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M34. I want to restart my life from scratch. Where do I begin?

sa_ill

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Long story short: I've been financially exploited for years by my family and I want out.
Here's what I have in my hands right now:
  • A 10 year old gaming blog with around 1200 blog posts. Hardly gets updated now, but does have decent backlinks. Used to get 2500 hits a day during prime days. Now gets 100 hits a day.
  • Chemical Engineering Degree from a premier university
  • Decent Wordpress/SEO knowledge
  • A YouTube channel with 100 subs (only a few videos I posted YEARS back)
  • Rusty coding knowledge
  • Vast experience in the gaming industry and trash bags/plastic film industry (my family business, where I am being exploited and the key decision maker is sinking the ship)
I'm open to learning new things like AI/ML.

I have no assets/savings. I'm not including the car I own. I dont get paid in my family business.

I'm reasonably intelligent compared to the average and a quick learner, well travelled. I know what it is to work 16-20 hours a day.

I know this is far fetched, But really, what can I do to restart my life?
 
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Lex DeVille

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But really, what can I do to restart my life?

Acknowledge that you allow them to financially exploit you. That it isn't something they've just been doing to you. In other words, this isn't a thing you have no control over. You can choose to stop being a victim anytime you want. A reasonably intelligent person can figure that out. The rest is easy. Just pick a direction and go.
 

sa_ill

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Acknowledge that you allow them to financially exploit you. That it isn't something they've just been doing to you. In other words, this isn't a thing you have no control over. You can choose to stop being a victim anytime you want. A reasonably intelligent person can figure that out. The rest is easy. Just pick a direction and go.
I have acknowledged. It is completely my own doing, and I'm paying the consequences. I am ready to move on and make a change..
Now, I'm seeking advise about where do I go from here?
 

Lex DeVille

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I have acknowledged. It is completely my own doing, and I'm paying the consequences. I am ready to move on and make a change..
Now, I'm seeking advise about where do I go from here?
Where do you want to go?
 
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sa_ill

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  • A 10 year old gaming blog with around 1200 blog posts. Hardly gets updated now, but does have decent backlinks. Used to get 2500 hits a day during prime days. Now gets 100 hits a day.
  • Chemical Engineering Degree from a premier university
  • Decent Wordpress/SEO knowledge
  • A YouTube channel with 100 subs (only a few videos I posted YEARS back)
  • Rusty coding knowledge
  • Vast experience in the gaming industry and trash bags/plastic film industry (my family business, where I am being exploited and the key decision maker is sinking the ship)
I'm open to learning new things like AI/ML.

I have no assets/savings. I'm not including the car I own. I dont get paid in my family business.

I'm reasonably intelligent compared to the average and a quick learner, well travelled. I know what it is to work 16-20 hours a day.

I know this is far fetched, But really, what can I do to restart my life?
This is what I have in my hands at the moment. I want to build something that generates me income and empowers me to live my life the way I want to. I've never experienced what financial freedom feels like, so that is my main goal.
 

Lex DeVille

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This is what I have in my hands at the moment. I want to build something that generates me income and empowers me to live my life the way I want to. I've never experienced what financial freedom feels like, so that is my main goal.

Yeah, but how do you want to live?

Waze can't get you to your destination if you don't tell it where you want to go. Financial freedom can mean wealth or it can mean poverty and neither is necessarily bad depending on what you want. Start with the end in mind and work backward from there.

If you were financially free, how would you live? What does that life look like? What did you have to do to get there? Work backward through the steps until you get back to where you are right now and you will discover a lot about the path ahead.

At a minimum, you will need to think about how you will get food, water, money, and shelter. The easiest way to get food, water, and shelter is with money and the easiest way to get money (for most people) is a job.
 

sa_ill

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Yeah, but how do you want to live?

Waze can't get you to your destination if you don't tell it where you want to go. Financial freedom can mean wealth or it can mean poverty and neither is necessarily bad depending on what you want. Start with the end in mind and work backward from there.

If you were financially free, how would you live? What does that life look like? What did you have to do to get there? Work backward through the steps until you get back to where you are right now and you will discover a lot about the path ahead.

At a minimum, you will need to think about how you will get food, water, money, and shelter. The easiest way to get food, water, and shelter is with money and the easiest way to get money (for most people) is a job.

