How I Went From Minimum Wage To $400k/year in New Zealand

In my lifetime, I've gone from earning the minimum wage to now earning over $400,000 in a year. And to say that I have blown what I once thought was possible out of the water would be an understatement.

So, I thought what we could do is dig into the archives of some of the jobs that I did and ways that I found to increase my income whilst being at those jobs and then through the last 10 years

of my income data. And I'd love to know from you what your first job was and how much you were getting paid to do it. Can

you remember? Cuz I found it really hard. And I actually had to message my

hard. And I actually had to message my mom and ask her, "How much was I getting paid to do my junk mail round?" which

was my very first job where I earned income. So, Luke here wanted to start

income. So, Luke here wanted to start making some cash and I think I was only 12 at this time. Now, I had a one-speed BMX and I decided that I was going to start delivering junk mail. So, that's

what I would do. And mom tells me I was only actually making like $100 a month.

And honestly, I can't really remember what that figure was, but I do remember her telling me about taxes and also putting some money aside to pay my sister to help me fold some of these pamphlets and I started crying cuz this

was a brutal reality of life. Anyway,

this got me started and I started to have some income coming in and I really liked this. And what I noticed is that

liked this. And what I noticed is that in summertime towards Christmas, more advertisers would want to deliver more pamphlets and I got paid even more for delivering more pamphlets. So, I liked

it when there was more to deliver and I learned about increasing my income in this very first job. Now, it took me a couple of years and I learned, "Hey, this ain't for me. I don't want to be biking around on my BMX delivering these

pamphlets after school." And I was at high school by this stage and I was already doing a 12-hour day at high school. I would bus to school, I would

school. I would bus to school, I would do my school day, and then I would get back, and then I would have to do my pamphlets to make some cash cuz I wanted some money for the steak and cheese pies at the tuck shop. Now, I then took a job

at a local superette. But, my mom reminds me that I wasn't allowed to start there until I was 14. The employer

said, "No, no, we need to wait for you to be 14 and then you can start." So, I was itching to start there. And And I did, I was paid minimum wage. But, I

used to love it. People would come in, they would want milkshakes, they would want lollies, they would want the groceries, and I got to interact with the public. And I started to learn, "Oh,

the public. And I started to learn, "Oh, I really like this." Some people you could make them really happy, other people seemed grumpy. People would throw a tantrum if you gave them the wrong smokes, but I started to learn a lot about how the world worked. And I'll

tell you what else I learned. I learned

that if you worked on a public holiday, you got time and a half. Are you

serious? I get to do the same job, and you're going to pay me even more for doing it, just because someone decided that this is a public holiday. Where do

I sign? How many hours can I do? So,

this is the job that I started out with minimum wage, but I still found a way to increase my income. And I was willing to work when and if they needed me. And I

was really proud of that job, too, and some really good things come of it, and I still use those skills today. Now, I

did this for a number of years, but as I got older, towards about the age of 17, I was going to head for university. And

I started to hear about how you could work at a meatworks in the summer, and how much these people were getting paid to work in the meatworks. This was a serious increase on the level of income that I was used to. So, I signed myself

up for this meatworks where I was going to earn a lot more money. And I started to understand, as well, that your pay could change based on doing overtime.

And if the chain needed to do more production, you could be paid really well for doing that overtime. So,

overtime, that didn't scare me. And this

was my summer break, so I was up early, out there, and it was pretty eye-opening, as well, working with people that were a lot older than you, and then just doing one repetitive thing every single day. And I'll be honest, I didn't really like it too much, but I

did my one summer there, and I started to earn a lot more money, and I thought, "This is fantastic. I can't believe how much money you get paid to do this."

Fortunately, I pissed a lot of that money up against the wall at university, which we'll come to. So, I've advanced past minimum wage at this stage, but I've also learned that there are different ways to increase your income.

