Enough About Women. Let's talks money... the TRP way. If you have alternative revenue streams, are in an unconventional occupation, or live an unconventional life style... SHARE IT! [Discussion]

MoneyStatusLooks · 2016-02-28T14:03:50+00:00

What is your alternative revenue stream/unconventional occupation/unconventional lifestyle?

I work as an affiliate marketer in the online gambling industry. Specifically, I work with online slots and online casinos. My income last year was £300k GBP, my projected income this year is £360k GBP with two months left in my company tax year.

Basically, I make websites, that get high rankings in the Google search engine. The visitors to my website, I then use sales to get them to join online casinos, the casino then pays me either a percentage of the revenue generated, or a CPA (A one time fee when someone makes a deposit on the casino), I have CPA's up to £200. My average earnings per person who makes a deposit at an online casino is approximately £120.

I primarily make my money from 3 things:

Making very large "authority" websites with lots of content.
Getting such websites to rank highly in Google using SEO.
Converting visitors in to customers using sales (Basically getting from point A - my website to point B, the casino website)

Do you work from home?

Yes.

Are you a blogger?

Definitely not. I sometimes write content and in the beginning I wrote hundreds of pieces. Now I pay others to write on my behalf, I have outsourced 90% of this part of my business.

Do you work a trade?

My trade is 3 fold:

Understanding the web. I know enough about web design, coding and marketing. But I don't do it now, I hire great people to do it for me. Now I just manage and build more projects.
Sales sales sales.
SEO.

Do you live off passive income?

This is an interesting question. At this point my income averages £30k a month. If I don't work for 30 days, I will still earn £30k next month. So in a sense it's passive. However my assets are definitely not 0 maintaince. So if I do nothing, the £30k a month average will definitely start to lower. I have enough momentum now though, that if I don't work for 6 months, I may be earning more. Eventually though it would get less.

My overall strategy is to get enough money out of my business and in to passive income/cash flow assets, so that I can retire, but thats another story.

Do you live a modest lifestyle using unique ways to get by?

I used to. My expenses are now approx £4k a month, which is still not very much compared to my income. I used to live on £1500 a month for many years though.

Are you an investor? Are you a landlord?

I am both. I have only one real estate investment. I have personal portfolio of stocks/shares/assets and a self managed pension.

How did you start out?

I started making websites when I was about 11. My first "career" was when I was still in high school and I started going round trying to make websites for local businesses. Over time my skillsets and ambitions evolved.

Are you from a rich family?

No, they are lower middle class.

Are you a high school drop out?

I never went to college. I am super thankful I didnt because what you can learn in online marketing can be learnt online or from books, often pretty cheaply and is constantly evolving. A college course in making websites and online marketing would suck because by the time you finish the material would be out of date. You need to self learn to stay on the cutting edge.

Was the education helpful/needed for your success? Was it a complete waste of time and money? Did you find everything you needed on the internet?

Self-education was paramount. I learned through books, online tutorials, self experimentation and online forums.

Did you just quit and go for it?

By the time I was out of high school, I was earning the same amount as teachers. This was starting business in my own time. My parents wanted me to go to college, I said let me try business for a few years and if it doesn't work ill go college. I had good enough grades.

Did you get a bank loan, capital investments, or receive money from family and friends? (even steal)

100% self funded. I got starting capital through providing services (making websites) for other companies. Then my skillset evolved and my business grew organically.

Where did you acquire the information you needed to get started and become successful?

Specifically, Amazon with business books, books on sales and marketing etc. Also forums and just generally learning websites through trial and error. I am skilled, but I still use Wordpress and purchase premium themes, which are then modified. We don't waste our time or energy making websites from scratch, its simply not worth it nowadays.

What books? (Readers can find free pdfs online) Which websites? (or subreddits)

There are so many books and websites. I will try and make a list and edit this post at some point.

What were the struggles/obstacles? What is the reality that most get wrong or need to prepare for?

Biggest obstacle was understanding how Google works on a high level, and being able to do SEO better than 95% of people.

Also that websites typically, take months to get high position rankings, so you have to put in a lot of effort before you reap a penny back.

Did people shame you or not believe you?

No one believed in me or gave me any encouragement. But I was typically not shamed. Now they are all very supportive.

Taxation realities?

Don't make me cry. Yes I pay a lot of taxes.

Was any Machiavellian tactics/48 Laws of Power used?

Yes, with negotiating suppliers for higher revenue share or CPA (playing them against each other). Also in sales/conversion in general.

Do you prey on beta males? (i.e. make fake female profiles to get sent free things)

I guess online gambling is a dumb/beta thing.

Are you married? Do you have a family?

I am in a LTR. No marriage, no kids.

How do you balance the lifestyle with them? (Assuming it can be a challenge)

No need. My GF loves my lifestyle, I go on about 5-6 foreign vacations a year. Some on my own, some with her, she loves coming along for the ride (BB?).

How long have you been at it? Do you enjoy it?

16 years now (I'm 28). I still enjoy it, at times I don't.

MoneyStatusLooks · 2016-02-28T11:12:55+00:00

Occupation: Founder/CEO

Age: Mid-20's

I started making websites at age 13 and by age 16 I was making money designing websites and from affiliate income. I kept learning and learning about making money online. All the information needed is on the web for free. You don't have to purchase anything.

I always had pretty good grades and got a decent SAT score, but I never liked school too much. Got my AA at a local community college and went to a couple of junior level classes for mechanical engineering, then dropped out.

When I turned 18, I started working at my father's TV production company. Some of the biggest red pill lessons in my life came from that job. I went from barely being able to get laid to constant dates and sex with very attractive young model girls. It raised my standards of beauty dramatically and helped me achieve the abundance mentality needed to not give a fuck.

I found a "girl" that I "fell in love". You guys know how that turns out. Bear with me because there is a point to all this story. I found an "incredible" 18 year old woman who was still a virgin. I turned her from a virgin and had her having threesomes with me after about a year. The relationship lasted 4 years and I had to cut her off, after exhibiting too many red flags. It was the hardest thing I had to do. A good chunk of my sites had just been wiped out and my income dropped close to 0 within a month. It fucked with my head and started a downward spiral in all areas of my life.

You ever sit down and calculate just how much money is fucking wasted on pussy? It's fucking ridiculous. I had spent 4 fucking years with bitches, burning money on good times and going to college for something that deep-down I know wouldn't be worth it. ( I did really enjoy it, but the opportunity cost for sitting down another year or two was too high for my blood).

I was still running my passive income websites and making websites for clients through my personal agency. I was making 3k on a bad month and 5 or 6k on a good month. I kept studying in college and went through odd life experiences and trips that enlightened me.

I decided one faithful December to cut out absolutely everything in my life that wasn't directly related to achieving my life's goals. I cut woman out. I cut 95% of my friends out. I dropped out of college. I cleaned my room and it looked like a jail cell.

I worked like a motherfucker day and night developing countless of business models and schemes. I must have ran 1000's of scenarios/business plans that I could work with the money I had.

I went with an eCommerce site that filled a void on a product that people were searching constantly on the internet. I built everything myself and used my skills acquired from my agency to rank the site across google combined with paid advertising through a wide range of sources and a strong social media presences in the hundreds of thousands of followers.

I started this company a little under 2 year ago and today I am making somewhere around 350k in profits in month. The good chunk of that income comes from that eCommerce site. My business caters 80% to women. I find feminists and "independent" women to be very profitable. Women are less skeptical customers and are moved through the motions much more easily then men. The product is more then likely being paid by some beta.

I acquired every skill I needed to do this purely through the internet and 99.9% of it was completely free. These days I will some times purchase a product that seems exceptional because I don't have time to search the internet where it's probably posted somewhere for free anyways.

I am still in the process of diversifying more. Where my money is coming from or where it is invested.

Car Dealership
International Cargo company focuses on a particular region
Modeling agency
Dozens of high quality affiliate sites I purchased
Rental real estate
Real Estate Brokerage
Digital Marketing Agency
3 more different eCommerce sites

Tax structures:

My online-based companies are based in the British Virgin Islands and the bank accounts are in Hong Kong. I recommend you register off-shores for any online companies because you gain the ability to defer corporate taxes indefinitely. The compound interest of investing the money kept from paying taxes and later paying the taxes once that money is multiplied is astonishing to say the least.

Future Ventures ( I want to bump up my income higher to enter in some of these and the market timing has to be there:

Real Estate Development firm
Independent Film Production Studio
Purchase a bank in a certain country ( It ties into a grand goal I have)
Angel back my own start-up ventures

Advice that helped me achieve the mentioned:

I read every single day. I go through 2 books a week on average
Learning to learn is paramount. Everything I needed to built this came from the internet.
When you aren't where you want to be in life. Cut the bullshit out. I had the skills and the knowledge to do this many years before I actually did it. You wanna know why I didn't? Because I wasn't focused, disciplined and distracted by shit that didn't matter.
If you wake up later then 6 am, you're already losing.
Women suck the life out of you if you let them or like an idiot think one is "special."
Always keep a rainy day fund to keep you afloat for at least a year without doing shit.

Things I am still working on:

I am relatively skinny. I weight around 168 at 6'1'. I used to weigh 155. I am growing and my goal is to reach 180 with 10% body-fat. I am at 12% right now. Still pretty good. This relates to money because my presence has to be optimal based on how young I am and the people I am starting to deal with. I didn't command any respect until I started talking. Now I am starting to command respect just by walking in a room.
I am going to move more and more of my assets into various international trusts to start separate all my companies from me. This will protect me from divorce rape ( In the event I marry) and most frivolous lawsuits that could happen.
Running various online companies that make money is great, but they are not my end goal. Everything I have done until this point is to be able to start playing the game with the right amount of resources.
I am still acquiring more and more skills needed to advance to the next level. I finished an intensive web development bootcamp a couple of months ago and have gotten proficient enough to manage people in this industry. There are still many more I need to acquire, particularly on better management.
My organizational skills have gotten way better these last two years, but they still need to be improved.

The final and biggest piece of advice I can give anyone.

Never have a plan B

For years, I always had a plan B,C,D,E. It looked something like this.

Plan A: Make it as an entrepreneur
Plan B: Graduate as an Engineer, work and try Plan A
Plan C: I hated engineering, so go to Law school.
Plan D: I graduated Law school, work as a lawyer and start a practice
Plan E: Hated being a lawyer, drop out and start trafficking drugs across borders.

Obviously, you can pivot a little if something isn't working, but nothing like I mentioned above. This is how most people run their lives and how I did for most of it.

masterco · 2016-03-01T10:32:15+00:00

Occupation: Designer/Programmer/SEO Consultant.

