Tuesday, October 14, 2008

My True Goals for "Me Financially Free"

This is a new blog, and I am new to building wealth. If you are looking for a seasoned financial expert, I am definitely not the person to listen to.
I've boasted about goal-setting and how this one task is vital to any successful run, but I've neglected taking the time to share with you what my own personal goals are. Before I get into details, I think it'd be beneficial to first point out some key components of my story.
My life has consisted of me dabbing in and out of this and that. I went to school full-time right out of high school, on a full engineering scholarship. After about 6 months, I found that engineering was something I was very good at, but not necessarily something that I wanted to do everyday for the rest of my life. That lack of enthusiasm was then coupled with the fact that I was not very well-prepared for college. I didn't have a very intuitive and supportive structure at home. My parents pretty much said "when you turn 18, you're on your own (financially)." This led me to seriously consider how I was going to survive. It was hard to focus on my education, when I literally didn't know where my next meal was coming from or how I was going to wash my clothes. So, after 2 semesters of college, I dropped out on full scholarship. Looking back at that, I find it hard to believe that I actually did that.
But, what I lost is not comparable to what I gained. What I learned in the mean time was how to survive and how to work hard (100+ hours/week) to get the things that you want. I eventually learned to work smarter. I've been presented many job opportunities throughout this time, as some pertinent individuals have taken notice to my ambition and determination. Right now, I'm working as a Project Manager for an Engineering company making about $55K a year. For a college drop-out, that's not too bad. I'm back in school and I'm getting better at my job. I've gotten a raise nearly every 4-6 months for the last 2 and a half years.
Now I'm 24, and as school is rolling along, I've gotten to a point where I really would like more control over my finances. There's certain patterns that I've noticed as my income has gone from $7/hour to $27/hour. One pattern in particular is the fact that despite the change in income, at the end of the month, I still had the same amount of money- none. I'm am afraid that as my income continues to grow, without having addressed some of these issues, my financial situation will stay the same regardless of how much money I bring in.
This fear has made me seriously examine my financial knowledge. I want to know how you get rich and stay rich for the long term (beyond my lifetime).
About 3 years ago, I successfully got myself out of debt. I put together a goal and a plan, which led me to completely demolishing my debt (about $10K). That's not much, but I think that the philosophies behind my success can be shared and duplicated. I also believe that I can be rich. I believe that I can build similar philosophies that I used to get out of debt in order to build riches. And I believe that these philosophies can be shared and duplicated.
As I develop these philosophies, I want to so desperately to show other people how to incorporate those philosophies into their lives to produce real results. This is my true passion, and why I want this blog to be successful.

My first goal here (which is so small, it has to succeed) is to make $75 online in a month. This is a small short-term goal. This goal has led me to the creation of this blog. So far, through use of Adsense, I have made $0.62. I am confident that this number will go up. My $75 goal has led me to another goal: to get 1500 page impressions (or page views) within a month of the start of my blog. So far I have a little under 200.
I will keep you updated on how well I am doing. I'm working on a good way to track my goals. I see other bloggers who use charts and such, and I will be doing something similar to track my short-term and long-term goals as this journey continues.

1 comment:

PizzaForADream.com said...

Glad to see you setting goals for yourself on your blog! Keep it up. Having been in the workforce for 17 years or so longer than yourself, I'll tell you to work your tail off now in your own business as the raises every 4-6 months will quickly come to a stop. Get your financial independence done while young and single as it's tons harder once you have a family, etc. Keep it up!

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