Millionaire Challenge

LuxuryWoman · 18 October 2017 at 8:36AM

Hello everyone, I'm still reading and enjoying your stories and ideas.

I have a new business I have been trying to get off the ground and trying to stay optimistic. At nearly 50 and with no real qualifications I don't realistically think I could find a well paid job and having been self-employed for some years the thought of 'having a boss' isn't a lovely idea. My self employed work dried up hence the new business but we are losing money at the moment with advertising and so on which is expected but scary.

I keep reading about people (such as the Middleton's) who started at the kitchen table and made it big from small starts, it's inspiring to read about people who worked 23 hours a day, borrowed left right and centre and ended up making 100m but right now I'm nervous (still determined though)

so, I'm in a position I never expected - lot of money in the bank but no income, I have made a fair bit in vouchers during 'down times' doing bits and bobs of surveys and tests which should cover Christmas (13 year old daughters don't come cheap!)

Guess I have to try to stay positive and keep on keeping on, I guess we all do.
In my present circumstances I have to say I am very much hoping interest rates go up, strange to be on the other side now I no longer have a mortgage

Koko everyone, keep posting, you inspire me!
Lux

0511034 · 19 October 2017 at 8:37PM

LuxuryWoman wrote: »

Hello everyone, I'm still reading and enjoying your stories and ideas.

I have a new business I have been trying to get off the ground and trying to stay optimistic. At nearly 50 and with no real qualifications I don't realistically think I could find a well paid job and having been self-employed for some years the thought of 'having a boss' isn't a lovely idea. My self employed work dried up hence the new business but we are losing money at the moment with advertising and so on which is expected but scary.

I keep reading about people (such as the Middleton's) who started at the kitchen table and made it big from small starts, it's inspiring to read about people who worked 23 hours a day, borrowed left right and centre and ended up making 100m but right now I'm nervous (still determined though)

so, I'm in a position I never expected - lot of money in the bank but no income, I have made a fair bit in vouchers during 'down times' doing bits and bobs of surveys and tests which should cover Christmas (13 year old daughters don't come cheap!)

Guess I have to try to stay positive and keep on keeping on, I guess we all do.
In my present circumstances I have to say I am very much hoping interest rates go up, strange to be on the other side now I no longer have a mortgage

Koko everyone, keep posting, you inspire me!
Lux

I hope all works out, I admire the fact that your self employed and starting your own business, it must be scary when you are losing money but I really hope it works and your bravery is rewarded, I would love to start my own business but really need to get my thinking cap on and come up with an idea, another deterrent is that I am not a risk taker so the thought of risk and losing money is a big hurdle I need to navigate.

Just on a side note, you mention that you complete surveys, I used to do surveys too but they can be very time consuming for fairly low rewards. I just wondered if you had tried Lionbridge as an alternative? I used to complete work for them when I was younger. Its the equivalent to a part time analytic job that is not overly difficult and fairly well paid and given that its all online you can do it from the comfort of your own home with no commuting or costs. I believe you need to take a test but its not massively difficult and the job itself whilst quite boring, is worth the pay especially if money is a worry after Christmas. Just thought I would mention it on the off chance that it may be relevant to you.

LuxuryWoman · 20 October 2017 at 8:09AM

0511034 wrote: »

I hope all works out, I admire the fact that your self employed and starting your own business, it must be scary when you are losing money but I really hope it works and your bravery is rewarded, I would love to start my own business but really need to get my thinking cap on and come up with an idea, another deterrent is that I am not a risk taker so the thought of risk and losing money is a big hurdle I need to navigate.

Just on a side note, you mention that you complete surveys, I used to do surveys too but they can be very time consuming for fairly low rewards. I just wondered if you had tried Lionbridge as an alternative? I used to complete work for them when I was younger. Its the equivalent to a part time analytic job that is not overly difficult and fairly well paid and given that its all online you can do it from the comfort of your own home with no commuting or costs. I believe you need to take a test but its not massively difficult and the job itself whilst quite boring, is worth the pay especially if money is a worry after Christmas. Just thought I would mention it on the off chance that it may be relevant to you.

Thanks, that's a good idea but I am so wrapped up in the business I'm not sure if I would have time for Lionbridge although I will take a look. Some of the things I do online are passive such as running videos so I can get on with other things. I am working from early morning until late at night tweaking the website,, writing adverts and buidling a social media following, it's lots of fun but time consuming. Just hope it pays off (it Has to pay off!!) Surveys are kind of a break from this work, 10 minutes here and there.

I love threads like this, sometimes it's just nice to read then sometimes somebody mentions something and a lightbulb goes off and I think 'Oh yes, great idea'
I will certainly bear Lionbridge in mind.

crv1963 · 20 October 2017 at 9:07AM

Well after reading through the whole thread last month and doing our calculations I think I'll give the Millionaire Challenge a go! I seriously think that we wont get to a million but that 800k is a more realistic if still difficult target to get too!

A bit about me- 53yo (54 next week, where did the time go, I was only a 20 something a little while ago!!!), I work as a Nurse in the NHS so am a member of the DB 1995 NHS Pension. I am married (wife 3and a half years younger) and we live in the North of England. I have a small AVC, some savings and wife has a small pension pot, is in the NEST scheme through her current employer. I am due to retire at the Normal Retirement Age for my pension scheme next year aged 55.

I then plan to work on for 5-7 years saving into SIPP and ISAs we'll do this for both of us so we can bridge the gap between NHS retirement and State Pension starting. We are homeowners with a mortgage, run two cars (by necessity) and have some debt but nothing major.

