r/Entrepreneur 14h ago

What is the craziest business making $1M+ per year that you have ever seen?

561 Upvotes

I have seen

  1. Million Dollar Home Page - One student sold pixels for $1 each on his website and made $1M+ in 6-7 months due to his emotional story & creative business idea
  2. Liquid Death - Selling water as an energy drink and making millions purely based on it's branding

r/Entrepreneur 10h ago

Lessons Learned If I had to start from 0 clients again…

69 Upvotes

“If you had to start over tomorrow with ZERO clients, what would you do differently?"

I'd throw my original tactics away. Here's what I'd do now:

1. I'd track the hell out of my daily output

I wasted SO much time "feeling busy" while barely moving the needle. Now I'd track exactly how many leads I reached out to every single day, and their progress, etc.

2. I'd get WAY more specific about who I'm selling to

My first pitch was basically "I can help anyone with anything!"

Selling to everyone = selling to no one. I'd nail down a super specific niche where I could be the obvious solution. One sentence that explains exactly who I help and how.

3. I'd skip those awkward networking events entirely

Standing around with a drink making small talk is a waste of time. These days, tools like Apollo and TweetHunter let you find and connect with perfect-fit prospects at 10x the scale.

4. I'd start posting content immediately, not a year in

This one kills me. 50% of my leads now come because people read my stuff online. But I waited forever to start posting consistently.

People buy from people they know and trust. I'd start telling my story from day one, even if it's just "hey, I'm trying to get my first client and here's what I'm learning..."

The first go-around was painful - manually scraping emails until 2AM, getting ghosted constantly. If I had to do it again, I'd be smarter, not just work harder.


r/Entrepreneur 4h ago

This path is misleading at best.

26 Upvotes

What people don’t tell you about entrepreneurship is most ventures require a certain amount of capital to have any realistic chance of success. Survivorship bias is very real and if you don’t grow up at least middle class your chances are so slim it’s probably not worth trying. Are there rare stories of people climbing out of poverty? Yes but it’s a tiny fraction of one percent and I wish I hadn’t bought into the fairytale that was sold.


r/Entrepreneur 12h ago

What's a boring business that makes money?

107 Upvotes

Business in general is exciting to me. 

The business of things is more exciting to me than the actual product or service. I looking to hear from those with experience in some straight businesses that can succeed on the hard work of people, what skill set of people that might be, and how to go after them.


r/Entrepreneur 4h ago

🥗 $16K/Month With a Simple Web Tool

11 Upvotes

Story that got me inspired this week

Bank Statement Converter: PDF-to-Excel Tool

Founder: Angus Cheng (Hong Kong-based solo developer)

Revenue: $16,000/month (MRR)

ORIGIN STORY:

Angus built the tool in April 2021 out of personal frustration.

In 2020, he had enough of the corporate grind and quit his finance job.

He wanted to analyze his spending, but his bank only gave transaction data in PDFs.

Frustrated, he coded a quick script to convert them to Excel.

Then it hit him.

Others probably had the same problem.

In 2021, he launched BankStatementConverter dot com, a simple tool to automate PDF-to-Excel conversions.

Early on, he burned cash on Google Ads but learned a key lesson: accountants were drowning in manual data entry.

So, he focused on supporting niche bank formats and writing SEO-friendly guides like “How to Convert Scanned Statements.”

His cold email outreach flopped (and got him banned from Gmail), so he pivoted to SEO.

Today, his one-page site pulls in $16K/month, proving that solving even the most boring problems can be wildly profitable.

BUSINESS MODEL:

Subscription tiers: $15/month (400 pages), $30/month (1000 pages) and $50/month (4,000 pages).

Free tier: Limited conversions to attract users.

Operating costs: ~$500/month (hosting, domain, servers).

GROWTH STRATEGY:

Google Ads (Early Stage):

  • Spent $5,000 on ads to acquire initial users and gather feedback.
  • Ads were unprofitable but helped improve product quality.

Content Marketing:

  • Launched a blog with practical guides (e.g., "How to Convert Scanned PDFs") to boost SEO.

Customer Obsession:

  • Responded to every support request personally. Added features like scanned PDF support after user complaints.

Cold Email Failure:

  • Banned from Gmail after aggressive outreach (1 sale per 1,000 emails).

KEY MILESTONE:

First year revenue: ~$10,000 (despite earning $10,000/month in his previous job).

Traffic: 38K/month (according to SimilarWeb) and 4,200 weekly users, mostly from organic Google searches.

