How I’d invest $1000💰
What's up guys - in this blog we are going over exactly how I think you should invest 1000 dollars. It might be all you have or it might be just the amount you're budgeting to start with.
And at the end, I will go through exactly what I would do if I lost everything today and I had to start over with 1000 dollars.
For the last few months, I have been living in Colombia with a few creator friends.
Okay, some of you guys liked the videos on Tiktok I did about what I would do if I had 50k or 100k but what about 1000? that's a more realistic number and an amount I think most people can hustle up in a short period of time
So the question to follow ...
What are the steps to invest or manage this 1000 dollars? And specifically what moves can you make with this amount at the beginning that will hopefully lead to it growing into a much bigger amount for you?
I used to think very differently about this but now I feel pretty good about the answer.
There are 2 types of strategies or actions I would consider. And it really depends on which gets you more excited or aligns more with your skills/interest
I'll give a quick blurb on both and then we will deep dive into both of them:
The first is focusing on quick side hustles that can generate quick cash and don't require a lot of money. Pretty much all of these are side hustles you can start today with little or no money to learn about real estate, build cash, and then put money back into deals you find.
And the 2nd option or strategy I’d use the $1000 for is to acquire skills to gain confidence to take action and hopefully the right action.
Okay, so let's get into it!
Side Hustles:
The first option is to focus on some side hustles. What's great about these is that they don't require a lot of money if any to get started but you will learn the skills and strategies as you go and can learn a lot of it online.
And as you start making money from some of these strategies you can use the money to snowball it into the business or the deals you are finding from the side hustles like in real estate wholesaling for example you can start buying properties you find when you have capital.
The first step is to learn a little about each of them so that you can pick one to double down on and commit to for at least 90 days. I know they can all seem really exciting and they can all work, but not if you go after all of them at the same time.
In the real estate bucket - Some of the strategies in play would be Airbnb arbitrage, co-hosting or managing other people’s Airbnb or wholesaling
Airbnb arbitrage is renting a property and then re-renting it on Airbnb
Co-hosting is finding a landlord who wants to get into Airbnb and then managing their property for them for a percentage cut
And Wholesaling is when you find an off-market property, you get it under contract with a very small deposit and then you find a buyer for that property and you get paid a finder fee.
You may find it interesting, but we are focusing on these strategies as a team now in MMTR since we are growing real estate businesses now completely without traditional financing.
When I left my job in March last year, it was mainly because I was maxed out on the residential bank loans I could get for properties.
So when that happened, it only made sense to focus on the same low money-down strategies I just mentioned above myself.
So speaking from experience, they work and they are legitimate ways to make money without needing a lot of money to start. You really just need the hustle and some time to dedicate to them.
There are also some amazing non-real estate-related side hustles I would seriously consider if I wanted some quick cash today. And these can definitely also be scaled to full-on businesses
Flipping things - specifically stuff online. Did you know on Facebook and Craigslist there are massive sections of free stuff that can be yours if you just pick it up? Well once you pick it up you can flip it - and your profit is the difference between gas and moving costs.
Social media management for other people - is probably my favorite since there is such a need right now. You can learn everything you need to be a social media manager online and since people are so stuck with this - you can charge a premium for way less than you think.
Starting a youtube channel - sort of self-explanatory but you can make lots of money from youtube Adsense and affiliate marketing through youtube if you stay consistent.
Starting a mastermind for other people and collecting a fee - This one is underrated but you can form a group and then charge people to join or charge them a fee to manage it for them.
And if you weren't feeling so entrepreneurial, you could drive for Uber and Lyft and just listen to podcasts all day while you drive. you will also meet a ton of people and they could become investors or deal finders for you. And you could even consider something like Babysitting or dog walking and just work on learning a skill during the downtime of these jobs.
You may have picked up on it but all of these side hustles don't require any money. So forget the 1k, you can start these with zero. The only investment you need to make is in yourself with a little time and energy.