Public holidays, for instance, doing overtime, and I was all about that. Now,

I was trying to manage some of the costs going out, too, and taking my lunch with me to control the level of money that I had left over because it's really important to understand it's not always about what you make, it's about what you

keep. Now, unfortunately, I let go a lot

keep. Now, unfortunately, I let go a lot of these habits once I got to university and started to enjoy some of this money that I'd saved. So, that led me to finding my next job because I'd moved into a city from a town at the stage and

I found a distribution center. And my

word, this was a place to print cash and I loved it. Now, this was my first job where I was a casual employee, I believe. And what that meant is that I

believe. And what that meant is that I didn't get annual leave, it was all paid as you went. You turned up, you did the work, and you were rewarded for it. And

this place was open early and sometimes it was often open late. In a

distribution center that services so many grocery stores, of course it gets busier closer to summer. So, sometimes

you're looking at 12 or 14-hour days. My

word, your income starts to stack up, too, if you're going to do the overtime at these jobs. So, that's exactly what I would do. Hey, I'll do as many hours as

would do. Hey, I'll do as many hours as I can. Now, what I noticed when I worked

I can. Now, what I noticed when I worked here as well is the people driving around on the forklifts, it seemed like their job was a lot crazier than mine. I

was packing orders so that they could put groceries on the stores that you probably shop from and that was heavy back-breaking work. People would drive

back-breaking work. People would drive around a forklift and what I learned, they got paid more than me. I'm like,

"Yo, what? That looks way harder and I've been taught that hard work pays, but they're getting paid more than me.

Hey, what's going on here?" And this is where I started to learn about providing more value. Now, it's more valuable to

more value. Now, it's more valuable to do the forklift job and do it really well. So, once I learned that, I started

well. So, once I learned that, I started asking questions. "Hey, how do we get on

asking questions. "Hey, how do we get on those forklifts?" Well, I started, "You

those forklifts?" Well, I started, "You got to work your way up to that and you also need a forklift license." "I don't have a forklift license. Where do you get one of those?" "Well, I'll tell you what, you've actually got to be asked to go and do that and then the company will

pay for you to do that." "Ah, okay. I

want to demonstrate that I'm somebody that should be put on that forklift course." And eventually, that's what

course." And eventually, that's what happened. So, my pay increased because I

happened. So, my pay increased because I then got to drive the forklift. Now, I

could drive this thing at dispatch, I could drive it around the warehouse, and I could go back and just do my normal picking and packing type role as well.

So, I get paid at different rates, but I was learning the ability to become more valuable and be seen as more valuable and be rewarded for doing that. So, here

I'm really learning about increasing your income over time, doing stat days, driving a forklift, the same place of employment, but different ways to get paid more, and I was all about it. Now,

I did that for a number of years alongside my university degree. I guess

what you're picking up here is that I've been working since I was 12, and I'm now 38. So, a long day to me and actually

38. So, a long day to me and actually working hard hasn't really been much of an issue for me, and I've had to do that. And I know that's not for

that. And I know that's not for everybody, and that's not what they want to do, but that's what I'd seen happening in my upbringing that it took hard work to ensure that you could put money on the table. So, that's what I knew. But, I had to learn about this

knew. But, I had to learn about this value piece at some stage there. Hang

on, there's a different way to get paid?

You can become more valuable and get paid even more and and perhaps do something that's not as hard on your body? I like learning about this, and

body? I like learning about this, and this is why I think I was studying at university because I wanted to get into an environment where potentially I could do a role that I enjoyed more, and I would get paid for the value that I

could create. So, that led me through

could create. So, that led me through business studies and accounting, and I got my first job, my first corporate job where I had to wear a suit. Well, you

could if you wanted to, and oh, I was so keen. I want to put that shirt on, a tie

keen. I want to put that shirt on, a tie on, and look real sharp. So, this was my first job out of university, and I think I might have been paid around $46,000

from memory, but I felt like I could save $500 a fortnight, and that felt like a shitload of money. And that's

after buying a few jugs and enjoying myself. Now, part of why I could do

myself. Now, part of why I could do this, too, is that in this first job, I learned that, "Hey, if you have to travel for this job, then we're going to pay you an allowance." I'm like, "Okay, talk to me about this allowance thing."

