To start off, I want to set your expectations - when I say fast, it is not weeks or months, but years. In my other blog article about budgeting, I explained why it is important to think long term and be patient. So a couple of years is really a relatively short time span - at least I’m not talking about decades. To cite Warren Buffet again, because I actually think this one is pretty funny:
“No matter how great the talent or efforts, some things just take time. You can't produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant.”
The other aspect I want to clarify right off the bat is that this article is not for everyone. These tips and tricks are what worked for me and what I observed from people around me - those of us who are nerds and have been professionally trained to be very specialized, or at least who have the willingness and aptitude for this kind of route.
You all know those billionaires who never finished college or even attended one - so if you are very entrepreneurial and just want to start your business right away, go for it! That being said, at the time of this episode, the wealthiest person in the world is Bernard Arnault, who graduated from the École Polytechnique in Paris with a degree in engineering. The second wealthiest person is Elon Musk, who did attend and FINISH college from the University of Pennsylvania. He even attended Stanford University for a PhD program for two years. The third wealthiest person, Jeff Bezos, also attended and finished college at Princeton University. The businesses that made these men wealthy were also a long time coming - it was not an overnight success by any means.
OK, back to the topic - the reason why I want to write this article is that I don’t want you to fall into the trap of thinking there is a “get rich fast" route by just doing something on the side. I have seen so many gurus trying to sell courses that have a “get rich” fast sounding headline.
Here is a typical pitch - I want to show you how to make 6 or 7 or 8 figure income without any background or training; I have a proprietary and proven system and I will show you step by step by step how to do this. Click the link below for a free training… Being curious, you may take the training, since what the heck, it’s free. The training of course introduces the master class, which is on sale for those of you who attended the free training, and if you sign up RIGHT NOW you can get a huge discount. So you sign up for the master class, which costs you thousands of dollars. But hey, if you can make so much money from this master class, what’s a few thousand dollars? You attend the training and feel like there was good content, good tips and tricks, good logic and thinking. But then what happens?
You realize it takes a lot more time than you think is needed to implement these, there is too much competition out there, and/or some of the tips and tricks simply do not work in reality. This is actually a semi-good scenario and you at least learned something - but perhaps it’s just because you are not cut out for it and you do not have the time and/or energy to implement the “proven system”.
A worse scenario is one of those pyramid schemes - because all you hear in those trainings is how those trainers changed their life because they signed up for this program and you can do the same, without any substantive content. Hate to break it to you, but that’s how a pyramid scheme works - they just want you to believe this makes money and you can go try to convince other people the same.
How do I know? Take a wild guess. Yes, I have been through those scenarios first hand! I was also fooled and believed there was an easier way out. I hated my job when I first started and maybe just like you, I listened to those gurus and wanted to believe I can get rich fast by just doing this side thing. Don’t get me wrong - investing works, including investing in real estate. That’s what made me a good fortune. But I didn’t have to spend tens of thousands of dollars for these classes or programs. I could’ve done the same by reading books, listening to podcasts, actually going out and networking, and best of all, learning by doing.
But you know what kept me afloat to afford those real investments while allowing me to raise a family? My professional career - the one I mentioned that I started out hating.
Because of my side adventures, I actually wasn’t able to spend as much time to fast track my career as I would otherwise have been able to. That said, I was able to double my income from six figure to multi six figures in less than 10 years. Yes, 10 years is a long time, but a lot has happened in these 10 years. I got married, bought our primary residence, had two kids and purchased 18 rental units. (We subsequently sold a duplex and 1031 exchanged into 6 units, so the total was 22 units at the peak. We are now in the process of selling some of the units to take advantage of the appreciation.)
I also intentionally “downgraded” my career track because I needed more work life balance to care for my young family. Lastly, I started a YouTube channel for my kids in December 2020 and a podcast in 2021. I came to a daunting realization after a full gut job to renovate our last real estate purchase, a 6 unit multifamily that we purchased and renovated with a hard money loan.
