that matter, before buying any software. He names no income target. SPI 774: If I Had $1000 and Started Over… (5 Apr 2024)
- Noah Kagan: Kagan follows his Million Dollar Weekend process on camera, validating a DocuSign alternative by pre-selling $100 lifetime beta deposits to his own network, and gets close to $3,000 in 48 hours. I Started a $1M Business in Just 48 Hours (3 Feb 2024)
- Alex Cattoni: Her four client-getting methods for a first $1,000 in copywriting are hunt, gather, play and slay, with over-delivering for early clients as the fastest growth lever. How To Make Your First $1,000 As A Copywriter (10 Jan 2024)
- Brenon Dopp: His live stream route to a first $1,000 on Etsy is to start now, fully build out the shop, make quality listings, sell group-themed items and use referrals. How to Earn Your First $1000 on Etsy (live stream) (3 Feb 2023)
- Jon Yongfook: Yongfook went from a year of zero revenue to his first MRR by choosing a problem with strong founder fit, then grew it steadily by raising prices and alternating coding and marketing weeks. Bootstrapping a SaaS Product to $36k MRR (2 May 2022)
- Ishan Sharma: He reached his first Rs 1,00,000 (roughly $1,300 at the time) between June and October 2020 through a podcasting course, freelance video work and online teaching, all found by sharing his work online. How I Made My First Rs. 1 Lakh as a 19 Year Old College Student (30 Aug 2021)
- Matt Ragland: Ragland made his first thousand-dollar product, about $1,500 in a month, by turning a repeated audience request for sketchnotes into a $27 course and launching it to his email list. Matt Ragland: Becoming a full time YouTube creator after 10 years of side hustling (8 Dec 2020)
First $10K
- Shane Hummus: If he lost everything and had only a laptop with Claude and a demanding job, he would sell expertise he already has and attract buyers with simple long-form YouTube videos, letting Claude do the heavy lifting. How I'd Make Money With Claude AI (If I Wanted To Quit My Job ASAP) (9 Oct 2026)
- Ali Abdaal: Abdaal and his coaches argue that a first client, and probably a first $10,000 in revenue, comes from friends, family and their referrals, so cold outreach to strangers can wait. Give Me 22 Minutes, I'll Show You How to Get Your First Client (14 Sep 2026)
- AC Hampton: His restart plan uses AI to validate a proven product, copy a converting store structure, keep at least a 2.5x margin and make enough ads to find a winner. How I'd Make My First $10,000 Dropshipping in 2026 (Using Claude) (13 Jul 2026)
- Patrick Dang (First $10K month): To reach a first $10K online with Claude, he would package an AI-powered service as a clear offer, sell it through LinkedIn outreach and calls, and only build once a client has paid. How I'd Start a $10K/Month One-Person Business With Claude (Masterclass) (24 Jun 2026)
- Kris Krohn: Kris would restart in real estate with low-down-payment house hacking, lease options, wholesaling, partnerships and home equity, routes that need little of his own capital. If I Lost Everything Tomorrow, Here's EXACTLY How I'd Start Over In Real Estate in 2026 (17 Jun 2026)
- Liam Ottley (First $10K month): Ottley shows how one person can run a remote creative department for clients with AI tools, and frames $10K a month as five $2,000-a-month retainers. Start a $10,000/mo Solo AI Creative Agency (Higgsfield + Claude) (7 Jun 2026)
- Adam Erhart (First $10K month): Starting over, he would sell one recurring local-business service, sign five clients, then stack services and retain clients to reach $10K a month. How to Get Your First Agency Client (And How I'd Turn It Into $10K/Month) (5 Jun 2026)
- Jordan Platten (First $10K month): Platten breaks down a student's $0 to $10K-a-month AI lead-gen agency run into seven lessons, chiefly single focus, one niche and relentless follow-up. $0 to $10k/mo in 70 Days With AI Lead Gen (Real Proof) (14 May 2026)
- Jordan Welch: Welch says to reach the first $10,000 by stacking unleveraged work and reselling instead of starting a business, then move to a skill-based service. Millionaire Explains: How To Get Rich With $0 (3 May 2026)
- Ashley Kehr and Tony Robinson: The Real Estate Rookie hosts say starting over they would simplify everything to close one achievable first deal, since that first deal builds the confidence for later ones. 5 Things We'd Do If We Were Starting Over in Real Estate Today (25 Feb 2026)