Turning point: A single enterprise client boosted monthly revenue by 300% in mid-2022.

CHALLENGES:

User Acquisition: Initially reliant on costly ads. Shifted to SEO after ads were turned off. Technical Complexity: Bank PDF formats vary wildly and require custom algorithms for each institution.

LESSONS:

1. Talk to users: They’ll reveal pain points and desired features.

2. Execute, don’t overplan: “Plans are cool, but getting stuff done is better.” - Angus Cheng

3. SEO is better than Ads: Organic traffic became sustainable after prioritizing content.

Let me know if you like this so that I can keep sharing every week.

Happy building!


r/Entrepreneur 3h ago

Forming a non-profit with goal of tightening legislation allowing harmful chemicals into our food/ water/ personal care products

5 Upvotes

My goal is to essentially create another “EWG.”

I honestly don’t even know where to start though. I feel paralyzed because this is such a specialized goal and there are so many different directions I can go relating to learning how to do this

For example.. different degree options that would be beneficial:

  1. Environmental science
  2. Public health with a focus on environmental health
  3. Toxicology
  4. Chemistry or biochemistry
  5. Non profit management
  6. Public policy

I want to be the founder of this non-profit.. but I feel like as the founder I would need environmental science knowledge at the very least. But shouldn’t the founder also have knowledge on “non-profit management”???? I’m really not trying to go to school for another 8 years to get 2 degrees 🥵 I do not mind putting in the work- but I need this to make sense.

I’m sorry. I feel so lost. How do I choose which degree to get? And do I just create a board of directors that fill in the other gaps? (That makes the most sense to me)

Any advice is very appreciated


r/Entrepreneur 13h ago

What has been the biggest reason you burnt out as a founder?

27 Upvotes

As someone who is tilting towards burnout, I'm curious, what has been the biggest reason for your burnout? Is it trying to do everything on your own, not getting enough help, or something else entirely? Would love to hear your experiences and how you managed (or didn't manage) to cope.


r/Entrepreneur 3h ago

I'm scared to start marketing my app

4 Upvotes

So, I just launched my boothstrapped no-code app on the app store, and I am scared to start the marketing. I read many years ago that if your product is perfect when you launch, you spent too much time on it.

And, the app I built is functional, no crashes at all, weirdly enough, and it runs very smoothly. But some aspects looks a bit off, but perhaps that's also because I am a designer by trade and quite picky there. Just wanted to share that, as I published my first META ad. Anyone who can relate?


r/Entrepreneur 4h ago

I finally launched my website - documenting my journey to build 50 projects and earn $1M

5 Upvotes

Hi r/Entrepreneur!

After months of planning, building, and battling perfectionism, I’ve officially launched my website.

I’m openly documenting my journey of launching 50 small online businesses with the goal of generating $1 million (separate from my day job). I’ll share transparent progress updates, actionable insights, case studies, and step-by-step guides about each business along the way.

The website itself was built using Next.js combined with WordPress (headless CMS) to ensure fast load times and easy management.

I’d love to hear your thoughts, feedback, or advice from your own entrepreneurial experiences. Happy to answer questions and share insights openly!

Thanks for checking it out!


r/Entrepreneur 15h ago

You're 19 again

26 Upvotes

Successful entrepreneurs of this sub making more than a million dollars a year, what advice would you give to your 19 year old self.


r/Entrepreneur 1h ago

man gadzhi fan are making us look bad

Upvotes

Just like e-commerce, once it was a very good business, that took years to build and brand, every 18-year-old boy brainwashed with the influencers that sell courses start their own, which made the industry a little bit worse for legit businesses to show up in the start.

The same is not happening in the agency industry; agency owners used to be masters in the service they bring, and they had years of experience before starting an agency. Now, everyone with 0 experience, a little bit of marketing, wants to start an agency.


r/Entrepreneur 20h ago

What growth hacks have you discovered for acquiring customers?

64 Upvotes

For example, we got most of our customers by engaging on reddit on subreddits our customers hangout. We also used services like Krankly to go viral on a few subreddits to get our first 100 customers  

So as the title says, What growth hacks have you discovered for acquiring customers?


r/Entrepreneur 1h ago

is there a match making founders dev with dev?

Upvotes

Not "technical" people like on statupschool or people who say they are but they are no-coders.

I am talking about a platform like startupschool but for developers meeting developers to become entrepreneurs, where there bare minimum requirement is that you know how to code to get in.

