During your darkest days how close were you to going broke?

[Fox]

Thought we could make an inspiring thread for people who are struggling on their road to freedom. People can share how low they once got on the road to freedom before they bounced back to greater success.

At my lowest (late 2013) I had less than $50 in my account. I was working on a contract that was out of town and purposely worked extra days since food and accommodation was provide. I knew the company paid every two weeks by automatic deposit so I worked 4 weeks until the first 2 weeks hit my account.
I also knew heading to the job that if anything went wrong I wouldn't have enough gas money to drive me home early. Looking back I learned a lot of lessons during that time.

Who else had some similar times?

 

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[Yoda]

Right around...

-$257,000.

 

[Vigilante]

-$1,200,000(+/-)

 

[mtn_baldy]

Thought we could make an inspiring thread for people who are struggling on their road to freedom. People can share how low they once got on the road to freedom before they bounced back to greater success.

At my lowest (late 2013) I had less than $50 in my account. I was working on a contract that was out of town and purposely worked extra days since food and accommodation was provide. I knew the company paid every two weeks by automatic deposit so I worked 4 weeks until the first 2 weeks hit my account.
I also knew heading to the job that if anything went wrong I wouldn't have enough gas money to drive me home early. Looking back I learned a lot of lessons during that time.

Who else had some similar times?

Currently have $15 CAD in my bank account, two years after leaving my life in the U.S.
Thankfully I have a client next week paying $600 for 4 sessions of coaching, and another client paying $300 for me managing his social media accounts for a month. And of course, my 15 hour a week bank job pays out on Thursday. I wish I had discovered MFL before I had moved here.

Times are tough, and I could definitely work more hours at the bank, but F*ck THAT. I'd much rather tough it out now and be self-sufficient in the future.

 

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[Fox]

Right around...

-$257,000.

I don't know how you guys

Currently have $15 CAD in my bank account, two years after leaving my life in the U.S.
Thankfully I have a client next week paying $600 for 4 sessions of coaching, and another client paying $300 for me managing his social media accounts for a month. And of course, my 15 hour a week bank job pays out on Thursday. I wish I had discovered MFL before I had moved here.

Times are tough, and I could definitely work more hours at the bank, but F*ck THAT. I'd much rather tough it out now and be self-sufficient in the future.

Since I know Edmonton well you can go to this location...



(where it says Dairy Queen - its underneath Windsor Plaza)

You can get access to the carpark where lots of students leave desks, chairs and other furniture when they move out. List them for $50-%100 on kijiji and you can make a few hundred a week. I lived upstairs during my first year and did that many a time.

Or if you need a solid lead on a job send me a PM and Ill ring some people.

-$1,200,000(+/-)

I was listening to your podcast the other night and that's why I wanted to start this thread. Very inspiring story. Thanks for sharing.

 

[eliquid]

I've had a couple. My life has been the rollercoaster...

I had a few low areas in my life before I was married and had kids, but hitting bottom single is nothing like hitting bottom with kids and being married. I'll just start the story after I had people who depended on me....

A long long time ago I got fired from my first corp 9-5 job after 3 years on my anniversary date. It was over 1 email I sent to a friend from the company owned computer/network. The company knew about this email for 9 months before letting me go and was just waiting for my anniversary date to come up.

The hard part about this? My wife had just given birth to our twins 2 weeks earlier and I was sole income earner. She and my children had to go on public assistance. Im not sure how much money we had in the bank, we lived paycheck to paycheck and now we were living day to day. I'll just say we were prob negative money for sure.

The email was simply about meeting my friend after work to talk about some stuff later on that week. It wasn't like I was trading company secrets.


Next job I got a few months after that, lasted 9 months because the dude went under and laid me off. I was barely getting a paycheck from him and now I was back at square one again, back on public assistance and living day to day.


I can say all of 2004 was a bad time ( the whole year ) and most of 2005 was too. The above all happened in 2004-2005.


Years later ( I had some small jobs and odds and ends going on since ) I finally landed a good corp job again. But less than a year into it some VC people came in and bought out the company from the owners and consolidated remote offices and I got laid off again and this time, I only had roughly $3k to my name and thought I was going to have to repeat this cycle again. I had just paid off all my debt and starting a savings account ( the $3k ) and now this shit again? This was 2007- mid 2008. I was debt free, but thinking I was going back to living day to day again.

I got my big break though after that lay off in mid 2008.


Even though I didn't hit new, lower lows from 2004-2008, it was a constant roll around in the mud with getting ran over, ditched, and punched in the face pretty much for 4 years ongoing until mid 2008.


Years later I still hit multiple lows, but none like the ones I just put up. At some point, you build up buffers kinda like how a bay has buffers for the waves coming in from the ocean.


You gotta learn to ride the waves and know when the next swell is coming. Even when you know the swell is coming, you gotta swim out TO the swell and overtake it to be on top.

