Your inspiring success story

Meh.

There's more than one way to become successful and more than one way to define success.

I've been broke and I've had money. I can tell you that being a Private First Class serving something larger than myself was vastly more satisfying than any amount of money I made.

This is why I suggest to people that if they are to pursue a "passion", they should live frugally early on and go into business for themselves so that they themselves make the profit from their inspiration.

I am certainly not in the camp that thinks you should just do something that makes you miserable just for a buck. Your quality of life isn't worth all that. If it's survival, pick them strawberries or your family goes hungry, it's understandable. But if you've got options, you should exercise them.

 

haha, ... I survived two airline failures! (and a myriad of other "aviation adventures" - lol) plus two divorces (which rarely work out well for the husband in America).

In answer to the OP's question: I had to start over from zero in my late thirties. For the thirty years that followed I saved as much as I could in an effort to secure a comfortable future. I sacrificed my quality of life so much that my kids thought I was "poor" (post divorce of course). Finally, in my mid sixties I was able to retire nicely and year later bring home my first Ferrari (used of course). The trick for me was having enough money in the bank to just write the check. That money isn't gone, it's just sitting my garage right now. If I need it back I can sell the car. Do not take out a loan. My cash flow, though quite comfortable, couldn't handle the loan payments; and money spent on interest actually WOULD be gone (as in: poof - not yours anymore), but I "could" write the check. It does take a little courage, but if you're a working stiff, THAT is the way to get your Ferrari.

 

Well, I don't necessarily agree with this. I have spent the last 20 yrs in the plumbing/pipefitting trade and can tell you that there is a very good reason that the last generation tradespeople always talked their kids into getting a college degree instead of following in their footsteps. They wanted something better for them. I'm not saying that the trades are terrible because they are not, but it is very difficult to convince younger people to get up at 4:30 AM and drive 1-2 hours to a construction site and spend all day working in the rain or snow or heat all while trying to comply with outlandish safety rules and dealing with the stress of schedule constraints and on and on. But the pay is decent. They would rather do something like work remote on their own schedule and not have to get their hands dirty. I agree totally with the agenda laden indoctrination and the whole student debt concerns, but my niece went to a good college as did her new husband, worked hard and now have very good paying jobs in the corporate world and made more in their first year than any plumber I know.

 

I was a field Engineer for 7 years, working with every craft imaginable. It was rediculously hard physical work in the worst conditions as described above.

I will disagree with the safety rules being "outlandish" after witnessing a couple of fatalities and a couple of machinists cutting off fingers because they refused to use the guards on the cutting tools. And by the time these guys were hitting 50, they were flat worn out.

While not everyone is cut out for college, most unsuccessful college grads I've encountered majored in stuff society doesn't value.

 

I certainly understand the spirit of what you are communicating. Indeed, I agree than tons of broke people work their stones off. I would point out though that a solid work ethic is a controllable. Indeed, it’s one of but a scant few real controllables. It’s also one the absolute easiest ways to get “noticed”. The way I looked at it when I was coming up in my industry, when all else was roughly equal (brains, talent, etc) I would get the promotion if I was willing to throw 20-30 hours more a week at the job than my competition. My work ethic was definitely beneficial, but certainly not sufficient. I will never know if it was necessary.

 

I would never discount the value of hard work, or a work ethic. If you're starting from the absolute bottom of society, you'd better be willing to do some paddling to get yourself to shore.

But the largest sums of money I've made in my life were from investments. This requires very little work, especially if you borrow the money to invest. Yes, you read and research and discuss with advisors. But at the end of the day, when you treat money as a game, you'll always do far better than trying to "earn" more of it with hard work.

In point of fact, the rich people I know are VASTLY more lazy than the poor people I know.

 

This may be due to survivorship bias. Lots of people place bets on things. Some work out some don't. who knows if the following will be big or not. AOL, Netflix, bit coin, Enron, Worldcom, Amazon, MySpace, Petsdotcom, Wework.

