At 31 Years-Old, I Was Broke: How I Spent My Free Time To Succeed

Things Nobody Tells You About Growing Up

I hadn’t brought money home in more than two months.

My youngest daughter was 9 months old. The fitness academy where I worked was having a hard time after the 2008 crisis. Taxes were killing the business. And I was one of the owners. So first, we had to pay our employees.

I couldn’t keep working in a place where I bring no money back, so I quit. 2 months later, the company was gone. We were bankrupt. I was full of debts and broke.

I went to the bank to see if they could support me, but they didn’t. Nobody could have support from banks after the mortgage burst of 2008. Some friends and family borrow me money for the next 6 months.

I had to do something quickly. One of the ways that came to my mind was to find work outside my country. So I went to see a friend, Filipe, that had a construction company. He was working in France. And it was paying good money.

I also knew that it’s hard work. Many Portuguese came to France to work in construction in the 1960s, and it was hard as hell. To support my family, I would do anything. So I realized that I would have to make the sacrifice.

I remember to travel a 20-minute ride to the nearby beach at night to think about my decision, and I started to cry. I didn’t want to leave my wife and daughter alone. I finally understood those thousands of Portuguese that had to leave the country. Leaving their families to go fight for survival.

I was wiping tears from my face when the phone rings. Filipe was on the other side. He told me that he was reflecting on my situation. You’re an excellent communicator, Nuno.- he said. You should be in sales, not working in the construction.

Filipe was preparing a new company, in the real estate business. He was counting on me to start that project.

At that moment, I was speechless. He asked me what I thought of the idea. I just told him I would do anything to stay near my family.

So, of course, I accept the offer.

I knew difficult times were waiting for me. But fighting tough times close to your family is one thing. Fighting in another country, with your mind always traveling to your young daughter and your wife, is another thing.

My battle has just begun. I had to pay all my debts in two years to be able to escape personal insolvency proceedings.

Here’s my journey to financial independence.

Never Depend On Single Income

Working in the real estate business as a salesman was a new world to me. I was a personal trainer at a health club. Now I’m selling houses and talking with architects and engineers.

I had to learn fast, so I remember I had an old friend who was an investor in the real estate business. I gave him a call, and we went to lunch to talk about how to succeed in this business.

Luis, my friend, knew me since we were born. He knew my parents and my family very well. And the first thing he told me was: You have a terrible financial education!

For a few seconds, I tried to understand what he means by that. But he kept talking.

In that lunch, I became aware that there was something called financial education. I had no idea what it was before. I was 31 years old, I loved to read, but I had never thought about money and finance.

I had read almost every book by Ernest Hemingway and José Saramago, my two favorite writers. But I never touched a book about money.

Even though I was broke, I had never thought of reading about it. Financial education never crossed my mind.

My dear friend looked at me and realized my bewilderment. He smiled and told me it was normal. People usually replicate what their parents taught them. That is why they are poor. The rich are rich because they study money and know how it works.- Luis said.

He suggested me to buy a book from Tony Robbins called: “Unbreakable.” This is a simple book that will explain to you how money works. And why you are poor.- Luis, in a very calm and patronizing way, offered me a gold bar.

How a lunch and a book transformed my ignorance into great knowledge.

Of course, after that, I read all the books I could get my hand on investment, money, and real estate. I read everything.

I had no money in my pocket, but my mind was full of gold knowledge. I finally knew how it works. I realized how anyone can make money from thin air. By reading biographies about the most wealthy people on the planet.

But I was still broke. And I had to prove I was a damn good salesman.

Keep Your Sales Pipeline Full By Prospecting Continuously

My grandfather was the first photographer in my town — a very respectful person. Everybody liked him. And everybody knew him.

If you are the grandson of the first photographer in a small town, everybody knows you too.

Now I’m a salesman in the real estate business. And everybody knows me. Unintentionally and without realizing it, I had all the best real estate deals in my hand. Without making much effort.

I had to do my job in a very responsible way to succeed. And that was what happened.

In two hard-working years, I paid my debts. And better than that, I start making small real estate investments.

My education and high degree made me stand out among all the salesmen and women in town. And I took advantage. I had the phone number of the best architects and engineers. Because they were people I knew. I started to invest in my personal relationships. And it worked.

Two significant lessons I’ve learned until this point:

1- Everything is in the books: if you want to be useful in one area of your life, read every book about it. The people who wrote them wanted you to know everything about the subject, so they share it.

2- Personal relationships are powerful: if you start talking around, you’ll always find someone who knows someone who knows someone. Before you know it, you’re sitting at a coffee table talking with the person who can teach you everything about the subject. Remember, people love to share their knowledge, especially with someone willing to learn.

