If I were to try to grow $0 to $10,000, I would start with proven strategies, including the easy ones everyone should be doing! Most of all, I would focus on the steps I have used to build wealth for my family.
Here are five steps almost anyone could take to grow $0 into $500, which can turn into $5,000, $10,000, or more within a year. And yes, I include plenty of examples to help you get started.
Step 1: Get Free Stock
When turning $0 into $10,000, you need to start with something of value you can get for free. Free stock promotions are an excellent way to do that, and some of the best promos come from two popular investing apps – Robinhood and Webull.
Robinhood Free Stock Promo
With Robinhood, you can get a free stock worth $3 to $225 after opening an account and fulfilling its conditions. Just keep in mind this promotion is only available for new customers.
Also, remember that your stock will likely be worth on the lower end of the promised range. Robinhood says about 98% of the free stock they give out is worth $3 to $10, which is what I have found from personal experience and in the screenshot from my Robinhood account below:
But free is still free. You can also refer friends to get more free stock from Robinhood (see my own example in the above image). You can get up to $500 in referral stock within a year, and your free stock will fall within the same general rate of $3 to $225 per share.
By combining these promotions, you could easily get one free stock for opening an account, then refer 20 friends and get 20 more shares. Even if the average price of each stock you received were only $5, you would accumulate $105 in wealth.
Webull Free Stock Promo
With Webull, you can get two free stocks valued up to $1,850 when you open an account and fund it with $100. While you might not have the $100 in cash right away, you can start with Robinhood and build up your $100 in seed money.
You can also get a free stock worth $2.50 to $250 just for opening an account – even if you don’t fund it.
Even better, Webull lets you refer friends and get THREE free stocks, each worth $12 to $1,400. In reality, though, many of the stocks I have received are worth around $30. Here’s an example using my personal Webull account:
The results: You can easily combine Robinhood and Webull promotions to earn hundreds of dollars in free stock, which you can use to begin your journey to $10,000. And since this stock is free, why wouldn’t you?
Step 2: Retail Arbitrage
Retail arbitrage is a great way to make money fast, but it can also be a key step in your journey to $10,000. Also referred to as product flipping, retail arbitrage involves buying products at a low price and then reselling them for a profit.
There are many ways to make money with retail arbitrage, including shopping for antiques, at thrift stores, or find hidden gems at garage sales in your area.
Jason Butler of My Money Chronicles has had success with retail arbitrage, starting most of his deals at thrift stores. He hunts for brand-name clothing at bargain prices, but he also looks for other stuff that sells well. He then resells most of the items on eBay.
His eBay top sellers include sports jerseys, bobbleheads, coffee mugs, board games, vintage sweaters, and blank VHS tapes. Butler says he has no idea why blank VHS tapes sell so well, but he focuses on profits and doesn’t spend too much time trying to figure it out.
Of course, Butler goes out of his way to look for sneakers, his #1 resale item. He says he buys sneakers as cheaply as he can find them, and sometimes he’ll devote some energy to cleaning them up. His best-selling brands are Jordans, Kobe Bryant’s, and Hoka One One. As a side note, Butler has an eBay course that can help you learn how to flip items for profit:
I know for a fact that sneaker flipping works! I have bought a lot of sneakers and resold them on StockX for hundreds of dollars more than I paid.
The results: Retail arbitrage is something anyone can do, and you can easily turn hundreds of dollars into thousands if you find the right items. The key is knowing what sells and finding it at a rock-bottom price.
Step 3: Start a Side Hustle
Another way you can build up $10,000 is by starting a side hustle. I’m not talking about your ordinary, run-of-the-mill part-time job, although that works too.
If you prefer a flexible schedule and own a reliable vehicle, consider picking up a side gig driving for Uber or Lyft or delivering food for DoorDash. You could even deliver groceries using an app like Instacart, or you could run errands and assemble furniture with an app like TaskRabbit.
You can sell your services as a freelancer if you have a particular skill that translates to the online marketplace. Websites like Fiverr.com and Upwork let you advertise your services to potential clients worldwide. The more specialized your skill, the more money you can make.
Here are just some of the services you can promote through Fiverr or Upwork:
- Social media management
- Graphic design
- Freelance writing
- Resume writing
- Editing
- Video editing
- Voiceover work
- Logo design
And that’s not all! There are also plenty of “weird” skills people pay for on Fiverr. Here’s a gal who will spell out a name in spaghetti and take a picture for $5 – that’s all she does.
Or how about the lady who says she will cast a spell to bring your ex back for $25?
I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried!