- Chris Koerner (First $10K month): On The Diary of a CEO, Koerner's favorite $500 start is an AI implementation service for local small businesses, found through cheap local ads and priced as an upfront fee plus ongoing maintenance. Passive Income Expert: How To Make $10k Per Month In 90 Days! (8 Dec 2025)
- Iman Gadzhi: Gadzhi says an agency is still the best beginner model and recommends a single niche, or a revenue-share shadow-operator deal with micro creators, to reach a first $10,000 from a handful of clients. How To Start SMMA For Beginners In 2026 With $0 (18 Nov 2025)
- Pace Morby: Pace's restart plan is to learn underwriting, source seller-financed deals for experienced buyers in exchange for a fee and equity, and grow ownership deal by deal. How I'd Start in Real Estate in 2026 (If I Had to Start Over) (24 Oct 2025)
- Kamil Sattar (The Ecom King) (First $10K month): Starting over with no money, he would validate digital products with sales data, pre-sell before building, control his own traffic and raise order value with a product ladder. How I'd Sell Digital Products to Hit $10K/Month (If Starting Over Today) (24 Aug 2025)
- Nick Maggiulli: Maggiulli argues the first $10,000 saved changes life more than any later amount, so getting out of the under-$10K level should be the first goal for anyone starting out. The First $10,000 is the Most Important (12 Aug 2025)
- Graham Stephan: Graham's plan to save $10K fast is a dated daily target, tracked spending, cuts to waste and big bills, automatic savings and extra income. How To Save $10,000 ASAP (5 Aug 2025)
- Tanner Planes: His three pillars for a first $10K month are a lean, cash-flowing business model, a timeline measured in years, and holding that level once you reach it. How To Quit Your Job and Make $10k Online in 2025 (23 May 2025)
- Mark Tilbury: Mark's three-step plan for a first $10,000 is to sell a simple service, raise what it earns through positioning and results-based pricing, then invest the proceeds. How to Make Your First $10,000 As a Teen (Stupid Simple) (27 Feb 2025)
- Brandon Turner (First $10K month): Answering a listener who had lost everything, Turner said he would master one high cash flow rental strategy and use equity partners for down payments to reach about $10,000 a month with no money of his own. I've Made Millions With Real Estate. Here's How I'd Start Over. | Ep 114 (17 Jan 2025)
- Sarah Chrisp (Wholesale Ted) (First $10K month): She grew a new Etsy print-on-demand store selling niche clothing to over $10K a month by filling a market gap, selling on a busy marketplace, keeping costs low and reinvesting. How I'd Go From $0 To $10k Per Month If I Started Again (From Scratch) (9 Dec 2024)
- Nicolas Cole (on Ali Abdaal's channel) (First $10K month): Cole's five steps aim for $10,000 a month by selling a writing service to a few businesses, with no large audience needed. The target is monthly income. 5 Simple Steps to Earn $10,000 Writing Online (3 Dec 2024)
- Gary Vaynerchuk: Vaynerchuk's way to turn 1,000 dollars into 10,000 is garage-sale and thrift flipping, backed by nightly eBay sold-listing research and trips to town-wide sales. The Best Way To Flip $1000 - $10,000 | GaryVee Trash Talk Clips (4 Oct 2024)
- Humphrey Yang: Humphrey's path to a $10K net worth is tracking spending, earning a bit more, building an emergency fund and killing high-interest debt before investing. How to Make Your First $10K In Net Worth (Step by Step) (27 Jun 2024)
- Charlie Morgan (First $10K month): His start-over plan to reach $10K a month within about 12 months puts the business model second and the founder's skills, traits and beliefs first. Step by step how i'd make $10k per month asap if starting again (12 Feb 2024)
- Nathan Barry: Barry set a $10,000 lifetime goal for his first self-published ebook, built an email wait list with free tutorials, and beat the goal on launch day with $12,000 in sales. How Writing Online Will Make You A Millionaire - Nathan Barry (14 Dec 2023)
- Callum Carver: He lays out a staged path from a first $100 with a basic skill to $10,000 through a high-income skill, retainer offers, proof and delegation. How to Make Your First $10k: A Step-by-Step Guide (17 Oct 2023)
