The Platinum Horde

Aut inveniam viam aut faciam in Latin is a phrase attributed to Hannibal, a Carthaginian general, after he was told it would be impossible to cross the Alps with elephants. Long story short, he did it. This is not an article on how he did that; I just like the phrase.

I am trying to find a way to financial freedom, and if I can’t, I will have to make one. Financial freedom means not relying on an employer for a source of income. Easier said than done. I do not think I am asking for much, nor do I think that it will be easy. When it comes down to it, I hate work, specifically working for someone else. I understand that the path to financial freedom will take a lot of work, but it is the type of work I am willing to do. Spending 8 hours a day (not including the commute) being paid by an employer is not the work I want to be doing.

Through the past few years, I have been trying to make big money moves to end my suffering from working. I do not mean to come across as selfish; I am very lucky to be in the position I am in to attempt to do this. That is not lost on me, but I think having ambition is a good thing, and I truly believe I can do something more than rely on an employer.

When I was younger, I always wanted to work in an office. I thought it was cool. Both my parents did, and I liked the fact that they dressed up to go to work. So, I got a degree in computer science and could not wait to join the working world. Originally, I wanted to make video games, but I quickly realized I didn’t like writing code for things I was not passionate about, so I decided to get a job doing corporate IT. It was easy for me, and I had a lot of fun doing it. It allowed me to pay off all my student loans quickly. Graduating in 2017, the loans were paid off by 2021. I had read Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover and desperately did not want to be in debt so I could start saving to buy a multi-family home. My first big money move idea was that I wanted to be a landlord, and I still do.

I soon realized I was not making enough to buy a home with cash, like the book suggests. So, I started playing the corporate game where I worked, trying to rise the ranks. After a year and a half, I got promoted from helpdesk to IT supervisor, and this is around the time I started hating work. From feeling like I was not being paid enough for the work I put in to dealing with an incompetent co-worker who insisted McDonalds was Scottish, not Irish, and pronounced MuckDonalds. So, I decided to hop companies for a pay raise and a fancy new title of IT manager. While at this new place, I had a bit of imposter syndrome and felt like I was going to be fired at any moment. Luckily, my old job had reached out to me, asking me to come back since they were being acquired, so I went back. My first day back, I realized that I had made a huge mistake. The acquiring company had an IT team with some of the worst people I have ever met. They were quick to take credit for things they had not done and put you down in the process. I was not going down without a fight, though. I read their handbook, made sure the work I did was quality, and made sure to bring up the points in my evaluation so I could be promoted and get a raise.

Doing this made me miserable; I could not take my frustration out at work, so it was internalized. My frustration grew because I still couldn’t afford to purchase a multifamily house with a loan, let alone pay it in full. I complained to friends every chance I had and was not happy. It all seemed to pay off, though. I got the promotion to middle management to join the ranks of the people I hated most and earned a salary of $110,000. That lasted 2 weeks until they fired my ass. I didn’t mention that the whole time I was back (over a year), I was reading the emails of the leaders of that company. It took them a long time to notice; I wasn’t hiding it. I hated working there so much and thought everyone was full of shit. Most of what I read showed how petty the leaders were and what they would do just to spite someone. I was hoping to find some conspiracy or affair, but it was all boring.

Getting fired was like a weight lifted off my shoulders. I should have just quit, but for some reason I wasn’t going to do that. Now that the world was my oyster, I had no job and could focus on my next ventures. I had lots of big money move ideas, starting a blood bank or buying land to make a flower farm, just to name a few. I started an LLC to do freelance IT consulting work, made a YouTube channel to create shorts in hopes of monetization, and made this website to write articles with my friends. I needed a creative outlet, which I was lacking. I was hoping I could turn these hobbies into something that could support myself.

I had a nice two months off before my family started getting on my case about being unemployed. So, I got a job in the public sector doing IT, with the goal being to focus on my side projects and turn those into something I can support myself on. The job requires very little effort throughout the day, but I still don’t enjoy being stuck here all day. The side projects are not at the point of producing enough income to quit just yet, but I think I am making good progress. I have 1 client for my IT company, and my YouTube channel has over 1000 subscribers. It is still not eligible for monetization. No one really visits this site, but I want to write more. I’ll make another post going into more details about these three side ventures. The ultimate goal is to land and do something creative. For now, I am trying to find my own way to have more free time to focus on hobbies that could turn into something greater.