Would you bet $500 for a chance at financial freedom? If you look at this question logically you have three variables to consider: risk, reward, probability of success.
* Your risking $500, and some time.
* Your reward if you succeed is financial freedom.
* Your probability is where it gets interesting.
Say you had a 100% chance of success. Brilliant! Your wealthy, congratulations. But what if your chance of success was 50%? You may, or you may not be financially free first time out, but I still like your chances of quickly reaching your goal.
Let's go to the other extreme, say you had a 1% chance of success. Assuming you have an average run, you will reach financial success once within your first 100 attempts. You might die of old age before reaching your financial freedom! But, while it would cost a substantial amount of money you would still be able to live comfortably over your lifetime.
I think $500 is a reasonable amount of money in the Internet era to _assess_ whether an idea will be successful or not. This assumes though that you have some technical abilities and don't have to pay for absolutely everything.
From memory, one in ten businesses succeeds. Assume this gives you a 10% chance of success. Say you start a $500 business every six months. *You will have one successful business within five years.*
Most people sell themselves short. They risk nothing and consequently they gain nothing. The biggest challenge is conquering your personality and not 'beating' the competition. You don't need to beat the competition because a commercial ecosystem can support more than a single producer, and there are many niches where competition doesn't exist - but you need to find them.
There's more to the concepts outlined above, but it's a pretty good start. You have a better chance at success than you realise, and provided you limit your down side and aim high, you at least give yourself a shot at financial freedom.