How did you do it? Financial Success Thread
 

I like hearing stories about success. They inspire me to work harder and also give me ideas for future endeavors.

Rules: You don't have to be a mega millionaire. You might not even be a millionaire. You might have worked up the corporate ladder, started a business, been gifted 10mil and started a charity, it could be anything. Just tell us your "story" and some things you learned along the way (what worked, what didn't, what you would do differently, goals for the future, etc.).

Looking forward to reading,
tc

Re: How did you do it? Financial Success Thread
 

I was fortunate to start playing poker online right before the time when poker became insanely popular. I started playing right around the time moneymaker won, and through a lot of hard work and long hours made well over a million bucks playing in college. just like any other kid who made a lot online, i put in a lot of hours and surely had a lot of luck.

when i was a junior in college some people approached me to start a website to teach others to play poker. the deal fell through and that site never was built. i decided to start something similar a few months later, with a few twists. i got a partner who was also a successful poker player and we started cardrunners.com during the summer after my junior year of college.

we started as a very small community built around my reputation as a successful player and we started to hire some other well known players. i soon realized that it was very important to bring on top notch talent so i tried to get the best players on the internet to be associated with the site. there has been a proliferation of other training sites on the internet, but i think we will always (hopefully!) have a competitive advantage because we will have the best teaching talent.

the site grew from word of mouth mostly. after a few months, we started to advertise on some poker forums and i begrudgingly started to write some articles for poker magazines because it would be good publicity. i learned you have to not be afraid to go out and sell yourself in order for your business to be successful.

eventually we developed a reputation on the internet as being the premier training site on the net (open for debate, but certainly we are one of the top choices). our new goal will be to reach out to different types of players including live players, low stakes players, and tournament players. we are always trying new things and it is exciting adding new aspects to the business edit: i hope it doesn't look like i'm selling the business, just trying to make the point that we are always trying new things and looking to improve what we do - i think that's what makes us a great service).

the business has grown like i never thought it would. through a lot of hard work, persistance, and luck, this business is now just about as profitable as playing high stakes poker online. i have found that running the business is much more exciting than grinding out poker day after day.

what i learned? SO many things.

-don't listen to all the naysayers out there. there are always people who are negative about ideas, no matter how good they are. sure, most businesses fail, but if you have an idea that you believe in and you have done all of your homework and everythign checks out, don't listen to people that say otherwise.

-your reputation is everything. in the business world, you have many tough decisions where it is could be easy to make disparaging remarks about someone else or to get involved in shady situations. you can't fake being a good, honest, trustworthy person. you need to be this person and it will really get you far. just be friendly, approachable, and honest and you will be amazed at how eventually that reputation will be reflected in your business.

-be flexible. i never thought i would be running an internet business when i graduated college. there are some things my business does now that i didn't think we would ever get involved in (different focus/service) but because of the changing environment of poker it made sense to change what we did. the person that can adapt quickly to changes in the environment is the one whose business will find success year after year.

-trust your gut. if you have a bad vibe about something/someone, don't ignore it (goes the other way, too). there are many times where i just had a bad feeling about a certain deal or person but couldn't quite explain why. you don't need a reason to avoid something, it is your business, your choice. also, don't feel bad about saying no. it is hard but a necessary part of running a successful business.

-the most important thing i've learned is that it CAN be done. i now know that i am capable of starting something great and this gives me the confidence i need to keep pushing forward. in a few years i would like to start something new, unrelated to poker. a lot of people have told me "yeah, you did well with CR, but that's just because you were lucky to have a great skill (poker) and it would be a lot harder outside of poker." yeah, maybe some of that is true, but i know a lot of other people who are good at poker and i don't see many of them monetizing that away from the tables (at least to this extent). the time will come when i am ready to prove that the knowledge and skills that i have will be transferable to areas outside of poker. i look forward to that challenge someday. i find that posing challenges to myself like this keeps me hungry.

these are some things i learned...nothing groundbreaking but hope they help some of you.

tc

Re: How did you do it? Financial Success Thread
 

[ QUOTE ]
what i learned? SO many things.
-your reputation is everything. in the business world, you have many tough decisions where it is could be easy to make disparaging remarks about someone else or to get involved in shady situations. you can't fake being a good, honest, trustworthy person. you need to be this person and it will really get you far. just be friendly, approachable, and honest and you will be amazed at how eventually that reputation will be reflected in your business.
tc

[/ QUOTE ]

QFT. One of my old professors, a former Fortune 50 CEO said it best in my mind. "Perseverance, Sincerity, Discipline - without these 3 attributes you will not succeed [longterm] in business."
I don't underestimate the personality traits of those who are 'warm and friendly' as well, but I'll invest with a hardworking, honest, run-thru-a-wall manager even if he's not Little Miss Sunshine. The opposite is unlikely to be true.

Re: How did you do it? Financial Success Thread
 

Taylor,

It's hard to emphasize enough how important just actually giving something a shot and then having the perseverence to keep pushing are to the success of a business. Sheer force of will is such a big key to making it.

I'll comment more on your excellent post when I have a little time. Anyone interested in being an entrepeneur should really take your post to heart, it's great.

Re: How did you do it? Financial Success Thread
 

nice post, i had no idea the site was so successful. thats awesome! congrats.

Re: How did you do it? Financial Success Thread
 

Great post TC. Two things I would add are the value of personal relationships and setting goals. IMO personal relationships are the second most important aspect of business behind reputation. Setting goals helps you remain focused and motivated. I will write my story when I have more time.

Re: How did you do it? Financial Success Thread
 

TC,

I wrote my story in this thread.

Re: How did you do it? Financial Success Thread
 

Joker,
I pasted this here. Good Story.

This is going to be a long post, but I wouldn’t write it if I didn’t think it was somewhat important. I had some ambivalence over whether or not to even share this much personal information, but I decided that the benefits it will have to many readers outweighs the loss of privacy I’m suffering as a cause. Plus it’s a huge brag.

Chapter 1: pre-2004

I decided to go to a private, fairly expensive graduate school to get my master’s in film production. Afterwards, I moved out to Los Angeles to work in the film & television industry, something I’ve always wanted. I’m a pretty good writer, and it’s what I think I should be doing with my life. Unfortunately, as most people who move out to L.A. know, it’s a tough business. I was already waist-deep in student loans, and I was coming to an expensive city with no job prospects.

To spare you the details, I basically worked for a few years doing odd production jobs and eventually as a script reader for a big movie network. These gigs didn’t pay well at all, and the cost of living was higher than my income. So I pulled out the credit cards and racked up some balances. I didn’t spend any more than I had to, but what I had to spend was still more than I owned. Year after year, the scripts I was writing were getting optioned but not getting made, and I couldn’t hit that big payday. Before I knew it, between the student loans and credit card bills (plus the crappy interest), I was more than 25k in debt. 25k. I felt like crap, and thought it would take me forever to pay it off – if ever. More than the financial pressure, it was a huge black cloud weighing over everything I did… every time I wanted to buy a DVD or go out for a nice dinner or get a new pair of shoes, that nagging debt was a giant brick on my shoulder, and it infested every day I lived. I was fairly miserable, even though I’m generally an optimist.