What is your alternative revenue stream/unconventional occupation/unconventional lifestyle?

Grew up poor. I taught myself how to code and design when I was 12. I had to learn SEO to be noticed my customers when I launched my products at 18.

I started freelancing, now I code and design Wordpress templates and sell them online, I also made stupid games for iOS/Android that have ~25K users per month, the games are free, I get money from advertising. Games are passive income and the templates too, if I choose to give zero support to the buyers.

I travel the world full time, I use couchsurfing to meet people in every city I go to, meetup and tinder work really well too.

Couldn't afford college and with programming, even without a degree finding jobs is really easy.

I learned HTML first, then CSS, then Javascript and finally PHP for wordpress. I hate PHP code but Wordpress works on top of it, now I'm designing a template for Ghost. (Javascript powered 'Wordpress)

Codecademy is a good resource to start learning, also codeschool but if you're broke as i was once, there are a lot of free tutorials in youtube.

What were the struggles/obstacles?

Programming will always be a lonely job if you travel a lot like me. A lot of relationships between people are made at the workplace and in my case I work at starbucks, as I do everything I have no coworkers. I'd say the hardest part for me is being social, because I'm not forced to be (like most 9 to 5 jobs) I could go a week without talking to anybody focused on my code.

What I do to mitigate this is using couchsurfing the first few days when I'm in a new city, those people become my friends and I hang out with them for as long as I'm in the city, also really useful to get laid, being an expat gives a huge amount of perceived value

I suck at taxes, I pay a guy to do that.

Where do you look for customers?

I sell stuff on themeforest, ghost marketplace, creative market, and for the games the apple appstore and google play store.

Are you married? Do you have a family?

No wife, I miss my mom sometimes (I'm 20)

How long have you been at it? Do you enjoy it?

Father was an asshole, mom was left alone with me and my sister and brother when I was 12, programming was the only job I could do without people asking for my age or wanting to see a degree. I don't love it, per se, but I love the freedom it gives me (live in any country, not having to go to meetings, living in hotels, etc.)

Rant

To be honest I think my life is cool, but I wonder what's next, more notch count? Better body? More countries? Sometimes everything just feels so unappealing.

If you have any questions I'd love to answer them, I've been a mentor for two guys that are now traveling the world with the products they built with my mentorship. I like to help people so if you want to be mentored by me it would be my pleasure but I can only do 3 at the same time, I'm helping one guy from philippines right now so there are two spots left.

let me know.

ChairBorneMGTOW · 2016-02-28T04:37:01+00:00

I have a 9-5 job, plus a part time job a couple nights a week. But I also have passive income.

I own multiple parking spots in my condo building. I live close to the local university campus, as well as office buildings downtown. I rent these out to non residents to cover both property tax and the extra condo fees I pay for additional spots. I make a small profit on each spot every month.

The great thing about being a parking spot landlord is that it's easy to get into. Investment property can be had for relatively cheap. I just buy another spot whenever one comes up for sale in my building. Advantageous side effect is that I create false scarcity for spots in my building, increasing my property resale value.

It's a lower effort way to rent property too. I don't care if my renters own pets, make noise, are filthy hoarders, or smoke crack. It's just a fucking parking spot. It's not like they are living there.

Also, there is no legal protection for them in the sense of tenant rights, etc. Eviction is as easy as calling a tow truck (though I have never had to evict anybody).

Of course I have to keep this on the down low from my condo board. They could pass a corporate bylaw saying renting to non residents is forbidden, or raise the condo fees for parking spots for additional spaces.

Ultimately, I would like to own about twenty spots (it's in a high rise building). Because it's right downtown, urban professionals who walk to work don't need the spots that come with their condos, so occasionally they get listed for sale.

Also, this plan won't work for you if you don't live in an area where parking is scarce. It also may not work if you have to borrow and pay interest to buy a parking spot, or if it's too expensive.

Do your own research, do your own math.

steelerfaninperu · 2016-02-28T18:56:24+00:00

Fuck having a car and move to Peru

Ok, so I come from absolutely nothing. Like my parents declared bankruptcy after a foreclosed house kind of nothing.

I've made it a point to avoid debt. Best way to do that is not having a car. A car just guzzles money. You gotta live somewhere where you won't need a car. I live in Lima, Peru. Note, I didn't go to Peru to avoid having a car, that just happened and I discovered how great it is.

My monthly expenses are less than $1,000. My income is closer to $2,000. I may not make 100k a year, but I can save more than you probably do on that salary. Mind you I only have 800 square feet, though it is in a great neighborhood and I walk to work.

America requires you to get into debt and keep buying shit in order to compete with your neighbors and satisfy your needs. If you're not tied down, just leave. It's not a sustainable lifestyle. Everybody you know is weighed down in debt, and that just cripples your freedom.

dr_warlock · 2016-02-28T04:46:23+00:00

I work on Oil rigs.

I work ~ 180 days a year, and have the rest off. Occasionally I have to do maintenance or meetings at our shop. I make about ~120k. I've gotten to travel and spend time in some cool places--norway, Scotland, Croatia, Trinidad, and all over US, often on the company dollar. Prior to this, I was in the military, that's where I got my experience. I performed a very technical job, and worked my ass off to make rank, and then get leadership experience. My leadership experience has been more valuable than anything else. Engineering degrees definitely help to get you in, but I also work with guys who have had no experience, or came from other trades...cable companies, mechanics, plumbers. Right now it's hard to get into though.

Most of my free time has been spent traveling, going to school online, or fucking off. Been at it for two years now. The job is physically dancing--but the time gives you plenty of room for your own pursuits.

Currently I'm exploring things like welding and programming to add supplemental income in my free time where I can be my own boss. Since I eventually want to get out of the oilfield, definitely leaning towards programming.

48 laws of power has been huge to my success.

IKickHorses · 2016-02-28T18:12:07+00:00

Hustles:

Direct report to the GM of a division of a worldwide critical supplier in the automotive industry. I call bullshit on shit in our processes, shit that goes to shit becomes my shit, and I un-fuck that shit a/r.

LTR with a better income. Keeping it in line saves me a chunk of dough, and what falls off the tree has a lot of utility.

Never sold a house, I only buy them. That is only three, but cashed out of one by assumption. I also moved the LTR into renting out their old home, and it has made them happier enough to make them easier to manage.

Bought a home on enough land with the right zoning and government (I am in the government state) to minimize costs and maximize opportunity. I call it the 4 L's Location, location, location, Legal.

Farming. Not "herbs" like so many other /u/'s, but seasonal produce and eggs. I sell the produce to restaurants and the eggs to anybody who knows I have them for sale. Most importantly, it is a business that turns a lot of my expenses for increasing the value of my property into tax deductions.

Trash into treasure. Every byproduct is a product waiting to be discovered. I don't clear brush and dead trees on my property, I cut firewood to sell. My chickens and horses don't shit, they make fertilizer that I don't have to buy.

Going forward: Agritourism. It takes time to create the attraction, which is what is going on now This is the launch into "active retirement" and working from home and having more or "The Life"

Influences:

WWI, Wiemar Republic, Great Depression, WWII, Bavaria, Bohemia, Mormons, flea markets, The Amish and The Mennonites, Texas, Arizona, The Chicago Machine, Northern Italy, Spanish and Italian languages, Catholic schools, travel, corporal punishment, Vonnegut, Rand, Heller, horses, ex-cons, cats, roosters, motorcycles, bicycles, and Gypsies/Tinkers.

Over all, you may be dead, incapacitated or incarcerated tomorrow. The goal is to live as free and happily as possible doing things of value to others and yourself. Personally, I am one of the thriftiest bastard out there(so is the LTR). I know what my needs are and keep calm about my wants, this lets me keep more money to do work for me. Sure, sometimes you are not good enough and don't win, sometimes others are really out to get you, but it doesn't matter if you hold frame and and keep a strong grip on the reins.

Dividends:

I'm coming up on 50. A week with a fitbit told me I do over 15000 steps per day. I ride horses five days a week. I eat like a king every day with fresh food I produce or get from similar producers. I weigh what I did when I graduated from high school. I have a flock of under 40's that grool to take direction from me that keeps my dread game strong at home. Everything I can not afford to lose fits in a backpack. I have the time to post on Reddit!

[deleted] · 2016-02-28T11:01:21+00:00

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IamGale · 2016-02-28T15:00:23+00:00

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Entropy-7 · 2016-02-28T11:39:22+00:00

I design board games. One of those was made into a video game and now I have a hundred bucks a month in passive cash. So now I want to add a few more titles to my library. . If any of you here are talented artists or the like, then PM me.

twy3440 · 2016-02-28T12:58:01+00:00

Day Occupation: Litigation Attorney. Unlike a lot of attorneys who are miserable Fs, I love my job. But it's not anywhere near as lucrative as non-attorneys think. Of course, I could land the "big case" and wind up a millionaire but so far that's not happened.

Side Job Money-Maker: I day trade and longer-term trade commodities and financial futures. This is a pretty amazing way to make money. You use a brokerage account, you analyze specific commodities and you buy or sell depending on the direction.

The financial "experts" tell everyone to buy stocks. When stocks tank, they say "hold" stocks. They never say "sell and sell fast." Stocks can go to zero.

The laws of supply and demand do not apply to stocks. They do apply to futures on commodities as these represent tangible, real goods, raw materials, grain, currency, etc.

Where Did I Acquire the Knowledge: I've read a lot of books with perhaps the best one to start is "Trading Commodities and Financial Futures."

Also, read up on the so-called "Turtle Traders." Michael Covel's book "The Complete Turtle Trader" is a great read with good information.

You can read the original Turtle Trading Rules online, here:

Last but not least, I learned the most from this website, which tells you how to trade, what to buy, when, how to sell and there's a free 30-day trial: http://takeatradeonline.com/

Trucks_N_Chainsaws · 2016-02-28T18:05:46+00:00

Occupation: Electric utility stuff.
I pull about $170k a year. All my bills and savings are collected from one check. The second check is for whatever I want. Managed to save up ~$200k in my 401k. Took a loan from it in early December, before everything started shitting the bed, and went after two (low end) rental buildings.
Total units: 13.
Gross revenue: $5200/month
Net revenue: $2000/month
I'm still in the process of making the purchase but it should all be complete in <30 days. I found a property management company willing to handle my units for 6%, which is more than reasonable.
But that's it really - rental property. Am I slumlord? Yeah. Poor people need to live somewhere too. The goal here is to build enough monthly income to stop working for my employer.
But wait - there's more!
Once I have a few buildings under my belt, and get a feel for what's required, I plan on branching out with investors. Right now I'm projected to make ~60% cash-on-cash. Shouldn't be too hard to wrangle up $50k for additional buildings with numbers like that.
The 5-year plan is to have 100 units under management that generate a solid $100 net revenue each.
I came from almost nothing. Even if this real estate venture fails, I'm still making more than I ever thought I would. I regret nothing.

