ThomasTLM
Regular Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
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Hello everyone! My name is Thomas.
I am a 24 year old Catholic and I live in Indiana. I have a wife and a beautiful 7 month old boy that I love with all my heart.
I currently work a job (ugh, I know) as a structural engineer for an architecture/engineering company in my home town.
I think I always knew I wanted to be an engineer of some sort. My old man went to Purdue for electrical engineering and went on to work at General Electric in Fort Wayne for 20 years. Before he quit G.E., he started a small business redesigning motors for electric golf carts and has been doing that to this day. His stories of solving problems as an engineer were always interesting to me. Additionally I think this was just one of those things where they young boy wants to be like his dad.
In high school I made the decision to go to school for Civil Engineering. I ended up at Purdue's satellite campus in Fort Wayne.
Multiple things happened during college that changed me drastically as a person.
My wife and I are trads. We have always had dreams of having a big family, and to live in the country with lots of land for our children to explore. We both want to live simply and modestly. So, this past fall, we started the process of buying a house, which at this point looks like saving money for the down payment and other services required.
Around this time, I was driving around with my wife through the country. We were passing houses that were not extravagant or anything, but I knew that they probably cost a decent amount of money. I started thinking out loud to my wife and began by asking a somewhat silly question:
"Dear? Where do people get money?"
She laughed, and honestly didn't have an answer. However, we both knew the common answers that people give: save your pennies, invest in stocks, try and get a raise, etc., etc., etc.
My wife and I had just had our son only a few months before I had asked that question. We were in between insurances, so we got stuck between a rock and a hard place when it came to paying hospital bills. We got screwed royally. I had several instances where I had to be on the phone with the hospital telling them we did not have the money to pay for the bills and we needed a discount. We even tried to apply for Medicaid but didn't qualify. Thankfully, we did get a discount. We were inches away from filing for bankruptcy, but we ended up on a payment plan that we have to pay until June.
This brings us to last month.
My friend and I got talking about our money issues. Him and his wife are in a similar boat as we are with the exception that his job is much worse than mine. However, he decided that cleaning condemned meth houses (yes, this is actually a regular duty for him) isn't something he wants to do forever. He decided to start learning how to code and program, as well as learn some other marketable skills that he could use to make some money on the side to help pay for their bills. He told me that he is starting with HTML and CSS. I liked the idea of learning to code, so I joined him. I decided that I wanted to maybe do some freelancing as a side hustle. So, I then began to learn HTML and CSS.
I started an account on Upwork and tried looking for some side jobs. I only found one job that paid me $100 when I got finished. Don't get me wrong, $100 is $100, but I was hoping to find more work and some more pay. Additionally, I realized that if I was working on a bunch of freelancing projects along with working as a full time structural engineer, I wasn't going to have a lot of time for my wife and son. I was giving my time for money.
About a week passed, and I found a video on YouTube where a young man was explaining how he became a millionaire in his 20's. One of the books he recommended at the end of his video was The Millionaire Fastlane .
Firstly, I want to point out that I've never been someone who was super interested in money. That sounds like a weird statement to say, but it's basically the truth. I've always been content with living very simply. I don't care about fancy homes and expensive luxury cars simply because that's just not how I was raised. But along with this, I also grew up with my own thoughts about money. I never thought money was evil per se, but rather that it corrupts easily. Growing up as a devout Catholic, my main goal has been to store up treasure in Heaven, not here on earth "where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal." -Matthew 6:19
All that being said, I still read TMF . After reading it, my perspective on money changed pretty drastically to make me want to go Fastlane. I still think that money can easily corrupt you, but only if you go in on selfish principles and see money as something other than a tool. Like M.J. said in TMF : "Selfish, narcissistic motives do not make good, long-term business models."
I thought that M.J.'s premises make a lot of sense, and it made me think about my views on financial stuff overall. I determined that my previous views on money would not get me and my family to our goals. Not only that, but I also realized that I have a lot to learn concerning economics, finances, business, and all money-related topics. My previous views on money formed the idea in my head that I don't really need to learn about this stuff because it would lead me into sin. That's a ridiculous take, I know, but I now see that it is actually a very good and prudent thing to have a grasp on these topics instead of just outright ignoring them out of fear.
