I am writing this post in order to better visualize and plan my goal, but also to make it more real. Announcing a plan like this to the World raises accountability. Besides these selfish reasons, I hope that once I successfully complete the task, the trail I leave behind will help at least one soul aiming for the same achievement.

Also worth noting, I saw other experts in my industry do this kind of journal, and why not emulating the best?

How I got here

When I first started out, I brainstormed 10 ways how I can get $100,000. One of the options was selling equity in a company, which is something I’ve done in the past. But, it’s been a few years since I’ve done that, and I think I come up with a better plan this time.

For full transparency, here are some of my ideas. Have in mind this is raw brainstorm material, so it may sound silly.

1. Sell a website that’s making $2500 per month with 40x multiple
2. Sell someone else’s website for $1,000,000 and take 10%
3. Get 10 clients paying $10,000 per month for API access (3×10,000 for 3 months)
4. Build a project (Design, coding, marketing) for someone and profit $100,000
5. Sell more equity in the parent company
6. Sell 10,000 copies of $10 product, or 1,000 copies of a $100 product (book, software, bundle, graphics)
7. Combination of several outlined ideas
8. 1 huge API license deal, $1,666 per month, paid 5 years in advance
9. Form a new company, and sell equity in that new company
10. Sell a bundle of products for $20 (spend $10 on marketing per CAC), in return give $2,000 worth of discounts

Out of all the projects I am currently running, I had an epiphany with one of the projects, and saw a clear path how to get to the goal.

Here are the steps

1. Sell equity in a project (this is optional, but if I am able to find a strong partner, I will go for it)
2. Sell a bundle (book, course, software) with profit up to $2500 per month
3. Sell the project with a strong 40x multiple on monthly profits.

Here are two scenarios outlined. One is with a partner / investor, one is without.

Scenario with an investor.

1. Raise $20000 from an investor
2. Grow at the rate of 30% MOM, in 12 months get to $4,275 per month profit. Maintain for 6 months at $4.275 per month
3. During 6 months make $25,650
4. Sell the project for $170,985
5. Give the investor $100,000, a handsome 5X return
6. I take home $20,000 from investor, $12.825 during 6 months of profit accumulation (the other half goes to investor), $70,985 from the sale
7. Make a total of $103,810

Scenario without an investor.

1. Grow at the rate of 20% MOM, in 12 months get to $2.294 per month profit. Maintain for 6 months at $2.294 per month
2. During 6 months make $13.764
3. Sell the project for $91,764
4. Take home $13,764 during 6 months of profit accumulation, $91,764 from the sale
5. Make a total of $105.528

Why take on an investor? Why make a plan without an investor? Well, fundraising is not easy. But, if you find an investor that can help you grow the company and the two of you make 1 + 1 = 3, then it makes sense.

I will attempt to reach out to a few industry experts, and potential partners in the project. But if that fails, I will go with the scenario without an investor. I won’t settle for dumb money, because I think I can do this project without the money. And also, I need help growing the company, not money.

Why not find a partner, not an investor?

Several reasons I will not settle with a partner. For one, I have already invested a sizeable amount of money, time, and effort into the project. I will not give equity to anyone unless seriously commited.

I believe that serious commitment is not possible without putting your money where your mouth is. Either way, this step is the least important of all, but it’s either / or, and it’s the first step.

The basic outline of the steps

1. Brainstorm ideas
2. Select several best ideas, and start executing
3. Work hard and smart
4. Track and publish progress
5. Successful exit

Growing the project

For the sake of simplicity, I’ll plan without an investor, because I’ll reach out to investors in parallel. So even if I don’t get an investor, I’ll still have to grow the project.

The product I am selling will cost $199 per year, and it will consist of the following:

1. Software
2. Course
3. Booklet / manual
4. Bundle of discounts, coupons

There will also be a “demo” option at $19 per month.

The elephant in the room

In the past I had successful fundraising events (even wrote a book about it) and I had 1 successful exit, and helped brokered a coupled exits (I may write a book about it), but it’s always been a struggle for me to grow a company.

As always, the hardest part will be to achieve the numbers in the table above. I think it’s the same for anyone else. It may not sound much, but getting 7 people in a month to pay $199 is a hard task. So I set myself with an idea.

I want to provide as much as $19,999 in value, for anyone who buys the $199 product I am offering. I am setting out to give a 100x return!