"Well, we're going to pay you, I think it was $65 a night, and it's tax-free."

What, $65 in the hand? "Yeah, you got to feed yourself, and we're going to pay you that." So, four nights away from my

you that." So, four nights away from my flat at this stage, which was still pretty cheap, and I was going to get an extra $260. Well, you know what we did.

extra $260. Well, you know what we did.

We didn't spend the whole 260. We

ensured that we brought our groceries on the Monday, had the fortnight staying in the hotel, cooking up some chicken on a pan in the hotel, and banking an extra 260 with no tax on it, and taking that

back home. Again, I found another way to

back home. Again, I found another way to increase my income, and I was all about it. This is where I could see that I

it. This is where I could see that I could start to build some serious wealth if I was disciplined with this, because I was starting to bring in some pretty tidy money, and still didn't have massive outgoings. So, what I decided to

massive outgoings. So, what I decided to do was to stack all of that money into the S&P 500. And this is around 2008.

So, because I learned about money, finance, and business, I started to invest all of this money into the stock market. And this was 17 years ago now.

market. And this was 17 years ago now.

So, clearly, I'm a multi-millionaire, and you should buy my course on investing, because I can help you do exactly I'm only joking. I pissed all of it up against the wall, and understood that I could then borrow against my

income, get consumer finance, get cards that would then give me even more cash to buy lazy boys, beds, sound systems, all the stupid that I shouldn't have bought instead of investing. I

should have known better, but I didn't.

So, unfortunately, I wasted a lot of this money and time to be able to compound this extra cash that I had as well. So, I had to catch up on that

well. So, I had to catch up on that income later on in life, which we will come to. But, this is my first corporate

come to. But, this is my first corporate job out of uni, and after a few years, I realized, "Hey, this this probably isn't really for me." And I needed to make another brave, courageous decision that I think a lot of people struggle with, and be honest with myself that this

probably wasn't going to be me for the rest of my life. So, I then got into my next accounting role. I should just note that in this role as well, I was invested into by the employer, where I learned a lot, and I went to a lot of

training days, and those things helped set me up for later on in my career. So,

I have to show a lot of respect to that, because it made me more valuable as an employee and as a But, eventually, I got into more public practice accounting, and I I got to lean

on the skills that I'd learned from dealing with people at the grocery store where I could then have conversations with people, understand what they had going on, and then accounting was just a part of that as well. So, in this role,

I then started to look at different side hustles as well outside of it. As my

skills were growing, I was thinking, "Well, what else could I be doing to make a bit of extra cash?" So, this is where my entrepreneurial spirit started to kick in, and I vividly remember sitting at my table of my then house

that I'd purchased and building out a business idea. And this was around

business idea. And this was around helping people start a business, and I built this and then I never really launched it into the public. But, I was starting to scratch this itch of, "Well, maybe I could build a business. Maybe I

could do what some of these people are doing that I was helping with and doing the GST returns and the statements." It

was becoming more normal to me that perhaps business was a path that I could go down as well. So, eventually, I found my way to Auckland in a similar role, and I thought I might then get exposure

to more work off the scale and bigger businesses, and I would learn more But, what I come to learn by the Thursday of sitting in that traffic is that I was not cut out for this and I was crying. Man, it sucks sitting in traffic

crying. Man, it sucks sitting in traffic going to and from work, and then Aucklanders will say, "Oh, it's just part of it." But, honestly, they all look miserable when they're driving their cars in the dark to and from work, and I don't really like this. So, I was

brainstorming ways that I could potentially increase my income as I'd been learning for a number of years now and starting to think, "Okay, how am I going to do life for the rest of my life? Or is this what my life is going

life? Or is this what my life is going to look like?" And again, I had to accept, "No, this is not for me." So,

fortunately, one day I was going down to home in Palmerston North, and I sat next to someone and they asked me about claiming tax rebates for their school donations and how hard that was. And

