Do you feel trapped? Are you sick of having your time dictated by everything that “must get done”… never having time for yourself? Do you daydream about having more money… finally taking that vacation to Greece or just being able to go out with your partner a little bit more often? Seriously, it’s not too much to ask, is it?
There must be more to life than constantly struggling to earn enough money to pay the bills…
I know how you feel. I’ve been there and in fact, I’ve probably been lower, more tired, and more desperate than you’ve ever felt! Don’t believe me? Well, how about this: I used to be a schoolteacher. My wife and I had three small children. And when we first became parents, we decided my wife would be a stay-at-home mum to raise the kids. Which was wonderful, except that it meant I was the sole income earner… on a schoolteacher’s salary. Needless to say – we were struggling to make ends meet. What should have been the happiest time in our lives was extremely stressful. And there was no prospect of a salary raise for me either. I felt cornered. I couldn’t see any other options. I didn’t have time to study for a career change. I knew nothing about business.
And as I was hardly making my mortgage payments – I didn’t even bother fantasising about getting into real estate or “making it big” in the markets. All I knew was how to be a great teacher, which was very fulfilling but here are just some of the things we struggled to do:
– Take a proper vacation
– Go out to a restaurant (on the rare occasion we could find someone to babysit the kids)
– Make big, exciting purchases
– Achieve real financial freedom
I’d wake up each morning feeling like there had to be more to life.
I wanted our family to thrive, not just survive!
I wanted more time at home with the kids. I wanted to be able to afford holidays, and the financial freedom to take them when it suited us, not the school. And you know what I realised? That when you’re working full-time and don’t see a way out… a job can feel like a prison sentence!
How I Caught My Break
Those days I never slept much. I’d sit up late at night… stressing. Worrying about bills. Dreading the arrival of the monthly bank statement (there were no online statements back then, and I doubt if we could have afforded internet anyway!) And when that bank statement arrived… it didn’t tell me what I really wanted to know anyway! You see, all those statements tell you is how you DID… past tense. All it could tell me was how much money my employer had deposited in my account, and how much I spent on bills. But it didn’t show whether we were doing well and could afford some little extras like plants for the garden or trips to the movies. … or if we were heading for big trouble. Because, here’s the thing…
All Your Bank Statement Can Do Is Tell You If You Are Already In Trouble!
Which is why almost everyone struggles with money. I was careful, calculated, meticulous. And still, each month I’d find some of my previous spending decisions turned out to be poorly timed. To make matters worse, we’d recently moved into a bigger house, which meant higher mortgage payments. And that was back when interest rates were 18%… As the breadwinner, it was my responsibility to look after not just myself, but also my wife and our three children. The pressure and weight on my shoulders was immense.
So I Came Up With A Solution So Simple…
I Couldn’t Believe No One Else Had Figured It Out! I remember that night vividly. There I was again – sitting at the kitchen table at 2am. Fussing. Obsessing. Sweating whether we’d be able to pay our new mortgage that month without me needing to supplement my income with a cleaning side-job or two (I’m not ashamed to admit things were that bad). I was marking all my paydays and mortgage due dates on a calendar for the next year when I realised the bad news… there were going to be some payments I would definitely not be able to make. Then… “aha!” I found the biggest negative number on my calendar – the deepest we would be “in the hole” during the upcoming year and realised… … that was exactly how much we needed to have in the bank at the start as a positive number! I realised if I put all the bills, birthdays, Christmas and predictable stuff on the calendar…
I could run the numbers backwards and pinpoint to the cent where we needed to be every day of the year.
Previously the bank statement gave me a number I could do nothing with. It told me where we were, but it didn’t tell me where we needed to be! For example, if it told me we had $500 left at the end of the month, was that good? Should we have been happy about it because it meant we weren’t in debt that month? Or… should we have been terrified because it meant we wouldn’t be able to pay for electricity the next week? It never told me that! But once I found that number, my “spending plan” number…
I finally solved my family’s budgeting problems!
From then on, I always knew how much money I needed to have in my account to cover not the past – but the future. I knew exactly how much we had to have in our account every day for the next year. Never again would we be left regretting spending money we should have held back. Just as important, we’d never regret NOT spending money we didn’t know was spare! Missing out on great things because of poor financial planning. And let me tell you…
That Clueless Schoolteacher Hit Gold!
I made an appointment to show my accountant the “Spending Plan” I created. He loved it so much he invited me back to show his entire staff. And then the most amazing thing happened. One of the staff members asked me to do her “budget” – spending plan – as a paying job… and that’s when things really began to take off. At first, I was seeing clients after work and on school holidays. Within the first few years, it became really clear that the time was fast approaching when I would be able to quit my teaching job and devote myself to the business full-time. I loved being a teacher, but I was tired of struggling to make ends meet and not being able to take my family on holidays. And honestly, I was also sick of being told what to do! Hours, curriculums, reports, meetings… I had been in the profession for years, and it was time for a new challenge.
The First Million
Momentum snowballed. We were featured on ‘A Current Affair’, ‘Today Tonight’ and gained lots of other media attention that helped to increase sales to over one million! It was the most amazing feeling to realise we had totally changed our lives, and we really enjoyed the success. As time went on, though, it got to the point where I couldn’t do it all by myself anymore. We needed more spending planners! We started employing and training people to do some of the client contact, and that was OK… for a while. But then I realised what I truly wanted to do was give others the opportunity to bust out of their jobs and regain control of their lives – just like I’d been able to do. Back when I was a full-time teacher, I knew nothing about business and had to learn everything the hard way. It took me twenty years! It was a great journey, but it wasn’t easy and it definitely wasn’t short. And if you’re at the same spot as I was…
I don’t want you to spend the next twenty years of your life figuring this out!
Not when I can GIVE you a readymade business, with all the training and support you’d need to make it a success. And that’s the opportunity I want to offer you. But it’s not for everyone. If you think this may be for you, apply here and if accepted you will proceed to the interview stage.
Take Control of Your Finances
If you can take control of your spending by making some of the little changes above, you’ll put some breathing space between you and your money stress, allowing you to relax and start building a stable financial future for your family. How many expenses do you accept in your day without question, and where could you reduce your weekly outgoing money just by changing a few habits? If you just can’t get your head around that and/or you are tired of money stress and have decided it’s time to take control, talk to a Spending Planner to find out how you can break the cycle – BOOK A FREE CALL
You have nothing to lose and lots to gain. Spending Planners are non-judgmental professionals who are trained to help. A short relationship with a Spending Planner will provide you with tools and training that will benefit you for the rest of your life!