150. Guy turns $200 into $1 million in just 92 days (with ecommerce Shopify + Facebook ads)
It's a classic story of a man who has hardly any money and then finds a way to make millions - you see these kinds of stories online all the time.
Half the time they're either scam or spam, but this one is true. Meet Trevor Chapman - the man behind LDSman, who began his empire as an e-commerce business, working at night.
The 33-year-old soon turned it into a full-time job, making over $1m (£780,000) in sales in three months. Yes, THREE months.
He did it by figuring out a key strategy for selling Chinese-made products like Kevlar pants and fidget spinners, quickly pushing sales into the seven-figure range.
Chapman knew that the best way to earn extra money was through e-commerce. Global online retail sales grew by 20 percent from $1.9trillion (£1.47tr) to $2.3trillion (£1.79tr) in 2015.
But before he gave any real thought to leaving his day job (in the solar panel business), he wanted to see for himself if it was possible to make a living selling things online.
He told CNBC: "It requires work like everything else, but you don't have to risk your full-time job to do this."
His start-up costs were around $200 (£155), plus a domain name and a Shopify account trial for $14 (£10). He spent $100 (£77) a day on Facebook advertising.
"I made money on my second day and every day after that," he adds. That soon rose to $10,000 (£7,800) per day after just two weeks.
The revenue allowed him to hire out a customer service team in the Philippines - and he paid them well. He salaried his employees at $700 (£543) per month, much higher than the Filipino monthly average of only $400 (£310).
He goes by a motto that he discovered from American business magnate, Warren Buffett: "If you don't find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die."
He admits he didn't get it right at the start: "My initial thing was that I was going to sell Mormon artwork online. That was probably for about 10 hours. I realised that what I was peddling online was not compelling enough to drive traffic."
He used a tip from his solar panel job - you've got to be intriguing enough for someone to invite you into their homes. "Same thing online," he continues. "To pull someone away from their friend feed, you've got to be offering something interesting."
LDSman now sells a range of products, mostly of a viral nature - yes, we're talking fidget spinners.
In six months of operating, Chapman says his sales totals have topped $2m (£1.55m). He's also started an online course, and although few have had the success he started with, the average sales after one-month total $12,000 (£9,300).
