Start with a penny, or start with a dollar.

Some doublers begin their journey to a million with a dollar instead of a penny. This eliminates the first seven steps. Instead, I started the traditional way, with a penny but I planned, at some step in the doubling process, to substitute the coins that I found with my own money. Thereafter, I would not add any more of my own money.

My plan was to use my own money when I reached $1.00 during step eight instead of going from $.64 to $1.28. Then step nine would double $1.00 to $2.00. Starting with a good old U.S. dollar bill seemed like an inspirational way to jump start entrepreneurial activity. I could imagine saying--after I had accumulated the $1,000,000--"I started all of this with only one dollar and if you pick up a dollar in coins off the street, you don't even need a dollar to start."

I expected to have a dollar in coins by the start of the new year 2008...and suddenly I found a dime at the bus stop last night and I have now gone over the dollar amount. Total: $1.01 and it isn't even Christmas yet. I put the $1.00 in coins into a little glass jar (The Streets Are Paved With Gold Fund) so that I could look at them for inspiration. I am now using a dollar of my own money which is in an envelope on my desk.

That leaves one penny extra--so I have started another fund: Start with a penny.