how did tori dunlap start her first website
How Tori Dunlap Started Her First Website
Tori Dunlap launched her first website—what would become Her First $100K —in 2016 as a side hustle while working a 9-to-5 marketing job, using just $40 from her checking account to buy the domain and set up the blog.
The Origin Story
From Personal Goal to Public Blog
Dunlap started the blog to document her own journey of trying to save $100,000 by age 25. She was already the friend everyone turned to for money advice, so she decided to scale that by answering financial questions online—specifically for women.
The Startup Details
- Year founded: 2016
- Initial investment: $40 (for domain and website hosting)
- Context: Ran as a side hustle alongside her full-time marketing job
- Platform: A simple blog where she chronicled her savings goal and shared financial tips
As Dunlap later reflected on LinkedIn: "That $40 bought me my website and domain. But it also bought me clarity. It showed me that action beats planning. That movement beats perfection. That courage beats credentials."
The Turning Point
Dunlap hit her $100K savings goal at age 25, then went to Europe to celebrate. While in a London pub, she got a call from Good Morning America asking her to appear on the show. She flew home, did the segment, and quit her corporate job three weeks later to focus fully on Her First $100K.
Earlier Entrepreneurial Roots
Interestingly, this wasn't Dunlap's first business venture. At age 9 , she started running her own candy vending machine business , eventually owning around 15 machines. All profits went toward funding her college education. She's credited those early experiences with teaching her fundamentals like handling rejection, understanding profit and loss, and learning how to pitch herself.
What Came Next
That initial $40 blog grew into a multi-seven-figure financial education company aimed at helping women achieve financial independence. Today, Her First $100K offers courses, resources, and community support—and Dunlap has become a bestselling author, podcaster, and sought-after speaker on millennial money and career topics.
TL;DR: Tori Dunlap started her first website in 2016 with $40 while working a marketing job. The blog, "Her First $100K," tracked her personal goal of saving $100K by age 25. After hitting that goal and appearing on Good Morning America, she quit her job to grow it into a multi-seven-figure financial education business for women.
Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.