It’s definitely another topic for another long article, but the daunting realization for me is that the highest and best use of my time is increasing my earned income instead of chasing after contractors and all the admin aspects that go with it like getting permits, making sure the utilities are not shut down, resolving disputes with the city or neighbors, keeping the lender happy, etc. What I am good at is being the money partner in real estate investing, and providing the money through earned income as an expert in a professional setting.
Anyway, looking back at what helped me with my career, I summarized the following 6 tips.
1. Grind it out in the early years. When you are young and without a family, that is the time to do the grinding. Maybe it was my upbringing but I do believe the value of delayed gratification. In this day and age, there is too much pressure to live it up, because as they say: "YOLO" - for those of you who don’t know, it stands for “you only live once”. As an economist though, statistically speaking, you are much more likely to have to live long enough to face the consequences of not being thoughtful enough when you are young than dying too early to not be able to enjoy yourself. So you do have to think about your future. You probably have heard - no pain no gain, and you put in what you get out. You can get an easy job and “enjoy your life” now but chances are that the career growth is not great. Nowadays with technology, the easy jobs are definitely most prone to being replaced.
2. Pick the path of least resistance. By this, I mean you want to pick a career path that potentially makes you the highest income with the least amount of investment to get there. Yes you can make a lot of money as lawyers or doctors, but the amount of education, and therefore the amount of debt, you need to accumulate is also tremendously high. At the end of the day, it may not be worthwhile, because these professions are not as lucrative as they once were, and the cost of getting those degrees keeps going up. More importantly, there is a concept called opportunity cost. While you spend those years away accumulating the education needed, you could have been making money at another job or career. Last but not least, these professions are associated with long hours and high stress. Both of them have been ranked on the top of the list of professions with the highest suicide rates consistently over time.
3. Niche down to a very specialized area where there’s a high demand for the skill set. As they say, the riches are in the niches. The reason why many artists are struggling financially is because there is not enough demand but plenty of supply. In other words, the skill set is not niche enough, unless you become the one in the million that produces works of art that are so unique, and you are truly the one and only. On the other hand, software engineers, data analysts, app developers and similar tech talents are making multi six figures with only a few years of experience because there is such a demand for these skill sets nowadays, and these skills sets are still niche enough before the supply of such talents catches up. I’m not saying that you should chase after the hottest area and retrain yourself all the time - truth be told, not everybody is cut out for a tech job. I cannot code for heaven’s sake. I took some programming classes in my college and graduate school days and debugging is THE worst possible thing I felt like I could do, and don’t even mention the professional ailments like the carpal tunnel syndrome. I hate it when I have shoulder pain from using the mouse too much, but I can at least break up my day between sitting in front the computer vs. other activities. Anyway, what I am advocating is to find an area you do have an aptitude for, and niche down to a sub area that’s very specialized and has a high demand. For me, that area is within economic consulting, and the sub area is its application in taxation.
You may ask, what if that is not the area that I’m passionate about? I don’t want to just make money by doing something I hate. Aren’t so many gurus just teaching that you should follow your passion? Fari point. Well, I don’t necessarily think there is a conflict between the two pieces of advice. There is a great book on this topic titled So Good They Can’t Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love by Cal Newport. The author went into many examples and made a very convincing case that when you get so good at something, you develop a passion for it, instead of the other way around. He used examples of successful comedians, news anchors, and of course, business people. The example that struck me the most is Steve Jobs. Even though Jobs himself may have advocated to follow your passion, if you look at his actual personal trajectory, it’s really hard-pressed to say that his passion was to build a tech company. He was in the pursuit of being a Zen master - he stayed in India for months and seriously considered moving to Japan before he was even in his 20’s. But we can’t argue the fact that he got really, really, really good at building personal computers, cell phones and other peripheral products with Apple. Point is, you have to get really good at something that distinguishes you from competition, and the passion actually follows suit.