Chapter 2: 2004

2004 brought a confluence of fortunes. Starting in the summer I got a pretty good job in the casting department of a TV company, which eventually turned into a really good job as a casting director. The other thing was… poker.

Back in 2002, I’d discovered hold’em, and it was a very exciting change from the 5-card draw and wild-card games I played with buddies over beers on a Thursday night. I even took some drives down to Commerce in 2003 to play some 2/4, and discovered that I had a brain for the game. I read some stupid Ken Warren beginner’s book and fixed the huge leaks. And I realized it was a game you could be a long-term winner at. See, I’m a very risk-averse guy and I hate gambling (I never play blackjack or any type of pit/table game; it’s just not in me). But “in gambling, you gotta get lucky to win, and in poker you gotta get unlucky to lose.” This could work.

So in 2004 I was getting more interested in it, and I saw a book by Sklansky & Miller on the shelf. It was SSHE. I read it and it really spoke to me. I changed the way I thought about the game and I started soaking up everything I could, all while making some change at the Commerce 2/4 and 3/6 games. Then in October I went to the website recommended on the back cover of SSHE, twoplustwo.com. I read some strategy posts and freaked out. These guys really think about the game and how to win. It was even more advanced than the book, so I signed on and got involved. This was the beginning…

Chapter 3: 2005

My job as a casting director was paying good, but I had huge credit card payments to make. I was still 25k in debt, and my salary could barely pay the interest plus my rent. Luckily I had stopped adding to the debt, but I wasn’t making anything. In fact, the poker winnings I was making (maybe $50 a week) was what I used to pay for random stuff like movies, girlfriends, etc. Also, none of the people on 2+2 seemed to play the games I did. They were all playing on the internet. I didn’t think that looked like any fun, but what the hell, so I deposited $50 in PartyPoker and started playing .5/1 games. I could have busted the first day but I ran hot and had a few hundred bucks in there in no time, then started playing 2/4 for real.

Then I totaled my car. Ugh. It wasn’t my fault, but the guy who hit me didn’t have insurance, and my lawyer + insurance company both screwed me over and I ended up getting hardly anything for the crash – so now I needed a car. And I was in debt. What now? Enter a saintly 2+2er who knew I was a winning player and staked me to play live 6/12. He gave me a solid bankroll and told me to hit the tables. Around the same time, another very cool poster in the Small Stakes forum liked my brain for poker and staked me to play 3/6 by giving me an extra 1k on Party.

I couldn’t let those guys down, so I focused like never before and played my best game. I spent every day reading the forums, and learned so much about the game from guys like Nate tha’ Great, Schneids, Evan, and CDC, among others. These guys were razor sharp and wrote about poker with the kind of clarity I needed to improve. Within 3 months I paid off the online stake. I kept playing 3/6, and thanks to rakeback and running well, I soon had the 3k necessary to play 5/10. At the same time I was playing hard at the live tables, and thanks to the soft heaven of the Bike 6/12, I was winning big. I moved up to 8/16 and 9/18, and was making more per hour and feeling better about my game.

But by the end of the year, I still felt like I had little to show for it. A lot of my initial profits from live play were going back to the guy who staked me because I wanted to pay him off as soon as possible. I certainly didn’t need to be in debt any more than I was. All my other profits were going to making bank payments. My online roll was growing thanks to the juicy Party 5/10 ring games, but it was just virtual money on a screen. How was I doing so well and not seeing any good results? Nevertheless, I just kept plugging away.

By the end of 2005, I had built my live roll up to a satisfactory point where I could take a shot at the L.A. yellow-chip games. Since I had a full-time job, I could only play a certain number of hours at B&Ms, so I needed to play big enough stakes for it to matter. Enter the 15/30 and 20/40 games. Bingo.

Chapter 4: 2006

Within the first few months of 2006, I had doubled my live bankroll. I paid off my stake completely, and still had enough to play 20/40. Meanwhile, online 5/10 with rakeback was going as good as ever.

And, to add fortune to fortune, I got promoted again into the development department of my company, becoming a television writer. I really felt good about my career and this was having positive effects everywhere. Because I never took my eye off the goal, I didn’t allow my side hobby of poker overtake my career. Work always came first. And since I worked hard, it paid off. Now I had a comfortable salary. I could start chipping away at my debt – or at least not have to eat into my poker income to buy drinks and movie tickets and dinner for my girlfriend.

If any of you have been a live grinder for enough time, you realize that after some time, live play really sucks. Now, after 2 years of it, I was getting really sick of these people. Cocky jerks, sour old grumps, mean-spirited whiners, sore losers, smelly and unhygienic degenerates. And since I was on a roll at 5/10 online, I wondered why in the world I was even playing this slow, boring, irritating game. Enough with B&Ms!

By this point, I had about 13k in my live roll. I was 25k in debt. I decided to destroy my live roll and stick to online poker. I took out 10k and paid off some loans. In one fell swoop, I was now only 15k in debt. Still a lot, but definitely more manageable. Meanwhile, I’m reading posts from all these ballas earning 6-7 figures a year with poker and spending what I owe in debts in one day on TVs and hookers. I feel like a micro-stakes loser, but I don’t let it get to me. Good for them, but the meager stakes I’m winning mean a lot to me. Bets are bets. So now it was time off from live play and hardcore online grinding. I was 4-tabling almost every night after work, and soon worked up to 10/20.

Then, just when online was “clicking” like never before, the sky fell. Bill Frist rammed his foot up our collective asses. It was late 2006 and I had built up a 10k roll on Party (after some cashouts for expenses, etc.). I decided to say f*ck it and cash everything out. No more online at all. I’ve seen the mid-limit games on Full Tilt and Stars, and they can blow me.

I cashed out. Now, I had about 13-15k in poker money sitting around. You know what? I can almost pay off all my debts! But that would leave me broke. Dead broke. And hey, it takes money to make money. So I decided to take 10k of it and pay off the credit cards. Man, that felt good. But I still was in the red for 5k, and I only had a few thousand bucks to play poker with. No problem, right?

Chapter 5: The End

I took my meager bankroll and started playing live again, after a 3-month hiatus. The 8/16 tables were absurdly soft – I mean come on, I was used to 20/40 live and 10/20 online, so this was like autopilot again. It gave me my B&M confidence back, and before I could blink I had barely enough to play 15/30. But would I?

A voice in my left ear said I could pay off all my debts and walk away clean. It will feel great, the voice said. But another voice said: “You’re only 5k in debt, and you need a 10k bankroll to play 20/40. Why not have faith in your skills and play poker until you get a 15k bankroll? Then you can pay off your remaining debts and still have ten dimes to sit on, using as a nice cushion for yellow chip games?” I would kill myself if I ran bad and didn’t pay off the debts when I could, but I figured this was my best chance to really get started in a positive financial direction.