I know I can easily get a baseline job (something like a McDonalds job lol) that'll allow me to live in a shitty apartment and eat shitty food.

But that is not what I want.

Btw, what do you mean by "waze"?
If I were financially free, I would love to spend my time criss-crossing the rural areas of my country on my bike/car, climbing Himalayan peaks, learning a new language . I would love to have time to further and deepen my yogic practices, and be able to build and support my family. I'm not really into luxuries, By nature I am pretty austere: teetotaller, vegetarian, I wear simple clothes, mostly stitched by hand (no expensive brands), my shoes are the expensive ones because they are utilitarian.
At some point I would want to buy my own house. If my earnings exceed my needs, I would like to donate to causes that serve the disfranchised people in my country.
 
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Lex DeVille

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Waze is GPS (I thought everyone used it now).

If I were financially free, I would love to spend my time criss-crossing the rural areas of my country on my bike/car, climbing Himalayan peaks, learning a new language . I would love to have time to further and deepen my yogic practices, and be able to build and support my family. I'm not really into luxuries, By nature I am pretty austere: teetotaller, vegetarian, I wear simple clothes, mostly stitched by hand (no expensive brands), my shoes are the expensive ones because they are utilitarian.
At some point I would want to buy my own house. If my earnings exceed my needs, I would like to donate to causes that serve the disfranchised people in my country.

Okay, so most of those are pretty straightforward experiences. Work on getting a job so you have a source of income that isn't tied to your family. Use that to move out, save some cash and start paying down debts. Once you have stability, begin freelancing in your spare time to pay debts faster and accrue more savings.

When you get good at freelancing, then you have an income source that goes with you anywhere. So get a laptop and ditch any unnecessary possessions, then pick whichever experience you want to have first and just do it. If you get tired of an experience, move onto the next and the next and the next until you've done the things you want to do, and then figure out some more things you want to do and do those too.

You don't need a super huge business for this. Just need the ability to sustain yourself and survive as you move around from place to place enjoying life.
 

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@sa_ill
What is your why?

If you do not know that, you can do the perfect day exercise.
What is your perfect day? what time did you get up? what did you see? who were you with? what did you have for lunch? how did it taste? smell? feel? really get specific and graphic.

Then figure out where that is and how much it cost to do that. (It is always a LOT less than you think)

Then go do whatever is needed to make that happen while you search for your Why.

You got this!

DO the exercise above.
Report back.
Then determine the 'next action' to get you there.
DO that.

Let's go. Chop chop. Your new life awaits!
 

Black_Dragon43

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If you do not know that, you can do the perfect day exercise.
What is your perfect day? what time did you get up? what did you see? who were you with? what did you have for lunch? how did it taste? smell? feel? really get specific and graphic.
The way I like to do this exercise is that I like to add the following clause to it: "you have to live this day over and over again to infinity".

Then it actually forces you to think very deeply about what you truly want, and what you'd truly find intrinsically meaningful.

To the OP, you may find this blog post that I wrote helpful. It's about creating a business that fits with who you are and building your life around that.
 
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sa_ill

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The way I like to do this exercise is that I like to add the following clause to it: "you have to live this day over and over again to infinity".

Then it actually forces you to think very deeply about what you truly want, and what you'd truly find intrinsically meaningful.

To the OP, you may find this blog post that I wrote helpful. It's about creating a business that fits with who you are and building your life around that.
It will take me a while to look for a job that suits me (to fulfill my basic needs). Do you think in the meantime I can revive my gaming blog and actually earn something out of it? It gets around 100 visitors a day right now.
A handful of brands also send me tech to review, and Im thinking of making Youtube content around the tech i receive. Is that a genuine way to make decent money, while I look for a job/co-founder/early stage startups?
 

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Hi,

when I read 'from scratch' I thought really from ZERO.

But you have some pretty decent experience and skills - working in the family business (even for free). And assets (website,YT channel etc).

It looks like you don't want to be involved with your family ... Is that right?

So... what do you mean by restarting your life? (you can immediately move out on your own, get a min wage job, and work after the job on your side business with experience and skills you already have?)

What is NOW (not in a year) the most important thing to you? Be free from your family?

Can you offer SEO services to other companies?
 