While Fiverr was designed to offer small gigs for $5 each, you can charge a lot more than that – especially if you’re experienced.
The results: The examples above prove that just about anyone can find something to do to make extra cash. The right side hustle alone could make $10,000, or you could use it to build enough cash to invest in a larger project.
Step 4: Build a Niche Website
Once you have some money to get started, starting a niche website is a great way to build passive income. Most people have heard it’s possible to earn money blogging, but building a website that focuses exclusively on a single (and profitable) topic can also work.
Take my niche website, LifeInsurancebyJeff.com, as an example. My life insurance website has made $100,000 in 9 months, sometimes more than that. That said, you can build a niche website in any niche. Just try to think of a topic you’re passionate and knowledgeable about, as well as one where it’s easy to recommend products and services. Some examples of niche websites include:
Swim University — a site that sells hot tub and pool supplies
Avocadu — a site that sells supplements to yoga fans
Nichehacks — a site about niche websites
No matter which topic you decide to dive into, you can monetize your niche website using affiliate marketing, ads, sponsorships, and more. My guide on How to Make Money Blogging explains all the different ways you can make money with a niche site, including examples.
The results: A niche website can help you make hundreds or thousands of dollars annually. The best part is that many of the various income streams you can use are passive in nature. This means you can set up the income stream once, tweak it periodically, and watch the money roll in – yes, even while you sleep.
Step 5: Create a Course or Challenge
As your confidence grows with earning income, consider creating a digital product or freebie that brings in money through related sales. You could create a course that helps people learn a specific skill or create a challenge that translates into income later on.
I have used all of these strategies in the past. First, I created an online course for financial advisors, which helps new advisors learn how to build an online presence and grow their client base.
I also have a free challenge, which is known as the Make $1K Blogging Challenge.
You probably noticed that this is a free email course, but you have to dig a little deeper than that. People who sign up for the challenge give me their email addresses, which I use to move them into my email funnel and sell them other products.
I have a $7 add-on to the free course that sells like crazy! While $7 may not sound like a lot, the key here was creating this product and selling it repeatedly. And believe me, $7 can add up fast when you sell thousands of the same thing 24 hours a day.
Maybe you’re a subject matter expert or someone with a specific skill to teach.
For example, someone I know named Tela Holcomb has a ton of different online courses that teach people how to make money through investing. Her popular “Trade Your 9 to 5” course aims to help you quit your regular job and become a profitable day trader, and she sells it for $1,800! That’s pretty sweet.
Then there’s Bobby Hoyt, who has a Facebook Side Hustle Course. Bobby learned to use Facebook ads to successfully market digital products and now teaches others to profit from his techniques in his course.
Bobby teaches you not only to use Facebook ads but also shows you how to turn your Facebook ad knowledge into a profitable side business. It’s an opportunity to learn a profitable skill, then use it to earn even more money by offering your services to others.
The results: While creating a course or an online challenge is much more advanced; almost everyone has something they can teach or share. And with the proper online training, you can easily make thousands of dollars per month – or even thousands of dollars per day.
Turn $0 to $10,000: The Bottom Line
By following the five money-making strategies I’ve shared, and a few of your own, it’s possible to turn $0 to $10,000 within one year. The best part is that you don’t have to wait, you can get started today. But remember – anything worth doing will take some hard work, and you’ll likely fail a few times along the way.
But if you keep going, you’ll eventually find a few different ways to earn money that can grow over time. You might even spark an idea that leads to a home-based business, where you can eventually hire people to do the work for you.
Once you have the hang of it, there’s almost no limit to how much you can earn.
How do I know? I’m living proof.
This article originally appeared on Good Financial Cents and was syndicated by MediaFeed.
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How to overcome your worst money moves
While bad financial decisions can set you back, it’s important to remember that mistakes can also be an opportunity to learn and grow. While you can’t go back and undo the things you’ve done (or do things you didn’t do), you can acknowledge where you went wrong and change your behavior moving forward.
Below, we look at some of the most common financial missteps people make, as well as what you can do to overcome them.
Here’s a look at where things can go wrong, and how you set them right.
Related: Average savings by age
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Just making the minimum payment on your credit cards each month can drain your pockets and damage your credit. The reason: When you carry a balance, interest keeps on building, making the total balance higher, and even more challenging to pay off. Debt also shows up on your credit report and can have a negative effect on your scores.
To break the pattern, consider putting any extra money toward the card with the highest interest rate, while paying the minimum on the rest. When that card is paid off, you can tackle the next-highest interest debt, and so, until you’re out of debt.