PabloEscoba · 2016-02-28T05:48:28+00:00

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ampwyo · 2016-02-28T06:46:06+00:00

Occupation : ESL/Kindergarten Teacher in Asia

TLDR: I teach kids, travel, and enjoy an interesting social life. Came for the experience, stayed for the life style, but now what?

I'm basically just an expat doing what most expats do to pay the bills. I've lived in Taiwan almost 4 years and was in Korea for 3 before that. My salary is roughly 2000 usd per month which isn't much back home, but in Taiwan it affords me a pretty good life style. My rent is about 300 bucks for an apartment in a central location in pretty big city. Food and services are cheap- if I really wanted too I could save more than half my pay. I like having a social life so that would be a rare month.

I only really work 5 hours a day (9 - 4 with 2 hours for lunch - I leave when the the kids have lunch and nap). I also pick up some side work. I can get 20 to 25 bucks an hour for private lessons or subbing esl in the evening. I've pulled an extra 600 - 700 bucks some months. I actually like teaching the 4 - 6 year old age group, back in the states I wouldn't feel comfortable doing so, as someone would probably call the police if they saw me watching them on the playground. Which is unfortunate because kids need more male authority figures and role models.

Taiwan is a good home base for travel in East and south east Asia. Tickets to the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam etc can be had for 100 to 200 bucks if you travel smart.

My friends come from all over the world; Brits, Aussies, Kiwis, Saffers etc. are usually doing what I'm doing, other Europeans tend to be engineers or restaurant owners. I enjoy the mix of nationalities in the expat community here. I also like asian women, its a win win.

On the otherhand, I'm 33 and I should be looking for ways to make my financial future more secure. Its a deceptively easy lifestyle. Real easy to stay right where I am with everything I need, harder to get ahead. There's probably opportunities to source parts or merchandise from factories in Taiwan and China for businesses in other parts of the world, for example, but it will definitely take some work, and connections, to get there.

IamGale · 2016-02-28T11:09:59+00:00

I work as a programmer in finance in London.

Positives: I earn a lot for my age. And probably will for the rest of my life. My risk is very low - I can fail in so many ways and still end up in a good corporate job earning amazing money (the only exception is, you can't work in finance with a criminal record).

Negatives: No risk, no gain. My downsides are extremely limited, but so are my upsides. I don't have a lot of insight into salaries and bonuses for people years ahead of me, but I'm guessing they probably earn at most 3x what I'm earning, 20 years down the line. Combine that with London property prices, and it basically means you can't raise a family in Central London.

To earn more, I'll need to take on more risk. Trading / sales (i.e. bring in money for your employer) or start my own business.

redpillerrr · 2016-02-28T17:51:24+00:00

Occupation: Senior Data Engineer. Job responsibilities include using Oracle-stack applications (Informatica, Toad, versioning and change management softwares) to ensure proper data flow for a large financial firm.

How did you start out? I grew up in rural Colorado with lazy and poor parents. They divorced when I was 8, and my mom spent the next 10 years between crappy jobs and cancer treatments. My dad was in and out, mostly because he wanted to spend time with me but couldn't stand my mother. We lived in Government Assistance housing for ~12 years, and received Food Stamps, AFDC (TANF of the '90s), and a few other government benefits. We went to food banks once a week, got vouchers for things like eyeglasses and car gas, and just generally mooched off of society for most of my pre-teen years. Of course, my mom and dad both smoked 1-2 packs a day, and there were always donuts for breakfast and Pepsi's in the fridge. Later on in my childhood, my mother was one of the "working moms" Bill Clinton worked so hard to create - she was a professional student for 2 years, with the end game being an Associate's Degree in Accounting and a subsequent $10 an hour job. She got vaccinated to take the job, and claimed allergic reaction to the immunization, absorbing more money from Disability and later settling a lawsuit against the medical insurance company of her employer for her "pain" due to Fibromyalgia.

I worked a part-time job pushing carts and a full-time job answering phones at a call center at the same time I was a senior in High School, and I graduated High School shortly after all of the immunization lawsuit stuff (2.7 GPA at a charter school), I took about a year off from college, and then kept working a full-time job as a cell phone salesman while I plugged away at Junior Colleges for the better part of three years to finish my first two years of Undergrad.

Where did you acquire the information you needed to get started and become successful? I began my career as a Workforce Analyst for a major flight retailer, then transitioned into Business Analysis and, later, Database Development. I took Robert Kiyosaki's "find the one skill you need to double your income" advice to heart, and for the better part of 6 years, I bought every single book I ever needed on Amazon.com. Using books and spare time, I taught myself Microsoft Office (Excel and Access particularly), ANSI SQL, and all of the necessary organizational knowledge (Kimball DW methodology, Agile / Waterfall SDLC concepts, etc). I also made good use of student discounts to pick up cheap, legal versions of Microsoft Office, Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio, and a few other components that helped me hone my skills. I built a database with baseball data and used my knowledge of advanced baseball statistics to teach myself everything at a conceptual level.

What were the struggles/obstacles? What is the reality that most get wrong or need to prepare for? The most important takeaway from my life is that FORTY HOURS A WEEK IS NOT ENOUGH IN 2016 AMERICA. I grew up poor, and had to work 60, 70, 80 hours a week at a full-time job, night school or online classes, and self-taught software / coding / scripting skills. While my friends were goofing off in college, wasting their 80k on worthless degrees and generally being dumb, I was in my homemade lab learning how to query. While my buddies were out at bars hitting on chicks, I was studying for certifications. While my buddies were getting married to the first pretty girl that winked at them, I was learning Python. If you come from wealth or means, your parents can probably float you the money you need to only have to work 40 hours a week. If not, you'll have to do what I did: work 40 hours a week to support yourself and then find another 40 hours a week to do the same amount of learning as everyone else.

What strategy did you implement? To offer a baseball metaphor, there are two strategies towards building a World Series-caliber team. You can either tank for a few years and start to build a dominant farm system that you can then use to get talented players at the Major League level (think about the Cubs this year), or you can take a roster, and just start replacing your worst player over and over until your team is really good (think about the Detroit Tigers of the early 2010's). Both strategies work, but some teams don't have the luxury of tanking for a few years, so they just need to fix their biggest weakness and then move on to addressing their next biggest. To me, this is very similar to how you get a $100k+ career - either you go completely into the tank for 4-6 years, borrow a shit ton of money for college, intern for a good company and get into a good job when you get out, or you take what you already know, add a skill, add another skill, add a third skill, and move up the ladder every time you learn something else. Both paths work if you do them right, but my strategy was definitely the latter and not the former.

Where do you look for customers? I live in a major market with less than 3% unemployment in the tech center. I haven't posted a resume online in 4 months and I still get 5-10 calls a week offering me jobs. When you're good enough, they come to you.

Are you married? Do you have a family? I got married a little more than a year ago to a TRP woman 6 years younger than me. She knows that the most important thing in my life is my career, so she willingly takes a backseat and doesn't give me any shit. She currently works as a nanny and does all the cooking and cleaning while I finish my Master's Degree and take the next step in my career (likely to be Machine Learning). We don't have kids yet, and we'll likely wait a few more years until the house is paid off and I've doubled my income twice more before we consider children.

How long have you been at it? Do you enjoy it? I've been on this career path for a little more than 6 years. I enjoy the quick upward mobility and the daily focus on learning how to do new things. The pay is also quite good, and it sure as hell beats dealing with idiot customers or social justice coworkers like I've done at other jobs.

Comments 95% of people in this country live two paychecks in advance. Be the 1 in 20 who doesn't. Either completely tank for a few years to turn your life around, or fix your holes one at a time until you're worth 100k+. Don't rely on worthless idiot politicians to fix things for you, and don't wait for the right opportunities to find you - identify what you need to work on and do it on your own time.

Side note: I am legally required to disclose that, although I am employed by a large financial institution, I am not a Professional Financial Advisor, and that all of the following advice is generalized and descriptive of a simple overall investment strategy, rather than being an advocacy for any particular type or form of investment. ALWAYS PAY YOURSELF FIRST. Learn to save 10% of your income in a bank account that you don't even consider touching. Take all possible free 401k match from any employer who offers it. Once you've got enough money saved to cover all of your bills for 6 months, begin moving money into less liquid, higher-yielding investments. DO NOT SPEND MONEY AS FAST AS YOU EARN IT. Establish a standard of living and do not change it, no matter what happens to your income. Read Robert Kiyosaki's writings and learn the difference between assets and liabilities, and only invest your money into assets. A HOUSE THAT YOU LIVE IN IS NOT AN ASSET. I fully and whole-heartedly recommend meeting with a Professional Financial Advisor who can give you much more specific and detailed information that is tailored to your individual situation.

abdada · 2016-02-28T03:27:24+00:00

Occupation Business consultant

I've been working on a fluctuating real time pricing rate for almost 10 years.

My clients book me on my calendar and see the rate for any time frame, which fluctuates based on demand.

Last week I worked for $280/hour emergency rate one morning and later that day took a $12/hour rate for the last 3 hours because I was nearby and the client said he didn't care what day I came in.

Works great.

I also don't take weekends or holidays -- instead of 140 days off a year in 2-3 day runs every week, I take 20-28 vacations a year totalling 140 days in 5-7 day runs.

LolBrah123 · 2016-02-28T13:20:11+00:00

FTSE100 Index Trader. A year out of high school, studying as well.

At the moment, you'd need about 400 USD to get in on a share. With one share, you could safely make up to 80 USD of profit a day. I live in Central/Eastern Europe, and if you do this 5 days a week, you'll have a great part-time salary allowing you to study or do your 'main' job.

The initial investment can be easily made doing part-time work. Took me about 12 shifts at a warehouse to get the sum needed.

Rules:

Actively trade only in the morning, during Asian/European hours. Once the US gets in, the index becomes a little more chaotic.
Set a very low loss and profit ceiling. About 10 points of loss is acceptable (~$12) from one share, and 25 points of profit (just under $30). As soon as the index starts moving towards your goal, set the loss back to the price you bought/sold it for, so you don't lose any money if it drives back before it hits your profit target.
Only trade at 'round levels', e.g. 6000, 6050, 6100. People like round numbers, each 'level' will have many buy/sell orders by the big players which will shake the index up.
Get in on a share at round levels if there has been a build-up movement before. A fall/rise of the price will have inertia, just enough to get to your small profit ceiling, after which you wait once again for the price to approach the next round level, rinse and repeat.

