- Joined
- Dec 30, 2023
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*Hello everyone!**
I'm excited to share my story, which may not impress you financially but will hopefully give you a glimpse into my journey and where I'm headed.
**Born in Latvia:** To jump ahead, I'm currently based in Glasgow and desperately seeking someone on the same wavelength to connect with, brainstorm ideas, and share knowledge. My story starts in Latvia, where I was born into a working-class family. However, most of my childhood (15 years) was spent in Russia. My parents divorced when I was 3, and my mother and I moved in with her boyfriend (a medical student at the time). During those 12 years, I visited my dad's new family on weekends, living between his warm and fun house with two half-brothers and mother’s rented room in a flat filled with cockroaches and alcoholic neighbors.
**University & Early Work:** At 15, we moved back to Latvia due to my EU citizenship. My parents believed it would be best for me to get my degree there (a bit of a red flag in hindsight!). Four years later, I moved to Scotland to pursue an architecture degree. From year two onwards, I had to support myself through a demanding schedule: cleaning raw meat fridges, staring at 5 after walking through graveyards path at night to get to the job, photographing kids in a mall to generate lead for an employer, running a Michelin-recommended restaurant front-of-house role and cleaning pub toilets until 4 am. On top of all that, I freelanced in digital branding and website building during my later years. It was intense, often requiring two jobs alongside my full-time architecture studies to afford food, materials, and bills.
**Stress & Resilience:** Needless to say, I ended up in the hospital, facing the potential loss of my vision due to stress and sleep deprivation. But I pushed through and recovered! I ultimately obtained my BArch with Honors and a Masters with Merit. Physically and intellectually challenging, I'm still glad I got my degree. Architecture taught me to analyze and question "truths," something that wouldn't have been possible without it. As you might have guessed, I became a qualified architect. However, it took me seven years of academic study and two additional years of in-work training to pass the necessary exams and join the professional board.
**Finding Balance:** Since then, I've learned to manage stress effectively, finding the sweet spot between hard work and maintaining a healthy work-life balance. Then, along came C0VlD-19. I kept my job, being one of the few who remained with the company (not too surprising, considering my past, eh? ). Working from home during this period planted some interesting seeds. I started devouring various learning materials (YouTube, podcasts, ebooks) on any and everything, searching for something more fulfilling than the work-die routine. The world seemingly stopping all flights within 24 hours was a particularly enlightening moment, making me realize we're all playing by someone else's rules. No longer content with being a puppet, I began questioning everything.
**Seeking New Horizons:** The crux of my story is this: I know I'm capable of achieving anything I set my mind to. The problem is, the scripted path of school-university-job felt comfortable and familiar, making it easy to follow. Now, I crave financial freedom, but there's no clear-cut plan this time around. I recently enrolled in a drop-shipping program, paying a mentor for lifetime access to pre-recorded lessons. While they do update the content and offer good tech support, I understand the model's limitations: it primarily benefits the mentor, not necessarily the students. Still, I haven't found a better approach at this point.
**Motherhood & Entrepreneurship:** As a new mother, I grind through drop-shipping at night to test it. However, I envision something bigger for myself and my family. That's why I believe this forum can be a valuable resource for my next steps. In the meantime, to supplement my income during my maternity leave, I'm building a drone flying business for building roof and fabric surveys. It's an easy-money option, leveraging my and my husband's skills and drone ownership, but it won't be the key to financial independence.
**Connecting in Glasgow:** So here I am! If you're in Glasgow and up for a chat, I'd love to hear from you.
Thank you for reading! @MJ DeMarco
I'm excited to share my story, which may not impress you financially but will hopefully give you a glimpse into my journey and where I'm headed.
**Born in Latvia:** To jump ahead, I'm currently based in Glasgow and desperately seeking someone on the same wavelength to connect with, brainstorm ideas, and share knowledge. My story starts in Latvia, where I was born into a working-class family. However, most of my childhood (15 years) was spent in Russia. My parents divorced when I was 3, and my mother and I moved in with her boyfriend (a medical student at the time). During those 12 years, I visited my dad's new family on weekends, living between his warm and fun house with two half-brothers and mother’s rented room in a flat filled with cockroaches and alcoholic neighbors.
**University & Early Work:** At 15, we moved back to Latvia due to my EU citizenship. My parents believed it would be best for me to get my degree there (a bit of a red flag in hindsight!). Four years later, I moved to Scotland to pursue an architecture degree. From year two onwards, I had to support myself through a demanding schedule: cleaning raw meat fridges, staring at 5 after walking through graveyards path at night to get to the job, photographing kids in a mall to generate lead for an employer, running a Michelin-recommended restaurant front-of-house role and cleaning pub toilets until 4 am. On top of all that, I freelanced in digital branding and website building during my later years. It was intense, often requiring two jobs alongside my full-time architecture studies to afford food, materials, and bills.
**Stress & Resilience:** Needless to say, I ended up in the hospital, facing the potential loss of my vision due to stress and sleep deprivation. But I pushed through and recovered! I ultimately obtained my BArch with Honors and a Masters with Merit. Physically and intellectually challenging, I'm still glad I got my degree. Architecture taught me to analyze and question "truths," something that wouldn't have been possible without it. As you might have guessed, I became a qualified architect. However, it took me seven years of academic study and two additional years of in-work training to pass the necessary exams and join the professional board.
**Finding Balance:** Since then, I've learned to manage stress effectively, finding the sweet spot between hard work and maintaining a healthy work-life balance. Then, along came C0VlD-19. I kept my job, being one of the few who remained with the company (not too surprising, considering my past, eh? ). Working from home during this period planted some interesting seeds. I started devouring various learning materials (YouTube, podcasts, ebooks) on any and everything, searching for something more fulfilling than the work-die routine. The world seemingly stopping all flights within 24 hours was a particularly enlightening moment, making me realize we're all playing by someone else's rules. No longer content with being a puppet, I began questioning everything.
**Seeking New Horizons:** The crux of my story is this: I know I'm capable of achieving anything I set my mind to. The problem is, the scripted path of school-university-job felt comfortable and familiar, making it easy to follow. Now, I crave financial freedom, but there's no clear-cut plan this time around. I recently enrolled in a drop-shipping program, paying a mentor for lifetime access to pre-recorded lessons. While they do update the content and offer good tech support, I understand the model's limitations: it primarily benefits the mentor, not necessarily the students. Still, I haven't found a better approach at this point.
**Motherhood & Entrepreneurship:** As a new mother, I grind through drop-shipping at night to test it. However, I envision something bigger for myself and my family. That's why I believe this forum can be a valuable resource for my next steps. In the meantime, to supplement my income during my maternity leave, I'm building a drone flying business for building roof and fabric surveys. It's an easy-money option, leveraging my and my husband's skills and drone ownership, but it won't be the key to financial independence.
**Connecting in Glasgow:** So here I am! If you're in Glasgow and up for a chat, I'd love to hear from you.
Thank you for reading! @MJ DeMarco
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