Jhalesa Seymour started a soap business with $67 in college — it's now done over $16 million in sales

Jhalesa Seymour became a millionaire by age 25 by selling something simple: soap.

But she didn't build her multimillion-dollar business with a pile of startup cash or backing from investors. Seymour says she started the company while she was still in college with just $67 to her name.

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In a street interview with The School of Hard Knocks , Seymour reflected on the money habits that helped her turn that small start into a seven-figure business, including one rule she says kept her from spending like a millionaire.

"A money lesson I lived by is your business money is not your lifestyle money," Seymour said, explaining that people can be quick to upgrade their lifestyle as soon as they start earning more.

"I was a multimillionaire driving a Nissan Altima and living in a 700 square foot apartment," she said.

Seymour launched Salt.xo in 2018 while she was still a student at the University of Central Florida. The idea grew out of a problem she had experienced herself: struggling to find feminine-care products that she felt wouldn't disrupt her pH balance .

She repeatedly came across products made with irritating ingredients, and eventually decided to create an alternative of her own.

But Seymour wasn't starting with much of a financial cushion. She grew up in a household with five children, where her mother earned about $30,000 a year, and has said she had just $67 when she started the company.

Many entrepreneurs rely on their own money to get a business off the ground, but Seymour was working with far less than most. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration , 80% of employer businesses use personal savings as startup capital, and nearly half start with more than $25,000.

And finding the money to launch is only part of the challenge. Keeping a young business alive can be even harder. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics , just 57.3% of business establishments launched in 2018 — the same year as Salt.xo — were still operating five years later.