So I spent the end of 2006 and January of this year (only 3 weeks thus far) playing mad poker. I had 2 weeks of vacation time from work in December and absolutely clobbered the fish at Commerce. Then I went to Palm Springs and Arizona, and clobbered fish there too. I was in a zone and was destined to make my goal. I worked hard every weekday at my job, then went down to Commerce at night to get a few hours in. By Tuesday night, Jan. 16, I had 14.5k in my roll. Only $500 to go. But that can take a month. One session can have you down a dime, and then it takes 15 more sessions to grind it back. Not this time.

Tonight, Thursday Jan. 18, I went to Hawaiian Gardens and sat in a juicy 20/40 game. I made a wheel with a suited ace-rag, I made aces up in a big pot, and I turned a set of tens to finish off a nice session that had me in the black $590. I did it. I reached my goal.

I drove home, did my calculations, and double-checked that I had 15k in poker monies. I did. I went online to BankofAmerica and paid off the last of my debts. Every last cent. And I still have 10k – all sitting there to cushion me for even more play. Why? Because now it’s all profit. It’s all juice. I can start saving. I’m in the f*cking BLACK and I can start SAVING!

I moved into a new apartment this month, living on my own off the Sunset Strip. I even bought a new sofa with poker money (so I guess I would have had 11k haha). My cat is on my lap and I’m sipping on the best rum and coke I’ve ever had, looking out over the lights of downtown. Because after over 2 years of hard work and focus, I paid off a daunting $25,000-debt with a little card game called hold’em. I’m a new man, I love my job, I love my friends, and I’m free of all the weight of the past. Poker is only partially luck, but whatever element there is, I wish you guys all the luck that I’ve had.

Thanks for reading.

Cliff Notes: thanks to hard work, smart bankroll management

Re: How did you do it? Financial Success Thread
 

I would love to hear El D's story.

The two so far have been fascinating.

Re: How did you do it? Financial Success Thread
 

[ QUOTE ]
I would love to hear El D's story.

The two so far have been fascinating.

[/ QUOTE ]

Seconded.

Hopefully in another year or two I can come back to this thread and have something to offer. My site was just launched this week.

The one thing I can pass on that maybe is some use though is that you should plan on ALOT more time for the project to be completed then you imagined it would take.

Every door I open seems to open up to ten more. Just keep plugging away at it.

-Evan

Re: How did you do it? Financial Success Thread
 

Save 30% of your income, re-invest it in diversified portfolio of housing and stocks, and take advantage of strong business opportunities. You'll be very rich by 40.

Re: How did you do it? Financial Success Thread
 

I lucked into a lucrative job when I was 17 and worked my ass off at it. I'm not RICH rich, but I was in the 1% salary bracket throughout my 20s and I have done well by any standard.

I did an OK job of capitalizing on the windfall, making some good decisions and some poor ones too.

The lessons I took away:

- having money can be surreal, but don't mention it too often or to the wrong people. My #1 regret that I reminded my friends of where I was at way more often than was necessary. You're asking them to share the burden of surreality without sharing in the actual, you know, MONEY. So show some restraint. I must have been insufferable sometimes, but was fortunate to have good friends who stuck around and didn't take advantage.

- it's tempting to spend money on friends who can't afford to do so for themselves, but this will breed resentment. Do things they can afford.

- the incremental utility of (spent) cash drops off sharply once you have more of it than the average person. The system is rigged so that looking and feeling rich is absurdly expensive. If your savings plan doesn't pinch sometimes, it's too lax.

- one hidden cost of a baller lifestyle is that it lets the money define you, so that adjusting becomes a life-altering trauma instead of a budgeting exercise. Settle on a lifestyle and social circle that can weather your financial downturns.

- do everything you can to avoid dealing with people who work on commission.

Re: How did you do it? Financial Success Thread
 

When I was in high school, I planned on graduating college, find a decent job, save enough money, and voila “do my own thing.”

I found hold ‘em during my sophomore year in college. I was still going to graduate college but I wasn’t looking for a decent job anymore. As I accumulated more cash and cash, I quickly realized “doing my own thing” isn’t as easy as it seems when you start doing it. I get on tilt nowadays whenever I hear my friends or high school students wanting to “do their own thing” after a decent job. I mean, wtf is “doing your own thing” anyway?

I learned that creating a business is hard as hell. You can’t just have money and think that somehow, “your money will be working for you.” Even worse, those that got through high school and college easily tend to think that if they try “extra hard and care a little,” they’re going to achieve greatness. Well, it doesn’t work that way. Just because you try hard doesn’t mean your business will profit. It has a higher chance of surviving but there's no guarantee.

Then of course, I found stocks. OMG! I’ve always wanted to trade but due to lack of capital, I didn’t start until near the end of college. It was going to be a piece of care. Buy high sell low. Well, the market told me to go [censored] myself. So I started reading about the market. I put down the investment book after five minutes because I didn’t know wtf Benjamin Graham was talking about in the “Intelligent Investor.” But I knew I don’t want to bet/fold/raise all my life so I forced myself to start all over again. I went out and buy books and books for stocks. But unlike the first time, I learned what all the fancy vocabularies meant. Then it didn’t seem like I was chewing glass anymore. Needless to say, I read more in 6 months about stocks than my whole education combined. And I actually went back and read on sessions I didn’t understand [which unfortunately was far too many times].

Then everything started to make sense. Buy when the market sells below the business’s value. Why didn’t I think of that? I am young and dangerous now. Well, I learned that I was young but I was as dangerous as low-stakes grinders at live games. I read more and learned that I didn’t know anything.

During this time, I got into real estate investing. Wow, I love America. Buy a house and let others pay off your mortgages. Or buy foreclosure properties and fix it up …???? … profits. What I neglected when those thoughts ran through my head was who can I trust in this business? How do I price these properties, especially in the current real estate market? Why are there so many freaking papers to sign? And why the hell California’s prices so out of wack?

Ok, I’ll sum it up. Here’s what I learned. Work with people you trust and who opinion you respect [Buffett]. Write down an idea that you think might make you moneys. Then write a business plan and see how far you’ll go. If you actually complete the business plan, find out how you are going to start it and if you need any partner or not? If you need a partner, where are you going to find one? And during any of the downtime, will you think, “this shiet isn’t worth it. Set mining and stacking others are more fun and profitable than this.”

And oh, I learned that I love stocks [not because I ran great but because it's the only way for me to become wealthy without getting involved in politics or run businesses or working with others]. I used to think I enjoy working with others but what I really meant was I enjoy working with one or two persons. I also learned that I was born in the wrong decade because if I was born a decade earlier, I would be chilling with the dotcom boom, the real estate boom, the poker boom, the web2.0 boom, and the foreclosure boom. The only thing that I have going for me is the SlowHabit boom. Hopefully, you'll be hearing from my friends [and virtual buddies] how they managed to miss out on that.

