Make a Million Project

Step 2: Complete!

2008-08-13T21:42:00.002+01:00

Just a quick post to let you know that I've moved to Step 3 on my way to making one million pounds. After eBay and PayPal fees I was left with £38.06 from the sale of the three books I purchased at the start of Step 2. A really great result - better than I had hoped for.

Now I've got to think about turning £38.06 into £76.12!

Step 2: Future Steps to Make a Million

2008-08-07T09:51:00.003+01:00

The items I've listed on eBay are doing really well. So far I've doubled my money, but I'm hoping to do a bit better than this. I'd like to start Step 3 with £30.

I've been thinking about future steps again. Lots of other doublers seem to be attempting to use their doubling blogs as a way of generating income. This would seem like a sensible move, and one that I'm going to look into in more detail later. In addition, I'm also going to look into the possibility of setting up some blogs on other topics in order to generate some extra income.

Looking forward to starting Step 3 of the Make a Million Project. Let's hope my eBay buyers pay promptly!

Step 2: Another £1.08 spent.

2008-08-01T14:18:00.005+01:00

Just a quick update. With my remaining £1.18 from Step 1 of the Make a Million Project, I decided to buy 4 2nd class stamps (leaving change of 10p). I think I've come up with a way of making a profit from my Knightmare boardgame. The stamps will be required. I'll post about this again later, but it might take a while to get things moving.

I've also been thinking about future steps. I think I can probably continue selling items on eBay up until the steps reach £200 or £300, but after that, I'm going to struggle if I just stick to the same method. At the moment, I'm in my comfort zone. I'm going to have to step out of it if I want to really progress with this challenge.

Step 2: Items on eBay

2008-07-31T19:12:00.000+01:00

I've listed the books on eBay that I bought today from the charity shops. Check them out: Dragonlance Atlas, Signed Lone Wolf Book, Casket of Souls.

Hopefully they'll do well.

The Knightmare board game might be more difficult to flip for a profit. I don't want to spend a lot of time listing and packaging it if it's only going to sell for two or three pounds. I'm going to give it some thought.

And I've still got £1.18 left...

Step 2: Purchases Made

2008-07-31T17:48:00.002+01:00

I went off to town with my £7.93 from Step 1...

...and returned with some cool books to sell on eBay. I bought:

The Dragonlance Atlas for £1.75.

Casket of Souls for £1.50.

Lone Wolf Adventures (Books 1 & 2) for £1.50.

The Lone Wolf book is also signed by Joe Dever and Gary Chalk (the illustrator). I've sold a signed copy of one of these before - it didn't fetch as much as I thought it would, but I think I'll double my £1.50.

I also got a Knightmare board game for £2.00.

All in all, I spent £6.75. I've got £1.18 left. I think I've done quite well, but the real test will be when the items are auctioned on eBay.

Step 2: The Way Ahead

2008-07-31T14:19:00.004+01:00

I've decided that I'm going to follow the third option outlined in my previous post.

From this point on the Make a Million Project will work like this. Whatever money is made in one step must be doubled in the next step. It's going to be that simple.

In Step 1 I went from £1 to £7.93. Therefore, in Step 2, I must double (or better) the money I made in Step 1, going from £7.93 to £15.86.

Now I'm off to the local charity shops. I'm going to try and spend my £7.93 on items that I can sell on eBay for a quick profit. I'll probably end up buying some books as I've been selling them online for some time and know a bit about them, but I'm going to be considering anything that looks interesting.

Step 1: Complete!

2008-07-31T13:09:00.006+01:00

First of all, sorry for not updating this site for so long. I am aiming to add posts more frequently from now on.

The Ladybird books auctioned on eBay sold for £8.50 (plus £2.75 postage). In total I received £11.25. Having deducted eBay listing fees (£0.05), eBay final value fees (£0.76) and the actual cost of postage (£2.51), I am left with £7.93. Not a bad return!

As I have more than doubled my original £1 stake, I am uncertain how I'm going to progress. Should I move to Step 2 on my original list (£2 to £4) and spend the extra £5.93 I made in the previous step, or should I move straight to Step 3, and try to make the 7p needed to move to Step 4?

I suppose a third option would be to simply try to double the amount made in the previous step. In my case, my next challenge would be to go from £7.93 to £15.86.

Not sure which route I'm going to go for yet. Will let you know when I've decided.

Step 1: Ladybird Books Listed on eBay

2008-06-08T20:34:00.005+01:00

The Make A Million Project has is officialy underway.

The Ladybird Books that I bought with the £1 coin (found on the path outside by house) have been listed on eBay. I've decided to auction them with a starting price of 99p.

Check out the Ladybird Book eBay auction.

Step 1: Ladybird Books

2008-06-06T22:52:00.009+01:00

I have been looking out for a sure-fire way of turning my £1 into £2. I really want to get the Make a Million Project off to a good start, and I think I've found just the thing.

Some of the childrens' books in my local Samaritans bookshop were on sale. I noticed these Ladybird books (pictured below), and managed to buy all 5 for £1.00.

I've had quite a bit of experience of selling books online, and I'm fairly sure that I'll see a good return on my £1.00 investment.

I'm intending to sell the books on eBay, and I'll post a link to the auction once I've listed it.

I am not alone!

2008-06-05T19:23:00.004+01:00

It seems that I am not the only one trying to double my way to one million. Since writing my last post, I have discovered a whole community of 'doublers'.

Over the next few days I will be adding some links to other doubling sites that I have read and enjoyed.

Now all I need to do is work out how I'm going to double my £1.

Make a Million Project: The Beginning

2008-06-04T20:23:00.001+01:00

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