- Charlie Chang: Charlie's 10-step plan to a first $10K combines budgeting around big expenses, untouched investments, a service side business and paying off high-interest debt. How to Save your First $10,000 FAST (Guaranteed) (3 Oct 2022)
- Dylan Jahraus: Starting over on Etsy, she would open a B2B supplies shop, test listings at high volume and use Facebook groups for traffic, as she did for her own first $10,000. 10 Ways to Grow FAST On Etsy as a Beginner ($0 to $1.3 M) What I Would Do If I Was Starting Over (3 Oct 2022)
- Josh Hall: Hall went from underpriced freelance gigs to a first course launch that made about $8,000, built on a YouTube tutorial series, an email list and a Facebook group. Josh Hall to from freelance web design to professional creator earning $300K/year (22 Mar 2022)
- Asia Orangio: Asia Orangio's route to a SaaS company's first 100 customers is customer research first, then bottom-of-funnel marketing aimed at people already in pain, before broad awareness plays. How to Get Your First 100 Happy Customers (MicroConf Starter talk write-up) (26 Jan 2022)
- Marie Poulin (First $10K month): Poulin earned her first roughly $10K from a pay-what-you-want group mastermind used as a test, which later grew to six figures in a year. Marie Poulin - Earning $40,000 per month as a course creator (2 Nov 2021)
- Adam McCrea (First $10K month): Adam McCrea grew Rails Autoscale past $15K MRR mostly through Heroku Marketplace discovery, and says he would market more actively if he did it again. Episode 556 | Zero to $26k MRR as the Solo Founder of Rails Autoscale (29 Jun 2021)
- Colin Gray (First $10K month): Colin Gray took Alitu to about $12K MRR in 18 months (figure cited by host Rob Walling) by building on an existing content audience and funding the software from service income. Episode 531 | How a Non-Technical Founder Grew Past $45k MRR (12 Jan 2021)
- Biaheza: Restarting his savings from zero, Biaheza flips free and cheap local items and hangs Christmas lights, reaching a $561 balance in episode one on the way to an early $10K to $15K target. Millionaire Starts From Scratch EP. 1 (11 Dec 2020)
- Rob Walling (First $10K month): Rob Walling and Jordan Gal describe the pre-launch and post-launch stages that took Drip from $0 to about $10K-$12K MRR, built on pre-validation of price and an existing audience. Episode 499 | The (First) Six Stages of SaaS Growth - Part 1 (2 Jun 2020)
- Arvid Kahl (First $10K month): Arvid Kahl and Danielle Simpson explain how FeedbackPanda grew from zero to $55K MRR, with $10K MRR the point where it proved itself, by serving a teacher community they knew and marketing through it. Episode 492 | From Zero to $55k MRR to Exit (in 2 Years) with Feedback Panda (14 Apr 2020)
First $100K
- AC Hampton: Starting from zero, he would protect a small testing budget, stick to one traffic channel and find a winning product by testing many products and angles every day. If I Wanted to Make My First $100k Dropshipping, I'd Do This (6 May 2026)
- Tori Dunlap: Tori's updated blueprint for a first $100K pairs automated saving and index investing with deliberate income growth and value-based spending. 282. The $100K Blueprint: How I'd Save My First $100K in 2026 (21 Apr 2026)
- Ali Abdaal: Abdaal sets out a phased roadmap (ideation, validation, momentum) for going from zero to a $100K-a-year lifestyle business, with network-driven discovery calls as the validation engine. If I Wanted to Make My First $100K in 12 months, I'd Do This (9 Apr 2026)
- Ramit Sethi: Ramit's six-step playbook to a first $100K puts debt payoff, a cash buffer and automatic low-cost investing ahead of budgeting minutiae. 254. My $0 to $100k Playbook (full beginners guide) (31 Mar 2026)
- Chris Do: Do maps five stages (survival, stability, system, scale, sustain) that take a freelance designer from scattered low-paid gigs to a $100K year. 5-Step Blueprint Every Designer Needs to Hit $100K (10 Mar 2026)
- Alex Hormozi: Hormozi's six-step roadmap to banking a first $100,000 in savings: slash costs and wasted time, pick a skill the market already pays for, learn it through thousands of iterations, invest in tools and help, and keep lifestyle flat. If I Wanted to Make My First $100K in 2026, I'd Do This (4 Mar 2026)