Re: How did you do it? Financial Success Thread
 

slowhabit, I dont know why but I really appreciate your post.

Re: How did you do it? Financial Success Thread
 

Good posts guys. I especially liked the post about adjusting to the wealth and the point about dealing with people who work on commission is one i am learning the hard way.

[ QUOTE ]
I also learned that I was born in the wrong decade because if I was born a decade earlier, I would be chilling with the dotcom boom, the real estate boom, the poker boom, the web2.0 boom, and the foreclosure boom. The only thing that I have going for me is the SlowHabit boom. Hopefully, you'll be hearing from my friends [and virtual buddies] how they managed to miss out on that.

[/ QUOTE ]

One thing I would like to add is that there is always another boom. Yes, most of us (young guys) missed out on dotcom boom. I missed out on RE boom as well because I didn't have the money or more importantly the time to make a big splash.

I hear people say things all the time like "I wish I had been playing online poker when the boom started." Or "I wish I had been trading when it was much easier 15 years ago." I generally find that people who say things like this are not the type of people who WOULD have been "in" on the booms at the beginning. It's true, it's always (relatively) easy to make absurd amounts of cash at the beginning of a boom time. It is NOT easy to identify what the boom will be and develop the system to profit from it because at the beginning no one else has ever done it.

What I have learned from this concept is you need to be thinking to the next boom. If you, as an average American (or whatever), are aware that a boom is happening, it is 99% of the time too late to do much about it.

Challenge yourself to think "what's next?" If you can predict with even a remote degree of accuracy what the next big thing will be, you will make far more money than the guy who waits to learn about some "system" from someone who has already done it and then complains his whole life about how it just isn't as easy as people say. Well, yeah, it isn't anymore, because everyone else knows about it now.

I don't know, just a little rant/something i've been thinking about lately.

Please keep these coming, I am really enjoying this stuff.

El D, you're up!

tc

Re: How did you do it? Financial Success Thread
 

I read slowhabits post and was going to post the exact same thing TC did. He just beat me to it and more eloquently.

Just to highlight. Stop thinking [censored], I missed that boom. Start thinking about what's next.

Re: How did you do it? Financial Success Thread
 

i have alot of ideas but i am one lazy SOB.

Re: How did you do it? Financial Success Thread
 

Sorry in advance, this turned out awfully long. (Also, Cardrunners is great and I am happy that it is doing well for you.)

So far, I think I have had an interesting run. Based on my childhood peer group; not dead, addicted to drugs and/or in prison equals monster success.

I moved out of my family home at fifteen and worked two jobs: gas station attendant and night-shift dishwasher. The first paychecks were like hitting the lottery. After several months, I realized that I may have been overly optimistic about my long-term prospects, so I quit the two jobs and pursued other opportunities.

Also, my former schoolmates driving through the intersection where my gas station was located (every morning and afternoon) and hanging out the bus windows, yelling words of encouragement like " nice move piss-pumper!" helped to make it an easy decision.

Some of the opportunities I pursued included all the usual low-skill temp jobs as well as a few interesting jobs like carny worker, music studio peon and temporary tattoo artist ( yay strippers, ugh fat, old Italian guys).

After about six-months of that BS, I went to work in a construction trade that was a family occupation. I had been dragged into the trade at a young age, and despite my teenage rebellion, my age (I always had to lie about my age and claim that I was 18) and the hard physical work I realized a skilled-trade was better money, steadier and less hours than working two no-skill jobs or applying temporary tattoos to some guido's fat ass.

Over the next twenty-three years, I owned two businesses. I started the first one at seventeen. The second one I started at twenty-four. By the time I was thirty, my net worth was >1M. Excluding some small investment properties, my entire net worth was tied up in my business.

During that fifteen year time period, I experienced times of tremendous success and equally awful failure. After my first business went bust during the recession in the late 80's, I moved from the Boston area to the mid-west. When I arrived in the mid-west I had no money, no car and few prospects.

I arrived with a small suitcase that contained all my personal belongings and a few hand tools. I stayed with a family member and went back to work. After a month, I had enough money to either buy a POS work vehicle or rent a small apartment in the worst part of town. I rented the apartment.

I was then laid off. Incidentally, here's a lesson: You can sleep in your car. But, you can not drive an apartment. Always get the vehicle first.

The next few months were a lot of fun. I was down to "borrowing" toilet paper from the library and stealing hot sauce from Taco Bell to put on the only food source I had left: Uncle Ben's Instant Rice which was really cheap and available in huge boxes from the discount supermarket.

At this time, I also ran afoul of the law. I needed to borrow a truck from the guy who I had previously been working for. I tracked him down to his usual after work hang-out and found him sitting with several of his friends.

They had all been there since lunch and were showing the effects. One of them for whatever reason, started ragging me for having a heavy Boston accent.

I ignored him while I tried to negotiate the borrowing of my former boss' truck. As the keys were being handed to me, the guy who had been mouthing off knocked the keys to the floor.

I picked the keys up and started walking out. As I reached the door, I just couldn't help myself and I turned around.

Apparently, in that small town, they don't like it when losers from Boston beat the [censored] out of the locals; especially when their fathers' are politically well connected.

Also, my "been reading a lot of Hemingway lately" defense, did not help. I got to go to the local vacation center for the poor and hopeless. Apparently, it was owned owned by the NAACP, because there were only African-Americans there with just a few dumb white people like me thrown in for texture.

On the plus side, during that whole span of time, I lost some weight, quit smoking, read a ton of books, lost my racial prejudices and grew the [censored] up.

I also lost the arrogance of youth that was born of being able to earn a lot of money from a young age. It also gave me some time to think about my life and the mistakes I made to end up where I was. Basically, up to that point, I had lived my life like there was no end in sight. I had made a lot of money (especially for a kid > 60K annual) and despite the hard work, it all seemed very easy.

Lots of -EV lifestyle choices along the way. Lots of trips to AC, the track and it was the 80's after all, were distractions that drained away my earnings and contributed to my first business failure.

In my defense, all of that stuff was standard for where I was from. Growing up, college was never an option and the expectations, if there were any, were always very low. I actually had friends with names like Fast Eddie (father was a bookie), Smoothie (degen gambler), Feen-Dog (father was a two-bit criminal, drug dealer and, in his youth, a hitter for the boys in Southie) Rocky (true name, I swear) and other assorted winners.

At any rate, at thirty-one, I did a business deal with a large competitor that shuttered my business and transferred all assets and liabilities into a new corporation.

The new corp. had a regional presence, was 10x's the size of my old business and I was a minority partner. If everything worked out correctly, I would be very wealthy.

Here are some lessons I learned along the way:

1. Education:
Formal and field specific education are invaluable. I went to night school for both HS and college and I finally graduated with a BS in Management in 2004. No regrets.

Field specific education is even more important. You need to be an expert in your field, period.

For people in business, an absolute requisite is knowing how businesses function financially.

2. Communication:
Face to face>>>>phone>>>>email. Also, understanding that certain situations require one form or another. Major issues equal fact time, minor issues phone with follow-up by email. etc. etc.

