Well, i did not think that it would really happen this quickly, however it seems that my progress has stalled a little. I did have a good start jumping a few steps with the easy finding of coins, however as i believe i discussed this really is not going to prove to be a surefire way to continue. Although finding coins will be a potential way to add small amount’s to the stake, actually finding my way to $1 million dollars would be pretty amazing.

Although i am sitting on just $2.05 i have had an idea on something that may be able to provide an on going passive income, even from this early point. Currently it is possible to purchase a .info domain name for just 99cents, which when combined with some sort of free hosting should provide the ability to host a website, with advertising. Correctly made with good content and advertising positioned this should make a small income to help get through the next few steps.

Once a large stake is available this could be easily added to with more sites, at different domains. To provide quite a large assortment of income streams. This is something that i will look at a little later however i think start with one will provide a good steady stream of income.

Well, today has been a good day for my doubling project. I found a $2 coin on the floor when i was out for lunch, which leapfrog’s me past steps 3, 4, and 5 and completes step 6. As per the rules i have taken out the additional 10cents that i would have above the total required for Step six.

In addition to the $2 coin i also found another 5cent piece, the third since i started this project. So as it standards at the moment, my stake is $2.05 and i am working towards step 7 for a total of $4.00. Even though i do expect to find many more coins in the process of my project, and there may be the potential for one more step to be completed with finding coins, however i think from here on it is going to start to come down more to the potential to trade and earn money then that of sheer having a good eye on the ground.

While the original challenge stated that money up to Step 15 (or $80 – $160) you should actually use the original notes and coins which you have found or been given to complete the next step.  I do not think this provides much benefit in the overall scheme of the project. If there was some point that to be proved by using the actual notes and coins then i would consider sticking to this and maybe even going as far as doing this up to a couple of thousand of dollars, however, even though i may only be on $2.05 this is a big enough amount to start even earning the smallest amount of interest on in a high interest bank account, of which i have a spare one to use just for this project.

Anyway as it stands my stake is – $2.05 and i am working towards step 7, till next time.

I have been getting quite interested in seeing if this challenge/project/experiment, as others are naming it will work or has worked for anyone else. At this point i have been very underwhelmed by what i have manged to find. Not so much in the number of people undertaking it, or really even by the ideas that people have to generate money for this or the way that people are making it such a big deal.

The thing that has got me the most the amount of time people are sending compared to there progress.  There are just so many people that i seem to find at or around step 15-19 in their blogs which in the original challenge steps equates to between $80 and $2500, with the highest achiever working in another currency but converted back to approx $3800. Which by no means is something to be proud of in the upper end, however most of these participants that i have read about seem to have been working on this for anything up to 2 years.

Which really gets me wondering is there some key point that makes this so difficult to use money to make money. For example i can understand in the early stages should be easy which most people seem to get past easy enough, the first few stages can easily be passed by finding just a few coins. Even up to Step 9 or around $5 depending on your starting point is easy enough to come up with finding coins, it may take a month or two but you will get there. Then the next 2 or 3 steps should take not much more then 1 or 2 trades Maybe even less if you are really a keen trader and can manage to really buy low and sell really high.

Even beyond these first few low $ steps should be easy to pass with some smart buying. Really how much do you really need to purchase for a product like Jewelery. Buying the parts to make some fashion jewelery off ebay, and then spending a little time to put some pieces together and then either resell on Ebay or at a local market, it should be relatively easy to make the money back that you spent plus a good profit, maybe even more then double your investment.  Then getting into steps where you are dealing with $1000+ should become even easier to find products that can be bought low and sold high for quick profits in flipping product.

I just cannot understand how it can be so difficult to to increase a starting amount of money, through how ever many transactions it may take. I think maybe to many people are looking to actually make the double in one big transaction or at the other end just inch there way there slowly. Where the better method to maybe employee would be to aim to extend the capital or stake at a rate relative to the stake that is to be doubled. Either way i think i will have to make an effort to get there and see just how difficult it actually is to do before making a definite conclusion either way.

I was kind of thinking about just how the snakes and ladder rule would work. How do you actually say yes this trade has lost’s it’s money. You could wait around on a certain level saying that it still might pay off, when really you should be considering yourself on a lower level and working to get back up.

So i have decided to make a change in the rules already barely days into my project.  But that is the great thing about working with a project like this it is easy to change the rules.  However i do not plan to change rules to make it easier just more transparent in this case. Basically what i plan to work with is if i make a trade and that trade has not realized a return by the end of the current month then it will be classed as unsuccessful and i will move back to the appropriate level for the stake i have remaining. If however the trade does at some point in the future after this return a profit then that money can be added to the stake and where needed the leapfrog rule will take effect.