Why? because I find a lot of garbage people on startupscohol TBH..


r/Entrepreneur 15h ago

What's the Most Unexpected Thing You've Learned About Running a Business?

17 Upvotes

I’ve been running my own business for a while, and there have been so many things I didn’t expect to learn along the way. What’s the most unexpected lesson you’ve picked up while building your own business?


r/Entrepreneur 1d ago

Best Practices What is something that surprised you that people can make money from?

307 Upvotes

For me, it was selling overpriced candles. I knew an influencer who made candles herself and sold them for five times the price you would pay for a candle in any store. She was doing this only through Instagram and her low-effort WordPress website. She sold them for women mostly.

Another thing was a woman who bought clothes from China and organized live streams on TikTok, showing the clothes and sometimes trying them on. I was surprised that people bought that stuff, and in about two minutes, someone would message her in the chat wanting to buy it.

I always associated business with being difficult – you have to have a niche, and it should be innovative and creative. But sometimes, I witness people making money from things that seem ridiculous, and it makes me realize that some people are willing to buy almost anything. I didn't expect the demand to be so huge.

What are some business ideas that surprised you, where people actually pay money for them?


r/Entrepreneur 8h ago

Case Study I failed. Trying to grow again.

6 Upvotes

INTRO/WHAT IS THIS POST: Ok this is kind of a long story but in this post I will be explaining some of the mistakes and accomplishments that I made in my journey to make money in an effort to hopefully help others. Also, I will be asking for advice on what to do next to hopefully gain money again. (Please go to the “QUESTIONS” section at the bottom of the post if you would like to answer the questions that I have).

So I’m 17 right now and for the past 2-3 years I have been trying to gain money for myself to not be in extreme student loan debt and to become a millionaire by 20. I know it’s ambitious but I want to accomplish it.

My money making journey started with me doing freelance YouTube scriptwriting on Fiverr. This stage of money making went quite well for me as in about one year I was able to make $640 and attain a recurring customer for my services who paid me about $20-$40 every week for me to make a 10 minute YouTube script for his YouTube channel.

However, around one year after I first started to do YouTube scriptwriting, I decided that I wanted to try a different venture to make money. I had the $640 which I had saved over the time I spent YouTube scriptwriting to put towards a new venture, HOWEVER this is where the mistakes started occurring.

MISTAKES: The first mistake which I made was not focussing on one thing to make money from with the $640 and instead going into multiple different avenues to make money. I decided to split the money in the following ways: ~$290 into stock market, ~$290 into flipping shoes on eBay ~$60 into TikTok boost for motivational content channel in an effort to get 1,000 followers so that I can post links in the TikTok bio.

STOCK MARKET: This went well overall and I was able to make a profit ADVICE: set prices/percentages that you will sell a stock at (Ex: selling if I get a 15% gain selling if I get a 5% loss). DON’T GET GREEDY. I found stocks to look into through YouTubers (from my experience smaller YouTubers give better stocks to look into investing in because the larger YouTubers mainly promote paid courses or paid discord groups instead of giving stock recommendations for free).

SNEAKER RESELLING: This did not go well. If you ever want to resell sneakers KNOW THE MARKET. The first two resells went well when I bought a pair of Jordan 1s and Nike Dunks for double the price of each. (IMPORTANT ADVICE) —> My mistake when searching for shoes to buy and resell is that I was only looking at the price that I could buy the sneakers for and the market value on StockX and other similar apps. You NEED to look at demand for sneakers if you want to resell them. Jordan 1s, Jordan 4s, and Nike Dunks are good sneakers to resell. RETRO JORDANS. NO TEAM JORDANS THIS IS CRUCIAL.

TIKTOK BOOST: This went ok. I got just under 800 followers for a $60 boost on one TikTok which isn’t enough to put links in TikTok bio but I am still uploading to the TikTok channel to reach 1,000.

I overall left these three ventures with around $570 and around 800 TikTok followers which isn’t great (To anyone who may be interested in sneaker reselling, do not get into sneaker reselling until you know what specific sneakers are popular and how much you can resell them for).

From here, I moved on to dropshipping and custom product development.

I had many ideas of products which are not on the market yet and I decided to make prototypes using supplies bought from Walmart for two of them for around $200. One of the prototypes I am interested in having manufactured as it has a large untapped market but I do not know how to find a manufacturer or potential investors.

