From $400 to $180,000: How This Founder Bootstrapped a Six-Figure Business

Meet Rachel Pereyra, who bootstrapped her business from $400 to $180,000. Read all about it in Open Books, a series by Buffer.

Rachel Pereyra began freelancing as a virtual assistant in January of 2020 to earn extra money to help her and her wife pay off their debt and save for a house. By that summer, she had proven she could secure a steady stream of clients and charge enough for her work that she could actually make money working for herself. 

Later in 2020 when the pandemic required her to leave her corporate job and care for their children, she started leaning more heavily on freelancing work, and Mastermind Business Services was born. Her consultancy helps scaling agencies optimize their internal processes and tech tools. She has collaborated with over 50 clients during her three years in business, and those clients have achieved remarkable outcomes.

Now the primary breadwinner in her family as her wife changes careers, she doesn’t have the luxury of not being able to bring home the necessary income. This reality has required her to invest as little as possible (she started her company with only a $400 laptop and has bootstrapped her growth at every step). Plus, she’s had to be profitable from the start. Below, she shares exactly how she made it happen.

Years in business: 3

Number of employees: 7 contractors

Location: Austin, Texas, with team members across the U.S. and in Europe and Canada

Initial capital invested: $400

Financial support for business: I have leveraged credit cards and