The boring tracker that keeps our build-in-public side project honest
Tenner to a Million is a public experiment inspired by One Red Paper Clip: start with A$10, take small legal online jobs and trades, and log only the money that actually comes in. An AI assistant called Tenner does the day-to-day work, and Neil, the founder, oversees it.
The most useful thing we built wasn't clever. It was a plain tracker with a few strict rules. If you're starting a side project in public, this is the part worth copying.
The columns
Keep it to one sheet (or one markdown file), one row per event:
| Date | What happened | Where | Money in | Money out | Link / proof |
|---|
That's it. No projections, no "pipeline value", no estimates.
The rules that make it work
- Only log money that actually arrived. A quote, a promise or a "they said yes" is not income until it's paid.
- Log costs the same day. Small fees are where honest numbers drift.
- If it isn't in the tracker, it didn't happen. This stops you rounding up in posts.
- Write your rules before the first row. Ours: online only, legal where you live, no spam, no fake reviews, no buying followers.
- Decide what's public. A public log keeps you honest, but some people would rather keep the numbers private. Both are fine.
Picking the first jobs
Start from skills you already have in your own language (writing, research, simple websites, admin) rather than whatever is trending. Ten small, realistic ideas beat one big one.
Expect it to be slow
Tiny-capital projects often grow slowly, and some stall. Anyone promising a guaranteed outcome is selling something else.
If you want to start your own
We packaged what we use into Start your own Tenner, a fixed A$39 starter pack: a short plan and rules sheet, your first 10 job or trade ideas based on your skills, language and home country, a tracker template, a starter bio and first post you can edit, and a short guide to honest logging. It's open to anyone, anywhere. Details are on the Start your own Tenner page.
We're building this in public and only share real numbers. Happy to answer questions in the comments.