October 2019 has been another insanely good month on my journey towards FIRE. This has been the single greatest monthly increase in NW to date.
Side hustle
The reason for this boost is 100% due to the side hustle, which has continued to show astounding results financially. It’s quite clear now that it is generating more income for me than my regular full time job. Lately I’ve been seriously contemplating quitting my job and focusing on it full time. Turn the side hustle into the… main hustle?
I’m already going pretty hard at it, devoting all my free time on weeknights and weekends to it. I realise the risk of burnout working two jobs 7 days a week is very real. By quitting the 9-5 and focusing purely on the side hustle, I believe I can not only free up my schedule, but also increase my income generated from it by at least 30%. This would hopefully offset most of the income lost by quitting my regular job. The only thing holding me back is that it is still very early days (I only started it in June), so perhaps this level of income is unsustainable in the long run. Perhaps I’ll make the jump once I’ve proven to myself that I can maintain this level of success for at least 12 months in a stable and consistent manner.
Reflections at 30
I turned 30 last month. I never thought that at this age I would be earning over $30k net per month. I never thought that I would be lucky enough to have a stable 9-5 job, with good work-life balance, that paid me $200k/year. And I certainly never thought I would then consider giving up said job to pursue something new in a completely different field.
Just three years ago I had a net worth of basically zero. I worked like a dog for my company at the time, living paycheck to paycheck on an annual salary of about $60k – $70k. How much difference a few years can make!
If this journey has taught me anything, it’s that hard work pays off, and real hustle never sleeps. You have to give up something if you want to make a radical change in your life. In my case, the sacrifice has clearly been my free time (and sleep!). But I don’t intend to do this forever. I will race towards FIRE for as long as I can before I burn out, then take a break and reassess things. Let’s just see how much further I can keep sprinting for now.
Apologies if this all sounds like a giant brag post. However this blog is my only outlet to express these kinds of thoughts anonymously. Unfortunately I don’t have anyone in real life that I’m comfortable sharing this financial information with. Even my significant other – I’ll talk to her about finances and my jobs in general, but not at this level of detail.
Thanks again and see you next month!
Monthly graphs
Turbo FIRE Australia 