2 Young Millionaires Share Which Income Streams Made Them Rich

2 Young Millionaires Share Which Income Streams Made Them Rich

Cara Danielle Brown

Thu, August 27, 2026 at 8:00 PM GMT+3 4 min read

Most people dream of becoming self-made millionaires and jet-setting around the world in style. However, few manage to achieve this feat—particularly while still young.

After all, youth is for goofing off and posting regrettable Instagram stories, right?

Wrong.

Dylan Jahraus, founder and CEO at etSEO, became a millionaire in her mid-30's while entrepreneur and author, Scott Oldford, had a seven-figure business by age 16!

How did they do it? Here are the income streams that made them rich.

Dylan Jahraus

Etsy Store

While most people struggle to earn pennies on Etsy, Jahraus made over $1 million in profit. It helped that she used to work in corporate e-commerce and applied all the same strategies to managing her Etsy store as she did with her company's $100-million portfolios.

Instead of tossing some items online and hoping for the best, Jahraus actively employed the following strategies: Customer first; product second, loss leader strategy (selling a product below what it's worth to get people in the door) and average order value versus lifetime value (measuring revenue from a single purchase versus total revenue from that customer).

Real Estate

Jahraus invested the profits from her Etsy store into single-family homes in California. She bought a couple properties with a mortgage, lived in each of them for a year and then rented them out. She's currently under contract for a 28-unit apartment building.

Digital Courses and Coaching

Since Jahraus is skilled in growing an Etsy store, she created long-form content on YouTube and on her podcast, as well as short-form, discovery-focused content on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok designed to educate individuals on scaling their own stores in the e-commerce space. The content she created served as a feeder for her paid, online courses and coaching business.

Software Company

Jahraus launched a software company to serve as a complimentary tool for Etsy sellers. The program, etSEO, analyzes both buyer behavior and Etsy's search algorithm so users can automate their listing strategy.

Scott Oldford

Programming Agency

Oldford explained that, in the early 2000's, a software program called Invision Power Board was popular. This software allowed users to create and run online discussion forums akin to a modern-day Reddit or Facebook.

As a result, people were looking for programmers to design these forums and customize all its features. However, programmers were in short supply. So, Oldford became the middle man and started an agency: He hired programmers, paid them $50 an hour for the technical tasks and then charged clients roughly $200 for the same hour.

Digital Marketing

Oldford found small businesses looking to market themselves online. For a fee, his agency built and marketed their websites.

Website Hosting and Software Development

When Oldford created websites for clients, he did so on a content management system he designed himself (like his own version of WordPress). This way, he could charge clients ongoing fees to both use his software and host the website. As a result, clients couldn't simply migrate to other hosting sites. And Oldford could charge higher rates.

Newsletter Monetization

A successful entrepreneur, Oldford built a brand "helping founders scale 7 and 8-figure businesses through clarity, positioning and strategic leverage." So he created a series of free newsletters to which his audience could subscribe and learn more. He made money off sponsors, affiliate marketing and low-ticket items. And, in 2024, he sold two of his newsletters to a public company.

Want To Become a Millionaire Like Jahraus and Oldford?

Oldford offered the following takeaway: "The pattern underneath it all: I'd find a sub-segment of an audience I already had or a piece of infrastructure I was already building for something else, and spin that into its own company."

In other words, don't start from zero for each income stream. Find a way to make more money from something you're already doing. Oldford suggested the following trajectory:

1. Get good at something

2. Freelance

3. Start your own agency

4. Build an audience

5. Teach others at a higher scale

This article was provided by MoneyLion.com for informational purposes only and should not be construed as financial, legal or tax advice.

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