Three years of my life and at least $100,000 in expenses that I’ll never get back
My mom has been staying with us for the past few months to help us take care of our son, and as a result, she’s been able to get a look at my daily work routine as a full-time writer and blogger. Most mornings, after I drop my son off at daycare, I get home, plop down on my couch, and start writing. It’s a very different look from what things were like just a few years ago when I would put on a suit and tie and head off to a fancy downtown office.
The other day, as I…
While still investing, saving, and living life
My husband and I are both physical therapists. I’m happy with our career choices, but Doctorate degrees are expensive. During our 3 year graduate program, we each racked up six figures of debt between living and school expenses. We both had part-time jobs throughout the program and tried to live frugally, but in the end, our combined debt sat at $230,000 with 6–8% interest rates.
We graduated in May 2019 and appreciated the 6-month payment deferment. Before we began paying back our loans in November 2019, we needed a plan. These are the options we considered.
- Choose a standard, 10-year…
Some unexpected advice about living below your means
I graduated from my university precisely four years ago, and I can still feel the hot, sticky robes on my skin.
I sat in the 95-degree sun for three hours in order to collect a piece of paper. The ceremony felt like the final trial of a long and expensive journey.
Today, I’ve completed my senior year of post-study “adult life,” but there’s no commencement ceremony or diploma. All I have is a realization that adult life isn’t what I thought it would be. I don’t say that to scare you.
Expectations are premeditated resentments.
Back in 2017, I was…
We need to talk about these more.
Ever since I was a little girl, I was always looking forward to that next big, exciting thing. First, it was getting to go to school. Later on, it was learning to drive a car. Then, it was heading off to college.
I think the early years of our lives pass us by so quickly because we are just trying to figure out who we are and what we want to be.
We get so caught up in the frenzy of always trying to take that next step that will make us happier, wealthier, or more successful, that we completely…
“If you look at some of the inflation concerns that you and I both have, the U.S. Dollar may actually be the riskier asset than Bitcoin.”
That was Anthony Pompliano talking to Jim Cramer about Bitcoin on his podcast a few months ago. Here’s the video referencing the conversation.
You know, what Pomp just said is actually pretty ridiculous when you think about it. Come on. Bitcoin, a currency that’s been known to lose 40% of its value in a week, is less risky than the U.S. dollar?
I forgive you if you want to laugh him out of…
Win contracts that are “out of your league” and deliver great performance.
I didn’t start being a freelancer with tons of relevant experience but managed to establish a self-sufficient freelance career under 12 months. If you are suffering from imposter syndrome or don’t know how to get started in a field where you are inexperienced, this article is for you.
Imposter Syndrome: a psychological pattern in which individual doubts their skills, talents, or accomplishments and has a persistent internalized fear of being exposed as a “fraud”. — Wikipedia
In May 2020, just shortly after I got laid off from my first-ever office-based full-time internship after university due to the Covid-19 pandemic, I…
They set us up for failure.
We love stories about winners.
These stories follow a pattern, in case you didn’t know.
They all focus on an exceptional person, someone who beat the odds to achieve their dreams. They grew up dirt poor, maybe in a single parent household, and went to a school filled with drugs and burned out teachers. They used their brains or their looks or their charm to work their way up from nothing, and wound up filthy rich. If the story is always the same, then so is the stupidly obvious moral lesson:
So can you!
Dudes like Jeff Bezos have practically…
Your mentor does not exist.
I know what it feels like.
The feeling of being one in a billion. Scratch that, I mean — the feeling of being one among a billion.
Drowned out by the masses. Some nameless nobody. Bottom of the totem pole.
“You’re just getting started”, everyone says… “Good luck.”
Was that a smirk on their face?
But wait, you have potential. You’re willing to bust your butt. Work overtime. Go above and beyond. Clean up the scut. Pick up someone else’s trash.
You just need someone from the other side to take a chance on you. Take you under their wing…
Because nobody wants to work with a**holes
The decision to become a full-time freelancer felt incredibly scary at the time, in part because apparently, it’s a shark tank full of people just trying to “get a piece of the cake” out there.
My fears were misplaced. It was the complete opposite for me starting my career and building my network. Most freelancers were the most relaxed and friendly people I ever met (spectacular exceptions excluded). They would be waiting for you to ask for help without expecting anything in return, simply enjoying the fact that they can. …
First impressions are everything
When you start as a freelancer, it sucks. There I said it! And I had more success than a lot of other freelancers out there. I regularly get asked by beginners freelancers online why they aren’t getting clients, and when I look at their profile, I see a ton of red flags.
Let’s look at them to see what you can change. Some factors are in your control, and some aren’t, but I wanted to address them.
1. Faraway timezone
Now, many people in places like Asia are at a bit of a disadvantage here when they want to work with clients in…
The Post-Grad Survival Guide
The Post-Grad Survival Guide — Life in your 20s and beyond
