Although they can be tempting, most of us know that get rich quick schemes never actually work. Even if you do manage to make some money, it's unlikely that its sustainable, or going to impact your life in any meaningful way.
Unless you're Eric Martin.
Martin, a 28-year-old IT guy, who works for a custom bath installation company in York, Pennsylvania, pulled what might go down in history as the most honest and effective get rich quick strategies of all time.
It all began with a contest hosted by a one-year-old internet startup called Jet.com. The startup's goal is to be a one-stop-shop online superstore for groceries, furniture, electronics, clothes, and more. Jet was hosting a promotional contest in which the person who got the largest number of friends to sign up to their "insider" program would be given 100,000 company shares as a prize.
Instead of asking a few buds if they'd be interested in signing up, Martin had his sights on a much higher number in order to guarantee that he would receive those shares. He would eventually get over 8000 people to sign up for Jet's promotional program in just three weeks.
How? He found the interested parties via advertising. He spent $18,000 of his own money putting up ads to entice people to sign up for Jet.com through him.
Jet.com made good on their promise, forking over 100,000 shares to Martin back in February. Last year, when the company was worth $1.5 billion, Martin's shares were worth and estimated $20 million.
Then Wal-Mart stepped in and bought Jet.com inc for $3.3 billion. By the basic power of math, Eric's shares would now be worth $44 million. Not a bad return on an $18,000 investment into a get rich quick scheme!
