“Jason’s Journey to Achieving Financial Freedom”

May 10th, 2008, was one of the best days of my life because I graduated from college. I was thrilled to be done after 5.5 long years and assumed a $50K per year job was just around the corner. But I was wrong—it took over a year to find a full-time job, and my starting salary was nowhere near $50,000. I struggled with my finances for a few years, and my debt ballooned due to interest and late fees, reaching over $72,000. I finally decided to get my finances in order. As of now, I have just over $49,000 in student loan debt left, and once that’s paid off, I’ll be debt-free.

Becoming debt-free is a crucial step toward financial independence for me. There are several things I need to do to achieve this, and I’ll share a few of them here, starting with the most obvious one.

Eliminate the Student Loans

These student loans have been a burden for over a decade. In my 20s, I didn’t make the best decisions, often ignoring the loans and making very small payments. This allowed the loan balance to nearly double due to interest. At one point, I thought of going back to school and took out another $12,000 loan, only to realize after two semesters that it was a mistake. In 2015, I finally started making on-time payments on the loans that were not deferred or in forbearance. By 2019, I was paying off all my loans. Now, I’m paying over $1,000 each month on the student loans, and I expect that amount to grow.

Grow My Website Businesses

I run two websites. The first is My Money Chronicles, which I rebranded in 2019. It covers side hustles, debt, and travel, along with my personal journey, including both successes and setbacks. My second website will be launched in a few weeks, and it’s in a completely different niche from personal finance. Over the last nine months, I’ve been researching SEO and found a niche I believe will do very well. I’ll provide updates on its progress periodically.

Grow My Resell Business

I also run an eBay store on the side, which has helped me save money and pay off smaller debts. My goal for this year is to grow this business. I usually have 190-200 items in my store, but I plan to double that number. I’ll be doing more thrifting and buying items in bulk to achieve this. Additionally, I’ll be posting more items on multiple platforms including eBay, Mercari, Poshmark, OfferUp, Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, and Nextdoor. I’m determined to pay off these loans.

Grow My Design Business

I design items for Amazon, Teespring, and Redbubble, which is a side hustle with unlimited potential. The key to steady sales is testing different combinations of designs and keywords. Some of my designs make money without any promotion, and I’ve been investing more time in this area, seeing positive results.

Invest More

I currently have a few small investments and plan to have more soon. Recently, I’ve been reading a lot about dividend stocks and find them highly intriguing. Over the past few months, I’ve purchased some dividend stocks and received a couple of small dividends. I like what I’m seeing so far.

Save More

Although I still have a full-time job, I set aside money each month in a separate online account that I rarely check. I want to build a nice safety net for when I start working for myself.

Future Business Ideas

I have many other business ideas, including domain flipping and real estate. While I won’t go into details today, I know that once my student loan debt is gone, I’ll be able to focus on them more.

My ultimate goal is to become location independent, making money from anywhere in the world. With two of my side hustles/businesses, I’m already doing that on a small scale. With more trial and error, I’ll be able to achieve a large, consistent income. This is a significant goal for me.

I was fired from my old job in 2020 and didn’t work for over eight months, which gave me the freedom to focus on my own projects. I loved that time and slightly miss it. I’m working hard to get back to that point. To me, financial independence means freedom, and I’m working smart and hard to get there within the next two years. Follow my journey so we can celebrate together.