Our biggest outgoings after the mortgage is cost of our dogs, one f whom is diabetic so cost can't really be lowered! When you realise the cost of being diabetic you'll appreciate why the Health Service encourages healthy living in the general population, with all the testing, insulin, special diet and regular vet reviews our dog costs us well over £250 per month but is worth every penny!

Rough estimate of current worth-

House Equity- 85k
NHS Pension- 340k
AVC- 6.25k
Wife Pension Pot- 22k
Wife Nest Pot- 2.5k
Cash Savings- c 3k

Total worth- £458.75k, good grief it looks enormous written down but less debt other than mortgage it's £455k. So our target is to build up £345k over the next 8 years! Then if we meet that and haven't died trying we'll retire totally and aim to slowly save or build up another 200k to reach the million!

uphillstruggler · 22 October 2017 at 6:35PM

Well hello Tinktay and first of all, good luck in your quest to be a millionnaire!

Good luck to everyone else, too.

You've inspired me an enormous amount and I'd love to join, if I may.

My history - approaching the big 4-0. Previous life was a mess. Terrible debt. Terrible relationship. So many opportunities wasted and so much good money squandered. Idiot! New life: retrained for an entirely different career which, in time, is worth a very decent salary. Now in a very positive and driven relationship. Debt has been repaid (thanks largely to an unbelievably generous gesture from my other half).

I have numerous business ideas but have always been useless at getting them off the ground, mainly due to previous debt. Fortunately I'm in a position now where I have much more room to breathe. I still get cross with myself because of my previous stupidity. I'm driven mainly by the concept of generating enough funds to be able to work on a social housing project I have in mind. It's a long way off but that's my ultimate goal - to be able to fund that myself. I've always wanted to give in some way but when I was scraping payments together it just wasn't possible. So that's my motive.

I realise this probably reads as a bit of a waffling piece - bear with me! The cogs in my brain are ticking away! Time now to come up with something solid and get it down on paper.

Thanks for listening,
US

Chesapeake · 22 October 2017 at 6:36PM

Hi everyone, glad to see that there are some new posters

I've not really made any great progress except for the fact that my other half has finally gone back to work after being off for nearly a year due to medical reasons. She is only doing 10hrs a week but it is worth £400 per month which is awesome. If things go to plan that will rise to 24hrs a week and we shall be in a decent position to start building that deposit for some land.

AnimalTribe · 23 October 2017 at 12:09PM

Raj

I started by selling unwanted stuff on eBay and at car boot sales. I did well with this. I also did fairly well selling my unwanted books on Ziffit, Momox and WeBuyBooks (not Zapper or FatBrain though).

Now I'm writing eBooks for Amazon Kindle - it doesn't cost you, but of course they take 30% of your sales price. I've just uploaded my first book so I can't tell you how successful or otherwise it is. However, now I've written and uploaded it I don't have to think about it - it either makes money or it doesn't. It was an easy process too. Non-fiction eBooks tend to be short, so are easy to write. Especially, if you have a subject you're knowledgeable about.

I have had success with writing readers tips for magazines. They don't pay much just £50/£60 but they only take minutes to write and e-mail in.

I've also taken loads of cuttings of plants this year and they will be big enough next year to sell from my garden gate.

All the little bits add up, and I use the accumulated cash to further other business ideas.

So you see, for me it's not all about doing one big thing. I hope this gives you some ideas.

immuno · 23 October 2017 at 3:34PM

AnimalTribe wrote: »

Raj

I have had success with writing readers tips for magazines. They don't pay much just £50/£60 but they only take minutes to write and e-mail in.

I

Do you mind elaborating a bit more on this and how it works?

Did you design the cover for your e-book?

0511034 · 23 October 2017 at 8:26PM

AnimalTribe wrote: »

Raj

I started by selling unwanted stuff on eBay and at car boot sales. I did well with this. I also did fairly well selling my unwanted books on Ziffit, Momox and WeBuyBooks (not Zapper or FatBrain though).

Now I'm writing eBooks for Amazon Kindle - it doesn't cost you, but of course they take 30% of your sales price. I've just uploaded my first book so I can't tell you how successful or otherwise it is. However, now I've written and uploaded it I don't have to think about it - it either makes money or it doesn't. It was an easy process too. Non-fiction eBooks tend to be short, so are easy to write. Especially, if you have a subject you're knowledgeable about.

I have had success with writing readers tips for magazines. They don't pay much just £50/£60 but they only take minutes to write and e-mail in.

I've also taken loads of cuttings of plants this year and they will be big enough next year to sell from my garden gate.

All the little bits add up, and I use the accumulated cash to further other business ideas.

So you see, for me it's not all about doing one big thing. I hope this gives you some ideas.

Hi AnimalTribe!

Thanks for this. I similarly have used some of those sights as I have a lot of outdated textbooks that they snap up. I also have a fairly good revenue from eBay, I have a lot of things that I have collected over the years that are fairly valuable but I have no use for since I have grown up.

However, I never even thought about writing an eBook for Kindles. That's a really great idea, thank you. Its things like this I wouldn't have thought of so this forum is so useful! Best of luck with the book, I really hope it sells, please keep us updated on its success!

I am not so good on the gardening front but I like the way you have diversified so that there are multiple streams of income. It doesn't matter how small those streams are the pennies will make pounds and the pounds will make millionaires :rotfl:

Thanks so much again for the reply and ideas, I really appreciate it.

immuno · 24 October 2017 at 3:49PM

Do you think that writing a non-fiction e-book on a niche topic can still be profitable without a means of promoting it? eg. a blog?

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