- Michael Elliott: He says he passed $100,000 in freelance revenue about four months after quitting by selling ad management on retainers found mostly through Facebook groups. If I Were to Start Freelancing In 2026, Here's What I'd Do [0 to $100K FULL GUIDE] (2 Mar 2026)
- Codie Sanchez: Starting over from zero, Sanchez would pre-sell before building and go after boring, cash-flowing service businesses (or buy one from a retiring owner) to reach six-figure revenue. If I Wanted to Build a Business for $0 in 2026, I'd Do This… (4 Jan 2026)
- Brian Preston and Bo Hanson (The Money Guy Show): The Money Guy hosts say the first $100K is mostly built from savings, so you should cut the largest expenses and grow income until compounding takes over. How To Go From $0 To $100,000 In 2026 (& Beyond) (24 Dec 2025)
- Vivian Tu: Vivian says her first $100K was harder than her first million, and her plan is a higher income, value-based spending, cheap housing and paying off high-interest debt. Why getting to $100k is SO HARD & How to do it! | Networth & Chill with Your Rich BFF (10 Sep 2025)
- Mark Builds Brands: His from-scratch plan to $100K with branded dropshipping is to pick a validated, high-margin product, find a way to compete and win with customer research, a quiz funnel and strong hooks. gimme a white monster & wifi and i'll print $100k w/ branded dropshipping from scratch (8 Aug 2025)
- Nischa Shah: The former banker and accountant gives five monthly habits for reaching $100K: automate, track, curb impulse buys, invest idle cash and earn more. A Monthly Checklist to Reach Your First $100,000 (29 Jun 2025)
- Pace Morby: Pace pitches his 'Gator' method of private lending on other investors' deals as the simplest beginner path to $100K, and it doubles as a pitch for his paid program. How Anyone Can Make $100K+ Starting From Nothing! (9 May 2025)
- Graham Stephan: Graham's route to a first $100K is a dated goal broken into daily targets, then tracking and trimming spending, automating savings, earning more and investing. How To Save $100,000 in 3 Years (Starting From $0) (19 Feb 2025)
- Hayden Bowles: He took a new supplement listing past $100K without Amazon ads by choosing a brand-driven product and sending influencer traffic to the listing. $0 to $100k on Amazon FBA in 2025 (FULL Strategy) (3 Feb 2025)
- Tori Dunlap: Tori's plan for a first $100K starts with a clear definition and an emergency fund, then debt payoff, automated retirement investing and accountability. 205. How to Get Your First $100K in 2025 (2 Jan 2025)
- Jaspreet Singh: Jaspreet asks you to define which $100K you are chasing, then gives a matching path: a skill-based service business, long-term investing or high-yield saving. How To Go From $0 to $100,000 In 2025 (24 Dec 2024)
- George Kamel: Kamel shows how to save $100,000 cash in three years by clearing debt first, turning the goal into a monthly number, cutting the budget, adding a side hustle, and parking the money in a high-yield account. How to Save $100,000 Cash in 3 Years (6 May 2024)
- Dan Vas: If he were starting fresh he would launch an Amazon FBA brand with about $5K, scale one product with listing optimization and PPC, then expand the range. How To Make $100K/Year On Amazon FBA In 2024 (Beginner's Guide) (12 Mar 2024)
- Samuel Leeds: Starting from scratch, Samuel would source high-value UK property deals for investors, then manage a refurb for a share of the uplift to reach £100K fast. If I Had to Make $100k As Quick as Possible, I'd Do This (11 Dec 2023)
- Andrei Jikh: Jikh credits Charlie Munger's 25 human-misjudgment tendencies, condensed into money rules, with helping him save and make his first $100,000. How I Made My First $100,000 By Avoiding These 25 Mistakes (1 Dec 2023)
- Mark Tilbury: Tilbury says the first $100K is the hardest because compounding is too small before then, and he lays out his GROWTH method to get there faster. Why EVERYTHING Changes After $100K (& How To Reach It) (20 Nov 2023)
- Charlie Chang: Chang reached $100K in about two and a half years after college by stacking several side hustles, and he advises building skills over chasing a paycheck. How I Made My First $100,000 After College - Easy Side Hustles (28 Aug 2023)
- Marie Forleo: Asked how she would make $100,000 in a year from zero, she says she would interview her ideal clients and sell ten $10,000 offers. How to make your first $100,000 | Marie Forleo (Erika Taught Me podcast) (30 May 2023)