(To explain why we set the profit low (midway through our round level - e.g. if you bought at 6100, you will sell at 6125), is because once the index starts moving, the big players begin to set up 'traps'. They will attempt to throw off us (the peasants) at certain stop-loss and target levels from the movement. Sometimes it's better to set up your profit at 15 points, or even lower, depending on how much the index had already fallen/risen over the course of the day, and previous working days.)

Set goals for the night - once the European market closes, you set up a purchase/sell (short) order according to the above strategy, and go out and do your thing, and check your account the next morning.
Set a profit goal (e.g. get 50 points net profit a day) and a loss goal and shut off the PC and go outside once you reach either. It's easy to get carried away, especially when you've lost a few deals in a row and are feeling bitter.

This isn't a fool-proof strategy, of course. For example, quarterly reports (especially in countries like the USA) will shake up the index, so it'd be best not to trade on those days. Events like a terrorist attack, a controversial statement by a politician, scandals etc. will also make everything a little hectic.

But overall, it's a great low-risk investment, especially for a poor student. You could even make this a full-time job, devoting a few hours a day and only looking at the index once it approaches our round levels (in the meantime, reading, listening to music, watching a movie, working out... you name it).

jeezydasnowman · 2016-02-28T03:23:08+00:00

I work for minimum wage and sell weed only.

I have found a niche delivering to the wealthy since I have a nice car and can get good quality for my area (bible belt). I am very lucky that I have quickly learned from mistakes and is been a huge strengthening of frame + outcome independence.

DaphneDK · 2016-02-28T09:32:50+00:00

I’m partner in two IT startup companies. So far they haven’t made me filthy rich, but I do get to work when I want, travel to and live where I want. And there’s a pretty good chance I will become filthy rich in a few years, and in the meantime even a modest salary will give you a pretty good life in Asia. Daily commute to a 9-5 cubicle job would kill me.

whatwhatinthebutt19 · 2016-02-28T17:37:25+00:00

I sell cars for a living and at times it can be very slow. I have an investor line account up on my computer. I trade stocks on my downtime. I track my my progress an have made 18 percent since I started. Started in the November with $20000 and now I have $23600. So in 3 months I have made $1200 a month sitting at my desk instead of twiddling my thumbs.

TRPsn · 2016-02-29T05:23:35+00:00

TIL I should've learned how to program and build websites in high school instead of joining the Marines.

[deleted] · 2016-02-29T03:34:54+00:00

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Meat-on-the-table · 2016-02-28T05:37:46+00:00

Recommended reading: The Richest Man In Babylon Simple, straightforward advice to get you on the road to financial independence.

ChristopherBurr · 2016-02-28T18:29:00+00:00

Occupation: Infrastructure Engineer - Investment Banks and Hedge Funds

What is your alternative revenue stream/unconventional : A - I have a small apartment that I rent out B- I teach classes at a local University part-time

How did you start out:
I'm from a lower middle class family -

My parents didn't have money to send me to college, so I worked the night shift at a local hospital, and did weekends at local bars and clubs as security. I used the money to put myself through community college (part-time) and continued on to a 4 year university (also part-time). As I went through school I was able to pick up a very entry level job in IT, so quit working at the hospital in favor of getting industry experience. As I went through school, I increased my responsibility at work .. and graduated without any student loans.

When I finished my undergrad coursework, I was offered a part-time position teaching UNIX for an adult education course, so I used my income from that to invest in my Masters degree. Again, no student loans.

College is invaluable in my job. There are a lot of IT guys who would say otherwise, but you really can't get a gig in the investment banking industry without one.

What were the struggles/obstacles?
time management ... otherwise, just put your head down and get it done.

What strategy did you implement? Just hard work. As technical as my job is, I view it as more of a customer service gig. The people that work at the banks, like dealing with me, because I provide a service. If you have a problem, you come to me and it gets fixed. Other people do only what they have to do - nothing more or less. You won't get a head with that attitude.

On taxes - I have a good accountant that is always looking for deductions. on Investments, I have a financial advisor, that manages some of my money, and I use Charles Schwab Intelligent portfolios for other things .. I like Charles Schwab because it's no-fee, and a really good ETF. I contribute the max to my 401K (18,500) and get a 9% company match at my current job. And i look for other investments from time to time. I keep thinking real estate, but I don't want to do the leg work. I recently invested in a few real estate funds, but it's too early to tell how they are doing yet.

Are you married? Do you have a family? Married with two very young kids (6 months and 2) - I'm 45 now so I started with the kids a little late, but I'm established in my career so a lot of the leg work was put in when I was in my 20's and 30's. I have money and time now so the family thing is working out well for me. My wife normally works, but got laid off a few months ago. She's able to sped some time with the kids, but is itching to get back to work. The marriage works well for me. My wife is completely supportive (as I am with her career options). And it's good when two people are working/saving for retirement.and a comfortable life - I wouldn't recommend getting married unless you definitely find the right person. Be careful.

chances_are_ur_a_fag · 2016-02-29T07:27:50+00:00

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War2kali · 2016-02-28T20:09:19+00:00

My two cents on this topic has nothing to do with me or specific professions. When thinking about your lifetime earnings and eventual retirement, never lose sight of the fact that our economic system is called "capitalism." One of the ways to "win" is to accumulate capital. One way to do this is to spend less than you earn and invest the difference.

If you don't know what to invest in, just put money in the stock market in a low risk way: large index funds with low expenses. Vanguard is king for this. You could simply do half in the largest companies in the world outside the US and half in the largest companies in the US. Done.

No matter what your career choice, the above applies. You could be a plumber earning 100k/year+ (plumbers and other skilled trades can make great money, by the way, if they are self-employed and work hard), starting work at 18, investing $30k/year, and you will retire much sooner than someone who makes $250k a year and spends $240k a year starting at age 22 after college. I'm not recommending skipping college, it depends on your field. The point is to invest early, invest heavily, and you will accumulate capital and retire far sooner than your average person who spends as much as they earn. It's funny how 99% of people's spending scales directly with their earnings. Live beneath your means and invest, invest, invest.

awe_some_x · 2016-02-29T16:37:03+00:00

Occupation: Cover band musician

While it's not amazing pay(typically $100-200 a night), once you get your branding and become recognized you can start playing anywhere from 1-5 nights a week. I still maintain a day job(IT consultant), because the money is just too good, and rely on the health insurance and 401k which are things you can't get from playing music unless you get signed by a major label.

Playing music is much more than just the easy $100 and free drinks though, it's a pretty decent SMV boost as well. "Oh you play in a band?", especially if you're the guitarist, this becomes like shooting fish in a barrel, and can also be an easy way to get females to go out without any money. I've had them come out to a show, buy their own drinks(because I'm too busy on stage), then go home with me that night with literally zero monetary or time investment other than me just doing what I would have done without them at my gig.

Now this does take some amount of talent, so if you already play an instrument or two, just scour Craigslist for a group looking for one more member. Get yourself a website and Facebook page, and get to work. If you don't already play, you'd be surprised just what you can learn from a couple months of lessons and YouTube tutorials. I'm lucky in that I play several instruments(been playing since I was 8), so I occasionally fill in on guitar/bass for other groups that I know. It really comes down to who you know, just like every other profession.

The pay is typically cash under the table, but once you get more recognized and play nicer venues, they will start paying with a check and/or getting you with a 1099. In this case, keep a detailed log of all your shows, and how far you drove. In my situation, I play on vintage amps that require semi-annual maintenance, so I keep those receipts as well for deductions come tax time. I claimed an additional $10,000 on this year's taxes, and thanks to all my repairs and travel, was only very minimally penalized on my return for 2015.

tl;dr: play music, get a benjamin and drink for free every night, instant SMV augmentation. Keep records if you play more than once a week.

[deleted] · 2016-02-28T20:38:59+00:00

Occupation: High paid salary man who lives like a college student.

I have a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, did 6 years in the Navy, and probably going to take a job as a maintenance manager at a pharmaceutical company, or a sales engineer for a boiler company.

I am going to work no matter what, and I am not against working for the man. They only get out of me what I am willing to put in. The thing that has allowed me to stay financially free, is just living like a poor piece of shit. I had fun in college living off very little, so I keep doing it. All the while I am making more and more money.

dons90 · 2016-02-28T23:03:52+00:00

I swear I'm going to take all the advice I read here and become successful within the next 5 years. Thank you TRP in advance. Wish me luck.

sunderfrost · 2016-02-29T05:38:43+00:00

I work as an information security engineer in one of the top 5 fastest growing markets. Only been in the industry for ~2 years, and achieving certifications right now. Underpaid ($57k/yr) atm for market value, but company does have a great work life balance, so while I'm not complaining, I will seek to change this mid-year due to me also doing penetration testing, vulnerability assessments and social engineering. Basically playing the hacker. That's $$$ experience.

Since the market is severely in demand but understaffed link for proof I've been brainstorming an idea that applies to the specific industry I'm in, that I could work up on the side.

In the past I owned an eCommerce store that sold candles that smelled like high octane gas and burnt rubber, inspired from a Yankee Candle photoshop. It was doing alright, I didn't put forth a lot of effort once my main job shifted me to days and demanded more of time and attention. A competitor offered me $250k + 10% of all sales, so I sold it.

Not married, no family. At this point, burned out from dating, so about to go monk mode, focus on myself and my career, since I'm 28 now, I can make six figures by 30 just by working 40 hours a week at my main job. Leaves me the time and money to work on passive income.

[deleted] · 2016-02-28T08:56:15+00:00

On my way to building my construction company to the point where I can step back and simply manage projects without the need to always be on site. All trades sub-contracted out i.e Tiling, plastering, electrical, plumbing. And eventually find a trustworthy foreman who can manage the framing and apprentices/labourers.

My end goal is the ability to take 3 to 4 months off each year to go surfing in indonesia, training in thailand or similar. And when I am back home all I will be doing is tendering for work, meeting clients and working on systems to make the business as efficient as possible.

A huge bonus that comes with working in a trade, especially in domestic construction, is the ability to do cash work. Almost any client will pay cash when you give them the offer of a lower price for paying cash. we recently did a deck and some outdoor seating and the client paid 25k cash. 25k that won't be subject to tax, and can be used to pay other trades for their services -also at a cheaper rate as they avoid tax too. We all win.

