Stuck in financial debt.

Hello,

I am a 22-year-old, always involved in illegal activities to keep up with the lavish lifestyle I wanted. Eventually, throughout my criminal lifestyle, I trusted the wrong person which lead to my arrest. The arrest was around 1yr 5months ago. Since the arrest till September of 2020, I've had enough funds and cash laying around for me to sustain living the lavish style I had. September comes around, and we're suddenly in debt. The debt kept racking up, I decided to finally integrate into society as a working man. My first job at 22 years old, getting a little over minimum wage with my beauty car parked outside barely able to afford gas to commute as it burns the fuck out of it. In October my clutch went so a 2500$ payment was needed, I did what any ex-con would do, turn back to the hustle. Although this time, I felt something. I felt guilty. I felt shitty. I felt fear of consequence. I felt fear of disappointing my family. Those fears have never been inside of me. I was known for being ruthless. It took me a while to understand it would be physically impossible for me to sustain my car and ever make it out of financial debt. I put the car in storage a couple of days ago.

That being said, with a little backstory, we've come to the point where I ask for your help.
I am looking for people to provide suggestions of things and methods I can do to create myself a secondary stream of income, or maybe even multiple.
I don't want something that's FAST or something that is INSTANT. I am willing to work hard and learn new skills.

I just want someone who can somewhat relate and possibly built his way up from nothing to give me some advice.

My current plan is to just cut all my expenses to nearly minimal, stop going out, car, insurance, extracurricular activities; and reinvest all my money into stocks. Then day trade the stocks with a set of strict rules to prevent greed or great loss. But I need a secondary source of income.

I tried to tutor but with covid it's not the easiest. Did a couple assignments and essays for people on craigslist though.
Bought random things off facebook marketplace and resold them, got 2 sets of rims, sold 1 for 200% other 1 didn't sell :/
Applied for heaps of online jobs none got back sadly.

I just don't know what kind of job or work or business I can do right now.
All I know to do is the illegal shit.

Thanks.

- AManStuckInLoops

 

First of all, rough start, and tremendous job for trying to turn it around all by yourself. That in itself deserves a shoutout.

I am not going to give you substantive advice in the sense of "what", because I have never been in your position and I don't know people who have been either in addition, I dont know you personally. What I can give you are some essential 'ingredients' that forn my (relatively healthy) lifestyle.

Keyword are: structure, routine, good habbits.
Wake up early in the morning, make a schedule for the rest of the day/week/month with realistic goals and try to stick to it. This is very important because it creates structure and gives you something to hold on to. Discuss your plans with people you trust, people who are close to you know you well and will be able to assist you. They can say a lot about the achievability of your plans. Implement their critique. Schedules should be done for everything. From job-seeking to meal planning. It is important to make planning things out a habbit.

As for learning skills and looking for a job; personally I think you're still really young so you can still go to college/learn a skill etc. but it's also smart to find a job. Having said that, I would opt to try and find a long-term job instead freelancing. Be patient and keep applying. Make sure you ask people for help when applying. Fix yourself a professional resume and make someone review your letters. They key here is to be patient. Another thing that you can do is to physically go to business - if that is possibile during Covid and adress that you're trying really hard to find a job. Physically reaching out to people and asking for help will generally give you an edge, because an employee will think doing this says a lot about you.

Feel free to contact me on discord if you want to chat or any sort of advice. Good luck friend and don't give up! @AManstuckinloops

 

Thank you deeply for your response. I’ve been working on getting up early and I’ve taken mostly morning shifts at work to give myself the rest of the day to get work done. I’m also taking classes part-time at university in my spare time. I’m not too sure if I’m looking for a new job at the moment, rather than a second job. A side hustle that would generate a decent income. I’ve been reading up on stocks, day trading, and options a lot lately and might begin investing in 2 weeks or so. Constantly seeking cash jobs in the area, physical labor, or simple flips to do. Just trying to constantly make money and stay busy, though I'm running out of things to do that are generating a good return. I might also look into selling on amazon although not too sure. I’ll be keeping this post here and updating it every now and then.

 

Stocks, day trading and options are essentially all a form of gambling. I would say if you have little to work with, stay away from it. Never invest what you can't afford to lose. Selling unique things on amazon or dropshipping might me something worth looking in to for you.

 

Agree with most of what you said, however in some countries dropshipping is also a form of 'gambling'. Where I'm from the 'drop shipper' is legally liable if something goes wrong. Considering some companies like AliExpress tend to mess up with deliveries, the drop shipper can get in quite some trouble.

Unless you're really talented at it or have a load of starting cash I'd stay off 'passive incomes'. There's a time for everything. Try to take it one step at a time, it's already a big step for you to turn your back to your past. The last thing you need is for things to go wrong because you're trying to do everything at once and fall-back. A good and steady would job would qualify as a safe and secure step forward. Neither is it something risky or rushed. On the side, I would work on learning some skills like programming, teaching licences or some stuff.

Good luck man!

 

It's a real shame that you were lead down a path of crime, because you sound really intellectual, have vision and drive etc that would easily have translated into greatness. But it's not too late.

Yes, cutting costs is another form of increasing net income. If it's easier for you to cut costs rather than to increase income, then by all means you should pursue your path of least resistance.

It'll be difficult in some lines of work with a criminal record, so definitely i'd recommend trying to set something up yourself rather than trying to get into a white collar job that'll get you no where with your criminal record. That is if you want to pursue a lavish lifestyle. On the other hand, it's not all bad working for a low stress, fun job closer to min wage in your early twenties, to gather and enjoy yourself, to reintegrate into society and all that.

Trading is just gambling though, i'd avoid.