Also, anything you put on paper should be done with the understanding that if it were read out loud in court, to your friends, or to your parents you would not be embarrassed or legally exposed.

Never write an angry word (or Alec Baldwin yourself).

3. Conflict Resolution:
Always argue the other sides case first, then respond. Also, if in that process you think, They can't possibly be looking at it like this, can they? They probably are.

4. Government:

Google conflict criminology. The same applies to all government agencies. If they are not producing reasons for their existence, then they are losing budget money. Budget money, ultimately, equals their jobs. None of these people are on your side. From the IRS to the unemployment office, they all work against you in one fashion or another.

5. Do not be impressed by titles. Especially true for bankers, attorneys and anyone from a government agency. Like above, if you find yourself asking, They couldn't be that stupid, could they? They probably are.

6. Never take no for an answer. This doesn't mean that you can't accept someone declining your offer. But, always find out the specific reasons for their declination.

7. Always pay yourself, protect your personal assets, and diversify your holdings.

8. Never quit. It can always get worse and it probably will, so you might as well keep plugging.

9. Take time away to think about and analyze your business. Do not allow distractions and focus solely on the operation.

10. Take vacations. Ten years from now the work weeks all blur together. But, the week you spent in FL or whatever will be a memory that stands out.

11. Never lie, cheat or steal. If you want to do that be a criminal, it pays better.

12. Be aggressive and fearless. WTF, they're not shooting at you and it's only money.

There are many more. But, this thing is sick long as it is.

Regarding my last business deal, nothing worked out correctly, so I am now busto. Yay bad business deals. Admittedly, when I did the deal, I knew I was letting it all ride and there was a chance I could lose it all.

I was fine with that. I am 38, white, male, degreed (in the US that means I have all the advantages) and, as my field is specialized, I am in demand.

Presently, I have a job that pays, depending on performance, from $50-400K per year. The company's ultimate owner is Warren Buffet. Which means along with a Christmas card, I get cool memo's on ethics and civic responsibility from the man himself. I live in a nice house on the water and I am basically happy . For a kid from the neighborhood, that is pretty [censored] good.

Re: How did you do it? Financial Success Thread
 

[ QUOTE ]
Good posts guys. I especially liked the post about adjusting to the wealth and the point about dealing with people who work on commission is one i am learning the hard way.

[ QUOTE ]
I also learned that I was born in the wrong decade because if I was born a decade earlier, I would be chilling with the dotcom boom, the real estate boom, the poker boom, the web2.0 boom, and the foreclosure boom. The only thing that I have going for me is the SlowHabit boom. Hopefully, you'll be hearing from my friends [and virtual buddies] how they managed to miss out on that.

[/ QUOTE ]

One thing I would like to add is that there is always another boom. Yes, most of us (young guys) missed out on dotcom boom. I missed out on RE boom as well because I didn't have the money or more importantly the time to make a big splash.

I hear people say things all the time like "I wish I had been playing online poker when the boom started." Or "I wish I had been trading when it was much easier 15 years ago." I generally find that people who say things like this are not the type of people who WOULD have been "in" on the booms at the beginning. It's true, it's always (relatively) easy to make absurd amounts of cash at the beginning of a boom time. It is NOT easy to identify what the boom will be and develop the system to profit from it because at the beginning no one else has ever done it.

What I have learned from this concept is you need to be thinking to the next boom. If you, as an average American (or whatever), are aware that a boom is happening, it is 99% of the time too late to do much about it.

Challenge yourself to think "what's next?" If you can predict with even a remote degree of accuracy what the next big thing will be, you will make far more money than the guy who waits to learn about some "system" from someone who has already done it and then complains his whole life about how it just isn't as easy as people say. Well, yeah, it isn't anymore, because everyone else knows about it now.

I don't know, just a little rant/something i've been thinking about lately.

Please keep these coming, I am really enjoying this stuff.

El D, you're up!

tc

[/ QUOTE ]

All really good points. Also, remember that for every boom there is a bust that can have opportunities that are equal or greater than the boom that came first.

For example, I moved to FL a few years ago and the housing boom was going full tilt. I remember wishing I had some cash to take advantage of the bust that I knew would soon be arriving.

Right now, we are full bust mode and there are sick deals down here.

Re: How did you do it? Financial Success Thread
 

Taylor -- I hope the comment about people who work on commission was not regarding my referral to you...please give me a shout if it is.

SM

Re: How did you do it? Financial Success Thread
 

[ QUOTE ]
Taylor -- I hope the comment about people who work on commission was not regarding my referral to you...please give me a shout if it is.

[/ QUOTE ]Taylor, if this results in a renegotiation favorable to you, I feel I'm entitled to three percent of the savings.

Re: How did you do it? Financial Success Thread
 

tc, AZK:

I wasn't complaining of the past or my luck [haha], considering that I hate those who complain about their misfortunes and won't do anything about it. I wrote my post from the perspective of a kid who played right field yelling, "I got it, I got it" and the ball fell through his glove [Joel Greenblatt's joke in "You Can be a Stock Market Genius" ... Great book by the way].

Ahnuld:

Thanks [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

Re: How did you do it? Financial Success Thread
 

Posted this a while back in this forum.

Re: How did you do it? Financial Success Thread
 

I grew up in Malibu as part of a family of academics. Many of my friends and acquaintances were very wealthy; we were not poor, but not rich by any means. My father taught at UCLA; my stepmother, at Loyola Marymount. School wasn't too tough for me and I managed to get into MIT. I messed around my freshman year and did not do well, then fell hard for a hot smart chick and, after she decided she didn't want to be the future Mrs. Treesong, dropped out as a sophmore. Spending six months in the working world in a crap job teaching WordPerfect sent me back to school in a hurry with the realization that if I ever wanted to buy a house in Malibu, the only one that could make that happen was me.

I then started concentrating on school and graduated with a 3.2-equivalent and, with a strong LSAT, got into Duke for law school. I didn't go to class much but felt very comfortable going into exams and pretty much smoked my first year, which I capped off by writing on to the Law Review. As all small children know, that's a key for finding a good job in the law world.

After deciding that I needed to learn how to write and how to see cases from the other side, I took a clerkship for a federal judge and worked for him in Atlanta for a year. That job involved writing and editing every single day.

After that one-year gig was over, I took a job with a big law firm with an office in LA. I started off making $75K a year, and decided after two years that I was smart enough and liked the job well enough to try to make partner. My only significant bump in the road came when my secretary got fired for being an idiot and reacted by suing the firm and naming me, asserting various sexual harassment allegations. I shut my mouth and continued to work hard and well; and after that went away, I made one partner cut -- making approximately $350K. I found I liked the execution part of my job: writing, editing, taking depositions, appearing in court, and trying cases.