Recommended: Creating a Credit Card Debt Elimination Plan
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Delaying important financial decisions, such as saving, investing, and paying off debt, can cost you money and put your goals further out of reach. A good way to stop the procrastination cycle is to break down your financial goals into small to-dos that feel manageable. You might want to set aside time once a month to check in on your finances and make one small change that can help you get closer to your goals.
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Identity theft and financial fraud is all too common these days, and not taking a few steps to protect your personal and financial information can come back to haunt you. The financial damages caused by fraud can last for months or even years. What’s more, the recovery process usually isn’t easy, and may even involve working with the IRS or Social Security Administration to clear your name.
To protect your information, it can be smart to regularly check your credit reports (and report any suspicious activity immediately). You’ll also want to avoid entering your data on websites you don’t trust or giving your account numbers or social security number to someone who contacts you by phone, email or text.
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Overspending means you’re spending everything you earn (and not putting anything into savings) or, worse, you’re spending more than you’re bringing in. This can be a costly financial mistake that puts your goals further from your grasp.
To change course, you may want to take a look at the last three months of financial statements and assess exactly how much you are spending each month and on what. This can be eye-opening, and you may immediately see some easy ways where you can cut back. Any money you free up can then be put toward savings, and little by little, it will add up.
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A recent Bankrate study found that 56% of Americans could not afford an unexpected expense of $1,000. Without an emergency cushion, many Americans are at risk of going into high-interest debt should they face an unexpected bill or any loss of income.
It’s generally recommended to have enough cash set aside to cover all your living expenses for three to six months. In some situations, this amount should be as much as 12 months. To get there, you may want to put a percentage, say 10 percent for example, of your monthly take-home income into a high interest savings account or online bank account (online banks often offer higher interest rates than traditional banks). If that doesn’t seem doable, it’s fine to start smaller and gradually work up.
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Subscription streaming services, box deliveries, and apps that bill on a monthly basis can add up to a significant sum. And, since these service providers typically bill automatically, you may not even be fully aware of what you are paying for each month, or that you may be overpaying for some of these services.
To cut down your monthly bills, it can be a good idea to go through your statements and tally up everything you are currently paying for on a recurring basis. Can anything go? Could you get a better deal on some of these services? It never hurts to shop around or call up a service provider and ask for a lower price.
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You may think you have to be rich or an expert on stocks to start investing, but this is a common money misconception. And one that can leave you ill prepared for the future. If you’re not making your money work for you in the market, it may be difficult for you to achieve your long-term goals.
While investing can be intimidating (and does come with some risk), there are easy ways to get started. If you don’t want to do the work of picking and choosing investments, for example, you might start investing with a robo-advisor. These are digital platforms that provide automated investment services based on your goals and tolerance for risk. Robo-advisors are typically inexpensive and require low opening balances.
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When you don’t plan for retirement, you forgo the factor of time that is key to achieving your goals. Giving your investments a long time to grow is vital to having a nest egg you can retire on. However, there is more to retiring than starting an IRA or contributing to a 401k. You’ll also want to consider when you want to retire, what kind of lifestyle you will want to lead, and how much money you will need. This can help you determine how much you should be putting away each month starting now.
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An iced cappuccino here, a pay-per-view there. These little extras may not seem like a big deal, but they add up. Consider that spending just $50 a week eating out costs you $2,600 a year. That sum could go a long way toward paying off your credit card or car, and help you make a big step toward achieving financial freedom.
To curb impulse buys and cut back on spending, you might want to set a weekly spending limit for “extras.” To keep to your limit, consider taking out that amount of cash at the beginning of the week and leaving your credit card at home. That way, when the money’s gone, you can’t spend any more.
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A low credit score can keep you from obtaining loans, credit cards, housing, and even employment. Poor credit can also be costly, since the financing options available to you will be more expensive.
To start building a better credit profile, you may want to put all your bills on auto-pay, so you never make a late payment. Paying down any credit card debt can also be helpful, since how much of your available credit you are using also factors into your score. If you have an old credit card you rarely use, it can be a good idea to still keep that account open, since the length of your credit history is another factor that impacts credit scores.
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Budget may sound like a bad word. But not tracking how much money you’re making versus how much you’re spending can be a bad financial decision with many repercussions, including never getting ahead and feeling constantly stressed about money.
Practicing budget management on the other hand, can mean the difference between staying in debt vs. getting out of it, remaining in your apartment vs. becoming a homeowner, and working overtime vs. going on vacation. Convinced? You can start budgeting by assessing what’s currently coming in and out of your bank each month, and making a plan for how you want to allocate your income, making sure that some money goes to savings each month.