 

[Vigilante]

I think people who find their way to that podcast... will make it. Here's why. It's not (today) as easy as searching iTunes for it. So you are diving deep and digging in deep if you make it that far. It's a good sign. It's a sign that you get it, and you are just looking for tools. Keep the faith. You'll make it.

 

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[Ubermensch]

In my darkest days, I WAS broke.

 

[Fox]

I think people who find their way to that podcast... will make it. Here's why. It's not (today) as easy as searching iTunes for it. So you are diving deep and digging in deep if you make it that far. It's a good sign. It's a sign that you get it, and you are just looking for tools. Keep the faith. You'll make it.

Thanks for that Vigilante. I'm not broke but that is encouraging for anyone to hear.

 

[Alxander]

I yet have to go broke. Don't want to, but probably have to

 

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[juan917]

I think people who find their way to that podcast... will make it. Here's why. It's not (today) as easy as searching iTunes for it. So you are diving deep and digging in deep if you make it that far. It's a good sign. It's a sign that you get it, and you are just looking for tools. Keep the faith. You'll make it.

Link to podcast? Are you the ex-cop? Heard a great podcast from an ex-cop & have been wanting to listen to it again but been able to find it

 

[Ubermensch]

You have to taste rock bottom to truly appreciate the top.

You have to endure hell to get to heaven.

 

[Supa]

The darkest days.. probably the time when my mom, my brother and me found out that my dad is addicted to gambling. My dad, without telling us, lost his company because he'd rather sit in casinos all day instead of working, and finally lost our house. My mom learnt of the foreclosure of it about 1 and a half months before its appointed day through a friend..

Not exactly what OP asked for, but it forced me to go from a dumb kid with no big worries to finally acting more mature. A year later I started my journey to the Fastlane.

Anyway, I will never forget that feeling every morning. That feeling of waking up like everything's normal, enjoying the morning sun on your face for a second, before you realize that absolutely nothing's normal and you remember what's going on in your life currently..

 

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[ZeroExile]

I have about $3. I put all my cash into my current business and now I'm waiting for my payments to transfer.

 

[Longinus]

Link to podcast?

No, he wants you to find it. Don't worry, you will if dig a bit deeper.

 

[Vigilante]

The darkest days.. probably the time when my mom, my brother and me found out that my dad is addicted to gambling. My dad, without telling us, lost his company because he'd rather sit in casinos all day instead of working, and finally lost our house. My mom learnt of the foreclosure of it about 1 and a half months before its appointed day through a friend..

Not exactly what OP asked for, but it forced me to go from a dumb kid with no big worries to finally acting more mature. A year later I started my journey to the Fastlane.

Anyway, I will never forget that feeling every morning. That feeling of waking up like everything's normal, enjoying the morning sun on your face for a second, before you realize that absolutely nothing's normal and you remember what's going on in your life currently..

This would make a compelling subject if you ever wanted to dive deeper into the story (although I would respect and understand if you didn't).

I can feel the fire you have to make a different outcome. What a turning point. Those emotions are still raw.

I hope you write a thread about it some time. Tag me in it if you do and I will moderate the hell out of it to keep the assholes restrained. You have a story worth telling when you are ready to.

 

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[CPisHere]

My wife and I lost our first son less than a year after opening our first business, a retail store. We were barely getting by because the store was taking all of our cash and then went into depression which meant 1) we spent money on stuff we didn't need to try and feel better and 2) I stopped opening the mail/paying attention to bills.

It doesn't take long for that to catch up to you but we got pregnant again and a month before she was due we had to lease out our house and move into a spare bedroom of her parents rather than go bankrupt. So we had a brand new baby, living with my in-laws, when they told us we needed to move out. It was an ugly time.

A month later I got a new job with a substantial pay raise and within a year our debt was paid off and we bought a house twice as nice. And her business is finally profitable, even allowing me to buy another business last week.

 

[Fox]

This thread has been excellent on adding perspective to "big problems" like my app sales are down or making cold calls are tough. Some of you guys have been through hell and still kept going. Thanks each of you for sharing.

 

[Supa]

This would make a compelling subject if you ever wanted to dive deeper into the story (although I would respect and understand if you didn't).

I can feel the fire you have to make a different outcome. What a turning point. Those emotions are still raw.

I hope you write a thread about it some time. Tag me in it if you do and I will moderate the hell out of it to keep the assholes restrained. You have a story worth telling when you are ready to.

Thank you! Actually I do not have a problem with sharing the story.. I view it as a life lesson, and I don't know if I would do what I'm doing now without it.

If there's an interest I'd be happy to do a thread to share it just need to find the time for it.

 

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[Andy Black]

Link to podcast? Are you the ex-cop? Heard a great podcast from an ex-cop & have been wanting to listen to it again but been able to find it

Doberman Dan, "Off The Chain"?