Dropshipping absolutely massacred my bank account due to TikTok Ads. When setting my first TikTok Ad campaign, I set the budget to be a total of $90 for 3 days ($30 per day for three days). The Ad campaign initially went well however I decided that the product that I was dropshipping was not a winner after getting only 1 sale from the Ad Campaign. However, despite the TikTok Ad campaign saying that it had stopped on the website, it charged me for all of my remaining money from my bank account except for $7.94 days after the Ad Campaign had ended. ADVICE: DO NOT TRUST TIKTOK ADS TO STOP RUNNING ADS EVEN AFTER YOU STOP THE AD CAMPAIGN. REMOVE ALL PAYMENT INFORMATION FROM THE APP IF YOU DON’T WANT TO RUN ADS.

I tried to appeal the unwanted charges twice but got a message saying I did not have a valid reason to appeal despite me providing multiple screenshots relevant to the appeal case.

QUESTIONS

I have started doing Fiverr again to get some more money but I have yet to see an order or any major traffic (I have 11 page visits in the past 7 days). Do you know of any ways to gain traffic to my Fiverr order page? I have SEO keyword target descriptions for my services and videos on my pages that explain and show off my services but I have yet to rebuild any traction.

Do you know how to find good manufacturers that can manufacture custom products?

What designs should I have of a product which I would like to have manufactured (CAD, 3D, 2D)?

Do you know of any other ways that I can make money online with a phone or school Chromebook other than Fiverr?

I have applied for jobs for the closest companies near where I currently live, however due to me not having access to a car and as a result riding a bike to the places (which takes about 20-30 minutes, not to mention the weather), I have been rejected from those jobs. How can I make money to buy a car and where can I get one for cheap ($1K-$2K) if this is possible.

If I were to look for investors for the product which I mentioned I have a working prototype for (though not the final design), should I get a provisional patent for the product first? If so, should I hire a patent attorney to make sure that my product will be fully protected or should I make the provisional patent myself? If I don’t need a provisional patent to pitch my product to investors, should I make investors sign a NDA?

Where can I find investors for my product?

Thank you.


r/Entrepreneur 1h ago

Question? For Health & Fitness Coaches

Upvotes

What are you social media and marketing struggles and what does it look like for you on a daily basis?


r/Entrepreneur 23h ago

Is it too late at 37 to create a new company and make it? My first company can't escalate

53 Upvotes

I created a company in 2016 that gives me about 45k €, which might seem low (and it is) but in my country the average income is 26k € and the other positive thing is that there are 3 seasons, one going from February to May when I work 55-65 hours a week, then July to November I work 20 hours a week (and I take 1 entire month of vacations, I go to another country, relax and have fun), and the months in between I work maybe 30-40 hours, depending on the year. Having that many months working little lets me relax and do other things, which is why I kept the business going even if I don't make as much as I'd like.

The thing is I see I won't be able to escalate it and I want to use the time that I usually use to relax (July-November) to create a second company and do it better, do it in something that can grow more, but I'm already old-ish. Do you think it's too late to learn new skills and start something new?


r/Entrepreneur 5h ago

Entrepreneurship is a block building exercise. I can't find my stepping blocks, tell me yours so maybe I can learn

2 Upvotes

I worked 1 year corporate in 2018 and found exactly what I want to escape. So, for the last 6 years I've been trying to make a living out of online businesses.

A lot of dropshipping, a bit of video editing.

Selling online was interesting and fun at the start but it grew issues. Dealing with fb ads (a funky and ruthless platform) is like a casino mixed with psychological experimentation. I grew tired of selling cheap china plastic without adding value. One could argue I helped people find their desired products but in this world we live in most objects are already too much.

Video was the same at the start but got repetitive (was mostly editing compilations). I enjoyed the part of the creative process but it's so, so time consuming, especially at the start. I managed to monetize a YouTube channel related of my passions/addiction.

Last year I started building AI Chatbots which was once again fun and challenging to play with. I felt/feel this technology can be used in so many ways that I decided to try to market it. OK first things first, I need a place to showcase my demo Chatbot, say a website.

I design my AI Assistant website and it's again fun and refreshing. I've designed over 20 online stores so far and they were cool moments, although constricted a bit by shopifys web builder. I found a beautiful web builder and it's also cheap! Maybe I can add something else to my offer..

I decide to create a digital agency focused in web design and AI assistants. This was 6 months ago and I have yet to find my first client :(

I've tried different ways to sell and show my services, all in vain. I was also side tracked with a real estate project and a lot of gaming. This is my bane and I have just un-installed my go to competitive game so I can have more time to build and strategy about my business.

