27yr old Singaporean young professional living in the U.S.A

[TYRWinter]

Hey guys, I've been lurking on the forums for a while and decided to be more active in the forums to serve as accountability to myself and to hopefully add value to others as well.

A summary on how I got here:

• Was a failure most of my life before college, was overweight, failed almost every single subject in school and was definitely not popular with the ladies. Managed to lose ~20 pounds by eating healthy and going to the gym 3 times a week but lacked improvement in other areas of my life.
• Mindset shift in mandatory military service in Singapore where I decided I had enough of being a failure. Studied for my SATs during this 2 years and even did practice papers when I was out in the field, black-tapping a small light to my helmet to finish the papers. Got accepted into a Big Ten college in the U.S. and promised myself to change my life.
• With my new mindset, college was a huge changing point where I managed to turn things around.
  • Got a 4.0 GPA for two years and graduated with business honors in accounting and finance
  • Got my 1st girlfriend at the age of 23 (I'm a slow bloomer)
  • Was the president of an asian business club and did consulting for the school. Was highly active in school on all aspects
  • Landed my dream job (which later wasn't once I started) at a big 3 management consulting firm as a strategy consultant for Fortune 500 companies
• Started working at my job after graduation, got complacent and did not give it my 120% and ended up struggling at work. Also saw that even though my managers and partners at the firm earned a lot of money, they sacrificed their health and time with their family, and there was only more work as they climbed up the ladder instead of more freedom and time. Left my job after one year due to other reasons as well but was a great learning experience.
• Read the Millionaire Fastlane and Unscripted which BLEW MY MIND. There was so much value in that book that I was blown away. I'm definitely reading it multiple times to really absorb all that value and lessons in both books. I used to chase money but it really hit me after reading the books to focus on really adding value which is key.
• Begun working on my own coaching business on helping international students land jobs in the U.S. I understand that it's not necessarily fast lane but want to use it as a springboard to show it's possible to earn money from my own skills instead of working for a company. Also working on another business idea that solves a personal pain point that I have in regards to networking.

I hope to be able to contribute to this forum and am happy to offer my help to anyone who needs it. I've provided free coaching to juniors in school and also have been helping friends strategize on their own businesses given my work experience. I found it's been not only beneficial to them but also to myself as I gain more experience coaching others. By offering value to them, I too also learn a lot which is awesome.

I understand that the journey is not easy but I'm willing to learn and will be persistent till I achieve my goals. Starting my own business is something that is vastly different than working for a large corporation but I'm excited to be on this learning trip!

Apologies for the long post but looking forward to learning from all of you and I'm here to help others!

 

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[TheodoreA]

Looking forward to following your journey, keep us updated!

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Great intro, welcome to the board my friend.

 

[I Am I Said]

This:

Also saw that even though my managers and partners at the firm earned a lot of money, they sacrificed their health and time with their family, and there was only more work as they climbed up the ladder instead of more freedom and time

And this:

I used to chase money but it really hit me after reading the books to focus on really adding value which is key.

Oh, and this:

use it as a springboard to show it's possible to earn money from my own skills instead of working for a company

I'll be looking forward to your posts. All of these are raw nerves for me.

 

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[TYRWinter]

A quick update on my progress.

I recently just got paid $180/hr for my coaching services. It might be a small amount, but the mindset shift you get from earning money on your own instead of working for someone is crazy!

Having your 1st paid client is the 1st step for me to leading that dream life in the future.