TheRedChemist · 2016-02-28T09:35:30+00:00

I'm going to have to be pretty vague here but hopefully it will still be some use. I live in an industrial warehouse.

I work as a CAD engineer in the automotive sector. I recently switched from permanent staff to working on a contract basis - it's more lucrative. In my industry contract roles have basically the same job security as permanent but none of the benefits. However, they are paid more to compensate, and enjoy some financial perks because they pay themselves through their own small company, and thus have a number of (perfectly legal) options how to get money out of the company and into their own personal account, meaning you can do it in a more tax efficient way than a permanent employee. I hopped from my permanent role to an entry-level contract role because I wasn't trained in the software the new company uses (still a pay increase), then after 6 months in that role hopped to a better paying role with the same company. I'm now looking at branch swinging back to the company I used to be permanent with (including a higher contract rate of course). I'm not in the US but I'm currently paid approx $36/hr for 40hrs a week and this is about the average in the field, with very experienced guys able to command $45, maybe $50 if they are unusually valuable. For context, the rent on my last place - a small 2 bedroom house - was $970/mo.

The warehouse came about because I want to develop and sell my own products, and I can now do so through my company that I had to start for the contract work. Although I'm proficient in design using CAD, it's expensive to produce things that way, so I thought I'd try to do it by hand first. I need a large dry space to work for that, and in my country it's rare to find a house with garage at all unless you're paying top end rent - even then, it'll be too small for me to work in. I couldn't afford a place of my own AND a separate workshop property, and I don't like housesharing.

I took the plunge and signed a lease on this warehouse through the company. It's well located, a decent size, clean and light etc.Using it as sleeping accommodation is strictly forbidden in that contract, but my research suggests that the worst that could happen is forfeiting my deposit and being kicked out. Hopefully, even if the landlord finds out, he will turn a blind eye as long as he keeps getting his rent. It's a calculated risk that I decided is worth taking. I immediately built a walled off bedroom area so a cursory inspection doesn't see anything unusual.

In terms of products, I mainly want to develop this stuff for my own use, and if I can sell a few and have the hobby pay for itself then that's great. If I can one day give up the day job that would be incredible, but I'm not holding my breath. Basically all the money I earn from the day job gets funnelled back into the project. Since I now don't personally need money for rent, as the company rents the warehouse making it tax deductible, I end up only needing enough personal money for food and my previous debts etc. Everything eise stays in the business and is used for development, making it tax deductible. I'd be doing this stuff as a hobby anyway, but back in the day I'd get taxed on the money I earned and then have to pay tax on the stuff I bought with what was left. Now I bypass most of that.

I'm halfway through developing my first product and have discovered I definitely do not have the skills or patience required to do it by hand in future. I'll still finish this project, but future projects I will do exactly as I do in my day job - CAD design parts and then farm them out to external suppliers to do the production work, receiving completed finished parts in the mail a few months later. It's also wound up not being much cheaper doing it myself anyway; I've spent 60-70% of the cost of paying someone else to do it all BUT I'm not even finished yet. I was expecting total spend to be around 30%. Lesson learned.

Arguably farming the entire production out to external suppliers makes the warehouse redundant, but it's still useful for other stages of the developement process - and if nothing else, I could use it for pure storage. To be honest the lifestyle kinda suits me. And yes, I do have women back here. It's now seen as much action as my last actual house.

I have a game plan for at least 2 more products after this first one is complete, one of which has quite a broad potential customer base and may make for a nice income. Ideally I'd totally detach myself from the actual physical products side of things and work purely on design, but I want to build a recognised brand, I don't want to just license out my designs. Call it vain I guess but I want that respect and "fame". Totally detaching from production but maintaining the brand requires trusting a partner to handle sales and distribution on my behalf, and I'm not sure about that yet - I could draw up all the legal contracts I like but the nature of the market means the kind of businesses I'd be dealing with are pretty small operations that could very easily rip me off, and the only way to get the money they owe would be lengthy and expensive court proceedings. So for now I think I have to do it myself.

Lord_shitmeister · 2016-02-28T11:16:58+00:00

Occupation weed wholesale grower: so I grow some plants in a box, don't forget to use odor neutralizing ONA gel, carbon filter. Then I dry them, package them and sell them wholesale (less risky). They grow in 2 months, Use autos it's much faster, they sell for about 5000. I'm growing in 3 m2. Grey legality where I live making it perfect risk/reward ratio.

ALSO

Occupation website local seller: I get guys on freelancer that are dirt cheap, get them to work for me on a basis that they get paid only if we have a contract then I advertise a CHEAP website design business locally in my town and sell apps and sites that I don't even make, I'm just the middle man. People want someone close by. Income from that about 3000 per month for 5 sites. Sometimes more.

ALSO

Cialis pill vendor on small ads: Go to a doctor, get a prescription for limpdickitis, buy a box of the cheapest ones (5 mg) then sell them pill by pill on a web site like craigslist. Narcs don't give 2 shits about dick pills. Income: about 500 per month. 1 sells for 30.

r3dast3rik09 · 2016-02-28T10:08:42+00:00

Private tutor/college consultant.

Finished undergrad, needed to start making money the summer before grad school. Started teaching math and science prep courses and 1:1 at a private tutoring academy by my house and HS (I live in a city in the Bay Area where competitive high schools and Asians/Indians in STEM/business are the majority residents). I went to the high school where my company gets 90% of its students from and I aced these subjects in college and HS.

Continued this on my summers off during my MS. Took the past year off to apply for med school and began working more. Realized in September how much of a cut the company was actually taking (70%) considering I was doing all the actual work and they were simply matching me with students. The parents, while they have the money, are paying way too much tbh, it's outrageous (mid-$100s). I write all my class and tutoring materials from scratch and my record with students has been raising their grade an entire letter grade at least, consistently. I know the teachers at my alma mater and their styles, so I model my teaching and prep to be tougher than what they will be expected in the classroom so that they know their shit well. Internal changes in the company too were starting to be annoying to deal with and too much extra bullshit. Plus while I didn't have any issues with parents, many other of my coworkers were getting fucked over by ingrate parents and their children complaining about dumb shit without basis. Sadly, my company bends over backwards for parents while nailing staff.

Our new manager started in August, a man replacing the woman who ran the place. She wasn't bad, but there's finally a system of order and accountability where teachers/college consultants are protected. In the event of a complaint rather than censuring the staff member without actually thinking (how the woman did it), our new male manager actually speaks with us to figure it out. According to him 80-90% of the time, it's an incorrect assumption made by parents or a ploy to get either a refund or something we contractually cannot do. She was hot for sure but trash at the finer aspects of management. The head of our company doesn't like that our new manager is firm and impartial claiming "we're pushing away clients and families" but our branch is the top performing one ever since our management changed.

Once I got into med school in October, I decided to privately tutor freelance. Made a website, ordered business cards, began working with family friends as my client base. As well as referrals, also began advertising in my neighborhood via social media apps. I charge 1/3 of what my company does but I get all the cut. Make my own schedule, don't got to deal with any management bullshit. I still work for my company but I'm not poaching any clients. It took off a bit slowly but I wanted to established a solid baseline. Also began college consulting on the side as well so applications, planning out HS activities and summer programs, the works.

Having gone to a top 25 undergrad with a half-ride on merit, being a success in a way with getting into med school, and having gone to the same HS as most of my students are probably my greatest selling points and parents . And my work. I have always made sure from day 1 I'm great at what I do.

Right now I still work for my company and independently, probably a 50:50 split. Got 10 regular students from each. It's hectic some days, working in last minute sessions and shit of that nature. It's hard learning to keep these two jobs separate. But I love it bc I get to be my own boss, it keeps me engaged and busy, I feel like I'm actually making somewhat of a difference, and the money is superb, much better since I started going independent. I live at home with my parents so I'm essentially saving 70% of my income and the remaining 30% on repaying student loans and socialization/personal expenses.

I'm about 2/3 of the way to my personal goal of $25K in my savings account and by the time I leave in July/August I'm on track to get there.

ShekelBanker · 2016-02-28T10:42:34+00:00

Occupation

I work selling options to people, essentially cold calling anything between 200 to 400 people a day around the planet in order to assist potential clients who have shown an interest in starting to trade to open up an account. The company I work for is legitimate and regulated, so there is nothing of the Boiler Room sort going on. Aside from that, when said clients open accounts, there is a department essentially holding their hands through the entire trading process, so with them it's easy money to be made. There have been cases when customers decided to take the entire thing by themselves and absolutely annihilated their own account and tried to pin their fault on us. There are certain limitations present, like no more than 20% of the account's total can be used for a single trade, there is no leverage to talk about and so on and so forth, so from the company's end a lot had been done to reduce risks.

Income

Still have to look into that, since I just started last week. While the initial pay can just cover average rent where I live, there is some reliance on commissions, and the commissions scheme is nothing obscene (again, this isn't Boiler Room) but if you close a minimum of, say, 10 deposits a month, depending on the sum of money clients deposited you could be making anywhere from 50% more to 125% more over the average salary of the average person.

Other details

The catch is, and the main thing I'm struggling with is that, since the company isn't big nor well-known, you can't act or sell in a professional or serious way, since 99.5% of people you're calling are Average Joes. People who do best here are those who talk in a clever/funny way on the phone, and that is something I'm struggling with because, as much as I don't like appealing to stereotypes, I'm German and Germans are not known for their sense of humour or lack of seriousness, and it's not only me who has spotted this affecting my performance. Other people who are way higher than me on the totem pole but who I trust, most importantly, told me exactly the same thing. Issue is that, for better or worse, that's who I am and changing that is a bit like pissing against the wind: you risk getting wet.

Plans for the future

Well, saying "plans" is a bit of a longshot since I realised that things are not set in stone. Originally my background is in trading securities (stocks mostly) and anything to do with finance: accounting (not yet certified nor intending to get certified, not my kind of thing to crunch numbers all day long), marketing and economics. I picked this job because it allowed me to develop my sales expertise, as in having a practical way to learn and apply as well as form a style of selling things. In the longer span on time, I want to own a set of cars, have the ability to work on car projects and own a house to, well, house all these things in. Family-wise I'd like to have at least 2 kids, but that in particular will remain to be seen.

Marr0w1 · 2016-02-28T14:36:57+00:00

Occupation - 9-5 low paying public sector However it's usually pretty relaxed which means I can spend a lot of time working out and focusing on 'side game'. This generally means investing in stocks, studying uni papers, and other projects. Due to public sector, my living costs are very low. Currently I just sold my house and I'm spending most my time at work organising a cafe/bar I'm opening this year. Even then I'll continue with my 9-5 because I enjoy it and the perks are good.