While another rule i have also states that money cannot be added to the stake until it is a realized or actual gain, where there may be investment in something like stocks, or fixed value assets which may be long term investments then the original purchase price less any fees will be still part of the stake, and any gain or loss will be taken into account upon the sale of the asset.

In my opinion this makes it a little fairer in being able to say where you are at, in any given time frame without disillusioning yourself.

As i mentioned in my previous post i have slightly adjusted the rules of the original Double your way to a Million as set out my Stuart Goldsmith. The main reason that i wanted to alter the rules a little was first having odd numbers on the end such as 1 and 2 cents, doesn’t work in Australia as well as some other countries because we no longer commonly use 1 and 2 cent pieces. So starting at 5 cents was the best and most logical option that i could work with. As such this has actually also decreased the number of steps that i need to complete to finish this project, and actually lands me a little closer to a million or to be exact $1,024,000, with completion in 25 steps which are listed below.

Step 1 – Find or be given 5cents
Step 2 – $0.05 – $0.10
Step 3 – $0.10 – $0.20
Step 4 – $0.20 – $0.40
Step 5 – $0.40 – $0.80
Step 6 – $0.80 – $2.00 (Rounded to $2 to make it easier)
Step 7 – $2.00 – $4.00
Step 8 – $4.00 – $8.00
Step 9 – $8.00 – $16.00
Step 10 – $16.00 – $32.00
Step 11 – $32.00 – $64.00
Step 12 – $64.00 – $128.00
Step 13 – $128.00 – $256.00
Step 14 – $256.00 – $500.00 (Rounded to $500 to make it easier)
Step 15 – $500 – $1,000
Step 16 – $1,000 – $2,000
Step 17 – $2,000 – $4,000
Step 18 – $4,000 – $8,000
Step 19 – $8,000 – $16,000
Step 20 – $16,000 – $32,000
Step 21 – $32,000 – $64,000
Step 22 – $64,000 – $128,000
Step 23 – $128,000 – $256,000
Step 24 – $256,000 – $512,000
Step 25 – $512,000 – $1,024,000

Probably the biggest different in my step’s and that of the original report, is that i will end up closer to $1 million, by about $256,000 less, however being that i am only taking 3 steps less i believe that i will still learn many of the lessons that this project is really designed to teach.

The other rules for this program i have alter most of them, however most of the alterations i made was to clarify gray areas to myself and make the rules easier to follow without saying but it isn’t clear. However i have made some changes and although i cannot remember exactly maybe added one. The first change i made was that i need to realize the money before it is added to my stake. So for example, adsense earnings or other affiliate commissions need to actually be paid to me before they are included, This will stop me from starting things and accumulating some money and then never following through to get enough paid out.

Another rule i added, that goes with the previous on mentioned is that if i have programs i have started with a balance if i can realize that balance then i can add that in as well. This i believe is not really going against any of the previous rules because if i had not been doing this project then i probably never would have made the effort to get that money anyway.

Otherwise i will be following other rules where, no money i would have normally earned can be diverted into the project, no money can be taken out till the end, and i have a separate bank account that i am going to use for the project. However i am allowing the leapfrog rule, (e.g. i am on step 4 – $0.20 – $0.40, and i find a $1 coin then i would bypass Step, and be in Step 6 – $0.80 – $1.60, and keep the 20cents over the 80 cents start point for Step 6) in as much i will also follow the snake and ladders rule, where if i lose on a trade, and my stake drops i will go back to the lowest step for my current stake.

This is a brief bit about the rules i am using i will probably add more in the future as i find what is good about these rules and what maybe isn’t. Also i will probably discuss why i made some of the rule choices that i did.

On Sunday 6th of April, i managed to complete both steps one and two within about 5 seconds of each other. Living in Australia it is kind of difficult to follow the exact 28 step plan set out by Stuart Goldsmith in his report Double your way to a Million. I will post again soon to discuss the full changes i have made as i feel there were some of the rules open a bit to interpretation and i like things to be clear and understood.

The first step that i set down was to find 5 cents, although Australia did use to have 1 and 2 cent pieces they are no longer in use generally, many people still have a lot of these coins however you may only spend them in 20cent lots. So to make it slightly easier and to make things a little more rounded off, (e.g. no odd cents on the end) i decided the first step should be to find 5 cents. Which i completed on Sunday 6th April.  Following very closely behind this i actually found another 5 cent piece about 2 steps further. Which complete step 2 $0.05 – $0.10 on Sunday 6th April as well. So now the step i am working towards is $0.10 – $0.20, as yet i have not come up with to many ideas other then finding another coin to get me there.