this guy suggested that there needed to be an easy way to claim back these school donation rebates, and I thought, "Well, maybe we could solve that. Maybe we

could build something." And so, all of these skills and things that I've been learning started to culminate, and I went away with my now business partner, and we built a tool to allow parents to claim back their school donations, and then we kept a small fee for doing

exactly that. Now, what we were able to

exactly that. Now, what we were able to do was help parents claim back over a million dollars of school donations that they didn't know that they could be getting a rebate on. But, it become very evident that this was not going to be the big business that was going to take

me to the top tax bracket. But, to start this, I had to jump off the building and quit my job and move into self-employment and business. And

everything that I had done previously took me to this point. And this is where I started to build up my entrepreneurial skills and also finally take the leap to have a crack at it and then start to build up my accounting practice

alongside this as well. But, in doing so, I had to go all the way back to the start of having no income. So, here's

where we're going to dive in to my MyIR, and I'm going to tell you about the income that I had in some of these years. Now, I've dug into my IRD tax and

years. Now, I've dug into my IRD tax and income records, and I can only actually go back to the 2016 tax year. Now, in that year, I was still

tax year. Now, in that year, I was still employed. And my total income was

employed. And my total income was $78,691.

Now, I thought I'd just put that through the RBNZ inflation calculator and see what that would be in today's money.

Basically $110,000.

But, I did think I was Jack the lad, snake. I'm going to be honest, back in

snake. I'm going to be honest, back in 2016 making 80K a year. My original goal in an earlier life was, "Wow, I wonder if I can make a hundred grand a year. I

will be killing it." So, I probably did have a lot of disposable income that I could have a good life with, but it was a certain shot going right back to zero

because next year things get really, really tight, really quick. So, the 2017 financial year was the year in which I actually quit my job. So, I didn't have a full year of income. My income for

that time was $58,000.

So, I was earning in some of it, and then I quit my job and my income stopped. And I thought that the school

stopped. And I thought that the school rebates business was going to help me crack my income up and do that really quickly. But, boy, did I get a little

quickly. But, boy, did I get a little bit of a fright of how hard it is to actually build a business from scratch and get it off the the and how much money you need to reinvest back into that as well, including my accounting practice when I started to build that.

So, my first full financial year in business was the 2018 financial year and this was the first year in which I didn't have a form of income from an employer. It was up to me to go to the

employer. It was up to me to go to the market to provide value, to add solutions, and to ask to be paid for those and be paid and then to clear the profits and pay the tax on it. And my

income went all the way back to roughly $15,000.

Imagine what that would be like. Earning

consistently 60, 70, 80 grand, continuing to increase your income over your past 10 years and then bang, 15 grand. How the hell are you going to

grand. How the hell are you going to live off of that? And I've done countless other videos about trying to decrease my expenses to give myself a runway, to give myself every possible chance to get this business growing. So,

we won't get into that today, but it meant that I had to make a lot of changes in my life, including my outgoings and my living expenses. Now,

in the 2019 financial year, my income tripled. Have you ever tripled your

tripled. Have you ever tripled your income in a year? Well, when you come off a low base of $15,000 and get it to $45,000, a triple probably sounds a lot better than the 45. So, you got to

think, I'm now probably 24 months into my business journey and my income is probably still half of what I was earning if I had have stayed in employment. But, I was no quitter and I

employment. But, I was no quitter and I could see that this thing was going to compound. If I've been able to triple my

compound. If I've been able to triple my income in a year, what was possible into the future? And this is the mindset that

the future? And this is the mindset that I needed because I could see if I stay on this path, this was only going to grow. I was going to put more runs on

grow. I was going to put more runs on the board, get more of a track record, and find ways to be able to increase my income. So, there was no way that I was

income. So, there was no way that I was going back to employment and never, never once was it a consideration that I would go and take a job again. Even with

a couple people saying, "You sure? We do

have a role that we think would be pretty good for you." No,

I needed to figure out how I was going to make this work. And like a meth addict, I was going to keep scratching that thing whether it was harming me or not. Now, the 2020 financial year

not. Now, the 2020 financial year finished 31st of March 2020. And my

income by this stage was up to $63,000.

