The Hard Truth About Getting Rich
Today we're back with a Money Making story as we continue our series on interviewing The Fearless Generation.
When one of our readers reached out and sent his bio for a guest post, I just couldn't say no.
Perry Wilson's story and journey are as real as it gets! Enjoy.
Bio, Hopes & Dreams
I am 56, from the UK and married with two daughters aged 29 and 24.
I've done 12 years in the Royal Navy. Spent 7 years in politics as a Political Agent. Dined at both 10 and 11 Downing Street.
Set my first business up and employed over 300 people. Went bankrupt in 2000 when a customer went into liquidation owing me £44,000.
Learned that I’m crap at business.
I spent 10 years in and around financial services as a pension advisor, mortgage advisor, and Sales Director.
I was also Head of Business Development for a mortgage packager and presenter at property investment seminars.
Then the 2008 crash happened and I took on a pub.
I have on occasions (in order to feed my family) sang in bars and restaurants for money and been a car park attendant.
I’m happy to share these because life doesn’t move in straight lines but has its peaks and troughs.
The measure of a person is not how many times you get knocked down, but how many times you get back up.
I currently work 70 hours per week as a cab driver and create content based on the lessons I’ve made from my mistakes on Stupid Is The Norm.
Learn from my mistakes.
My current goal is to amass a relative fortune of £300,000 in 10 years.
I have budgeted £80 – £100k to buy a 50’ Beneteau yacht moored in Gibraltar harbour, and to live off the balance as I sail it around the Mediterranean
Guest Post From Perry:
Traditionally, an article has a hook in the first line to drag the reader along to the next sentence.
I’ve never been one for tradition, and I’m risking losing you in the first paragraph, so here goes; becoming wealthy takes a lot of hard work.
If you’re still reading, it’s hopefully because you find my previous statement refreshingly honest.
It also takes time.
During my 20 years in and around financial services, I’ve sat with many wealthy people.
I have a handful of multi-millionaires who are my friends. None of them made their money before they were 40, and most of them were at least 50.
That’s because it takes time to amass a fortune. It also takes time to accumulate the knowledge and skills to become wealthy.
You CAN speed the process up by learning from the mistakes and strategies of those who have become or are becoming wealthy.
However, there is no substitute for the hard work and patience. There just isn’t.
Before you mention the likes of Bill Gates and Richard Branson as examples of people who made their money early, you aren’t them.
They’re genetic freaks. If you’re 25 and haven’t made your first million yet, you aren’t a Bill Gates. You’re average. Normal.
Am I being too honest?
The Good News
You definitely CAN become wealthy, regardless of your age, ability or education.
The secret, the thing that so many wealth bloggers fail to mention, is that it’s going to take hard work.
Sometime in the past, it was decided that the day would be split into three 8-hour periods.
Eight hours for work, eight hours for sleep, and eight hours for downtime. No one can remember why.
It is this philosophy that condemns you to mediocrity.
Not one of the multi-millionaires I’m close to worked less than 12 hours per day in at least the early stages of their pursuit of wealth.
If you work in an hourly paid job and were able to work an extra 4 hours of overtime per day, your income would increase by 50%.
If you aren’t hourly paid or if there is no overtime, then you need to find a second job that pays you for 20 extra hours.
Part-time bar work, Uber work or fast food delivery etc.
Related: 85+ Ways To Make Extra Money
I have a friend who works 3 evenings per week delivering pizzas. He makes £270 per week (cash). 21 hours for £270.
If you only worked one evening per week, it’s an extra £390 pm income.
Worried your friends might see you and think less of you?
If someone questions your motive for delivering pizzas (or whatever), say ‘well, I’ve calculated if I do this three evenings per week, and invest the money, in 10 years I’ll have accumulated £250,000, and I plan to retire. What’s your plan?’
Related: Index Fund Investing And The Simple Path To Wealth
For a while I drove a cab from 8.00 am to 4.00 pm, went home got changed and worked in a bar 5 nights per week from 5.00 pm to 1230 am.
It was effectively 2 full-time jobs. Guess what happened to my income when I doubled my work week?
It’s hard work, but your body adapts. You get used to it. Whilst others were watching Love Island I was crushing it.
It takes no skill to work bar and drive a cab. Anyone can do it. Anyone who is willing to work hard.
Delivering pizzas isn’t glamorous, but it makes money.
If your self-esteem is questioning what I’m saying, remember this; you are not your job. Your job is merely a means of generating income.
Maybe you’re thinking ‘screw that, what about family time and life balance?’.
Answer me this; in 10 years time, when you’re retired and sat on your yacht, what will your friends and family think of you?
Will they question your commitment to your family and life balance?
Or will they say ‘that bloke grafted his balls off. Sacrificed all for 10 years. Did things that none of us thought possible or were willing to do. Respect to him.’
[redbar]It won’t happen without the hard work and it won’t happen overnight. It takes time. Time and grind.[/redbar]
Sacrifice. There’s an unpleasant and uncommon word.
‘Sacrifice: To give up something of value for the sake of other considerations’.
If you’re working harder and longer than most you will have sacrificed whatever others are doing with their time. Watching TV. Spending time with friends and family. Sleeping.
There’s a price to be paid for everything. For most people, however, the price is one too high to pay.
When most people say they ‘want to be rich’, they mean it with a couple of caveats: providing I don’t have to do anything, and I can have it right now.
Lottery wins aside, it never happens that way. It takes determination, resolve, hard work and time. That's why so few people actually become wealthy.
Hard work and resolution are rare qualities but are within us all.
My philosophy is to only promote those strategies that can be deployed by anyone.
If the main qualities required are hard work and determination, then anyone can become rich because they are choices, not talents.
We all have access to them. You just have to decide.
That being the case, if you aren’t rich or in the process of becoming rich, it’s because you’re choosing not to be.
You’re choosing not to work hard. Choosing not to be different and choosing to deny you and your family a lifestyle that is readily accessible to you.
There are some exceptions of course. If you’re disabled or living in a box under a bridge, then you have a genuine excuse.
But they’re the exceptions. For everyone else, it’s a choice. A choice to work only 40 hours, to buy THAT car or to live in that place. They’re choices.
Being normal is easy, that’s why most people opt for normal or average. Don’t make it an option for you.
Be abnormal. Be wealthy. Choose today.
Related post:
- How Much Money Is Enough?
- 7 Guaranteed Ways To Make An Extra £1,000 Per Month
- How We Became Mortgage Free in 8 Years And Millionaires In Our 30s
What Other Hard Truths Have You Faced On Your Journey To Wealth or Financial Independence? Please comment below.
Do please share this post if you found it useful, and remember, in all things be thankful and Seek Joy.
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