Shortly after that, I gambled and argued to the firm that we should take a case on contingency for a small client who had gotten screwed by Lockheed. The firm agreed. Two years later, a federal district judge granted summary judgment against us on all counts. Two years after that, largely based on my brief and my depositions, the 9th Circuit reversed and remanded for trial. Two of my partners and I tried the case; we won $64.5 million. Largely on the strength of that case, I made the second partnership cut, which was huge -- from $350K up to about $1MM/year.

I stayed in that job for five years. At that point, I recognized that I did not have my own client base. I believed that would ultimately become a career-limiting fact, and the struggle to generate clients was a horrific millstone around my neck every day. So I interviewed for a job managing litigation at a big company, and got the job virtually immediately, and took it.

It's a job that's much more suited to my personality. Its analytical and variable, but it doesn't depend on sales. It pays much less than my old job, but I left my partnership with $4MM in liquid assets, so salary isn't so crucial for me any more. It's much more important to me to be respected and liked, and to be back on an upward track.

I still work hard. I like it. I travel around the country and have significant autonomy. I've developed expertise in what I do and take good care to use good judgment. In sixteen years as a lawyer, I've lied to my opposition exactly twice. I've argued motions that had a billion dollars of client money riding on the line, and I won enough money for a four-owner company that the owners can retire for life -- and they entirely deserved it. I treat my colleagues fairly and well, and have established a reputation for good humor, intelligence, and honesty.

Oh, yeah: I bought a house in LA in '96. Sold it 18 months later for a 75% profit, then bought another and sold it too. Rinsed and repeated, making money on each transaction. We close on what will be our fifth house next Wednesday; this one is in Minneapolis, where I live now -- on the shores of a nice lake close to downtown.

I'm 43. I hope to be the general counsel of a fortune 500 company within ten years. I have a realistic shot of making it.

Cliffs notes: worked hard, found career that fits disposition and natural talent. Stayed with basics of discipline and honesty.

Re: How did you do it? Financial Success Thread
 

damn, howard. that is all I can say.

Well done.

Re: How did you do it? Financial Success Thread
 

Howard,

I hate to try to network through 2p2, but I feel like throwing a Hail Mary. If you ever need some kind of intern in the future I'm your man. Seriously.

I go to the U of MN and will be graduating -- with a good GPA and work history -- in 13 months and would love to see what your kind of work is like, as it is my aspiration to go to law school after taking a year or two off.

Your story is fantastic and I hope to be so lucky as to emulate it.

Re: How did you do it? Financial Success Thread
 

I see these posts and really wish I could tell you guys, but I can't until this NDA expires.

Someday. There will probably be a book written about me!

(Even if I have to write it.)

Re: How did you do it? Financial Success Thread
 

These are a treat to read. I'm a piker compared to other posters, but Quicken tells me I passed $1MM net worth a little while back so I guess that's worth a few words.

[ QUOTE ]
Cliffs notes: worked hard, found career that fits disposition and natural talent. Stayed with basics of discipline and honesty.

[/ QUOTE ]

I fit Howard's cliff notes, and for a success story am totally standard:

Upper-middle class, well-educated parents (father Rhodes scholar)
Excellent public schools (private not affordable)
On to ivy league
Engineering degree
MBA
Into finance/capital markets
Mortgage finance late 80s
Boutique mortgage/RTC work early 90s
Large mutual fund company mid 90s
Major NYC ibank late 90s
Electricity/energy trading firm 00-present
Now in heavy technical/quant group, lots of code-slinging
Supporting homemaker wife & young daughter
House in the burbs, annual golf trips with the old buddies

Re: How did you do it? Financial Success Thread
 

My story is ugly. This may give you an idea from the perspective of a guy that made some bad decisions and had some bad luck but, still came out ahead.

- I grew up lower middle class in a small town. Graduated from a state school in '97 with a liberal arts degree. Had about a 2.0 GPA due to too much partying and generally not worrying about the future. Had no idea what to do after graduation.

- Stayed in college town managing a movie theater and still partying constantly. After about 6 month moved back in with parents in home town. Got a job bartending and rented my own place. Did this for about a year. Still partying like crazy.

- Decided it was time to get a day job. Got a job working for the government paying about $26K in '99. At the time it seemed great. After a ccouple of years I realized that the state job would never go anywhere and I was ready for a change. Some of my buddies were headhunters in Chicago making good money so I decided to give it a try.

- Got a job with a small search firm in the suburbs in March of 2001. I spent my last dollar to move up to Chicago area and pay the security deposit on a studio apt in the burbs. My job was straight commission and I signed on at this apt because I could pay rent with my credit card. The job went pretty well considering what happened in 2001 with 9/11 and the economy. Made about $50K in 2001.

- In early 2002 the firm I was working for was having problems so I decided to do something more stable. I got a job doing inside sales for a fortune 500 company. I couldn't stand the politics and micromanaging so I quit after about 1 month. I knew at this point that I wasn't cut out for the corporate world.

- I took a job with another search firm in the city. The company seemed solid and they were offering a base salary + commission. Unfortunatley they had a lot of operational issues and I only closed one deal in six months. At this point I was about $16K in credit card debt. Time for another change. This was at the end of '02 and I only made about $35K that year.

- I needed money quickly so I decided to give mortgage banking a try. I got a job with a mortgage company that paid a draw and offered a lot of good leads. The split wasn't as good as most other companies but, with the leads they gave I felt that I could do well there. I was fairly successful almost immediatley and was able to purchase my first property in 2003. I was still about $20K in credit card debt at this point. After a year and a half I decided to go to work for a company that offfered a better split and quit in spring of '04.

- The new company turned out to be a horrible situation and I left after about 2 weeks. This was pretty much rock bottom. I had credit card debt and a mortgage and I needed to make money NOW!

- To add insult to injury I went back to work for my original employer and was back doing search work at a straight commission job. In three years I was back at the exact same desk where I started in the exact same situation. As hard as this was to take I felt the job market was really picking up and I could see how much opportunity there was. I worked hard and ended up making about $90K in 2005. Initially it was great, I came in and did my job and the owners didn't bother me. They promoted me to a manager role in the summer of 2005 and I hired a 2 guys to work under me and they did really well. Unfortunatley with the new role I had to take a lot of heat from one of the owners. At this point I started to think about leaving to start my own company and talked about it all of the time. As much sense as it made to leave I always found an excuse to stick around. It is tough to leave a job making good money no matter what the environment is like.

- I got married in the summer of '05 to a great girl. She had a good job working for a large corporation and between the two of us we were doing pretty well. In Oct '05 her comapny announced that they were giong to move her division to NYC. We felt like there was nothing forcing us to stay in Chicago and we decided moving to NYC would be a good move for us. I gave my notice to my current employer and started looking for jobs but, was seriously considering starting my own agency in NYC. After a lot of research and thought I figured out that I could make it work and started to work on my business plan. Right at this time my wife's company offered her a job in another division paying more money in Chicago. It was the perfect timing for me to start my own business in the market I was already familiar with. I shifted my business plan and got incorporated, found office space, etc. While I was doing this a co-worker from the firm I was working for also quit and was thinking of going into business with his Dad. I met with him and after about 2 days of discussion we decided to partner up. In dec 2005 we started our firm.

