Ambitions

Plans for My Life

These three big picture goals represent my life’s truest loves: music, architecture, and education all in order of difficulty of achievement. Bringing these visions to fruition won’t necessarily be easy either. I’m basically starting from scratch, with less than $200 currently in my bank account I’m a long way off from building a multimillion dollar school.

Obviously it’s going to take a lot of work just to get started but to make things even more interesting I care for a physically disabled parent, so getting out of the house long enough to get a “job” is out. I also live in the rural Midwest and drive an old rusty work truck so it’s needless to say there are many forces working against me but where there is a will there is most definitely a way.

So let us begin.

Build a Website

What kind of website, you ask?

Two words: digital products

I’ve been making music for nearly 7 years now, mainly instrumentals. Selling instrumentals to artists and video creators will be at the heart of the business. The site will revolve around establishing my image and cultivating a personal brand through intense social media marketing. Once a certain level of celebrity and trust has been created between myself and my audience I will begin to release educational materials to my niche in the form of ebooks and video courses. Because the site will revolve around my image I will also create and release my own solo records available for purchase alongside my regular stock instrumentals. The site will also feature a weekly blog to help out my audience and advertise products, taking full advantage of affiliate programs to cross promote any products I honestly recommend from any future sponsors or partners.

This goal is my first because of relatively low startup cost, ($3,000) and encompasses my strongest skill set, music.

Actions I’m taking right now to raise the needed capital include: reselling, crafts, and wood working. My goal is to have the funds by the New Year so as to begin construction on the site in January. I imagine it will take up to three months to work out all the kinks and probably a year until I’ve gained an audience large enough to make regular sales. Once the snowball gains some momentum scaling up shouldn’t be too bad. After a decent sum is saved up, let’s say $100k then we’re onto goal #2.

Invest in Real Estate

By this time the website will be earning on semi-autopilot. I will have all the necessary connections and automated services will conduct a large portion of my business for me. As the number of hours I must work to stay relevant falls and the more money I am able to save by maintaining my frugal lifestyle, the more capital I will have to fund my real estate investments.

It’ll probably start small like everything else, probably a beat up little house with a solid foundation. My goal is to have $100k saved before buying/renovating a home which I will later sell or rent out.

The key to this being a success is going to be my integrity towards maintaining a near poverty lifestyle despite having money to spend. For example, I don’t even plan on living in the first house that I buy. I’ll just continue living in this mobile home and driving my rusty pickup for as long as humanely possible so as to incur minimal cost of living.

One house will inevitably lead to two, then to three, perhaps I’ll cash them all out for an apartment building. Maybe the real estate market will crash when I have some serious savings and I’ll get a hotel, who knows what the future holds. This goal is a ways off and requires a good deal of resources but it’s always an ongoing thought in my mind and the more carpentry skills I continue to learn the better off I’ll be when I can finally afford it.

Build a School

I have a problem with our modern school systems here in the United States. Most schools don’t seem to actually teach anything…or maybe I’m just a poor student despite being honors everything.

I’ve been out of high school for nearly two years now and I swear I’ve forgotten the past twelve years already besides basic math, English, and some science.

Hell, you can learn just about anything with a smartphone and an internet connection. In fact, the other day I learned how to make a mini metal foundry and have plans to cast some aluminum ingots in the near future!

We need more teachers in tune to educating alongside technology. No, carrying an iPad and typing papers does not count. Do you know how to code HTML? How about Java? CSS? How about PHP? Even know what those are? How about what an OS is? No!? Many people don’t have a clue yet we’ve had computers in just about every school in the country for the last 20 years.

This is just one of many downfalls of modern society. You drive a car, but do you know how to work on it? You use computers, but do you know how to program them? You have running water, but do you understand plumbing?

I could go on and on and on and on but this is exactly what I want to fix. I want to build a school that teaches practical skills pertaining to the everyday aspects of modern life with an intense focus on cultivating the child’s natural creative talents instead of crushing their souls with senseless homework…I mean busywork, and ridiculous standardized testing.

There is nothing “standard” about being an individual.

Memorization is not the same as Learning.

The real world doesn’t force you to work in isolation, in the real world collaboration is a must.

You don’t learn in a classroom, you learn by getting your hands dirty.

Mistakes should not be punished, mistakes should be treated as opportunities to learn.

There are countless forms of intelligence besides only being “smart” if you have an “A+” and I wish to cater to those other forms of intelligence.

Building a school of fine arts and practicality will be my Ninth Symphony, my Mona Lisa, my life’s masterpiece. I’m not specifically sure how yet but this is the reason I desire financial freedom and abundance. Our future as a species lies in the education of our children and our current schools are outdated remnants from the industrial revolution that just aren’t doing the job anymore. Someone needs to be the change and I would love the opportunity to be part of the change.