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While some purchases, such as a house, usually require financing, many others can be achieved through saving instead of going into debt. Whether you want a new laptop or a high-end refrigerator, financing can make that purchases more expensive. Plus, the ease of buying on credit can make you think you can afford a lot more than your income allows.
A wiser strategy is to determine what you want to buy, how much it will cost, and when you, ideally, want to get it. You can then start putting money aside each month and when you meet your goal, buy the item with cash.
It may seem counterintuitive, but paying off debt with your savings is not always a good idea. Draining your bank account can leave you vulnerable to financial emergencies, causing you to plunge back into debt.
A better strategy is to use a debt repayment method such as the snowball method. This involves putting extra money toward the smallest revolving debt balance each month, while continuing to make minimum monthly payments on your other debt. When the smallest balance is paid off, you can move on to the next-smallest balance, and so on. This can help you start saving money right away and motivate you to keep going.
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It can be exciting to watch your retirement account grow throughout your career. And it can be tempting to want to touch that money before you are officially “retired.” However, taking early distributions from your retirement account can be among the worst money mistakes you can make. For one reason, you will likely have to pay penalties and income tax on the amount you withdraw. For another, you will lose the opportunity to continue making gains on that money.
Remember: The main benefit of a retirement account is to let your money compound and grow over time. When you take that money out, you lose that opportunity to secure your future and take a big step backward.
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You may think you’re immune to money scams, but a recent study by the Federal Trade Commission found that younger people report losing money to fraud more than older people. Some common scams include:
- Fraudulent pet purchases
- Emails claiming to be from Amazon asking for new payment information
- Fake job postings requiring personal information and advance payments for training
- Fake loan forgiveness offers
To avoid unknowingly falling for a scam, you’ll want to be suspicious of any email or offer that seems too good to be true, and avoid clicking on any links in an email or text claiming to be from one of your financial institutions. A smarter move is to call customer service or log onto your online accounts to see if the information in the email or text is correct.
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If you’ve made some poor financial decisions, it might feel embarrassing or scary. It can help to remember that one accident or blunder doesn’t spell doom for your financial state forever. Here are some ways you can start turning things around.
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Even if you’ve made one of the worst money mistakes, a smart first step is to simply acknowledge your misstep, take a step back, and – at first – do nothing. A rash attempt to fix a problem can actually make it worse. Once you’ve accepted and assessed the damage, you can put a recovery plan into action.
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Repairing your credit or paying off a mountain of credit card debt won’t happen overnight. And, if you set our sites too high, you might be tempted to give up before you even get started. A better bet is to break your larger goals into a series of small, achievable steps. Each time you accomplish one of these mini-goals, you’ll likely feel a sense of accomplishment. This can motivate you to keep going and, little by little, make it to the finish line.
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Everyone makes mistakes. Even if you have been doing your best, it’s possible to have a credit card balance get out of hand or have your identity stolen after you accidentally clicked on a fishing link in an email.
Forgiving yourself is crucial to your emotional health and will help you take positive action to undo your mistake. A bad decision doesn’t have to define you; instead, it can be something you learn from and overcome. The mental energy spent beating yourself up can be better used to help address the problem.
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If you have a positive outlook on money, you will likely make better money decisions. Having a negative view, on the other hand, can keep you from setting goals and taking positive action. For example, if you think you will never get out of debt, you may not feel motivated to even try. However, putting a positive spin on the situation – that, with a plan, you will be able to one day be debt-free – can motivate you to start (and keep) attacking your debt.
What are the consequences of poor financial decisions?
Poor financial decisions can lead to a low credit score, lack of savings, and overreliance on debt. It can also make you vulnerable to financial emergencies and limit your access to loans and credit cards with favorable rates and terms.
Do bad financial decisions lead to bad financial habits?
Yes, if left unaddressed, bad financial decisions can lead to bad financial habits. Not putting money aside for emergencies, for example, can cause you to rely on your credit card to cover a large, unexpected expense, and lead to a cycle of high interest debt that can be hard to get out of.
Can bad financial decisions be overcome?
Yes, you can overcome bad financial decisions by recognizing where you went wrong and coming up with a realistic plan to address the problem moving forward.
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Though everyone tries to do their best with their money, mistakes happen all the time. No one likes losing money, but it’s vital to remember that one, or even several, financial slipups can be overcome by keeping a positive mindset and taking the recovery process one step at a time.
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This article originally appeared on SoFi.com and was syndicated by MediaFeed.org.
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