- Our first year was tough but, we both worked extremely hard and I made over 6 figures for the first time in my life. This year I passed the $100K in March and should make $300K +. We are in the process of hiring 2 sales people right now and are looking to have 10 by the end of next year. I can't say for sure what will happen but, the future looks bright. My wife was able to quit her job and is staying home with our son now and I have zero consumer debt. I am still a long way away from my final goal but, I have come a long way in a short period of time.

Just getting started is the toughest part. If you have the desire come up with a plan and execute it. I think I am living proof that anyone can make it in this country if you are willing to take some risks and work hard.

Re: How did you do it? Financial Success Thread
 

I aspire to someday have something to add to this thread.

Re: How did you do it? Financial Success Thread
 

quadzilla - I really like your story - check your PM please

Re: How did you do it? Financial Success Thread
 

[ QUOTE ]
I aspire to someday have something to add to this thread.

[/ QUOTE ]

Truth. Fantastic reads guys.

Re: How did you do it? Financial Success Thread
 

Bored in college, saw an ad for a Macintosh programmer, $8 per hour! Immediately I quit school and took the job. Small startup that was one of the first Mac software companies, I got to do all sorts of jobs besides programming, run tech support, testing, trade shows, etc. After hitting rock bottom company turned around and I was a big part of it, having written some of our leading products. But new CEO didn't see my value in the same way (i.e. no equity). After three years of working 12 hour days I quit and took a job at Apple, still broke.

Spent a couple years in the valley and made the mistake of turning down some nice startup jobs. Pierre Omidyar worked in my group just before me, left to start EBay.

Finally moved back to Oregon to work for a local software company, figured out it was really screwed up after a couple months. A friend of mine who cofounded the original company had sold it and was putzing around, we took turns trying to come up with a new business idea, and he came up with a good one, developing software for desktop publishing professionals. I convinced him to fund it with me as head of development. We grew it from 2 people to 24 in a couple of years, making us fastest growing company in Oregon, raised three rounds of VC money, grew it to 120 people by year six. I wanted to sell it, my partner wanted to be CEO of a public company. I finally couldn't take it any more, and quit. Still broke, but now owned some equity.

I started another company in the internet radio market. Raised angel funding, then a small VC round. We became the leader in our business, and ended up taking $12M from Nielsen Media (the TV people). Meanwhile the DTP company got sold to an internet company for over $100M, unfortunately, only $10M in cash. Of course the stock market collapsed and so did the stock we got, but I was still left with a nest egg of about four years salary.

My internet business collapsed when all it's customers (internet broadcasters) did same. I quit, moved from the heavy rain and taxes in Oregon to Arizona and decided to work at investing my small nest egg full time as value investor. That was 4 years ago. I've more than quadrupled my net worth in that time span, and can comfortably live well without needing a job.

Of course I'm still bored. So some former coworkers and I are now developing a company to provide internet based investment research support tools to professional investors.

Re: How did you do it? Financial Success Thread
 

Eye opening for sure.

Re: How did you do it? Financial Success Thread
 

[ QUOTE ]
Good posts guys. I especially liked the post about adjusting to the wealth and the point about dealing with people who work on commission is one i am learning the hard way.

[/ QUOTE ]

Could someone please elaborate on this point? Why should people who work on commission be avoided? Is working for part commission (or any commission at all) a bad idea?

Thanks

Re: How did you do it? Financial Success Thread
 

the commission thing totally depends on the type of situation. the primary difficulty is created by the simple fact that the interests of both parties are often not aligned.

but i hope op just made a mistake and meant for his displeasure to apply only when he is buying something? b/c i love having someone on commission working/selling FOR me - it's awesome. it's just a matter of building the job and the commission equation into something that aligns all interests - customer, employee and employer. i've had great success with this.

Re: How did you do it? Financial Success Thread
 

desert cat - you are my kind of guy - great story.

Re: How did you do it? Financial Success Thread
 

[ QUOTE ]
desert cat - you are my kind of guy - great story.

[/ QUOTE ]

Be careful there. You know, I'm always amazed at how many huge decisions I've screwed up, and still things worked out.

At the first company one of the founders offered me a small slice of his own equity to hang round, but I was so steamed at the CEO that I quit. Because I quit they had to cancel a software project (that I had resurrected in my spare time by working nights and weekends), that was near shipping, and that Microsoft wanted desperately to license. If I hung around I would have been working at Microsoft within a year, and probably ended up being extremely rich.

In the valley a startup offered me a really interesting job that I knew I could do well (managing development of object oriented toolbox). CEO told me they'd probably be bought witin 6 months. Turned them down, and they got bought out for big bucks 6 months later. Still can't figure out why I turned them down.

At the DTP company, the acquirer forced me to sign a lockup agreement because I had so many shares. Despite not even working there anymore, I just signed it without negotiation. Even when I was able to sell shares I didn't sell them as fast as I could, because I was afraid the stock would go back up and my friends would all end up richer than me. I turned $5M of stock into $100k this way. I did this knowing the entire time the acquirer was a worthless POS, so file it under psychological reasons that cause you to make bad investment decisions.

At my internet startup, Arbitron (radio ratings people) offered to buy us out. Had I accepted, my net worth would be triple what it is today. Instead, I got tied up arguing with our lead investor trying to get more for employees out of the deal. I knew they'd hate us selling out, and wanted to make it a happy, lucrative event for them. At the last second, we reached an acceptable agreement but I was given 1 minute to make a decision and couldn't pull the trigger. This all happened over the 3 days immediately after 9/11 so it was an incredibly stressful time.

The greatest lesson of my life is never look backwards. If you dwell on the mistakes of the past it will drive you crazy. Focus on what you can do in the here and now to make the future better. I'm the poster child for not dwelling on bad mistakes cause I've made a ton of them.

Re: How did you do it? Financial Success Thread
 

[ QUOTE ]

The greatest lesson of my life is never look backwards. If you dwell on the mistakes of the past it will drive you crazy. Focus on what you can do in the here and now to make the future better.

[/ QUOTE ]

Quoted for truth.

Great story DC

Re: How did you do it? Financial Success Thread
 

With regard to actual net worth, I'm probably the least successful person to post a story. But I feel I'm pretty successful in life, and I've taken a different approach than most people here. (Note: I just read through this post and it's way TLDR so proceed with caution)

It took me a year or two of college to determine that I didn't like business, economics, psychology, law or academia. What did I like? Books, movies, TV shows, magazines, advertising, etc.

As a junior I decided to major in English with an emphasis on creative writing. Everybody asked me what I would do when I graduated, with most assuming I would become a teacher. I didn't know what I would do, but I was pretty sure I wouldn't become a teacher.