Tools, course, manual, plan, contacts to make $20,000

That’s my goal. I want my clients to feel as if they got $20,000 worth of value, when they subscribe for that $199 plan. It’s going to be a lot of work for me, but I am ready and willing. I already have a few ideas, and started executing on some of them.

The goal ahead of me is pretty straightforward. I need around 100 clients that will pay me about $2,305 per month. Then I can sell the project for around $92,200.

Some flexibility in the plan, and potential opportunities

I don’t necessarily need 98 clients paying for access to the package I am describing above. Maybe I will get a client paying $500 per month for various services (advertising, affiliate commissions), and that will cut my execution time.

In the end, maybe the projects start making money more than planed (let’s say $10,000 per month), and I just decide to keep the project for 10 months in order to make the $100,000.

Which begs the question…

Why $100,000 in the first place?

In the past I wrote how most of the dreams that the majority of people have would be fulfilled with about $17,857 per month. It may sound like a lot of money to everyday folks, but it is possible in this day and age. There are opportunities everywhere!

Reason #1: Can I do it

It may sound like an ego thing, but it’s not. I want to challenge myself. I challenge myself all the time, so I am doing it like this as well.

Reason #2: To show it’s possible

I enjoy motivating and inspiring people. This time, it will also be educational in case someone wants to replicate my success.

Reason #3: To help my family

The money will be used to buy a house for my family. A part of this income will be donated, as will all my incomes. I often donate to animal shelters, worthy projects like international Police association educating children of potential dangers, and other.

You probably won’t believe this, but if you ask my grandma, she will confirm it. When I was something like five years old, I promised my grandma a house with a big truck of wood. To this day, she reminds me of that promise.

Just to be clear, I will not give the house to my family. I will still own the house, but it will be built with intensions to invite family from around the country to spend a few days together every year. This will be for events like Christmas, and other celebrations. Right now we don’t have a location that can support this. Also, I would love to host some of my dear friends as well!

Reason #4: It’s a round number

I believe in clear and lofty goals. $100.000 will get my attention, compared to $10,000 or $80,000. Also, it’s six figures, which is somewhat of a benchmark.

Reason #5: That’s how much I need

The house I mentioned, minus taxes, donations, minor miscellaneous expenses, $100,000 is what I need. Think of it as some people starting a crowdfunding event.

Reason #6: I think I can do it

Yep, here’s the kicker. I actually think I can pull this off. I think this is one of those things I will achieve in my life. Besides, this would be a great story to tell anyone. And I love sharing a great story!

Reason #7: The journey I will go on because of it

Jim Rohn said that we should “Beware of what we become, in the pursuit of what we want.”. I will definitely abide by my moral, and ethical standards, and won’t jeopardize my health. With that, I think I will learn a lot and become a better individual if I deliver services worth $100,000. That’s my real goal.

In closing

I don’t need this house. My plan is to “give” services, in order to “give” the house to my family, and donate a portion of the proceeds. I live in a beautiful apartment, on an island near a gorgeous beach. I have more than most can wish. Again, just to be clear, I will own the house, but it will be built specifically to host gatherings and accommodate multiple families.

Anyway, that’s what I set out to do. Some want 100,000 subscribers on Youtube, some want to make $100,000 from website properties. With this, I am wrapping up. I’ll post my results at the end of March. I will publish all my financials as well as other metrics, and we will take it from there.

1st month; March

Here’s my first update, as I am warming up to this idea. March financials are as follows:

Expenses: $58

Web hosting expenses: Digital Ocean $10
Protonmail: $48

Revenue: $38

Subscriptions: 2 subscriptions at $19 / month each

Articles published: 7 (total of 16411 words)

Traffic: 1098 users, 2146 pageviews

Humble beginnings, no doubt, but we’ve barely started. This “Journey to a $100,000” was announced on the 21st of March (10 days ago). But, I was working a little bit starting in March. I just didn’t know it was going to escalate to this anounement. Most of March I spent writing articles and doing keyword research. I was creating content for keywords that already received some traffic. I got those keywords in Google Search Console.

I also updated a few old articles, added some internal links, updated wordpress and plugins and created a Protonmail account for emails

Other than that, I was in touch over email and Skype with a couple of heavy-weights in my industry and trying to strike up affiliate deals, partnerships and maybe even investment. Some of these individuals are potential buyers of the entire project, as I described this is my plan in the end.

I’ll provide more details as we progress.