- Kayse Morris: Morris grew from about $90,000 a year in marketplace sales to a roughly $124,000 seven-day course launch by layering YouTube and a conference-built email list on top of her product sales. Kayse Morris - from government assistance to multimillion dollar membership (15 Nov 2022)
- Tori Dunlap: Dunlap set a goal to save $100,000 by 25, which became the Her First $100K brand, and advises launching before you feel ready. Tori Dunlap - Building an audience of millions on TikTok with Her First $100K (18 Jan 2022)
- Gillian Perkins: She breaks the road to $100,000 a year into four phases, with a first $1,000 used as proof of demand before building scalable systems. How to go from $0 to $100,000 in 2023 (4 Jan 2022)
- Sahil Lavingia: Lavingia tells new founders to sell to a community that trusts them, aim for roughly 100 customers to reach about $120,000 a year, and start with the most manual version of the product. Minimalist Entrepreneur Book Summary with Sahil Lavingia of Gumroad (8 Nov 2021)
- Sam Dogen (Financial Samurai): Dogen's route to a first $100,000 is an aggressive, rising savings rate that maxes the 401(k) from your mid twenties so it passes $100,000 by age 30. How Much Savings Should I Have By 30? A Retirement Guide To Follow (11 May 2021)
- Nate O'Brien: O'Brien argues the path from $0 to $100,000 runs through becoming less replaceable: build a high income skill, sell it as consulting or a digital product, or grow a simple local service business, and stick with one thing. How To Go From $0 to $100,000 in 2020 (15 Jan 2020)
First $1M
- Humphrey Yang: Humphrey walks each net worth milestone from $1K to $1M and says the plan is steady saving and investing, with no let-up after the first $100K. Every Dollar Milestone From $0 to $1M (And What Changes at Each) (24 Sep 2026)
- Grant Cardone: At 22, Grant would set a number, move into wealthier circles, follow where money flows and reinvest earnings into income-producing assets. If I Were 22, This Is How I'd Get Rich (17 Jun 2026)
- Rachel Rodgers: The episode is billed as her playbook for going from zero dollars in the bank to a first million. The Road To Your First Million Dollars (Hello Seven Podcast) (26 May 2026)
- Dan Martell: Martell's plan for getting from $0 to $1M is to find a painful problem, wrap it in a clear offer, do outreach every day and sell by asking questions, with AI speeding up each step. If I Started Over With $0, Here's My Exact Plan to get to $1M (6 Apr 2026)
- Ken McElroy: Ken says his knowledge and network would let him get back to millionaire status within a year by spotting deals others miss in one lane and raising money on sound deals. If I had to start over from $0… here's how I'd be a millionaire again in 12 months (13 Mar 2026)
- Codie Sanchez: Sanchez's path to millionaire status keeps the 9-to-5, using salary negotiation and automated saving to fund the purchase of a cash-flowing small business. If I Wanted to Become a Millionaire on a 9-5 Salary, I'd Do This (3 Feb 2026)
- Nischa Shah: Nischa, who built seven-figure income streams in two and a half years, says the faster route to $1M is a business with scalable assets and systems, with surplus income invested in index funds. If I Wanted to Become a Millionaire In 2026, I'd Do This (7 Dec 2025)
- Nate Herk: Starting over with no channel, money or knowledge, he would sell one customized AI automation template at a time, use the results to move into paid AI audits, then build a team to grow toward a seven-figure agency. How I'd Make Money with AI in 2026 (if I had to Start Over) (3 Oct 2025)
- Daniel Priestley: Priestley's staged route from a standing start to $1 million in revenue begins with an apprenticeship and short side hustles, then cheap market tests and progressively larger teams. Give Me 29 Minutes and I'll Teach You to Make $1 Million (4 Sep 2025)
- Jordan Welch: His path to a first million is to grow active income with a sellable skill, put the savings into a scalable ecommerce business and reinvest everything. If I Wanted to Become a Millionaire by 2026, This is What I'd Do (28 Jul 2025)
- Kevin O'Leary: On The Diary Of A CEO, O'Leary says someone earning 70,000 a year who invests 15 percent in an S&P 500 index from age 25 would have over 1.5 million dollars by 65. Kevin O'Leary: Every Time You Get Paid, Do This! It 10xs Your Income Without Having To Work Harder! (30 Jun 2025)
