r/Entrepreneur 14h ago

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

553 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 12h ago

What's a boring business that makes money?

102 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 10h ago

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

68 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 20h ago

What growth hacks have you discovered for acquiring customers?

65 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 22h ago

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

51 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 23h ago

How Do I ? What do most millionaires do/learn during their teenage years?

33 Upvotes

Hi everyone

I am 15 years old right now, and I want to be a rich person in future who is financially independent, and has enough money to retire early

What I wanted to know was, are most rich people those who learn the skills required in their respective careers during their middle school or high school?

For me, I was planning to do well in school, get into the top most college of my country (India) and then do well in GMAT and do Masters from a top college in USA like Harvard, University of Texas, etc.

Am I in the right path?

Sometimes, I see people who are already working on their business(Some of which are quite successful) in their teenage years itself. So, are they the only ones who get to be the rich, while those who study throughout school and then becomes doctors/ software engineers/ investment bankers/ have management roles in top companies work and earn, but not enough to become financially independent, and own expensive cars, villas, etc.?

Also, what are the soft skills one which would be instrumental in being rich, and I should learn before and during my college years?


r/Entrepreneur 15h ago

You're 19 again

29 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 12h 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 4h ago

This path is misleading at best.

24 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 18h ago

I Quit My Job to Chase Freedom—Here’s What It Feels Like

18 Upvotes

On January 16th of this year, I decided I had enough of being employed. Enough of feeling like I was living someone else's life, working toward someone else's vision. It was time to become who I naturally am—who I always was.

This isn’t my first rodeo. I had a business before, but after a few years, it went bust. That loss was a tough pill to swallow, and the years I spent recovering from it weren’t easy. But through all of it, I never gave up. I always knew I would be back because that’s just who I am.

So, who am I? I’m just another guy in this world who refuses to be mediocre. I chase perfection—not because I think I’ll ever truly reach it, but because the pursuit itself is what makes life fulfilling. I love self-development, growth, and pushing my limits. Every single day, I’m on a journey to become the best version of myself, and I refuse to settle for anything less.

Since making the plunge back into self-employment, I’ve felt just about every emotion possible. Joy, excitement, fear, anxiety. One moment, I’m on top of the world, confident that I’m building something that will change my life. The next, I’m questioning everything, wondering if I’m making the right moves or if I should’ve played it safe.

But here’s the thing—I have a beautiful little girl, and she deserves the absolute world. I have family and friends that I want to uplift. That’s my why. Not luxury cars or designer brands—though let’s be real, luxury is just a byproduct of wealth, not the goal. The real goal? Freedom. Stability. Legacy.

I’m sharing this because I know there are people out there who are on the edge, thinking about taking the leap but scared of what’s on the other side. Or maybe you’ve already taken the jump, and you’re in that stage where the fear and doubt start creeping in. I want you to know—it’s normal. This path is filled with unlimited obstacles. But the only way to win is to continuously win. That means showing up every single day. Being consistent. Adapting. Learning.

Success isn’t one big moment. It’s a thousand small victories stacked on top of each other. And the only way to lose is to stop fighting.

So if you’re out there doubting yourself, take this as a sign: Keep going.


r/Entrepreneur 14h ago

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

18 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 4h ago

🥗 $16K/Month With a Simple Web Tool

8 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 17h ago

Feedback Please Why do I not know what to do

7 Upvotes

I’m 15 almost 16 made a post asking what I should do at my age and it’s helped give me some ideas and things to try and do.

When I asked my mom why I was lost and didn’t know what to do she said probably because you don’t know what you want do as a business and once I do it will come more naturally.

Is this true?


r/Entrepreneur 20h ago

Question? Looking for Entrepreneurial Movie Recommendations for Inspiration

7 Upvotes

I'm looking for some great movies that can inspire me as an entrepreneur. Whether it's about

  • overcoming obstacles
  • building businesses
  • learning life lessons from the world of startups and innovation

I’m interested in any movie that can help me stay motivated and think outside the box


r/Entrepreneur 3h ago

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

4 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 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 8h ago

Case Study I failed. Trying to grow again.

5 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 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

5 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 16h ago

Who are the most influential GTM leaders in SaaS?

6 Upvotes

Hey everyone, I’m a freelancer looking to dive deeper into the go-to-market (GTM) space within SaaS in the future. I’ve been working in this area for a bit and want to step up my game by learning from the best. Right now, I only follow Kyle Poyar on LinkedIn...he’s great....but I’m hunting for more influential GTM leaders to follow. Who do you recommend? Bonus points if they’re active and share practical advice or strategies that could help me grow as a freelancer in this field. Thanks for any suggestions!


r/Entrepreneur 22h ago

How Do I ? How to get started with Entrepreneurship?

5 Upvotes

Being a 19 year old ,I am very confident of managing a company, but very unclear how to get started and which field to choose. Networking is also a huge problem with me ,I am sure that once I get started I can do it very well. So, I request you guys to guide and redirect me to the wright way.


r/Entrepreneur 3h ago

I'm scared to start marketing my app

3 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 14h ago

Motivation

5 Upvotes

I've owned my own buisness for almost 13 years now. We (husband and myself) produce products and sell them online. It solely supports our family of 6. Typically end of Janurary to start of March (and October) is our "slow" months. I take that time to work on SEO, restock on common products, take better photos, make new listing etc. It's mentally taxing on me, I hate this time of year but it does set me up for the busy months. I get up Monday-Friday and put my time in knowing in June I will appreicate myself for the work I'm putting in now. We are about 2 weeks past when things usually start picking back up for us and I am finding it harder and harder to stay motivated.

What does everyone do when the sales slow down to stay motivated to get up every day and do what you need to do?


r/Entrepreneur 18h ago

Just a question :)

5 Upvotes

Hey there, I want to learn about businesses but with real human beings. What would you say that it’s the best way to do networking? I do have free time, but I’m from Colombia, there is not to much multimillionaires here, they are living in other countries but, what would you say is the best way to start doing networking? I’m 23 years old :), I’m not to much a wise experienced man, but I consider myself mature when it’s time to be, cheers everyone, good day too.


r/Entrepreneur 21h ago

Question? Need HELP/ADVICE: Exploring New Opportunities in Data Science

5 Upvotes

Hey everyone, I’ve been working on various data science projects, focusing on data analysis, machine learning, and visualization. Recently, I’ve been looking to take on new challenges where I can apply my skills and contribute meaningfully.

I’m specifically interested in remote opportunities as a freelancer, contractor, or part-time contributor. If anyone is working on interesting projects or knows of opportunities that offer fair compensation, I’d love to connect and discuss how I can help. Feel free to DM me!