4. Keep learning and stay relevant. Change is hard for a lot of people, but we all know that with the rapid pace in technological advancements, the more “routine” your job is, the more likely that your job may be replaced or outsourced. On this point, I actually get inspired by watching my kids - when they have to learn how to crawl, how to walk, how to talk, and now reading, math, and computer skills, it was definitely very hard at the beginning. I sometimes forget, since these skills are so basic and second nature to me, how difficult it can be for them. So I’m encouraged to know that if I keep learning, the seemingly difficult stuff can become basic and second nature to me too at some point. Instead of dreading learning new things, I embrace it and make it fun instead. Nowadays with Coursea and the platforms alike, you can learn anything. To be honest, even on YouTube, there is so much gold out there. I’ve taken two professional courses taught by legit college professors in order to enhance my knowledge in adjacent areas of my work, which were both posted on YouTube for free for people to consume. Best part is, now I know exactly what this knowledge is going to be used for, it is much more fun learning about it.
5. Be vocal, network and advocate for yourself. I’m the worst self advocator because of my personality, cultural background and upbringing, but over the years I’ve come to realize how important it is. Many times, I severely underestimated myself and had significant self doubt, but was proven wrong. I was born in a third world country, was the first person in my family to go to college, and against all odds, got a full scholarship from a prestigious university in the U.S. for a PhD program. I still doubted myself as I ventured into the professional world. Thanks to my mentors, I’ve realized that I’m viewed much more positively by others than myself, and they’d vouch for me through my career advancements. So I’m forced to change my own perception through such experiences and the peers around me who are much better at these aspects. I’m still not great at it but getting better.
6. Think strategically and think big picture. Like Tony Robbins once said, and I’m heavily paraphrasing here, you’re paid by the value you are creating. It’s not about how hard you work or the hours you worked, it’s about the value you bring. His step dad worked something like 5 jobs but all minimal wage type of gigs so not that much money was made, and he spent most of it on alcohol. Whereas certain wealth management professionals can make millions of dollars a year because they bring in 40%+ returns on a multiple year basis - that’s a lot of value on a compounded basis. So there is your answer - by thinking strategically and thinking big picture, you can figure out where you can bring in the most significant amount of value to the people and organizations you serve. And rest assured, you will be rewarded handsomely in return.
7. Last but least, and maybe this is going to sound controversial - Personal Finance Cat style - don’t be afraid to jump ship if a better opportunity presents itself. Oftentimes, people get comfortable with their existing job because familiarity is good and change is bad. However the only thing that is constant is change. From what I observe, many people have been able to fast track their career growth because they are willing to change jobs, employers or even precessions. This is actually mutually beneficial for the person’s career growth and the company which hires such a person because said person can bring a wide range of experiences and a different way of thinking to benefit the next company. An incestuous company lacks the “fresh blood” and is likely to be stuck in the same way of thinking and cease to make major progress.
From my personal experience, I definitely have been glad to have changed my job/employer for the first time - it’s probably the best decision I could have made for myself and my family. I was really burnt out and the career path at my first job was getting too competitive and stressful, much more so than it already was. At the end of day, it’s a job based on billable hours, which is the worst kind in my mind because you’re punished for being efficient and it’s like a pie eating contest with the ultimate reward being more pies. By switching out of that job, I got a slight pay bump but more importantly my hourly rate increased much more significantly because I work much less. Also, a much larger portion of my compensation is in the form of bonus and stock based compensation, which is actually good because it forces me to think long term, and restrict my monthly spending. The big benefit of a job like this is that the better work life balance allows me to focus more on child rearing, which I would have otherwise paid other people to do or sacrificed my health to do it all by myself. It also allows me to do side gigs like this blog, which hopefully will one day generate passive income for me. On the other hand, I do believe I brought value to the company I switched to. Guess how I knew it? My boss told me that I was brilliant, and they wanted me to stay for a long time. In other words, it’s not just made up by me.
Alright, this is it, my friends. It's a long blog post, but hopefully you got some value out of it. If you can’t tell from these calm words, I’m very passionate about these topics, because I personally lived through them. I want to share my experiences so that it can potentially help people like you. I do believe we live in a great time with great opportunities - there is so much we can do and achieve if we can take care of the personal finance side of things - be it leisure or business. If you find this post helpful at all, please share it with your friends and family. I’d really appreciate it. Thanks so much for reading until the end and I’ll catch you next time!