So, I've been able to increase my income by 50%. Now, what the hell happened in

by 50%. Now, what the hell happened in March 2020? Can you remember?

March 2020? Can you remember?

Um what the Yeah, let's not talk about it. But, I tell you, I was just starting

it. But, I tell you, I was just starting to get some momentum with the snowball, and all of a sudden, bang.

The world gets weird. That sucked. But,

if someone had have told me at the start of our business journey, "Hey, this is what's in front of you." I don't know if I would have taken the leap. Probably

because I knew that it was still a few years away. But, if anything, this just

years away. But, if anything, this just made me think about doing things differently, being stronger, and providing even more value. So, we were out there trying to help more business owners, and I knew that if I could do

that in a long period of time, that things were going to reward me in the future. And I'd seen the GFC when I just

future. And I'd seen the GFC when I just came out of university, and I swore to myself, "The next time the world gets weird, and things get really volatile, I'm going to figure out how I can be more valuable to more people, and one

day I'll get paid for doing that." And

guess what I did in May 2020? I started

writing Money Mail, a weekly newsletter to everyday Kiwi people to learn more about accounting, economics, money, finances, what's going on in the world,

saving, investing, etc. And today, there's an audience of over 100,000 Kiwi people. And because I add so much value

people. And because I add so much value to that audience, it is crazy the number of opportunities that come to me. And I

was even reflecting on a video that I recorded recently that I'll get paid $500 from YouTube for recording that.

And back years ago, back in 2017, '18, '19, '20, when my income was lower, but I could see good things were coming for me in my future, I was reminded that if you stay on this path, eventually money's going to come from so many

different angles, you're going to wonder where the hell has this been the entire time. And when I saw that I made 500

time. And when I saw that I made 500 bucks for recording a YouTube video the other day, one video, I did think, "Far out, this is exactly what that saying was about." So, I'm glad I trusted the

was about." So, I'm glad I trusted the process and stuck to the path. But, of

course, I've recorded over a thousand YouTube videos, including this one. So,

make sure you like and subscribe to get the next three, and I'll tell you when I drop my investing course, too, what I should have done in my 20 I'm only joking. I'm not going to drop that

joking. I'm not going to drop that course. Let's keep going. 2021.

course. Let's keep going. 2021.

Now, in the 2021 financial year, my income actually doubled from the year before. I was up to $120,000

before. I was up to $120,000 worth of income. And I suddenly knew in this year, "Okay, this is working. This

is now more than I've ever made before in a financial year. Yeah, I like this.

I like this. I think I'm on the right track." Then into the 2022 financial

track." Then into the 2022 financial year, my income goes above $180,000.

Guess what? This is just when they brought in the new top tax bracket of 39% for people who are earning over $180,000. Of course, I finally start

$180,000. Of course, I finally start earning good coin, and they bring in more tax for a battler like me to ensure that he's going to pay more and contribute to society out there. But, it

is what it is. You pay 39% tax on the income above $180,000.

But, holy, I had made it to the top tax bracket of New Zealand. The old Luke was a minimum wage earner, and now I was into the top tax bracket. Holy

what is actually possible in this life?

Now, I should pause here and just give you some context, as well, of what was starting to happen. I was starting to get more known in the accounting circles. I was providing more value. I

circles. I was providing more value. I

was putting out a lot of content. And

that meant that the snowball of the business was really starting to grow, as well. With that comes a lot more

well. With that comes a lot more expenses, like leases, for instance, staffing costs, subscriptions, insurances, all those sorts of things come with it. But, your income increases, your costs do, but you try and make sure that you've got profit

coming out of that business, as well, so you can reinvest it back into your life or into your business, as well. But,

what I was obsessed with was constantly looking at things and going, "Okay, how could I add more value?" Because I'd learned it now. I'd seen it. If you

become more valuable, your income will increase. So, I wouldn't just be

increase. So, I wouldn't just be thinking, "How could I be now more valuable to the distribution center?"