Realistically speaking, how was I going to be able to get enough money to purchase a home in the country with lots of land for my family? Furthermore, how was I seriously going to be able to support and provide for my wife and children with the income I have now? I think it would require a lot of sacrifices (which I would be willing to make), but even after those sacrifices, would my income alone still be enough? Most importantly, even if my income was enough, and my wife and I made all the sacrifices in the world, I would still be trading the time I could be spending with my wife and children for money at my job. How could I expect my son to grow up wanting to be like his papa if I'm not even present a majority of the week?
The answer? I can't expect that. Now, however, after reading TMF, I now see that the possibility of raising a family with my wife with me being physically present and obtaining a sizable income is possible.
Just this past week, I told my wife about TMF. My wife was on board, for which I was very grateful and relieved. She told me that she trusts me, and that she knows I'll lead her and our family in the right direction. I also told a couple friends of mine that I trust, including the friend I talked to about learning to code. He especially expressed interest in joining me.
This leads us to the present. My friend and I want to start a Fastlane business...
but we aren't sure what to do yet.
We think we want to do something coding-wise, even if that simply manifests itself as doing web development. However, I've seen a few forum posts where people say "don't code it's not worth it" and some say "coding is great!" Is it worthwhile to learn coding even if we just learn HTML, CSS and JS for a website?
Along with this question, any advice on finding ideas to start a Fastlane business is greatly appreciated. After reading through the chapters in TMF about finding business opportunities, I must admit I am still unsure on where to go. If I were to make a guess on what to start on, I want to learn about marketing and copywrite simply because I want to educate myself more on these topics.
Here is my introduction. Thank you for having me!
Godspeed,
Thomas
I am a 24 year old Catholic and I live in Indiana. I have a wife and a beautiful 7 month old boy that I love with all my heart.
I currently work a job (ugh, I know) as a structural engineer for an architecture/engineering company in my home town.
Here is a relatively short history about me and what led me here:
I think I always knew I wanted to be an engineer of some sort. My old man went to Purdue for electrical engineering and went on to work at General Electric in Fort Wayne for 20 years. Before he quit G.E., he started a small business redesigning motors for electric golf carts and has been doing that to this day. His stories of solving problems as an engineer were always interesting to me. Additionally I think this was just one of those things where they young boy wants to be like his dad.
In high school I made the decision to go to school for Civil Engineering. I ended up at Purdue's satellite campus in Fort Wayne.
Multiple things happened during college that changed me drastically as a person.
- During my freshman year, COVID happened, which shut down school and drove us all to online classes. Additionally, everything else closed, even churches. This was a huge deal for me because I'm a very religious person, and having to watch church services in my bedroom through the screen of my laptop crushed me.
- After the school year ended in 2020, I stopped going to the church I grew up at to go to another church that stayed open during COVID. I basically made a promise to myself that I would never let anything get in the way of me going to Mass and being a devout Catholic.
- My girlfriend broke up with me the following summer after we had dated for a year. However, later that same summer I met the women who I would marry only a two years later. We got married in October of 2022.
My wife and I are trads. We have always had dreams of having a big family, and to live in the country with lots of land for our children to explore. We both want to live simply and modestly. So, this past fall, we started the process of buying a house, which at this point looks like saving money for the down payment and other services required.
Around this time, I was driving around with my wife through the country. We were passing houses that were not extravagant or anything, but I knew that they probably cost a decent amount of money. I started thinking out loud to my wife and began by asking a somewhat silly question:
"Dear? Where do people get money?"
She laughed, and honestly didn't have an answer. However, we both knew the common answers that people give: save your pennies, invest in stocks, try and get a raise, etc., etc., etc.
My wife and I had just had our son only a few months before I had asked that question. We were in between insurances, so we got stuck between a rock and a hard place when it came to paying hospital bills. We got screwed royally. I had several instances where I had to be on the phone with the hospital telling them we did not have the money to pay for the bills and we needed a discount. We even tried to apply for Medicaid but didn't qualify. Thankfully, we did get a discount. We were inches away from filing for bankruptcy, but we ended up on a payment plan that we have to pay until June.
