I Turned to Freelancing and Quadrupled My Assets in 3 Months
A lot of things can happen when your role dissolves. You figure out who values you for you, and who values you for your title and any preconceived notion of influence that comes along with that. That weekly latte becomes a lot more expensive. You begin to wonder if you really need that gym membership.
Namely, usually — the rent is still due.
Except in my case, it wasn’t. The next paragraph is going to be very annoying, I apologize:
After losing the job that I moved to New York for, I fell into the hugest pit of privilege I could ever imagine. I was able to relocate to Houston, another massive city with a great airport, and live rent-free with my significant other. My expenses went from $2,000+ on rent, transportation, food alone... to zilch. I like to think it was karma throwing me a bone for the $50,000+ I owe the government in student loans.
Navigating life’s transitions
I embraced the good fortune and ultimately ended up pursuing a freelance consulting career. But, you never forget what it’s like to barely have $2.75 to scrape together for an MTA fare. And while I was grateful to have support via a partner, I was kicking myself for needing to have it. Why hadn’t I saved more? Why hadn’t I budgeted better?
It was a “Palace of Versailles” moment. I always considered myself “independent” — I’d had a paycheck since I was 16, began paying my own rent at 19, and figured it out if things got tight. Then the rug was swept from underneath me, and I realized I had nothing. I had technically received a paycheck for seven years, yet accumulated no wealth.
On March 4, 2019, after a particularly sad bout of final-round interviews that I flew out to New York for, but turned to dust — because four rounds in, someone realized a budget was never approved — I wrote future me an email. Here’s an excerpt:
“Dear Analisa,
Things are scary as f*ck right now.
You have four dollars in your Chase bank account, that is about to be depleted even more because you still need $2.75 to get back up to Harlem, where you're staying with your friend Natalia. Who is an angel, and who you are never allowed to forget. You realized you had $20 from a babysitting gig, and were able to buy a $5 gyro falafel for dinner.
You feel angry and poor, and yet, you fully recognize that you are still privileged which makes you even angrier because then it's hard to rationalize the overwhelming sense of hopelessness.”
Writing emails to your future-self is what you do when you’ve watched the Brené Brown documentary and read Big Magic one too many times, okay? Later on in the email, I also wrote that I needed to get my finances together. I would never fall in this deep of a hole again. I specifically named The Financial Gym.
I followed The Financial Gym on Instagram for a while, knew they were relatively affordable, and I enjoyed the gems they let drop on their feeds. So I said: “Self, when you have a steady income, the first place you’re spending it is there.”
And I did … eventually.
My turning point
By the time summer 2019 rolled around I had been freelancing for a few months, but I still felt like I couldn’t account for where my money went.
While my career is built out of strategically seeing opportunity at every turn, I didn’t have that same tenacity with my finances. I knew what I wanted the end result to be, I knew the questions I had, but I’d drop the ball because I didn’t want to comb through 20+ online resources to figure out how to get there.
So I re-read my email. Began pulling things together. Stalled. And then a five-figure consulting contract landed on my desk.
This time I said “SELF: IF YOU DON’T REEL IT IN NOW, IN THIS FANTASY RENT-FREE DREAM WORLD YOU LIVE IN, WHEN WILL YOU EVER?”
And this time I actually did.
Signing-up with The Gym
I put in a contact request, and within a week I was on-boarded with my now-coach, Terri.
Terri has done a few things for my financial confidence. Namely:
I realized I was projected to make a lot more money in 2019-2020 than I predicted. By at least 2x. Because I was working from a scarcity and fear-based mindset, it was hard for me to see the big picture. Because I couldn’t see the big picture, I couldn’t see the potential gains, and I wasn’t planning for them.
I feel in control of my student loans for the first time in my life. I can’t give away all the FG secrets, but in short, Terri said: “Girl. Pay the principal first. Make two payments back to back, one larger than the other. Sometimes you have to explicitly tell the lender you’re intending to pay the principal.” Okay, she didn’t say it exactly like that, but there you have it.
I have a credit card and am doing my best to stick to the 30% credit utilization rule, A.K.A. only putting my subscriptions on it. I was never able to get approved for a legitimate card. My credit score was “fair” to “average” because shocker: I never built credit.
Growing my assets by 4X
Terri and I just had our quarterly review, and with her guidance, I quadrupled my total assets. QUADRUPLED, in three months. I also sliced my total liabilities by about 3%. Lastly, as a freelance consultant, I have someone to turn to this tax season to optimize all the things.
Thanks to The Financial Gym, I didn’t have to sweat (that much) when the holidays rolled around and I realized my consulting paycheck may be lower than normal. I now had savings.
Does Analisa’s story sound too familiar? If you’re in the same boat and would like help from a financial coach, reach out to us today for a free 20-minute consultation. Sometimes all you need to set the course toward financial fitness is a dependable is a B.F.F. to hold you accountable.