Overcoming Debt, Achieving Financial Freedom

Chapter 11Increase Your Income

Despite growing up in a low‐income household, I had a unique perspective on money that did not match my circumstances. I believed that money was infinite. This attitude, coupled with seeing my parents take on all sorts of side hustles, shaped my desire to seek income‐earning opportunities from a young age.

When I was in the fourth grade, I received a bead kit for Christmas. The kit allowed you to design a variety of items such as people, animals, cars, and fruits using colorful beads on a pegboard. You would then iron over a piece of wax paper covering the beads to fuse them together. I brought my creations to show my friends at school. My friends loved my designs and asked if I could make them their own. I whipped out loose‐leaf paper, set my pricing from $1 to $5, and began taking orders. I was so excited to launch my first business. I brought my completed designs to school, collected payment, and built a loyal and satisfied customer base. But my endeavor was short‐lived and lasted only about a week—until my teacher's discovery of my underground business.

In high school I worked for the membership sales department at the Bronx Zoo. My pay included an hourly rate and commission that was based on the number of memberships I sold. There was no cap on the amount of commission that employees could earn, which meant that I was committed to selling as many memberships as possible. I even created a skit with coworkers where we would convince those waiting ...