Hearing testimonies from different sources, I can only conclude that "You don’t need to be rich to invest, but you need to invest to be rich." Riches aside, investment can increase your financial freedom, but the problem with most people is procrastination, they want this BIG capital to invest, but it is not like that.
The rich keep becoming richer, what does that implies to you, you need to be richer to keep becoming more rich. Starting from poor to richness is not an easy journey, it takes consistency, abstaining from enjoyment, be able to surviving through hard times while you have investment no matter the amount somewhere, do you think it's easy doing that?
The idea that starting small amount is not real to me, it's just an illusion that everyone says while they are not practicing it. If you sees a successful investor, he might have passed through the hard times when he wore the same clothes for 10 years, and that's what it's expected of you when trying from scratch.
It mustn't be convenient, it mustn't be in thousands of dollars, a little that is being consistent about and carefully thought through could make that wealth. Start investing today.
OP, like I have just said above, can you do what you are preaching? Many preach what they can't practice, starting from little needs you to abstain from luxurious lifestyle, less social life, less party life, less everything while maintaining one or two outfit throughout many years, that's not really possible that's why many people are poor.