- Ali Abdaal: Ali traces his path from scattered freelance and tutoring income to $1M by repeatedly turning a skill he had mastered into courses and content, then outsourcing to scale. How I Made My First $1M at 26 - Every Step Explained (25 Jun 2025)
- Justin Welsh: Welsh reached his first $1M in 29 months by building a LinkedIn audience, monetising it first with consulting, then with low-priced digital products. My complete $10M journey (all 23 steps) (7 Jun 2025)
- Greg Isenberg: In a conversation with Andrew Wilkinson, Isenberg pitches an AI-run website redesign agency for local businesses as a simple route to a first million, while warning that easy AI businesses are also easy to compete away. If I wanted to build $1M+ AI startup in 2025, I'd do this (24 Mar 2025)
- Ramit Sethi: Ramit's millionaire-by-40 plan is a calculated target, investing at least 15% in tax-advantaged accounts, negotiating a higher income and keeping housing and cars cheap. If I Wanted to Become a Millionaire in 2026, I'd Do This (27 Feb 2025)
- Rachel Rodgers: Her millionaire blueprint starts with a talent-based offer priced on value and announced to 100 people you already know, which is how she says she started. If I Wanted To Become A Millionaire In 2026, I Would Do This (27 Nov 2024)
- Tony Dinh: Tony Dinh says TypingMind reached $1M in trailing 12-month revenue in 20 months, driven by lifetime licences, team upgrades, B2B deals and resellers rather than paid marketing. Nov 2024: My first million! (22 Nov 2024)
- Marc Lou: Marc Lou's $1M recap credits learning to sell as well as build, leaning on AI, picking niche businesses and refusing to quit after seven mostly failed years. I made $1M as a Solopreneur (10 Aug 2024)
- Andrew Wilkinson: Wilkinson went from barista to $500 websites to an agency that resold other people's time, which paid him over $1 million a year by his early twenties. How I Made My First $1M - The Andrew Wilkinson Story (5 Jul 2024)
- Mark Tilbury: Tilbury's path from $0 to millionaire is to find your value zone, start a low-cost service business in it, invest passively on the side and put all your resources into one venture. If I Started 2027 With $0, Here's My Exact Plan (23 Apr 2024)
- Andrei Jikh: Andrei, whose dividend portfolio crossed $1M after 18 years, says a low earner reaches $1M by living below their means and holding investments long enough for compounding to work. How To Become A Millionaire On A Low Income (22 Mar 2024)
- David Greene and Rob Abasolo: The BiggerPockets hosts say they became millionaires through rental equity, and they recommend house hacking and value-add buying as the repeatable path from zero. How to Become a Millionaire Through Real Estate (Start from ZERO) (6 Mar 2024)
- Dan Koe: Go from zero to $1M solo by starting with high-ticket client work and steadily converting it into group programs and digital products that decouple income from hours. Zero To $1 Million As A One-Person Business (While Working 2-4 Hours Per Day) (17 Feb 2024)
- Michael Girdley: Girdley's zero to millionaire plan is to save hard in a job, start a low capital cash flowing business like an agency, run it for profit, then make asymmetric bets. From Zero to Millionaire: My Step-by-Step Guide to Building Wealth (14 Feb 2024)
- Noah Kagan: The book's method for building toward a million-dollar business is to pick a real problem, size it for million-dollar potential, and pre-sell it before building anything. Million Dollar Weekend (book, Portfolio/Penguin Random House) (30 Jan 2024)
- Kris Krohn: Kris says he made his first million in his 20s by buying leveraged single-family homes with small down payments, recycling each house's gains into the next and partnering with investors' retirement money. How I Made My First Million in my 20's (29 Jan 2024)
- Shaan Puri: Shaan Puri answers how he would make a first million starting over from scratch: spend the early years learning and finding a personal edge, get around the most ambitious people, always work on the biggest problem, and publish content to increase your surface area for luck. A No BS Guide To Making Your First $1,000,000 (30 Oct 2023)