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Deleted78083

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Waze is GPS (I thought everyone used it now).



Okay, so most of those are pretty straightforward experiences. Work on getting a job so you have a source of income that isn't tied to your family. Use that to move out, save some cash and start paying down debts. Once you have stability, begin freelancing in your spare time to pay debts faster and accrue more savings.

When you get good at freelancing, then you have an income source that goes with you anywhere. So get a laptop and ditch any unnecessary possessions, then pick whichever experience you want to have first and just do it. If you get tired of an experience, move onto the next and the next and the next until you've done the things you want to do, and then figure out some more things you want to do and do those too.

You don't need a super huge business for this. Just need the ability to sustain yourself and survive as you move around from place to place enjoying life.

That's the simplest most straightforward life plan I have ever read lol

@sa_ill your background is actually pretty decent. Starting your life from scratch does not mean forgetting everything you know and start that from scratch too. Your studies show you're not dumb, you have a blog which shows you can sustain an activity for a long time and are patient (which most people lack), and finally, you found this forum.

You have all the tools to succeed.

To echo what everyone else said in the threat, life starts with a goal. Humans don't do it if they don't have any reasons to.

What's your goal? Pick one, design a plan to achieve it, and go for the first step.

As Ben Hardy would say: "success is simple. It entails making twenty steps in one direction. Most people make 1 step in 20 directions".

Good luck!
 

JamesQB8

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Waze is GPS (I thought everyone used it now).



Okay, so most of those are pretty straightforward experiences. Work on getting a job so you have a source of income that isn't tied to your family. Use that to move out, save some cash and start paying down debts. Once you have stability, begin freelancing in your spare time to pay debts faster and accrue more savings.

When you get good at freelancing, then you have an income source that goes with you anywhere. So get a laptop and ditch any unnecessary possessions, then pick whichever experience you want to have first and just do it. If you get tired of an experience, move onto the next and the next and the next until you've done the things you want to do, and then figure out some more things you want to do and do those too.

You don't need a super huge business for this. Just need the ability to sustain yourself and survive as you move around from place to place enjoying life.
Really love this answer, this is exactly how I was living pre covid before I had some major personal health setbacks. It's funny, I met an older successful entrepreneur when I was in Medellin and he said I was on the right path as I pretty much explained my plan exactly as you laid out in this post haha.

So OP, I'm not sure on your exact situation but I think the above is really good advice and I was really enjoying the journey myself.

To echo what a lot of people said here. I've found the perfect day exercise to be a really good practice. Also I don't know if you're single or not but I've found it to be an awesome question for girls I go on dates with for them to both open up and share their values.
 

Tourmaline

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The way I like to do this exercise is that I like to add the following clause to it: "you have to live this day over and over again to infinity".

The beauty of Eternal Recurrence :smile2:

I would love to have time to further and deepen my yogic practices

Would yogic practices advise you to find the answers to the questions you have posed internally or externally?
 
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Black_Dragon43

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It will take me a while to look for a job that suits me (to fulfill my basic needs). Do you think in the meantime I can revive my gaming blog and actually earn something out of it? It gets around 100 visitors a day right now.
You could try - bottom line is that with these things you won't know for sure unless you try. So while trying to find some freelance work or a job to take care of your basic needs you can try to revive the blog and see if anything comes out of it. 100 visitors per day (if they are unique) is not a bad starting point. The quality of those visitors matters, but there's only one way to find out, and that's by trying to engage with them and see if anything comes out of it.
A handful of brands also send me tech to review, and Im thinking of making Youtube content around the tech i receive. Is that a genuine way to make decent money, while I look for a job/co-founder/early stage startups?
The fastest way to make an income is obviously to try some affiliate offers. You can make YT videos, and then also post them on your website, maybe with some write-up that also covers what the video goes over. You lose nothing by trying some affiliate offers and seeing if you can get people to purchase. If you can, then that will be positive feedback from the market, and you can try to grow the idea.
 

sa_ill

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The quality of those visitors matters, but there's only one way to find out, and that's by trying to engage with them and see if anything comes out of it.