I'd be looking at it going, how can I be more valuable to the world, to my clients, to everyday people? If I can add more value, eventually the world would pay me. So, I adopted that mantra

and I stuck with it and this is what has helped me see my value increase and then also what I then get paid increase as well. And this is why I can then start

well. And this is why I can then start to get paid for speaking for instance because I've done so much speaking and people have seen me speak and then people will say that will be valuable for us to pay you to do that. And so

that income comes in those future years as well. This whole thing was just

as well. This whole thing was just snowballing. Turn into the 2023

snowballing. Turn into the 2023 financial year and my income went past $300,000.

This is a young lad from a very small town in New Zealand who started off delivering pamphlets and then did a minimum wage role and now he's making 300 grand in the big city, baby. Holy. I

didn't set myself up mentally that this was even possible as well. So, you've

got to be careful what limiting beliefs that you're putting on yourself. But

this is pretty cool. And what it meant is that I was able to save money and I was able to stack more aside as well.

And then I could get this pile of cash and I could say, "Hey, you go do some work for me as well." So, in my tax return in this year, some different forms of income really start to show up.

And we're talking interest, we're talking dividends, we're talking PI income capped at 28% so that I'm not getting taxed at 39% on it. So, I was having to learn a lot more too about

increasing my income from the capital that I had built up and understanding more about tax rules just as I learned through my entire career understanding accounting. And now I was becoming the

accounting. And now I was becoming the client of myself too, getting to put some of these things into practice. And

you want to know something crazy about 2023 for me? My income from interest, dividends, and PI income was $8,000 roughly. And remember, my income all the

roughly. And remember, my income all the way back from my first year in self-employment was only $14,000.

So, now my dividends, my interest, and my PI income was half of what that entire year's income was.

And I wasn't really even having to work for this. My money was going and working

for this. My money was going and working for me. So, now my whole world looks

for me. So, now my whole world looks different and some of the things that I could see many, many years ago were starting to happen in front of me. And

that was bloody exciting for me. So, you

can see that I've got this random piece of card that's sitting in the middle of my wallet and I bought this expensive wallet along the journey, too, cuz I learned that some people pay hundreds and hundreds of dollars for a fancy wallet. I thought, that is ridiculous.

wallet. I thought, that is ridiculous.

Why the hell would you spend that much on a wallet? So, why I did it was to put that in the middle and pull out this wallet and remind me there's a shitload of money out there. There is so much

money out there and you can get really trapped thinking scarcely and not abundantly because if these brands can figure out how to sell these wallets for that much money, well, if I can provide

even more valuable to other people, then why couldn't I be paid well, as well?

So, onto this. And years ago, someone told me, "Why don't you write down what your yearly income goal is?" And I wrote down my yearly income, I wanted it to be $400,000 by 35. Well, I'll tell you

what, I wasn't 35, but I wasn't far past 35 and I was actually making $400,000.

I've got what assets I would like to accumulate, what I would like to have in retirement funds, and written down money earned ties to demand for what we do, our ability to do it, and the difficulty in replacing us. Now, let me just remind

you of something. The reason I was able to get paid more working in a grocery store is cuz I was willing to work on some of those public holidays when other people weren't. So, then money earned

people weren't. So, then money earned ties to demand for what we do, our ability to do it, and the difficulty in replacing us. If other people weren't

replacing us. If other people weren't willing to do it, well, then I could do it and that means that I could increase my income. Now, if I think about myself

my income. Now, if I think about myself at the distribution center, I learned to do the baseline job, then I learn how to do the forklift part of it, as well.

Then I'll work on public holidays and I'll work overtime and some people couldn't do those things. So, I became difficult to replace and I had a good ability to do those jobs and voila, money earned increased. So, this is

something that I did and I'd suggest that you actually take some time to think about your goals of what it is that you would like to make, and I'm actually going to update this and refresh this because I've gone past that

income goal for a couple of years now.