I can also give anecdotal example to support my claim.
I got to where I am because of hard work. However, some of my investments did work out fairly well. I am the highest earning in our office. I also work the most hours. However, I don't use sample size of 10 (the total # of workers in our office) to illustrate my point.

perhaps a better website is this guy (random google result)
https://www.zippia.com/research/earnings-vs-hours-worked/

 

married a really old lady. had to wear a speedo around the house for a couple of years, but hard work did pay off.

 

Spent less than I made and lived a long time.

A lot of mine was fear of failure. Not real inspiring, but effective.

I always enjoyed what I did. It just so happened, what I enjoyed doing also made me money. It didn’t feel like it at the time. But, one day I just looked around and realized, I’ve got some money.

keep your word. It’ll cost you money to do that but in the end it’s your most valuable possession.

 

I don't have any inspiring success story but I started working in the 8th grade and have never stopped. Now 77. I saved as much as a could , parlaying it into the next job for better books, tools, instruments, tuition, etc, I came from a highly educated family and it was drilled into me that it was important at the time. . I got as much education as I could and paid for my own college and medical school. I have been lucky yes, and have worked hard all my life. Medicine was/is a great fulfilling career and has/had the potential to do well. Yes, I have made many financial mistakes but eventually recovered and learned from them..

My advice is to save at least half(or as much as you can) of what you make if at all possible set up 401K etc, careful investing, set your attainable goals early and always, stay focused, don't invest in shaky schemes, no get rich quick schemes, tax shelters ,always be careful who you lend money too, your not a bank and they rarely pay it back.

Your word is your reputation, always do as you say you will do, Marry a wonderful woman and don't get ever divorced if at all possible. Work as a team. Buy a house as soon as you can that you can afford or, go in with someone to buy rather than rent as early as possible. Rent payments are money down the rat hole. Buy used cars cash and live with it. pay off credit cards in full monthly, minimize superfluous purchases, don't buy a house that you can't afford (houses poor) and will be paying excessive taxes on when kids leave.

I did it very slowly, had a good financial advisor, learned to use banks, financial institutions, had a perfect credit score and the banks will hound you to loan money allowing me to Buy as much real estate as you can and rent it out. Your net worth increases with each rental you get and if you get good tenants it will pay the mortgage. Try to buy appreciating property location location etc. Eventually get a contractors license form your own business with good partners etc., and build multi-family apartment complexes in college towns and larger cities (competitive ,yes) It all takes time. Eventually I was able to retire part time and sold off an asset to eventually buy my first Ferrari 2 years ago. What was surprising is that I earn more money now that I'm retired than I did when I was working fulltime. I think you get the idea and there is some amazing advice here. I suggest that you make a notebook of all the advice you have received here from all the posters and refer to it often. If most young people were like you the OP there would be a lot better things for them too. you are off to a good start. I wish I had some of the advice given here when I was student. Best of luck.

 

1) I probably define "hard work" quite a bit differently than you do. I grew up in CA. I see no resemblance between the daily life of a migrant worker, and some guy who made lattes to pay his way through college.

2) I do not devalue the importance of diligence. What I take issue with is wealthy people using what they call "work" as a cudgel to deride people who break their backs for meager wages as "deserving" poverty. It sickens me, because I grew up with those people. Men and women who spent their days roasting in the sun, in the fields, for sharecropper pay so their kids could have a half decent life.

Everybody's journey to success has value. But too many think they're special snowflakes who just "outworked" everyone else, without looking at the opportunities they had that others may have not. You say your worked hard and I take you at your word. My point is simply that you could have worked less and made more, worked more and made less.

 

I never thought of myself as successful until I was able to afford Rosso....

 

You hit the nail on the head =
Passive Income

I need to get there.


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But all it got you was a Mondial....maybe your performance in a speedo wasn't that inspiring

just kidding.....

 

So many great life lessons in one post.....

