Hi,
I've been following the Forum for some time, after reading both MJ books, and I've found incredible value here. There are so many things I'd like to say but I'll keep it short, so that this post finally gets posted ;-)
There are two reasons why I MUST introduce myself: the first is that I feel guilty every time I read the content you guys have put here, while I've not even introduced myself. The second is that something ugly happened to my business a few days ago, and I'd be grateful to hear your opinions (more on that in "The Ugly"). So, here is my story.
The Good:
I live in Rome, Italy, and I'm 44. As a software developer my skills are in high demand. Since reading MJ books (and several others), I've begun the cumbersome process of divorcing from Time. In the last 3 years I achieved several goals that seemed totally out of reach:
- I bought a house for rent, partially with a mortgage (before that I was against all debt). It has a positive cash flow and it's paying for itself, including taxes, plus giving a few hundred dollars (in euro actually) per month. I love real estate!
- I've recorded some courses for developers for a reputable company, and for the last six months my royalties have been more that 3K dollars each month, plus tons of positive reviews (market talking!). You can't imagine how happy I am about that.
- I've written a technical book, self published, in Italian. My friends tell me that it's been a success, I find it a total failure. To give you an idea, I've sold a little over 700 copies in three years (about 4k dollars in royalties). The only good thing is I've had some good reviews, so my ego is (partially) safe.
In this moment my income comes from:
- Royalties from my courses
- Rent from two houses
- My teaching activity (classic classroom teaching, I do it because it's a great way to stay up to date in technology)
- My business: it's a tiny software house, targeting small businesses.
I'm debt free (except the mortgage of the house for rent), I like what I do, happily married, spend less than I earn and own the house where I live. But if everything was good, this would be a very boring story indeed, so let's see
The Bad:
Time. I work at least 12 hours per day, at least 6 days per week. I started divorcing from Time three years ago, but she is an ugly beast, and doesn't want to let me free. Sometimes I fear she is winning. My activities are three: teaching, the software business, and authoring.
The obvious choice would probably be to stop teaching, which is totally Time dependent, but I don't have (yet) the courage to do that.
The Ugly:
Last week, my only full time team member told me he received a better offer and will be leaving at the end of the month. I tried making counter offers and everything I could think of, but he'll still be leaving. I'll spare the details, anyway we're parting ways in good terms. My problem is that to bring him to the level he is now took me over one year of training, and I can't, nor am I willing to find someone else and do the same right now. So, I've been thinking about outsourcing some of the work. I found on Amazon a book called "Virtual Freedom", and I'm eagerly reading it. I know that in this Forum outsourcing isn't considered a healthy path, but I cannot think of anything else right now (suggestions welcome of course).
My goal is simple: become "partially" retired in 6 years from now, and get there without killing myself from too much work. I'm 1/3 there.
OK just to finish this intro: this Forum is pure gold. Thanks a lot.
I've been following the Forum for some time, after reading both MJ books, and I've found incredible value here. There are so many things I'd like to say but I'll keep it short, so that this post finally gets posted ;-)
There are two reasons why I MUST introduce myself: the first is that I feel guilty every time I read the content you guys have put here, while I've not even introduced myself. The second is that something ugly happened to my business a few days ago, and I'd be grateful to hear your opinions (more on that in "The Ugly"). So, here is my story.
The Good:
I live in Rome, Italy, and I'm 44. As a software developer my skills are in high demand. Since reading MJ books (and several others), I've begun the cumbersome process of divorcing from Time. In the last 3 years I achieved several goals that seemed totally out of reach:
- I bought a house for rent, partially with a mortgage (before that I was against all debt). It has a positive cash flow and it's paying for itself, including taxes, plus giving a few hundred dollars (in euro actually) per month. I love real estate!
- I've recorded some courses for developers for a reputable company, and for the last six months my royalties have been more that 3K dollars each month, plus tons of positive reviews (market talking!). You can't imagine how happy I am about that.
- I've written a technical book, self published, in Italian. My friends tell me that it's been a success, I find it a total failure. To give you an idea, I've sold a little over 700 copies in three years (about 4k dollars in royalties). The only good thing is I've had some good reviews, so my ego is (partially) safe.
In this moment my income comes from:
- Royalties from my courses
- Rent from two houses
- My teaching activity (classic classroom teaching, I do it because it's a great way to stay up to date in technology)
- My business: it's a tiny software house, targeting small businesses.
I'm debt free (except the mortgage of the house for rent), I like what I do, happily married, spend less than I earn and own the house where I live. But if everything was good, this would be a very boring story indeed, so let's see
The Bad:
Time. I work at least 12 hours per day, at least 6 days per week. I started divorcing from Time three years ago, but she is an ugly beast, and doesn't want to let me free. Sometimes I fear she is winning. My activities are three: teaching, the software business, and authoring.
The obvious choice would probably be to stop teaching, which is totally Time dependent, but I don't have (yet) the courage to do that.
The Ugly:
Last week, my only full time team member told me he received a better offer and will be leaving at the end of the month. I tried making counter offers and everything I could think of, but he'll still be leaving. I'll spare the details, anyway we're parting ways in good terms. My problem is that to bring him to the level he is now took me over one year of training, and I can't, nor am I willing to find someone else and do the same right now. So, I've been thinking about outsourcing some of the work. I found on Amazon a book called "Virtual Freedom", and I'm eagerly reading it. I know that in this Forum outsourcing isn't considered a healthy path, but I cannot think of anything else right now (suggestions welcome of course).
My goal is simple: become "partially" retired in 6 years from now, and get there without killing myself from too much work. I'm 1/3 there.
OK just to finish this intro: this Forum is pure gold. Thanks a lot.
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