Thread: Hello from CO!

Hi, all!

My name is Elliot. I'm 31 and live in a suburb of Denver, Colorado.

I grew up in an "upper lower class" family of Sidewalkers in Ohio. They spent virtually every penny they made, and their biggest aspirations for me were to get a high-paying factory job or maybe work for the postal service. Instead, I escaped my small town after high school and eventually became the first person in my family to graduate from college.

I then started on the cubicle path and transformed into a Slowlaner. I diligently tucked money into my 401k, changed jobs to get pay bumps, and hoped that higher-paying jobs would lead to a better lifestyle. I went back to school for a master's degree, started managing a department, and had more stress and long hours than I ever had before. I knew there had to be a better way.

My mental switch initially came from Rich Dad, Poor Dad. Then I read books like The Four-Hour Workweek, Escape from Cubicle Nation, The E-Myth Revisited, and many others. I finally stopped thinking and started acting. I began affiliate marketing in Jan 2010 and by that August, I had quit my corporate job and begun working for myself. I am still self-employed through affiliate marketing, but I realize that my wagon is still hitched to someone else's pony. I'm also still in a time = money scenario.

Someone on another forum recommended The Millionaire Fastlane, so I previewed it, bought the Kindle edition, and highlighted the heck out of that thing. There were so many ah ha moments, and I can finally put into words what I've been feeling in the back of my mind. Thanks, MJ!

My goal is to stop working a job and start leveraging the assets around me. I want the freedom to travel, to volunteer, to meet interesting people, and to live in the moment without worrying about how many emails are piling up. I hope that being a part of this community will give me the extra push I need to move forward with this new chapter in my life.

I look forward to chatting with y'all.

EDIT: P.S. Apparently I start out as a Level 17 Yugo. My mom drove one of those for 14 years and loved it. She may have had the only fully functional model ever made.

Welcome Elliot! I'm up in Ft. Collins. Sounds like you're doing a great job. Maybe you haven't retired yet but you're doing, you're acting, you're learning. Good on ya!