This brings us to last month.
My friend and I got talking about our money issues. Him and his wife are in a similar boat as we are with the exception that his job is much worse than mine. However, he decided that cleaning condemned meth houses (yes, this is actually a regular duty for him) isn't something he wants to do forever. He decided to start learning how to code and program, as well as learn some other marketable skills that he could use to make some money on the side to help pay for their bills. He told me that he is starting with HTML and CSS. I liked the idea of learning to code, so I joined him. I decided that I wanted to maybe do some freelancing as a side hustle. So, I then began to learn HTML and CSS.
I started an account on Upwork and tried looking for some side jobs. I only found one job that paid me $100 when I got finished. Don't get me wrong, $100 is $100, but I was hoping to find more work and some more pay. Additionally, I realized that if I was working on a bunch of freelancing projects along with working as a full time structural engineer, I wasn't going to have a lot of time for my wife and son. I was giving my time for money.
About a week passed, and I found a video on YouTube where a young man was explaining how he became a millionaire in his 20's. One of the books he recommended at the end of his video was The Millionaire Fastlane .
Firstly, I want to point out that I've never been someone who was super interested in money. That sounds like a weird statement to say, but it's basically the truth. I've always been content with living very simply. I don't care about fancy homes and expensive luxury cars simply because that's just not how I was raised. But along with this, I also grew up with my own thoughts about money. I never thought money was evil per se, but rather that it corrupts easily. Growing up as a devout Catholic, my main goal has been to store up treasure in Heaven, not here on earth "where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal." -Matthew 6:19
All that being said, I still read TMF . After reading it, my perspective on money changed pretty drastically to make me want to go Fastlane. I still think that money can easily corrupt you, but only if you go in on selfish principles and see money as something other than a tool. Like M.J. said in TMF : "Selfish, narcissistic motives do not make good, long-term business models."
I thought that M.J.'s premises make a lot of sense, and it made me think about my views on financial stuff overall. I determined that my previous views on money would not get me and my family to our goals. Not only that, but I also realized that I have a lot to learn concerning economics, finances, business, and all money-related topics. My previous views on money formed the idea in my head that I don't really need to learn about this stuff because it would lead me into sin. That's a ridiculous take, I know, but I now see that it is actually a very good and prudent thing to have a grasp on these topics instead of just outright ignoring them out of fear.
Realistically speaking, how was I going to be able to get enough money to purchase a home in the country with lots of land for my family? Furthermore, how was I seriously going to be able to support and provide for my wife and children with the income I have now? I think it would require a lot of sacrifices (which I would be willing to make), but even after those sacrifices, would my income alone still be enough? Most importantly, even if my income was enough, and my wife and I made all the sacrifices in the world, I would still be trading the time I could be spending with my wife and children for money at my job. How could I expect my son to grow up wanting to be like his papa if I'm not even present a majority of the week?
The answer? I can't expect that. Now, however, after reading TMF, I now see that the possibility of raising a family with my wife with me being physically present and obtaining a sizable income is possible.
Just this past week, I told my wife about TMF. My wife was on board, for which I was very grateful and relieved. She told me that she trusts me, and that she knows I'll lead her and our family in the right direction. I also told a couple friends of mine that I trust, including the friend I talked to about learning to code. He especially expressed interest in joining me.
This leads us to the present. My friend and I want to start a Fastlane business...
but we aren't sure what to do yet.
We think we want to do something coding-wise, even if that simply manifests itself as doing web development. However, I've seen a few forum posts where people say "don't code it's not worth it" and some say "coding is great!" Is it worthwhile to learn coding even if we just learn HTML, CSS and JS for a website?
Along with this question, any advice on finding ideas to start a Fastlane business is greatly appreciated. After reading through the chapters in TMF about finding business opportunities, I must admit I am still unsure on where to go. If I were to make a guess on what to start on, I want to learn about marketing and copywrite simply because I want to educate myself more on these topics.
Here is my introduction. Thank you for having me!
Godspeed,
Thomas
"If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world."
-J.R.R. Tolkien-
"Todo y nada."
-St. John of the Cross-
-J.R.R. Tolkien-
"Todo y nada."
-St. John of the Cross-
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