TlDr: not super unusual, but work a shit paying job I enjoy while trying to make extra on the side. Sorry for formatting.

get-a-way · 2016-02-29T04:54:56+00:00

This looks interesting. Bit late to the party but what the hell:

What is your alternative revenue stream/unconventional occupation/unconventional lifestyle?

I am a cadet, i 'work' about an hour a day plus one weekend a month, and two weeks in the summer. From this I get paid around 36k a year. About 12k of that goes to pay for my tuition leaving me with about 22k a year tax free.

As for passive income i have about 3k in a website called prosper.com, which nets me about 14% return a year. Its basically a peer to peer lending site where you pool your money with other investors and loan it out to people who pay it back like a regular bank loan. You may have heard of its competitor lendingclub, basically the same thing.

The prosper is my savings, the cadet thing pays the bills and gives me enough money to hit the bars on weekends without having to worry. I feel pretty independent, just have to give up a small amount of free time and i get to live the college life

Gelu_sf · 2016-02-28T12:34:05+00:00

Occupation: self-employed developer

Been programming since the 80s, currently on my own.

Right now I'm working on a mix of my own projects. On top of that I'm consulting/freelancing which allows me increase my monetary safety net with about 2-3 months per worked month. Also have a stake in companies that bring some revenue each year.

The pluses of this field is that you never do the same thing twice. Even if you make a clone you still have to work on something new and think about new solutions. Keeps the mind sharp. Also, from the money point of view there's a chance of getting a huge burst of cash if you do something good.

The minuses are the incredible competition and luck with discovery for your projects. Everyone and their dog makes games and apps, so having something special to stand out from the crowd is critical.

chances_are_ur_a_fag · 2016-02-29T07:29:22+00:00

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Moneyley · 2016-02-28T05:57:47+00:00

I work full time as a csr however had previously passed a test to become a licensed insurance agent. So I get my hourly pay close to $20 an hour but if sales calls come in, I close them and get lifetime commissions off the sale. I probably make an extra $1000k a month just from accumulated commissions.

DopamineDripz · 2016-02-28T19:42:17+00:00

I work a physically demanding factory job that pays 18 an hour and has great benefits, decent for Midwest . We walk 10-12 miles and work is fast paced daily but I enjoy it. On the side I do massage therapy for 1-3 clients weekly.

GodDamnManlyMan · 2016-02-28T21:48:40+00:00

I make $400 a day tree planting for 5 months and spend the rest of the year living in Thailand

minneapolisbiker · 2016-02-28T10:46:32+00:00

i make 300k a year. i'm a consultant in the healthcare space, i try to streamline workflows and maximize the revenue in client hospitals.

about me. pretty smart i guess (1550 SAT, top 10 uni), but pretty lazy. tried banking, didn't like it much, mostly because of the hours, but it was in the healthcare vertical and i made some contacts there which i managed to leverage into what im doing now.

the hours are nice (work 4 days a week, probably about 35 hours), the work is pretty good/low pressure, and it affords me time to pursue my hobbies and interests (weightlifting, learning coding, traveling).

_J_J_ · 2016-02-28T18:08:00+00:00

Occupation: Online Entrepeneur

I'm a Computer Science student and have a few online income streams.

I run a semi successful website with an Android app + iOS app, averaging €30/day profit with income from ads and affiliate links
I sell cheap automation software, averaging €20/day profit
I also develop custom software from people ranging from scripts to websites to apps.

The great thing about online income streams is that you earn money every day. Once the product is online and you establish customers the money keeps flowing in. I earn €50/day for every day of the month, roughly €1500/month. Updating and improving the software only costs me 5-10 hours a week. I earn more than people working 40 hour/week entry jobs.

How I started out: I started programming four years ago and I got hooked. Turns out I can learn things very quick and remember it forever. This is also when I decided to study Computer Science. I used the knowledge I gained during lectures and classes on my sideprojects.

How I got users: word of mouth really and rising in the charts. People know I'm a good programmer and deliver updates on a solid bases. I'm a very honest and blunt guy. Customers know exactly what they can expect.

Anyways, I should graduate this year and hope to get accepted into a Master programme with a focus on entrepeneurship and software engineering, with no tuition. My website has the potential to grow even bigger and I want to start selling my own products instead of linking to others with affiliate links. I'm working on a new paid app which might earn me some extra money as well.

All in all I'm strongly considering to work full time on my own range of software. All of this has been developed in my spare time, roughly 10 hours a week. Imagine what I can do if I spend 40-60 hours a week..!

penworth · 2016-03-01T16:07:14+00:00

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10211799107 · 2016-02-28T17:11:55+00:00

What is your alternative revenue stream/unconventional occupation/unconventional lifestyle?

Technical College Student at the moment but on leave I shall become an Automation Controls Systems Engineer.

How did you start out?

I have been programming and doing Electronics for a long time (Since I was 10). While I was still at High School, I went on a School Trip to a STEM Event for Robotics. Now, robotics was an industry I had a big interest in but nothing big but I thought for the trip I would bring along some of my projects that I had done in the past.

An Engineer who was volunteering at the event came over to the table I was sitting at, I introduced myself and we began a small chat about robotics and I found out he was in PLC Programming/Robotics so I showed him my work. He offered me work experience which is something that Year 10 Students in the UK have to do and usually it is at a shitty corner shop but I managed to snag a multinational engineering company!

The work experience was fantastic as I was around people with similar interests, similar values (No PC BS), and knowlege. In contrast, when I got back to school I found myself counting down the days until I left school becuase it became a culture shock and I had enough of Education.

Did you go to community college, university or receive graduate or doctoral education?

I am currently attending a Technical College for Engineering. In the UK, Higher Education is set up into:

A) Sixth Form's offering A Levels

and

B) Technical Colleges offering BTEC's. The general consensus for Sixth Form was that they were for the more academically able while Technical Colleges were more practical in delivery.

This factor caused me a lot of grief with my School as I had to deal with Careers Advisors who had no idea what they were talking about and insisted that I did A Levels purely for the reason that "It gives me more options if I change my mind". I was pretty adamant that I was going to go into the Engineering Profession so I didn't listen. This was because if I did the BTEC, I would gain practical skills in Lathe operation, Milling, Welding, Soldering and theoretical skills in Mechanical and Electronic Engineering which would have put me in better stead for a Job than some A Level Student who had to do BS such as General Studies and Critical Thinking.

Once I finish, I want to go down the self employed contractor route asap and possibly do a Part Time HNC/HND in Electrical Engineering to supplement it. There is lot of highly paid work in the UK ATM in this field and I dont know how long it'll last so I plan to gather all the money up in the next couple of years.

Where did you acquire the information you needed to get started and become successful?

There were some resources for PLC, but a lot of it is hard to understand due to thick Indian accents but the best way I found was to buy a second hand PLC from ebay and experiment with it and the help files that come with the software.

Another reason why PLC work is highly paid is because it is not for the faint hearted, lots of software hasnt been updated since in the Windows 95/DOS days and most of it is crap to use.

What were the struggles/obstacles? What is the reality that most get wrong or need to prepare for?

Social obstacles to expect? Lots of people wanted me to go through and do my Degree via A Levels. I just ignored them.

eccentricrealist · 2016-02-28T18:30:25+00:00

Right now I'm a student but I give tutoring when I get the time. I get paid 250-300 pesos per hour, which is more or less the minimum wage of a week around here. Still ain't much, but it's all right. If you're a good tutor the kids will start recommending you and you don't have to go through the hassle that real teachers go through of having to register with the school and getting permission and blah blah blah. I was also employed by a tutoring company for a while but they pay less, it was more for a little curriculum.

_Madison_ · 2016-02-28T23:04:32+00:00

Occupation: Automotive Designer (Freelance usually on 6 month contracts atm)

Trained to Masters level in Automotive exterior design so I'm doing sketching, Photoshop rendering etc for the majority of projects I'm on. However work can get a bit slow sometimes so I got trained in A Class surfacing on Autodesk Alias (CAD software, NURBS based) and also do clay modelling for smaller clients. Clay modelling is a very very niche job, as a result I can charge £65 an hour for that and pick up a contract pretty easily.

I got into the industry in a slightly unconventional way, I did go through the usual university route to get an Ma however I also finished some personal projects. The biggest one was designing and building my own car which I finished when I was 21, turning up in that is what really helped me get internships and my first job.

How did you start out?

-Private school in Singapore where I grew up as an expat -Came back to UK for University, crucially whilst at uni i did internship design for no pay. Some will say this is a bad idea but quite frankly it gave me a huge advantage. -Worked on and finished the aforementioned car project over the summers during university. -Did another unpaid internship before finally getting a paid graduate position. -Once you have two years of studio work experience getting contracts is easy so I hop from multiple Automotive manufacturers.

Where did you acquire the information you needed to get started and become successful?

-The unpaid internships I did. You learn far more from a real workplace than university lectures, this is why i think unpaid internships are extremely valuable for anyone looking to enter a skills based industry. Plus you will have industry contacts ready to go upon graduation when my peers were starting from scratch. -Youtube is also a really great resource for tutorials, I became much better with things like Photoshop just from spending a couple of days watching everything I could find. -University lecturers were not the best, the industry pays very well so nobody who is any good will bother lecturing.

What were the struggles/obstacles? What is the reality that most get wrong or need to prepare for?

-At uni I was VERY boring. I ignored women and drinking and concentrated on building my skills. Too be fair I grown 'slightly' bored of the club scene in Singapore anyway so I made my return to the UK a fresh start where I would actually focus on something productive.

-Jobs are EXTREMELY hard to get as a graduate. I am from a wealthy family, if you don't have money to cover living costs whilst you do internships you have no chance of getting your foot in.

-You have to be very good. It's a skills based job, you can read all the books you want and know all the lingo but if you can't sketch well you have no chance you can't bullshit your way in. It's also a very tight knit industry so you cannot afford to ever burn bridges, this means you just have to accept getting spoken down to by design chiefs. Take it on the chin and shut up.

How long have you been at it? Do you enjoy it?

-Just turning 27 now only been working professionally for 3 years already know I love it. I've worked on the cars for the new Bond film which was great and you end up at some pretty spectacular launch parties.

jakeinmn · 2016-02-29T03:22:20+00:00

In my spare time in college, I dove into mobile phone apps. I decided that these things are in the hands of nearly everyone in western society. I took some classes in uni and made a few and published them.

Four years later, I have 13 published apps and 300k total installs. I didn't add ad screens for revenue until I hit 200k. I have 120+ apps ready to be published as well... But I keep making new ones.

