The aim of most entrepreneurs is to make a profit through the work that they do. I am approaching this with a very different mindset.

I have a career, one that I love and that I find very fulfilling. I am following my passion, and in doing what I love. Working with people I have noticed that many of them are facing challenges. Two of the biggest challenges are Not Enough Time and Not Enough Money.

As I wrote about in a previous blog post, making lots of money did not turn out well for me. I got myself stuck in the golden handcuffs and as a result, I ended up having a nervous breakdown. So this is not about the money.

Anyway, I digress, I am on a mission to find out what one of the most effective ways to make additional money is. Not only do I want to find the idea, I actually need to test out the idea to see if they are really up to the sales pitch. There are countless get rich schemes out there and many more start up your own online business pitches. These schemes often target the people that are under huge financial pressure or people desperately needing a lifeline. Is there actually something out there that will help people who are genuinely willing to roll up their sleeves and do the work?

There must be some criteria though. Based on the challenges that many people face I will attempt to recreate a similar environment as a starting point.

Firstly: I will limit the time that I work on my business. I will spend no more than 2 hrs a day working on the business. I am sure that all of us can find 2 hours in our day to invest in building something.

Secondly: I will work off an extremely limited budget. I am not sure what a reasonable budget would be, but once I have done some research I will know what the entry costs are. As many people do not have much disposable income available, one of the criteria will be the cost of entry. I will call it R 2 000 or US$ 140 as my total start-up capital. This is the absolute maximum amount I will invest in this project. Any additional costs must be covered by the income generated from the business.

Thirdly: Rapid Success. The internet is full of stories of people becoming millionaires within 30 days, if you just pay them XXX amount of dollars then they will teach you how. What is real and what is fake out there? Are people really making money with these second jobs or is it all marketing hype. I am under no illusion that I will become a millionaire in the space of a month. That is not my intention, I want to see if there is a way that someone can potentially earn a living off a “side hustle.”

What am I committed to:

• By the 30 November, I will have found the “ideal” business, set it up and had a good go at it and publish my journey along the way.
• I will work on my business every day for 30 days
• I will be dedicated and approach the challenge with an open mind.
• I will donate all the proceeds of the 30 days to a charity.

My thinking is that if I can do this, then anyone can. I have 32 days if I count today.

What do I hope to achieve? If I get it right, I want to share the “secret” with everyone. I want to let other people know that it can be done and I want to help them do it for themselves. I want people to empower themselves and really live a life of their choosing. Any money I make in the first 30 days I will donate to a charity. If anyone has any worthy charity suggestions please comment below, and I will choose one of them.

If it turns out to be a flop and I don’t make any money, then I would have spent 64 hours learning about a business and trying to understand what went wrong and what lessons I can take out of this. So I guess I have nothing to lose.

I need two things from you, my readers, though.

1. Suggestions for a charity will be the recipient of my loot.
2. Any really great businesses one can run from home or online that I can look into.

Please comment below so that I can get started. I will keep a log of my journey.