This was in the late 90s, just around the time of the internet boom. My mom had gotten a job writing for a fledgling company that seemed pretty cool: Citysearch. I used that connection to get a summer job doing peon editorial work between my junior and senior year. It wasn't super exciting, but I got my fair share of fun projects, including reviewing a Beastie Boys concert and writing a multi-page feature about the 80s retro craze that was just starting to pick up.

Flash forward a year; I was about to graduate and I was hoping to find a job in Seattle rather than move back home to Portland. Boom: Seattle Citysearch was about to launch. I started out as a temporary hire with one other editor in the back room of a tiny little office in a high-rise. From there we hired an editor-in-chief and eventually grew the editorial team to about 10 writers. We also moved to a permanent location across the street from the Kingdome. I became Managing Editor in my second year there, just under the Editor in Chief. I was 23 or 24, I was making what I considered decent money to write headlines and manage the sports and movies section of our site and I had a window seat right across from the Kingdome. Here's how close it was: When they eventually demolished the Dome, the explosion cracked my window.

Eventually, after having expanded pretty rapidly, Citysearch began to contract a little. They hadn't figured out how to make enough money yet, so some of the less highly trafficked sites began losing editors and salespeople. Luckily the Seattle site was pretty huge and we were doing well, but I heard whispers that the future was down in the Home Office in Pasadena, CA.

Indeed, several jobs opened up down there, including assistant movie editor for the entire network. I applied for that and another position and was offered both. The movies job paid slightly less, but it sounded much more fun and I found out I would be working with my former Editor in Chief (who had moved down to the Home Office several months prior).

It wasn't an easy decision to move from Seattle to Pasadena due to girl-related factors (long story, not the thread for that), but I finally bit the bullet and took the job. It turned out to be the right decision and it's not close.

My job as the movies editor started with me mostly assigning movie reviews to local freelance writers and then editing their copy, but as time went on, I began writing more and more reviews myself. I started to get a little disgruntled with my boss, however, and his heavy-handed editing style of my reviews.

We had worked together for a few years and I had learned a lot from him, but at that point it felt like he was forcing his voice on my reviews. Just when it was getting pretty annoying, he took another job and moved back to Seattle. We were still on good terms, and he was ultimately a great guy to have worked for.

But now, I was running the entire movies department by myself! I assigned all the reviews, choosing whichever I felt like reviewing myself. It was a pretty sweet gig... I reviewed anywhere from 1-3 movies a week and spent the rest of the time editing and writing headlines.

Eventually, however, contraction reared its ugly head again. The company still wasn't profitable, despite scaling back in a pretty big way. There were rounds of layoffs, mostly affecting the local city staff and not the Home Office.

A side effect of the contraction was that editorial was constantly being forced to re-examine how we were writing content. We eventually were forced into writing extremely short-form copy, because the general consensus was that people didn't like reading long copy on the internet (lol). The aim of all this was to make the site profitable. We kept changing the way we reviewed restaurants. At one point we were in a meeting with the new CEO (or something, I can't remember his title) and he told us point blank that we were no longer in the business of writing negative restaurant reviews. Of course all the editors threw a [censored] fit, but corporate's defense was that the site was supposed to help people find the great things in their city, so we could "edit out" the places we didn't like and it wouldn't make any difference.

I was getting pretty jaded and I told them that the whole thing sounded like a slippery slope, but I was ignored. A few months later, I was laid off. I think it was the 5th or 6th round of company-wide layoffs, so I had survived a lot longer than most. The Seattle and Portland offices had been totally decimated, for example.

It was actually kind of a relief when I found out. I had gotten a flat tire that morning and was at home when they called me. I remember laughing when I heard. I wasn't disappointed at all... I actually felt free.

See, at that point my plan was only to stay at the job for another 6 months or so, then go traveling with my wife (we had gotten married a few months prior), then move to Portland.

We weren't quite ready to go travling yet, but it seemed like a good time to move back to Portland, so we adjusted our plans a little. We'd move back north, I'd get a job and work for a year or two, then we'd travel.

Well, we moved, but getting a job in Portland proved tougher than I thought. I had been saving for a house and I also got some severance from CS having worked there for 5 years, so I had plenty of money, but I just couldn't land a job... let alone an interview.

It was around this time that I discovered online poker, by the way (late 2003). My brother and brother-in-law (pizownored and balkii) were making money at it, I had lots of time on my hands and money, so I gave it a shot with $50. I built that up into $350 or so playing $25 NL like a complete fish, then slowly lost it all. This experience turned me into the nit I am today. I HATED losing that money, even though it didn't mean much to me. I would play late into the night, grinding away, slowly losing due to my horrible play and then go to sleep absolutely PISSED at myself.

I read Theory of Poker, threw in another $50 and lost it. I started 4-tabling play money SNGs (OMFG) while I looked for jobs during the day. Eventually I played a little 25NL on pizownored's account, won $11 and entered a $10+1 SNG. I won, and had him transfer me the $50.

This time I sort of knew what I was doing, and built that into $550. But I had a "major" downswing and lost that down to $300 and decided to cash it out.

Side note: I wish I hadn't had the initial horrible experience of losing all my money as a fish. Because ever since then I have panicked and cashed out rather than moving up. I've never been able to cultivate the fearlessness and gamble that you need to succeed at higher levels, and so I've always been a low-stakes grinder. I make a decent side income from poker, but I wish I had moved up more aggressively back in the day.

Meanwhile, I got a job as an advertising copywriter. Funnily enough, it was the first job I had applied for, back in December while still living in LA. They had just taken 5 months to get their act together and start interviewing people. There were 180 applicants, and they interviewed anyone who sent in writing samples.

This was in 2004 and the housing market was really heating up in Portland. Luckily I had the down payment just sitting in the bank... all I needed was a job and my wife and I could start house hunting.

It was a crazy time to buy a house. Everything sold on the first day, usually for more than the seller was asking. We made 2 offers on other homes before getting our third accepted. We paid about $10,000 over asking, and we still only got the place because a friend of my wife's family knew the sellers.

Flash forward 3 years to today. My wife is almost done with her graduate program and I'm about ready to leave work. We're going to sell or rent our house (it has appreciated nicely) and go traveling for 6-12 months.

I'm extremely burned out on advertising after only 3 years, and I don't know what I'll do when we get back, but we have a nice little cushion thanks to poker and the appreciation on our house, so I don't have to worry about it yet.

I also don't feel like I need a ton of money to get by. I already own almost everything I could want (notable exception: Triumph Bonneville T100, which I'm waiting to purchase until we get back).

I've been half-heartedly working on a book for the past couple years that I think has pretty decent potential for getting published. I hope to finish it while traveling... and we'll see what happens when we get back.

The best advice I can offer is to really take stock of what makes you happy. For me, it's not money. I'm sure I could have gone into business or law or another well-compensated field and made tons more money than I did. But I did just fine. And now that I'm sick of my current job, I will be moving on (if it weren't for the trip, I probably would have already left).

I feel sorry for people who drive an hour into work from the suburbs in their nice car, work long hours to afford the nice car, then fight the traffic back home again. Not the life for me.