How much money does it take to start a multi-million dollar a year business? Less than you would think! A simple idea that fills a need or solves a problem creates an instant market and is more important than a large amount of startup capital. These five people prove that with a single great idea and a little ingenuity, working for yourself and earning a lucrative salary really is possible!

Joy Gendusa- Gendusa worked as a freelance writer before starting her marketing business PostcardMania. She sought an easy, affordable way to connect with her writing clients. She felt that postcards would be perfect advertising medium for her services, but was dismayed at how difficult and expensive it was to design and purchase simple postcards. She launched Postcard Media with no initial capital investment using income from her customers to immediately pay her business costs. Over time Gendusa built PostcardMania into a $20 million per year business that offers postcards, as well as other advertising and marketing services to its clients.

Rebecca Mojica- Mojica started with simple Renaissance Festival inspired chainmaille belt and from that Blue Buddha Boutique was born. After attending festival, she was unable to find a belt similar to one she had seen. Mojica spent $20 on her initial supplies and taught herself to make chainmaille belts and other jewelry. When she began to offer classes in jewelry making and selling the necessary tools and supplies, her profits soared.

Matt Levey, Tom Donigan, and Scott Fiesinger-  A simple field trip into the mountains for Levey, Donigan, and Fiesinger became the inspiration for Field Trip Jerky. The trio purchased excellent homemade beef jerky during a ski trip. After joking for years that they should make their own high quality beef jerky to replace the cheap products they found in the gas stations, they began making all natural preservative free jerky. They spent a small amount of money to test recipes and design packaging. From that modest beginning, Field Trip Jerky can now be found in over 600 stores.

Matt Shoup- Shoup, newly married, found himself suddenly laid off from his mortgage banking job in Fort Collins, Colorado. With $100 in his pocket and painting experience gained from part time jobs in college, he set out to provide excellent customer service and trade excellence. He started by going door to door in his own neighborhood soliciting paint jobs. Today, his company, M & E Painting, earns in excess of $1.5 million annually.

Nick Carter- Carter began AddressTwo when a client of his marketing consulting agency asked him for a recommendation for a Customer Relationship Software. Instead of directing the customer elsewhere, Carter designed his own solution. Using a method he calls “Customer Capital,” Carter would design and add new features to software when a customer wanted the addition badly enough to pay for it. Over time, he developed a robust CRM that services over 500 businesses each month without any large personal investment.