The internet is your friend. If I were you, i'd learn to code tbh. Then set up and sell bots or do freelance work, that sort of thing. Else, e-commerce.

goodluck

 

big up for acknowledging your need to change. A criminal record will make it harder to get employment so best to not be picky and work on building up your CV and trust. working as janitors to whatever and save all that money. minimize travel and fun. Maybe live with your parents for a little bit. 22 is still considerably young, im sure youll figure it out!

 

I'm not expert at all but I can tell you one thing. You've already done the hardest part by realising what you were doing was wrong and are now trying your best to get in the right path brother... Everything else will come with patience and dedication.

Keep up the work as many people mentioned, wake up early, do your hours at work and use your time wisely. Every single day I like to spend atleast 2hours to learn something new (currently in the Buy and rent building properties myself project). Instead of watching tv from 6 to 10 pm after work like 90% of the people do, use some of that time to build up your future.

Little about myself, at 19 I finished a welding course which was quite cheap and only took 14 months and only needed highschool completed WHILE I was working at a restaurant during evenings/weekends. I've been making in the 6 digits annually only from welding ever since (I'm 26 and already have enough money saved up for retirement @ 55).

I've done exactly like you mentioned above, for couple years I've reduced my spendings to as minimal as possible until I could get comfortable financially. I come from a very poor family so I know the value of money. Set yourself goals, fill your schedule as much as possible.

Flipping tyres can deffinitly be a decent income due to the VERY high demand all year around. Keeping yourself alerted around the facebook market groups can be a great way to find these deals etc I'm sure you know it.

If your car is too expensive for your current lifestyle, simply sell it and buy one that will work WITH you and put the rest of the money towards your higher interest debts and bills. I've owned several 500-1000$ cars, who cares what people think? You are spending your money where its most important until you can actually afford a nice car and not affect your financial situation.

I'm not gonna act like I know what you are going through right now, but if you need anything simply drop me a PM here on sythe or via Discord man! I wish you the best of luck and will pin this topic to keep myself updated with your achievements/goals

 

Only thing I'd recommend is invest in a vanguard Roth 401K, NOT traditional 401K. Do your research and you'll figure it out why. Vanguard has the lowest maintenance fees, you'll get most bang for your buck. Put little away but not too much - this is your long term parachute, prioritize mid term for a house or property if possible.

What needs to be said is you got this. You will weather this storm and will come out on top. Cut out unnecessary expenses and you will succeed.

 

Maybe you aren't still checking this thread, but I understand where you are coming from.

One of the best pieces of advice I ever got when I was young was: "Your 20's is the time in your life when you should risk" This is not to say gambling... but you should make some MASSIVE goals, depending on what you are interested in.

I'm a bit of a procrastinator sometimes and so I had to set a routine and stick to it for 6 months, to get myself out of laziness/ruts. This may not apply to you, but I used to say stuff like "i'll do that next week" to do something like clean the house. This means that it would take me a WEEK to clean the house. Something that I could complete in an hour or less. It's like that with goals. When you set a timeline, give yourself a very short amount of time to complete it. You'll work a lot harder and faster. If you fail, you will have learned so much and next time you try, you will be that much further along.

I realize this turned into more of a motivational post that I'd first thought.

If you're looking to make money online, there are 101 ways to do it. No matter what you do, it will take a lot of hard work and dedication to become successful at it. So don't be discouraged and don't fall for "get rich quick" schemes. Keep focused on one thing until you're the best you can be.

 

Hello brothers, I forgot the password to my account so I made a new one recently ; and just found this old thread cruising around.
It's been around 5 months since the post, and a lot has changed since.
I managed to get into university with a terrible highschool average and a record some how! I'm studying computer science, just completed my first semester a couple days ago.
I still work my minimum wage job, throughout the last 5 months 32 hour weeks to avoid getting my student loans cut.
Around 20-25% of each paycheque was directed into a crypto acc to invest in xrp/doge as a startup fund for a business, although due to unfortunate events some of those funds had to be reallocated.

In regards to a comment I seen about having a bad car and not caring what people think, it truly isn't like that for my self. I love cars, it's my sole motivation. I couldnt careless about impressing people or anything along those lines. [Just had to make that clear ]

I've really been building a plan for a business [garage] i've been wanting to open since a young age, ended up finding a friend who would let me use their garage for 3 months to get on my feet, although after prepping it and all, the space was way too small to work in. So we're back to square 1 on this current project.

I am not a lazy person, I just need direction or guidance. To comment on the methods people posted, like drop shipping etc. I've tried some of those already and they've just never worked out.

I'll be more active as my semester finished, if anyone would like to talk or give me some advice I am in the sythe discord my names vimto!

Much love to all of you for even replying! I didn't think any one did!

<3

 

Good to hear buddy, keep it up

 

Been there before man, its shit.

Easy Legal hustle, Buy and sell Sofas., can make 100-200 per sofa and sell 3-4 a week.
Use Facebook market place and pay for the extra advertisement.
I made 500-1k a week when I needed it a few years ago.


You can usually pick up a second hand sofa for someone needing rid or an upgrade, as you cant just throw them out these days, you'd be surprised the amount of quality sofas you an get for £100 and sell for £250-£300.

 

Update to anyone whos following this thread.

It's been around 6 weeks since my last post. I've picked up a couple extra side hustles on an app called Task Rabbit. Moving,gardening etc for well above minimum wage except it's 2 hour jobs. Still increased my monthly income by atleast 30%.

The garage idea failed due to lack of space, and we've moved on from that. I'm thinking of starting a business where im the 'middle man'; where i'd hire people like my self off apps like Task Rabbit and take a commission in between the worker and consumer.

It's been a roller coaster money wise, but i've very determined to keep updating this post, and log my progress over time, give others ideas of what did and what did not work for myself and my journey of reaching financial freedom.

<3 Vimto