The fastest way to make an income is obviously to try some affiliate offers. You can make YT videos, and then also post them on your website, maybe with some write-up that also covers what the video goes over. You lose nothing by trying some affiliate offers and seeing if you can get people to purchase. If you can, then that will be positive feedback from the market, and you can try to grow the idea.
The quality of visitors is, well, no good. Only 3-4 blogs on my website get 99% visitors, and those are things like "Top Tips" and "Best Games" that kind of a thing. The rest only get 1-2 visitors a day lol.

Could you recommend some Affiliate channels? I have started to make YT videos and posting them on the website. They're not getting any hits on the website, but on YT, they're slowly getting views, but the number is still very low. I think consistence will improve the quality and also the views.

It looks like you don't want to be involved with your family ... Is that right?

So... what do you mean by restarting your life? (you can immediately move out on your own, get a min wage job, and work after the job on your side business with experience and skills you already have?)

What is NOW (not in a year) the most important thing to you? Be free from your family?

Can you offer SEO services to other companies?
Free from my family, yes.
Restarting my life means: I wanna change cities. My assets are still mine though, like my blog, YT, my car lol.
I'm not really that good at SEO (not able to get visitors on my own blog which has some 1000+ blogposts).

Would yogic practices advise you to find the answers to the questions you have posed internally or externally?
Yes, they would.
 

runnaboi

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Long story short: I've been financially exploited for years by my family and I want out.
Here's what I have in my hands right now:
  • A 10 year old gaming blog with around 1200 blog posts. Hardly gets updated now, but does have decent backlinks. Used to get 2500 hits a day during prime days. Now gets 100 hits a day.
  • Chemical Engineering Degree from a premier university
  • Decent Wordpress/SEO knowledge
  • A YouTube channel with 100 subs (only a few videos I posted YEARS back)
  • Rusty coding knowledge
  • Vast experience in the gaming industry and trash bags/plastic film industry (my family business, where I am being exploited and the key decision maker is sinking the ship)
I'm open to learning new things like AI/ML.

I have no assets/savings. I'm not including the car I own. I dont get paid in my family business.

I'm reasonably intelligent compared to the average and a quick learner, well travelled. I know what it is to work 16-20 hours a day.

I know this is far fetched, But really, what can I do to restart my life?
"Restarting" isn't far fetched, nor is it complicated. But it can be difficult to close a chapter and start a new one.
As a few have mentioned already, I think it's really important to get clear what you want. I suggest you read Living Forward by Michael Hyatt, in that book he details an exercise to do that takes at least a full day. It covers exactly what you want in life in detail, but what I really liked about it was writing down what you want each person or group of persons that have to do with you to say at your burial. Ie write your own obituary. What would your wife say? Boss? Clients? Employees? Children?
Another important consideration is to be really honest about where you are in life right now. To continue on with the analogy of the GPS someone already mentioned, the GPS not only needs your destination, but it also needs to know where you currently are.
Once you are clear about where you are, and where you want to get to, it makes coming up with a plan alot easier.
Another point: If you are like me, you really want to have clear directions with exact details on how to get where you want to. It can paralyse you. You just have to start, head in the direction of where you need to get to... you gain clarity and confidence by moving and growing in the direction that you planned to.
All the best!
 
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Black_Dragon43

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Could you recommend some Affiliate channels? I have started to make YT videos and posting them on the website. They're not getting any hits on the website, but on YT, they're slowly getting views, but the number is still very low. I think consistence will improve the quality and also the views.
It depends on the products you'll recommend. For gaming equipment and similar hardware - you can try Amazon. You can also search Clickbank. Or really, for any product/game that you'd want to recommend as an affiliate you can search on Google to see if there are any affiliate opportunities for it, by Googling the name + affiliate.
 

PeterBoss

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As most people posted above, depends on what you want. Unfortunately no one can answer that for you (or fortunately, if you see it from a different angle).

Family businesses are complex, as the dynamic of business gets intertwined with the actual bonds and common code you have with the other members.
In my case, I wasn't being exploited (or at least didn't feel that way, even if I didn't get paid at times), but I wanted different things.
I signed everything off to my siblings and walked away from that path and from all of my inheritance. Had no money nor assets, worked jobs that allowed me to get where I wanted to go. I moved to another continent and to two different countries in three years, trying to find what is right for me.

You will need to get your hands dirty and build your path block by block. There are no shortcuts.

TLDR; "do what you have to do to get to where you want to get"
 

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