So, it's time to think bigger again, or think more about what that means to me.

Now, in this year I also had over $30,000 of passive income. Nothing I

don't think is really passive. You've

got to still do something to then get the return on that. Now, that's pretty crazy. By 2024, my passive income was

crazy. By 2024, my passive income was over double the salary that I had in the first year of having a crack at my own business. So, it just shows you what is

business. So, it just shows you what is possible if you stick to something over time. Now, that 2024 financial year was

time. Now, that 2024 financial year was a bumper for me, and as I get into 2025 and 2026, I consistently earn over $400,000 in both of those years as well,

which proves to me that I can grow past my goal, and I can achieve it. And maybe

it's time to reflect on where I'm going next as well. But, through these years, you know, I've become more valuable to the market because I've gotten better at what I do. So, some of the things that I

want you to take away from this are that there are always ways to increase your income. And you want to set your mind to

income. And you want to set your mind to go looking for some of those. You also

want to get good at what you do, and have people know that you are good at what you do. And once you start to earn some income, look after it, and get it to work for you. And that can grow your

income as well. It could even be investing in shares or term deposits, whatever it is that you feel safe with.

If you can get it to drop you a droplet of more money, and you don't necessarily need to go and do the overtime or the work to do that, that's a good feeling.

And you start to see that it is possible to compound and to build up extra income where it's not just you having to do it.

Now, as your income increases, and especially when it goes past that $180,000 tax bracket, you will start to question whether the work is worth it for 61% of it. But, until you get there,

it's very hard to make sense of that.

And one thing that I need to point out is that I often work a lot more than what other people are willing to do.

I'll work on Saturdays. I'll work on Sundays. I'll stretch my hours past a

Sundays. I'll stretch my hours past a 9-5, and that ain't for everyone, and I completely get that. But, often I really enjoy my work, and because I enjoy it, I will then do more of it than what other

people will. And it's not the only way

people will. And it's not the only way that I've been able to increase my income, but it has definitely helped me.

And some people purely would not want to put in the effort that I put in, and they would rather put that into other things, and that is completely fine as well. So, yes, my income has grown from

well. So, yes, my income has grown from minimum wage right up to earning over $400,000 and being in the top tax bracket, but a lot of effort goes into it. And with that comes pressure,

it. And with that comes pressure, responsibility stress creativity finding ways to add value, protecting your name, protecting your reputation, because that is an asset that will pay

you in the future as well. So, it is not easy, and it does take time. And I guess one of the thing that I was really, really blessed with was an understanding that this was going to take time. And I

needed to take steps backwards to be able to go many forward, and I'm so glad that I did. So, if you've made it this far, I really do hope that you've now got some money to pay for my investing course. I'm only joking. I hope you've

course. I'm only joking. I hope you've got some inspiration out of this to chase your goals, to chase your dreams, to go after the thing that you really want to do. The thing that I would have had to do if it didn't work out for me

was to go and get another accounting job. And the last I looked, there's a

job. And the last I looked, there's a whole heap of accountants that are still hiring for accountants. So, the risk for me wasn't actually as bad as what many people will make it out to be in their head. The biggest risk for a lot of

head. The biggest risk for a lot of people is that they're actually worried about failing or having to tell people that didn't work out. But, I'll tell you what, some of these things didn't work out for me either, but I then adapted,

and I evolved, and I had to pivot, if we want to use the P-word, to find ways to ensure that it will work into the future. Because really, you have how you

future. Because really, you have how you think it's going to work, and then the market pushes you around, and you get the market feedback of how it wants you to work to provide value to it, and that's how you transact. So, whatever

income level you are at, please be encouraged that it can change. Look how

far my journey has gone, and you might be right back at minimum wage, or you may be that you haven't increased your income for a year. Zoom out, think longer term, think about different ways to increase your income, and think about

how you can be really good at what you do, or what skills you have that the market may want to pay for, and that could be the way for you to get your journey started. Good luck out there.

journey started. Good luck out there.