Make a Million Project: The Beginning

Yesterday I found a £1 coin on the road outside my house. I picked up the coin and put it in my pocket without giving it much thought. However, later that day I started to read Reflections from a Bookshop Window. In the first chapter the author, Clive Linklater, wrote something that made me think about the coin in a different way.

On page three he said:
This year I have a plan. The theory is simple. Take an initial outlay of £2.50, by a book with it, and sell it for £5.00. Buy a book with the £5.00 and sell it for £10.00. Buy a book with the £10.00 and sell it for £20.00. Each time the book is sold, take the proceeds and invest it in another book.

Clive Linklater aimed to continue this experiment for one year, doubling the value of his stock each month. By the end of the month he was hoping to have made £10,240.

I pulled the coin from my jeans and held it in my hand.



A question popped into my head. How many times would I have to double my money in order to turn this £1 coin into £1,000,000? I did the sums:

Step 1: £1 to £2
Step 2: £2 to £4
Step 3: £4 to £8
Step 4: £8 to £16
Step 5: £16 to £32
Step 6: £32 to £64
Step 7: £64 to £128
Step 8: £128 to £256
Step 9: £256 to £512
Step 10: £512 to £1024
Step 11: £1024 to £2048
Step 12: £2048 to £4096
Step 13: £4096 to £8192
Step 14: £8192 to £16384
Step 15: £16384 to £32768
Step 16: £32768 to £65536
Step 17: £65536 to £131072
Step 18: £131072 to £262144
Step 19: £262144 to £524288
Step 20: £524288 to £1048576

20 steps. That's all it would take to go from £1 to one million pounds. From this point on I was hooked.

This blog will chart my attempt to turn the £1 pound coin that I found on the road outside my house, into £1,000,000 by doubling my money at each step