And I call this out because I think it’s really easy sometimes to just spend what we have for the sake of spending it. Not true. You don't always need money to make money. You just need to create value.
So at the end of starting these side hustles you still have your 1k leftover and you can use it for step 2.
Acquiring Skills - Paying for Education and Courses to Acquiring More Skills and Grow Your Business.
Depending on your preference you don't have to pay to acquire skills but I find most people do at a certain point. For me, I realized 2 years ago that yes a lot of information is on the internet but a lot of times it's too scattered or not contextual to my situation. For that reason, I decided in a lot of cases I would buy back the time when I could with coaches and courses. And in a lot of cases just pay to be around the person who can teach me directly - even if that meant there was a premium.
Education is the key to getting started and getting good at anything, but the problem is education or knowledge can be acquired in a lot of different ways. And there is a lot of good content out there and a lot of bad content out there.
While I do think the large majority of courses and paid education are great there is always a chance it will not be great or just not be for you which is why the best courses and coaching programs usually have a qualification process and will actually disqualify people who are not fit for the group instead of trying to take everyone's money.
I have taken probably 6 courses in my life and 4 of them were great and 2 of them were not great. And the ones that were great, took extra steps to ensure the program was the right fit for what I was looking for.
So, paid coaching and courses can be great but there are also some traps I want to make sure you don't fall into
First, I see a lot of people become course junkies and don't do anything with them.
Second, I see it happen too often - people buy courses thinking that in return for the money they just gave up, the work will happen for them. That does exist but actually not in this model. If you are hoping that happens you should just pay for a consulting service or a done-for-you service instead of putting money into a course that is still going to require a lot of work from you
And yes I have also made this mistake.
And what this leads to a lot of times for people is that they don't even start the course when they buy it. or if they do, they watch the first few modules and just stop.
And I think it happens because of the disconnect I mentioned earlier, there is still a lot of work needed when you take a course except now the work is laid out in steps as opposed to trying to piece it together yourself.
So, for some people courses are a great option and can be a fast, reasonably priced way to learn a skill that is not publicly discussed on the internet - But I do think you should keep a couple of rules in mind when buying courses
So my rules for finding and buying a course are:
Does it fix the exact issue I need help with right now
Do I know anyone who has taken the course and had results?
Do I believe in the integrity/values of the person teaching it - do they seem like a good person?
Does the course have a satisfaction guarantee or refund policy? And if it doesn't that’s an instant red-flag
So if there is a course or coach that meets these 4 questions, I would highly consider going with them and spending 1000 to get around them and acquire the skills that can take the 1k and turn it into 10k or 100k. It’s just a matter of understanding what you need to get over the hurdles and vetting the people who can help you do that.
What I Would Do if I Was Starting Over With $1000
First - Start a podcast to build my network and get smarter- costs about $60.
Second - Get my RE license, to start making income but also make passive income through referrals - costs about $300
Third - Start doing Airbnb co-hosting, this is a great way to make money from a laptop and solve a major challenge right now. You can learn a lot of it online or buy a course for 500-700 dollars.
And all this would be happening with the goal to make enough money to save up a down payment of 3.5% cash to buy a house hack property so I can live for free.
From there I would probably just pour into these projects to see them grow and rinse and repeat buying a property with low money down.
Then I would start doing real estate wholesaling to make more money and then take that money to buy properties to use as furnished rentals or Airbnb.
At that point, after house hacking and having 1-2 furnished rentals and income from the podcast referral brokerage fees and the co-hosting business. I would be comfortable financially free and decide how to grow or change the businesses. I start to hire VAs to remove me from the day-to-day and then think about how to grow strategically with new properties or new partnerships
And then probably just travel
And Ummm this may sound familiar - because this is exactly what I am doing now...
And why I am living in Colombia
And that’s it, guys! Until next time, be great, and good luck investing your first 1k.
Catch the video on my YouTube channel! 👇