App development for android is mostly a gamble. There are thousands of new ones getting published every hour and what the difference in profitability between a subquality app that took a weekend to make and a project that took a year... But never will take off because everyone's already using Instagram/tinder/etc.

The two most searched webbars in the internet is Google.com's and YouTube's. Now Google play is getting a lot of searches for seemingly random things like a specific song lyrics or a video game character bio.

In the past year, I've made a cookie cutter design that when cloned and given a new "look" will allow me to publish a new app and generate income. I made 120 that way, each a soundboard/background setter app... I don't expect for it to take off, but an ad will show at least a few times. On launch. On choosing a background. On setting a background. It generates a few cents per user that session. It ads up.

I've spent a few weekends on much more quality apps, but it doesn't generate as much as the spammy ones. Some have 10-20 downloads that took 40 hours to make that improve your life hella, but doesn't show up on the search... And one has 250k+ and it took me literally 30 min from scratch to publishing.

If 30 minutes of work generates 30 dollars passively every month, then I just need to spray and pray.

dabrah1 · 2016-02-29T04:12:54+00:00

Occupation- Train drivers for Lyft (Ubers competitor). I'm one of their mentors, aka the guy who interviews you and inspects your car before you can start driving. It pays better than most people would expect- 35 a person, and i average 3-7 people a day. I made 1200 this week. Best part- only worked 20 hours max, maybe less.

This gives me time for other ventures- either driving for Lyft/Uber on the weekends when its crazy busy, or working on building my Real Estate Clientele (just got my license). I am also a "Handy" professional which is essentially Uber for cleaning houses (you take jobs that work for your schedule, and have no mandatory minimum amount of jobs you need to complete). I do that more for fun than income- my primary income is mentoring and real estate.

Best part about all of these income streams? I make my own schedule with all of them, and the amount of money I make is directly correlated to the amount of work I put in. I also just bought an investment duplex, so add landlord to this mix. My plan is to buy 5-10 properties and then live off the cashflow. So yea.. I def live an unconventional life. I also have a bachelor's degree that as of now, I plan to never use.

TRPhd · 2016-02-29T04:14:10+00:00

Occupation: scientist

Income: salary based on grant funding. If you can get grants, or works for someone who does, you will always have a job. Basically as a scientist you are a profit center for your university; they take half of your grants for "expenses". The next largest part goes to "salary", so you pay yourself, but fucking believe your department will have something to say about what you pay yourself. The National Institutes of Health has a salary maximum of about $180K per year, but PhD scientists rarely get that high. MD scientists tend to make that much, though they can always work in the hospital to cover extra expenses.

Unconventional income: you might get named on a patent... but that's pretty rare as an academic, and in industry you don't get extra pay for it. In a start-up is the only way to get a decent piece of patent money, and even that's a longshot.

Start Out: You have to get into grad school, so you need a science undergrad. Then you take an entrance exam (usually the GRE). How well you do on that determines if you can get directly into a PhD program, and how prestigious of a program you can get into. Masters degrees are pay-your-own-way, science PhDs are usually paid for by your professor and you get a small stipend (~$1.8K/mo). PhDs in science take 3-7 years, and it's full-time work ~50 hours a week or so, with irregular hours and some academic responsibilities. But mostly you are a lab rat (who experiments on lab rats).

After your PhD, you do a post-doctoral (postdoc) or two for about $40-50K/year. Hopefully you generate enough interesting data to get your own grant and a job. If you're unlucky or if your boss doesn't have/use their connections on your behalf, you're stuck doing another postdoc basically indefinitely. You can go work for industry sometimes for about $60-80K, or go back and get a teaching degree like Walter White for about $40K a year. If you want to get into a start-up your best chance is if your boss is starting one, otherwise, good fuckin' luck.

As a principal investigator (PI) running your own lab, your life sucks. You get students and postdocs of variable quality and your career depends on their data, because you are so swamped with writing and other responsibilities that you can't ever set foot in your own lab. You make about $80K to start, but once you get that sweet-sweet NIH money you can bump your pay to the low $100's. Don't get too big for your britches, though; if your salary money comes up short the Uni will cut your "extravagant" pay and farm you out as a "mere" instructor for their overpriced classes (teaching the masters' students).

Academia is shitty, no one has vision, everyone backstabs each other -- crab bucket to the extreme. Fuck academia. Industry is no paradise either -- science in cubicles. Puke. Your only hope is a startup, but science is so speculative you are going to have to work your ass off to even get any meetings with funding sources, and good luck if you don't have a track record to show them... oh, and who are the "experts" they consult about the feasibility of your projects? The aca-fucking-demics. Hah. The system is fucked.

Just go to med school. It's a shitty gig, too, but at least you're pretty much guaranteed a $150K salary on the other side (and a $250K debt, but that's another diatribe)...

penworth · 2016-02-29T09:30:21+00:00

Occupation: Entrepreneur

I am from a poor family. Dad did not work due to serious injury. My mum and dad were great, a loving and supportive family but we grew up in a poor working class/ welfare neighborhood. I started work at 17 and put myself through law school while working full time in the legal industry. I earned good salaries during my working career and I have taken months and years off to travel to Europe and enjoy a holiday lifestyle while not working.

At 30 I left employment and started a private investigation company. With the profits from that I set up a marketing company and later opened my own law firm. Since I commenced self employment I have not worked long hours. I prefer to rely on outsourcing and delegation and use strict quality control with employees. My charge out rates are between $250-500 per hour depending on which employee does the work. We settle large cases, the legal bills are regularly over $50,000.00 per case.

I enjoy a leisurely lifestyle. I was married and I have two kids. I get to spend as much time as I like with my kids. The divorce has been relatively pain free for me (it helps being a lawyer plus my ex has been remarkably reasonable). Money is not really an issue as I own two properties, my three businesses and my annual turnover is above $1 million.

If I could give any advice it would be to try and beome an employer. It does not matter what you do, anything from a guy who mows lawns, to a doctor. If you want to make more money becoming an employer is a good way. Just hire more people to do the work that you would be doing. Better to be the boss of ten plumbers or ten doctors then do everything yourself.

I love my lifestyle. Noone tells me where to be or what I have to do. It feels like I am in a position in life where I make the rules rather than follow them. Happy to answer any questions.

sir_wankalot_here · 2016-02-28T03:43:06+00:00

I started from a middle class family, conservative. Basically the attitude become a corporate slave.

I do online consultancy gigs. Since they are in other countries and I get paid in US dollars I don't pay any tax.

jerryandjerrysizzler · 2016-02-28T16:08:24+00:00

Occupation: Enlisted Military (Air Force) - Intelligence

I can't talk say much about it; the military will provide for you but the pay is never really great. You'll get by, you won't need much revenue due to the low cost of living (housing, insurance, all that is covered.) I'll say this - if you are going to go into the military go Airforce especially if you're enlisted. Trust me, the army treats its enlisted like shit.

Supplemental income I play mid-stakes (500nl) live and online poker to supplement my income. I'm certainly not a pro but it can bring in a few extra grand a month (live, not online - online is tougher.) I can't understate how important it is to not let your job fully control your total income stream because thats in effect total control of your lifestyle and budget. You become dependent on the system which makes it easier to "drink the blue kool aid" and invest large amounts of time going through the bullshit and chasing pitiful promotions/raises (hundreds of hours of study and volunteering for a few extra hundred a month.) I'm not saying it's bad, it's just not something I could do.

On to poker - you need a stomach. Some days the cards will just say "fuck you" and that's that. But at least to me there's nothing like being on a run and raking in people's stacks. I can't teach you it here - there's too much to it, but I'll say this - No limit hold'em is a game of image. It's kind of like game - to be a good hold'em player means being able to hide or push past your insecurities (you'll often have a weak hand, it's hard to make strong hands in this game!) and just kind of getting by bravado, image, and bluster. It means picking your spots - being able to pick out an opponent's weakness and smell opportunity which again often means ignoring your actual cards and just going for it. It's also about getting paid off and cashing off when you're strong. You make yourself an image at that table and people do take notice.

Fuck_shadow_bans · 2016-02-28T16:18:56+00:00

Occupation: Economist

Side gig: Freelance Salesforce Admin/Developer

Essentially I do the initial setup of new Salesforce instances. It requires very little knowledge of programming. Mostly just how relational databases work and some basic HTML. SQL helps a little bit but only if they want to get fancy. Otherwise the Salesforce software takes care of everything. I make between $500 and $1k per setup on average and it takes me about 8-10 hours of work.

If you have basic level programming skills, you can easy get into this. I haven't updated my resume on LinkedIn in over three years but I still get 4-5 messages a month from headhunters looking for Salesforce Admins.

Squeezymypenisy · 2016-02-28T04:50:23+00:00

Occupation: Work for criminal appeallate defense attorney.

I have 3 job offers from him and another firm. The market I am in is healthy for my field and I met them through LTR family and other connections. Grades helped as well. Wanted to be an attorney for some time. I had no illusions about what life was like and did my homework to make sure I could succeed. I did not go to law school for idealism or the idea that money will just be handed to me. I do not live in LA or the Northeast. Am curious to hear about other dudes occupations.

Blackierobinsin · 2016-02-28T18:34:31+00:00

Can someone get me into porn

Luckyluke23 · 2016-02-29T03:12:48+00:00

What is your alternative revenue stream/unconventional occupation/unconventional lifestyle?

I sell vinyl records on a facebook page.

How did you start out?

when i bought my first record: I went into a shop with my girl at the time, Just a kid, 15. saw bob Dylan the greatest hits II. his big face on the cover with whispy hair, the deep dark blue cover just looking back at me. I had to have it.

I set up my vinyl store last year since i was broke and had no job. It's not going that well, only because I'm in school now and don't have time / money to put into it.

Where did you acquire the information you needed to get started and become successful?

I didn't, I've been in sales before so i know how to hock shit.

What were the struggles/obstacles? What is the reality that most get wrong or need to prepare for?

vinyl is hard because mostly hipsters and oldies buy them, so you need the indie shitty pop rock, or some metal like black sabbath. which i don't have either.

though, another challenge is no sales coming in. make sure you have some money behind you when starting a business i did not.

What strategy did you implement?

hey I'm broke, I like vinyl... hmmm... I KNOW! let's sell vinyl!

Where do you look for customers?

online mostly through facebook and local sites such as gumtree.

Are you married? Do you have a family?

I'm broke and I live with my folks.

How long have you been at it? Do you enjoy it?

all day wigga!