 

[#nowhere]

Maybe I can contribute something also... same direction as @Supa.

In short...
Dad had 4 retail stores for beverages. Made 20 grand per month in PROFIT (after deduction of monthly payments for house and so on). Mother was social worker. We lived happily and financially well but my mother has signed for everything regarding my father's business. The credits, the house, properties, just for everything.... My father was a psychopath as later diagnosed... manic-depressive type. He began to fight with my mom, to hit her, one time I had to call the police in the age of 8. If that wasn't enough, one day he said: "you dirty bitch, I won't do anything anymore." And I have to say, that my mother was a passive one and not an active aggressor. He just had his psychopathic phases and then he got in rage.

In succession stores kept shut and my mother had to pay all debt and finally was seizured because credits for goods and house were near the 500k mark. My father worked no longer and had a new woman.

Within 8 weeks we had to move out of our house, it was foreclosed for a few pennys in comparison...

One day to another we were broke as F*ck. 900$ for 2.... And my father made terror psychic and physical.

My mother decided to build a business to get a better life and fully out of debt in 2005. It worked out. Same life as mentioned above within 4 years.4 years later, after paying off all debt and buying a new property for us, in 2009 she were dignosed bone-cancer. She died in 2011... So here I am. Saw everything from being relatively good situated to totally broke and distrained to existence-minimum.

Do I want to cry? No. I see it as a lesson. A lesson to make it better. I can deeply connect to eminem's words in the 8 mile soundtrack...

"look if you only got one shot, one opportunity... to seize everything you ever wanted, one moment, would you capture it or just let it slip?"

I did get more than one moment, because I know what losing means. I've made my experiences and so I will learn from it and win this time. Again.

 

[Runum]

I have come home to dark house with no electricity. Taken cold showers due to no gas for hot water. Ran out of gas in the bank line to cash a check. Had to borrow money on bad terms for med expenses.

Summer 2012 bleeding cash every month and still having to pay labor. Working, sweating 16 hour days 7 days a week for 3 -4 months. Labor bitching about 8 hour days and if I was late on site 5 minutes they told me all about it. Paying other people while losing money and no sleep. Yeah, that's the life.

Seems like a lifetime ago.

 

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[mtn_baldy]

Update: Little old lady came into my slowlane job, dug a little and found out that I am basically broke. She offered me to come by her apartment and pick up some food. It's so nice that people like exist in the world, and hopefully I can do something nice for her once I can afford it. I'm going to start a book and write down the names and numbers of people that helped me when I was down, so I can pay them back one day.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Dang, guys.

At my lowest, I had 5 kids, was divorcing my bipolar husband, had no income, and was in the middle of a chemistry degree with $38 in the bank, because my husband took all the rest. All I could do was laugh, it was so absurd. I got a job, my older kids got jobs, I stayed in school. I didn't sleep, but that worked out too.

Now I have 5 awesome people that are out in the world, a big old house, and so many opportunities I can hardly see straight. Sure, I had situational depression that sucked my soul out and spat in my face, but I eventually killed that puppy. That actually wasn't the worst. The worst was feeling like I had no options. There's always an option.

 

[458]

I've been cash broke and asset rich for awhile, no reason to stop and I'm used to it already..

 

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[21elnegocio]

I don't know how you guys


Since I know Edmonton well you can go to this location...

View attachment 12470

(where it says Dairy Queen - its underneath Windsor Plaza)

You can get access to the carpark where lots of students leave desks, chairs and other furniture when they move out. List them for $50-%100 on kijiji and you can make a few hundred a week. I lived upstairs during my first year and did that many a time.

Or if you need a solid lead on a job send me a PM and Ill ring some people.




I was listening to your podcast the other night and that's why I wanted to start this thread. Very inspiring story. Thanks for sharing.

@Vigilante where can I listen to your podcast ?

 

[Supa]

@21elnegocio

I think people who find their way to that podcast... will make it. Here's why. It's not (today) as easy as searching iTunes for it. So you are diving deep and digging in deep if you make it that far. It's a good sign. It's a sign that you get it, and you are just looking for tools. Keep the faith. You'll make it.

 

[GMSI7D]

I was so broke that, had a burglar visited my appartment, he might have left a donation.

I had exactly 2 euros left ( nearly 2 US dollars) in my bank account. It was enough to buy water and bread at the local discount supermarket.

i promised myself this famous day looking at the bread and water:

" i will never, ever, live like this anymore. i will have my revenge "

and i will have my revenge.

 

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[21elnegocio]

@21elnegocio

Found it thanks ! Good stuff @Vigilante

 

[nradam123]

You guys make Tai Lopez's "$40 in my bank account" sounds like paradise.

I am at my least net-worth days at this point, im making just enough to pay my rent and food everyday.