- Scott Galloway: Asked what he would do at 25 starting over, Galloway splits the answer by situation (buy an aging owner's small business, join a big platform company, or start an AI healthcare venture) and credits living below his means and steady investing for his wealth. If I Could Start Over Again, This Is What I'd Do To Get Rich - Scott Galloway (24 Oct 2023)
- Ryan Pineda: Ryan's 'make, manage, multiply' path to seven figures is to build a small team around a house-flipping and wholesaling business once solo income tops out. How to Make Your First $1 Million (2 Aug 2023)
- Patrick Bet-David: Bet-David lays out fast, average and slow paths to a first million and ten rules for the fast one, built on saying yes early, focusing on one method and niche, leverage, relentless prospecting, and tight tracking of savings. 10 Rules For Making Your First Million (15 Feb 2023)
- Kat Norton (Miss Excel): She went from a viral TikTok account to a course business generating more than $2 million a year within about two and a half years. This 29-year-old's side hustle brings in $2 million a year (CNBC Make It, first-person) (26 Dec 2022)
- Rob Walling: Rob Walling's start-over plan to $1M in annual recurring revenue is his stair-step method: a simple add-on product first, repeat until you own your time, then a full SaaS. If I Had To Start Over, Here's 3 Steps I'd Take to $1M+ Revenue (14 Nov 2022)
- Gillian Perkins: Applying the 80/20 rule, she credits most of her first million to a membership site and evergreen courses sold through email and webinars. How I Made My First MILLION Dollars (20 Sep 2022)
- Graham Stephan: Graham's 10-year plan to a $1M net worth from zero is extreme saving, results-based income and steady investing, which he says is how he hit $1M by 26. How To Be A Millionaire In 10 Years (Starting With $0) (12 Sep 2022)
- Sunny Lenarduzzi: Her eight-step start-over roadmap to a first million centres on a value-priced skill packaged as an online course for a specific audience. If I had to start over I'd take these 8 steps to make $1 million. (1 Mar 2022)
- Danny Postma: Postma's first product success came from a lifetime-deal launch worth over $60,000, then an AI rebuild marketed by building in public on Twitter, which he sold for seven figures within months. Building & Selling a SaaS for +$1M in 8 Months (18 Jan 2022)
- Noah Kagan: Kagan tells how he reached his first million through side hustles, events and riding the Facebook platform wave, and draws a lesson from each stage. How I Made My First Million Dollars (12 Apr 2021)
- Kevin Paffrath (Meet Kevin): Paffrath says he became a millionaire in under seven years, before YouTube income, by setting a wealth target and plowing all spare money into below-market real estate and stocks, and he tells beginners to start that path with their first 100 dollars. How to Retire in 7 Years Starting w/ $100 [The Rule of 200] (11 Jul 2020)
- Kevin O'Leary: O'Leary recounts that his first million came from SoftKey, a software company built by bundling cheap graphics software with plotters, and says a first million comes from solving one problem that millions of people share. How I Made My First Million Dollars Part 1 | Ask Mr. Wonderful Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary (8 Jun 2020)
Questions people ask
How do gurus say to make your first million?
39 plans here target a first $1 million. They split two ways: build a business, often by turning a skill into a service and then a product (Justin Welsh, Dan Koe, Ali Abdaal, Andrew Wilkinson), or save and invest steadily (Graham Stephan, Ramit Sethi, Humphrey Yang, Andrei Jikh).
How do you make your first $1,000?
21 plans here target a first $1,000. The common routes are a service or coaching offer sold directly to people (Dan Koe, Justin Welsh, Nick Huber, Daniel Vassallo) and a small digital product or Etsy shop (Matt Ragland, Hannah Ebeling, Alek Sheffield).
What first step do the gurus give most often?
Ask for money before you build. Among the 35 first-dollar plans, the most repeated move is a pre-sale or a direct priced ask, from Noah Kagan, Pieter Levels, Marc Lou, Tim Ferriss, Liz Wilcox and others.
Where do these plans come from?
Each of the 161 entries links the exact video, podcast episode, book or post it comes from, published 2020 to 2026, across 110 named creators. Steps are paraphrased from the source.