 

I agree. There’s “hard work” and then there’s “soul crushing, bone marrow emptying, joy stealing labor”. I never did the latter, and I can understand the offense taken when a rich guy says that the path to wealth is hard work. While hard work alone is not sufficient, a strong work ethic does correlate strongly with disproportionate earnings. To ignore that fact, ignores the obvious. My personal experience is not unlike many others. The summer after I graduated high school, I put an average 74.5 hours per week on the time clock. That was just the beginning. From there, my effort, energy, focus, and dedication only increased. I outworked my competitive set by a wide measure, and, as a result, I grew further, faster. I saved my pennies, and ultimately transitioned from employee to employer. To be sure, there was tons of luck along the way, but I always felt it poor strategy to rely on luck. If it’s meant to be, it’s up to me.

 

I'd say we're agreed.

I've done some labor. Enough to know I didn't want to make a life out of it. I think, though, it's more important to educate people on how money works, how to manage it, and how to use it as a tool to get more of it, than it is to simply tell people "you need to work harder." I think the "hard work" narrative obscures the true route to economic security which is having a better understanding of what money is and how to use it.

 

Sometimes it is not the quality of the performance but who you are performing for. The lady in question owned the largest fireworks stand in the county.

 

+1
As soon as my "active" income gave me "bankability" I built "passive" income.
Active income paid my home and Pcars, my Fcars were 100% paid by passive income.

 

The biggest ideal that has never done me wrong, is to never give up and accept mediocrity in your life.

Always find a solution to the problem at hand and execute. The solution may not be the best, but you are moving forward.

I failed at college in DFW and came back home to live with my parents. Started a job working for my old man's business as a 1st year electrical apprentice. Worked hard in the field and swallowed up as much advice, work processes, and tricks of the trade as I could. 2 years later, I had my journeyman license. 2 years later my contractors license. Continued to progress to a project manager and estimator on the office.

Within 10years of starting in the field, I was a VP. Started building relationships with owners, general contractors, and employees. Bought the company from my old man 5 years later.

Those 20 years of working and building the relationships has allowed me to have a very successful business. The hard work doesn't stop, but definitely pays nice dividends. The ability of business owners to run items thru a business/expense them, and save on taxes is a no-brainer.

Now comes the second part of the financial freedom playbook, building those passive income streams.

Wish you the best of luck in your endeavors! Never give up trying and fighting for you

 

They don’t make them like they used to ….


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I worked construction as a lad. One of the first lessons I learned was he who works the hardest makes the least. Getting paid for what you know, instead of how hard you work, is the key.

 

yup. Rule number one, regardless of how wealthy we think we are, stay away from bad women. Free is always most expensive. The key is how do we know who is bad or not at the beginning. That is the question.

 

There are only two rules to get wealthy:
1. Earn more than you spend
2. Spend less than you earn.

all the rest is detail.

 

Many great posts here that are practical, useful, and true. Take their advice. Here is a little different direction to mix it up for you.

1. Along the way, know yourself. You aren’t your work, or your achievements. You are that person late at night when you are alone, it’s quiet and all you have are your thoughts. Discover that “you” and strive to be a better one along the journey. It’s important to like who you become on the way to success.

2. Don’t make decisions out of fear; fear of losing a job, a girlfriend, the next sale, start up capital, that car. People will respect you more and be drawn to that strength.

3. Speak the truth. Sometimes do it softly, almost apologetically. Sometimes firm and unflinching. But as a corollary to #1 have the courage to do it. Most people appreciate the truth. Those who don’t, spend as little time as possible in their company.

4. Teach through example and always be ready to teach. Don’t waste precious time on those who aren’t “teachable” or coachable.

5. Your success will be directly proportional to the value you add. On slow days when looking about somewhat bored, remember the question …”how can I add value today”…and act on it.

6. In work, ask why, when solving problems. “Why has it always been done that way”; “why did you start on that day, month, cycle; “why did we build it thusly”.

7. In personal matters, avoid “why” questions if they are seeking blame, or self pity. It’s just circular and won’t lead you to improve. Instead, ask how, or what, or when can I do … to better myself or this situation.

8. Be interesting and open. Not over sharing personal information but transparent in your motives. Transparency can be powerful since so many people are afraid (see #2).

9. Be interested in others. Say hello to everybody. Smile often.

10. Ignore your age.


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