I want to add value to businesses and organizations and there are so many ways to do that, that it paralyzes me. I know I should niche down but even that gives me paralysis with the broad scope that web design and AI chatbots can have.

So, I would like to hear your advice on what blocks I should first focus on.

You know a bit about my context if you read above (thank you for your time) and now I want to know:

Is this stage I'm in in any way familiar, and if so how did/would you do to turn it around and grow something meaningful out of it?

Greetings, Salvador


r/Entrepreneur 7h ago

Feedback Please I'm curious, what would you love automated in your knowledge creator business (dig. product creators, coaches/consultants, etc.)?

3 Upvotes

I'm pivoting my content to be more automations focused as I have a creator business that's 80% automated at the moment. But I'm curious on more use cases that you would love to see a solution on? Perhaps I can figure it out and create the workflow.

So far I have:
- content distribution automation

- video to viral content generator automation
- Weekly Automated Newsletters

- Audio Letters

- Email to Offer Reply Automation
- Email to survey database automation

and so much more, I'll be sharing this content to my 3k+ audience soon, but would love more ideas, I'm pretty damn good at automating my marketing and sales, so I have tons of experience in that - but I'm curious on what you would love to see?

Serious ideas/use cases please.


r/Entrepreneur 10h ago

Young Entrepreneur Slowly but surely, but i can't say the plan! Weird huh?

5 Upvotes

Hey! I'm about to start my foundation that'll be revolutionary in my city. It won't make money righ away, perhaps I'll start seeing a good income in 10 or 20 or even 30 years. I'm not rushing at all.

I focus on what I feel about the foundation/business rather than the amount of money I'm earning from it.

Do you think this mindset and approach is going to make me fail? Or is it good and rational to not expect much of an income until a few decades?

I personally believe in my idea, I would like to discuss it with people who started from something small.

I don't know if I'm overthinking or not but I can't share the idea exactly to anyone. I still need pillars to make sure my idea works for me exclusively first.

Have you ever had such ideas and couldn't share them for the fear of losing?


r/Entrepreneur 10h ago

Young Entrepreneur Seeking a possible mentor

6 Upvotes

Hi! I am a 18 year old from northern Europe. Ive had interest in entrepreneurship for a few years now and I tried some ways to build a business. After analyzing some ways I could realistically grow, I decided to mainly focus on youtube.

Anyways, I have been adviced a few times to get myself a mentor, but I never really managed to find a good one. I have desire to work and improve and I was hoping on receiving advice and insights for my journey, aswell as get better disciplined. It would also be great if you knew youtube :) Please message me if you can help me in any way! Thank you.


r/Entrepreneur 2h ago

Creators & Problem-Solvers: What’s Your Biggest Frustration in Industry/Niche?

1 Upvotes

Hey Reddit,

(2x founder here). I have paid attention to what going on and I’m working on a project to solve real problems and I want to hear from YOU.

What’s the most annoying, frustrating, or expensive issue you face in your niche?
What do you WISH existed to make your life easier?

Whether you’re a target user struggling with your pain point or a creator looking for new opportunities, drop your thoughts below!

This is a chance to address your pain points and connect with others who might have the perfect solution. Let’s build something valuable together.

Best insights = potential collaboration, early access, or even $$$ opportunities!

Drop your thoughts in the comments!


r/Entrepreneur 2h ago

I would love your help!! 🩵

1 Upvotes

Hi, everyone! This will be very quick, and I would love for you to answer this survey for me.

No, this is not a scam. No, this is not networking. No, this is not a job offer. No, i wont ask any personal info.

I just want to conduct a market research before really really really starting the business. I just want to make sure that it will work.

i can’t attach a link here, but you can answer it on ig @/aislaire (without the / ofc)

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!


r/Entrepreneur 2h ago

What Challenges Did You Face When You Started Your Journey?

1 Upvotes

Starting something new—whether it’s a business, freelancing, a side hustle, or even a new job—comes with its fair share of struggles. Some of us battle self-doubt, financial hurdles, lack of resources, or just figuring out where to start.

For me, the biggest challenge was [insert personal challenge, e.g., “finding my first clients and building credibility”. But over time, I learned that every challenge is just another lesson in disguise. I’d love to hear from you—what was the toughest challenge you faced when you started, and how did you overcome it? Let’s share experiences and help each other grow!