I’m unsure where my financial drive originally came from. Part of it has always felt like an innate part of who I am. While recently, it has turned more into a passion project over anything else. So, let’s start from the beginning.
I was born to two wonderful middle class parents who divorced before I had turned 1. As the divorce happened when I was so young, I actually didn’t fully understand that it wasn’t normal. I actually remember feeling bad for kids who only had one house, or got one Christmas or birthday.
Growing Up
I recall being very young when my parents started giving my siblings and I an allowance. I remember that allowance only being around 5 dollars based on the few chores we were asked to do. My dad was financially savy (cheap), which is likely where I inherited it from. Anyways, this allowance had stipulations to it. Half of every allowance had to be saved, a quarter had to be given for offering at church, and then the last quarter I was able to use for whatever I wanted. Boom! 50% savings rate!
From that point on I was always a saver. I never knew why I saved or for what purpose I saved, but I saved. I looked forward to the quarterly letters from my bank just to see what the interest gains were on my savings account. That 11 cents of growth was the coolest thing. I made money, without doing anything…
Where I struggled, was with the accumulation phase of being financially independent. I rarely worked anything growing up except odds and ends jobs for my family or for my friend’s dad who was a general contractor. Sports occupied all of my time after school and during the summers I wanted to use my time how I deemed fit. I was time rich and I loved it!
My First Job
However, I knew I needed money to live off of as college was quickly approaching. So the summer after my senior year of high school I got my first job… A family friend had connection at the local Coca-Cola factory for route help.
The job consisted of showing up in the morning around 5 AM, getting on a delivery truck and driving from town to town while stopping at every gas station, bar, and restaurant along the way. At each stop, we would pack Coke products onto dollies to bring into each establishment. Often times, we would be carrying hundreds of pounds of products up long flights of stairs or down into cramped bar basements.
It was physically demanding. I told myself it was training for football. The truck would arrive back at the plant around 4pm. At this point, everyone would go home. Then, I had the task of unloading the trucks, cleaning the plant, and getting the return product ready for the overnight pickup. I would trudge out of the plant around 6 to try and find where my friends were that night. I worked hard, but I also didn’t stop training for football, nor socializing like a normal high schooler. I was truly burning the candle on both ends and was no longer time rich any more…
I still look back at this job to remind myself why I chose my current career path but also to blame it (but later to thank it) for pushing me towards my goals of never needing to work again. I enjoyed being time rich, and I didn’t understand why this was what being an adult had to be like.
Entrepreneurs
This brings me to my next summer. I knew for a fact that I would not be returning to the Coke plant despite the good money I had made. I knew I didn’t need much money to live on at this point in my life but I knew I needed something. So while sitting around in at my friend’s house, we all started throwing around the idea of starting a business. It was fun and all seven of us there that day participated in the ideas. However, most of us thought it was a joke and not something that was very practical. Well, one of my friends and I must have missed that joke. Because we took the idea and ran with it. (To be Continued)
