BJM
At what point in this period of time did you cross the $70,000 per year personal income threshold? Before that point, how much money were you truly able to “put into your business” as opposed to “sweat equity”?
Were you really able to capitalise that business completely on your own, from the very beginning, or did you require borrowed money at any point? If so, who did you borrow it from? And when did you pay it back?
You say you didn’t buy a “big house”? Were you a homeowner with a mortgage at all, or did you rent? Did you have a family during this period, and if you did, how well did they adapt to your austere lifestyle?
Neither you, I, nor anyone else can evaluate the genuine reasons for your success until questions like this get answered.
For example, you clearly have the capacity for hard work and frugality that leads to business success. But I would also suggest that you have the talent for it as well. Like any other talent, some people have more than others.
Surely your experience will tell you that there are people out there who should never even try to take your route to success, no matter how hard they are willing to work or how much they are willing to sacrifice. In fact, you probably have a couple on your own payroll.
Assuming an individual doesn’t have business sense, but is willing to make the personal sacrifice, where should they put their excess cash that they acquire through all their hard work? And how much opportunity do they really have to make it grow? For if they don’t put it to work somewhere they will never even come close to your success, whatever the sacrifices.
My point is that, as of now, you have a successful business to put your money into and make it grow, just as non-owners who make $70,000+ a year have investment opportunities to really put their money to work effectively.
But does your hard-working employee who is not cut out for independent business have any equivalent option?
When I was growing up, he would have, through bank deposits, and he would have had perfect safety in the bargain. That is precisely how my own parents ended their lives in happiness and comfort.
No one can do that now. No one.