How You Can Put Money Working For You

I decided I wanted to be a full-time writer. So I worked hard to save enough money to dedicate myself as a writer. That was always my dream.

And because I know how money works, I could finally fulfill my dream.

You shouldn’t love money. But you must understand that money is a means to an end. Without money, you’ll be fragile as I was when I was 31 years old.

At first, without having support from my friend Luis, I didn’t know why that was happening to me. Why was I broke? What have I done wrong?

If I didn’t know how money works, how could I ever understand what was happening to me?

I had to have somebody else, outside my family, to teach me what I didn’t know. If I didn’t have that conversation with Luis, I wouldn’t be writing one article a day on Medium.

I would be working at a grocery store. Probably still paying my debts. Having more month at the end of the money. And as Robert Kyosaki says,

Most people never get wealthy simply because they are not trained to recognize opportunities right in front of them.

In the real estate business, I have money working for me. Meaning, I have investments that pay themselves. And there is still money left that comes into my pocket, month after month.

In the stock market, I have money working for me too. I bought Tesla stocks at an early stage, and I’m collecting the profits from that decision. I created a portfolio that I hope can give me an annual return 15 years from now.

As a full-time writer, I hope I can build my third source of income. As you realized, you have top writers writing one or two articles a week and making real money. They worked hard to be better writers. They did succeed. And now, they are collecting their efforts.

You can do it in other forms of income. Let me tell you how.

One Day I Will Find The Right Words, And They Will Be Simple

You don’t have to be a real estate investor to have another source of income. It may not be your thing. You may have other skills, other tools to earn extra money.

If you observe what top writers are doing, besides writing, you’ll find they have other income sources. They’re promoting online courses. Some have created a Youtube channel to teach younger writers how to succeed. Others charge for consulting or editing.

Some even invest, like me, in the stock market with money from writing. Others try to sell different products to diversify their income.

The most important thing is to use your writing know-how, mixed with your skill from outside the writing world, to increment different income sources. In the digital marketing sector, you have dozens of Youtube channels, helping you understand how you can diversify income sources.

Try to understand what kind of writers you most identify with, and search for advice. Don’t be shy trying to contact them to seek advice. If they feel that you have the desire to learn, that will help you.

The proof is what Sinem Günel, Zulie Rane, Amardeep Parmar, and Michael Thompson are doing right now. They created a newsletter called Write Your Future. For $10 a month, you’ll receive mentoring from these extraordinary writers. Please, don’t tell me you can’t pay $10 a month.

I’m Not a Good Writer (yet), But I’m A Damn Good Learner

I’m a non-native writer. So, I have this disadvantage.

Day after day, month after month, my writing is getting better. But it’s not enough. I want to be one of the best. I really enjoy it. So, I know I have to invest my next positive energy by learning advanced grammar and structure.

I already started an online course on Udemy: English Writing Skills.

In one of her articles, Jessica Lynn suggested two books to start the learning process: On Writing Well by William Zinsser and The Elements of Style by Strunk and White.

[arlie] PEYTON sends me an email suggesting The Prentice Hall Reference Guide and Diana Hacker’s Rules for Writers.

From those four books suggested, I will buy two for starting my reading journey.

When I was 31 years old I was a financial analphabet. Right now, I have to do the same learning path into the writing business.

I have to become an expert.

Final Thoughts

The best thing you’ve learned in this article was that everything is in the books.

If you want to be the best at something, you must read. If you don’t like to read, or your brain moves like a chronic obese, you have to force your brain to eat less and to practice more sports.

That is, you start by reading a paragraph a day. Then two, then ten. When you finish the first chapter, you jump to the second. When you complete the first book, you fly to the next one. Without realizing it, your brain already has the abdominals of a 20-year-old kid.

I was a personal trainer. So as you can imagine, when someone comes to me saying that a particular thing is too hard to do, I tell them,

If you want something, you’ll find a way. If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse.- Jim Rohn

My life hasn’t been very hard. I live in Europe. If I’d live in Bangladesh or Ethiopia, my life would be more challenging.

But I have tasted the bitterness of life. I went through hard times, where I felt the rug being pulled under my feet.

Yet, who am I to complain about anything?

A few years from now, I’ll be financially independent. A few years from now, I hope I’ll keep writing every day. Because I love to write.

Money is the product of all evil. But it also gives you enough freedom to make your dreams come true.

Allow yourself to be able to do what you love.

I’m halfway there. I hope you’ll find your way, too.

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