I do love it, once i get a job and a house i will be able to set things up more properly and then i can have people start flooding in.

riverfish7 · 2016-03-02T10:38:31+00:00

Occupation: Doctor turned online entrepreneur

Graduated from a top medical school in the UK in 2012. After finishing my Foundation training as a junior doctor (equivalent of internship in the US), I decided medicine wasn't for me and looked towards other career alternatives.

Currently I work as a locum doctor. What that means is I go through an agency and fill up shifts whenever a hospital is in desperate need of doctors (and often they are).

I get to work whenever I want to and make £7000-9000 per month.

This lifestyle has allowed me to take time off and travel extensively, sometimes for a few weeks at a time. Last year I travelled to 10 different countries. It has also allowed me to save up a chunk of money to start my own business (more on that below).

Tax reduction methods most people don't know about?

The best part is, I get paid through my own limited company. Last year I was due to pay circa £15,000 in corporation tax. Instead, I managed to exploit a loophole in the system to legally avoid paying for it. Accountants will definitely not be willing to do this for you so PM if you want more details about this.

After a summer of travels through Eastern Europe, I came back refreshed and decided I wanted to start my own business, despite having no experience whatsoever.

I stumbled upon the world of Amazon FBA Private Labelling. I started in October and my first PL product just launched 2 weeks ago.

Initially I gave myself a target of 2 months to reach a goal of 10 units sold per day. I've reached that target in 2 weeks. So far haven't made a profit yet, but I'm very optimistic with how the figures are running at the moment and am getting prepared to make a 2nd order and launch a 2nd product at the same time.

My goal is to have 5 different products under my brand, each selling 10 units a day.

The Amazon FBA PL business is a very popular business because of the amazing growth rates. For example, I have a friend who launched his first product in November and last month he made $30k in sales.

Are you from a rich family?

From an upper middle class family. Not obscenely rich. My parents always taught me the value of money. They are both self made entrepreneurs. But I've never had to struggle in my life.

Was your home environment terrible?

No. Growing up I thought most people's families functioned the same as mine. Boy was I wrong. I'm extremely fortunate to have a strong-knit family. I use to be somewhat embarassed about my dad because he always seemed temperamental, stubborn, unreasonable and at times, rude. Only in the past year or two after reading about TRP have I grown more respect for my dad. I've slowly come to the realisation that my dad is in fact, a very red-pilled and alpha business man, who personifies the attitude of not giving a fuck.

Did you go to community college, university or receive graduate or doctoral education?

I went to a top medical school in the UK. I was a diabolically shit student however. It was clear from very early on that I was not that interested in medicine. I did the absolute minimum to pass and it's a miracle that I did.

Despite the fact that I didn't like medicine, I'm extremely glad that I didn't quit. All too often, people quit their majors/careers because they don't like it, which is the wrong way of looking at it. My brother told me only to quit my profession because I have something better waiting for me. Spot on advice I'd say.

Staying on in medical school has allowed me a lifestyle where I get to make great money whilst funding my travels and my online business. If all else fails, I can always fall back on continuing my training as a doctor (I don't believe in backup plans though).

More importantly however, when you are a lazy and unmotivated student like I was, medical school really kicks you up the ass and forces discipline down your throat. In many ways because of its hierarchical and conservative culture, training to become a doctor is very much the same as training in the army.

Did people shame you or not believe you?

Big time. My RP journey started about 1.5 years ago after I broke up with my ex, who looking back, probably had BPD. I wasn't entirely BP back then, but I was a guy who was seemingly content with letting life float by.

Back in high school, I was part of the popular crowd and even had a gf. But after going to medical school, I became very detached from society and life in general. I gained 20kg in my 2nd year. Smoked 20 cigarettes a day. Spent all my days playing computer games and poker instead of studying. Pretty much made zero friends during the entire time. And girls were completely out of the question.

After graduating, I managed to lose the 20kg. Gave up on computer games and poker completely. There were a few girls here and there. But the problem is, I constantly felt trapped being a doctor.

It wasn't until after I broke up with my ex that I really started taking serious action with my life:

I started lifting weights more seriously. A few years ago, I could barely do even 1 pull up. Now I can comfortably do 3x10.
Gave up smoking completely (18 months and counting). More recently, I have just given up caffeine, which was even harder but something that I highly recommend to everyone. Once I got through all the awful headaches, I've noticed that I have more focus and energy throughout the entire day.
Day game. This was huge for me. I'm not a daygame nut and I know I will never be, but in the first few months of daygame I had done a few hundred approaches. I'm a firm believer that daygame improves all aspects of your life, not just with women. Even if I didn't live up to the expectations of getting laid by 9s and 10s every week, just the very fact of knowing that there were some seriously hot women who were attracted to me did wonderful things for my confidence and sense of entitlement. And confidence begets confidence. Even though I haven't approached in months, the IOIs I get when I walk around the city with my gf has quickly gotten rid of the scarcity mindset I was plagued with before.
Actively applied for jobs outside of medicine. Worked a few months at a top digital health startup. Even worked in a favourite restaurant of mine because I thought I wanted to become a chef at one point.

The downside of this all is that once you start improving all aspects of my life, you start to see who really are your true friends. I've had friends make seemingly innocent comments veiled over jealousy and contempt. I've had to distance myself away from these friends simply because I realised they added no value to my life. It's sad but on the whole I'm better for it.

probpoopin · 2016-02-28T16:49:26+00:00

I grow weed. I work too. But it basically pays all my bills and a nice vacation every year. Which allows me to save more.

Rougepellet · 2016-02-28T06:18:04+00:00

I'm currently a student, first year uni, no source of income yet. I'm a bit of a content (entertainment) creator making videos on YouTube. Apart from my personality and sense of humor I don't have many markatable assests or skills, working on that. I have experience with video editing softwares so I suppose I should try and market that or turn that into a source of income no matter how small somehow. I'm in the IT side of engineering so I'm learning Java right now

el_pildora_roja · 2016-02-28T11:18:07+00:00

Not in business yet but I think this is an appropriate thread to get some needed insight.

About to finish my undergrad right now after many starts and stops along the way. To be honest I've come to believe that my degree wont really be useful to me in the future and am only doing this out of respect for my dad who has been paying for me this whole time.

Right now I have two choices after I finish: stay where I am, try to find an entry level job somewhere and hope I get enough experience and opportunities to start something on my own or; leave the country I'm in to go back home, work with my dad who's currently trying to expand the family business and eventually take over everything.

Pros and Cons

Option A

While I consider myself pretty sharp and have a decent range of employment experience under my belt, I don't have any tangible skills to show for all my years in school
To this end I'm both limited in the jobs available to me and the jobs that I can go into
This makes my long term goal of being independent and a business owner highly contingent on other factors

Option B

I would have to work under my dad who in spite of his years of business experience, is somewhat beholden to his family members to the extent that they can often interfere with business practices
To this end I would have to somehow consider this behavioral tendency in all business decisions until I have sufficient control, a potentially more challenging prospect
The path to independence in this way is quicker albeit requires more maneuvering and could be more challenging i.e. I either make the company grow or it sinks and I'm on my ass with nothing.

Having said all this I feel more inclined for option B. However I concede that I am young and prone to being over confident in my own ability which can make me impatient. Thoughts?

UniversalFapture · 2016-02-28T18:17:15+00:00

WARNINGThis response contains cheating, Piracy, and violating apples terms of service.

Alright. Ill contribute. This may sound stupid, but here we go.

If i were you, id download this all called Taps for Money, And another one called Tappt. Along with a hacking website that can generate paypal and amazon credit called Apiesoft. You must pay for the software though.

Anyhow, for both ios apps, tappt and taps for money, you should get a jailbroken device.

Once in cydia, download the hackyouriphone repo or biteyourapple repo. With those you can download payed tweaks.

Taps for money pays 15 dollars after you tap a button a million times. You get payed after a month of your chose between amazon and paypal. You also have to send in proof of identity in PDF format by email. I used my permit.

In cydia, download Autotouch. With this you can set it to tap something as many times as you want as often as you want. You can record taps as well. Say you want to tap every corner of the screen. You can record, tap those corners yourself, end the recording and boom. Your done. You can now tell the software to use the recording to replicate everything you just did . Say, 1 million times. In an interval of 0 seconds. Or 10. Or however long you want it to wait.

Do the same with the app called tappt. Same premise, except it pays $300 to paypal only. Within the first week of the next month. You have to have the most taps out of anyone in the contest though. Sometimes it will ask you to punch in a code to continue. Ive experienced that while using autotouch on it.

Be careful though, you can get locked out the competition if you go overboard. You'll be able to join back in after the contest is over. I join back today.

R3v4mp3d · 2016-02-28T19:09:05+00:00

[deleted]

[deleted] · 2016-02-28T08:48:13+00:00

Reminds me of this one

TheRedPill/comments/43u591/fr_pretend_to_be_a_girl_men_buy_you_stuff/

TRPhd · 2016-02-28T11:37:20+00:00

UK ONLY - don't know what the situation is in America. But look into Matched Betting. Guaranteed profits from free bets and bonuses from bookies.

It can be tedious but I've made over £4,000+ in just over 9 months. PM me if you're interested because it's a difficult concept to get your head around if you've never done anything like that before. But now single mum's and students and everyone are doing it.

Title	Enough About Women. Let's talks money... the TRP way. If you have alternative revenue streams, are in an unconventional occupation, or live an unconventional life style... SHARE IT! [Discussion]
Author	dr_warlock
Upvotes	780
Comments	447
Date	28 February 2016 03:01 AM UTC (5 years ago)
Subreddit	TheRedPill
Link	https://theredarchive.com/post/39366
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/TheRedPill/comments/47zufj/enough_about_women_lets_talks_money_the_trp_way/

Enough About Women. Let's talks money... the TRP way. If you have alternative revenue streams, are in an unconventional occupation, or live an unconventional life style... SHARE IT! [Discussion]

Potential Questions to Answer

Formatting of your response

Share.

The unconventional Chad...gets swiped right by some very attractive women, but nowhere near the real Chad.

The Weakness

What is RPW's opinion on body mods/short/alternative hair if your Captain approves?

How did you find your mission?

Gym with your plate & game related question

Enough About Women. Let's talks money... the TRP way. If you have alternative revenue streams, are in an unconventional occupation, or live an unconventional life style... SHARE IT! [Discussion]

Potential Questions to Answer

Formatting of your response

Share.

The unconventional Chad...gets swiped right by *some* very attractive women, but nowhere near the real Chad.

The Weakness

What is RPW's opinion on body mods/short/alternative hair if your Captain approves?

How did you find your mission?

Gym with your plate & game related question

The unconventional Chad...gets swiped right by some very attractive women, but nowhere near the real Chad.