Hey everybody,
I've been on the ERE journey for the past 3 months, and probably inadvertently for the last 2 years or so of my life without even realizing it.
I'm 23 years old, and I guess I consider myself an Entrepreneur as I have my hands in a bunch of different things... My main source of income is selling t-shirts on the internet as well as freelancing as a graphic designer. As a designer, I outsource all of my prints and take my cut, however I recently have partnered with a specific company who pays me a small salary and then commission off each sale.
Since sales are different each month it is a little hard for me to calculate all my numbers, but it is safe to assume that through everything I will certainly make $45,000 before taxes are taken out each year with the potential for that to rise rapidly as sales increase.
The Numbers:
Debt: $0.00 (never went to college, and am still living with my mom... and no, I have no shame about being 23 and still at home.)
Investments: $60,000
Other Savings: $10,000
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Net Worth: Around $70,000
Expenses:
I have just signed up for Mint so I will be able to more accurately track these things, but prior to now, I have not been keeping track. Let's just say I live at home for free, and spend minimal in groceries. I do have an old 1995 vehicle, and unfortunately live in Michigan where car insurance is very high. I just bought a scooter and plan on storing my vehicle in the garage without insurance during warm months, and will put insurance back on it for the winter. Anyway, since I work from home and don't drive much, my expenses there are also minimal. I expect I can, and probably already do save 80% of my earnings.
I can't eliminate the car altogether though as I live in a rural area and the closest grocery store is about 15 miles away, and I do occasionally work for an engineer down the road who is teaching me the trade (basically he just designs fixtures to test automobile parts for build accuracy - it is interesting learning the software, and I find it goes hand in hand with what I have already taught myself as a graphic designer, just a lot more mechanical, which I enjoy learning.)
I think that is about it, I will post more number related things now that I will be tracking spending and earnings more closely starting in August.
l2jperry's ERE Journal
Re: l2jperry's ERE Journal
Thanks scriptbunny for the welcome! I was the drummer for a pretty serious band (currently on hiatus) (www.facebook.com/productrock) - but we still get played quite regularly on MTV programming and other licensing opportunities - but anyway, as a band our sound and recordings were good, but we needed the image. It was then that I took up graphic design, photography, marketing, and web development to be able to successfully market ourselves. From there I just starting taking on freelance jobs for other clients/bands.
I bought a vinyl cutter/plotter and starting selling vinyl decals and t-shirts on the internet, but while working full time at a company doing graphic design (about a year I lasted in the cubicle!) I would have to work all day and stay up really late to keep up with the orders. At that point I started outsourcing my t-shirts to a printer I knew who was/is a client of mine. It started going so well I quit my job in March of 2014 and have been expanding this ever since with pretty good success.
I absolutely love being able to wake up when I want, work when I want, etc. I'm so spoiled I don't think I could ever go back to a regular 9-5 cubicle job - and coincidentally I like what I do, the more I sell the more I make, and that encouraged me to work more.
It's weird typing so much about myself
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I bought a vinyl cutter/plotter and starting selling vinyl decals and t-shirts on the internet, but while working full time at a company doing graphic design (about a year I lasted in the cubicle!) I would have to work all day and stay up really late to keep up with the orders. At that point I started outsourcing my t-shirts to a printer I knew who was/is a client of mine. It started going so well I quit my job in March of 2014 and have been expanding this ever since with pretty good success.
I absolutely love being able to wake up when I want, work when I want, etc. I'm so spoiled I don't think I could ever go back to a regular 9-5 cubicle job - and coincidentally I like what I do, the more I sell the more I make, and that encouraged me to work more.
It's weird typing so much about myself
.Re: l2jperry's ERE Journal
The t-shirts are really starting to take off now! And we're getting busier with the holiday season approaching... since my first post I have set up stores on Amazon.com and Ebay.com and am now selling on average $800.00 dollars in shirts a day which with my commission and salary would put me at about 65K a year - and I think I can make this grow quite a bit more in a short amount of time. Every month increases!
Re: l2jperry's ERE Journal
Well, it has been quite some time since I have updated, and A LOT has happened over the past year. Since things were going so well with the t-shirt sales (especially around the holidays) I ended up spending about 35K to set up my own business in addition to the company I outsource many of my sales to. After a little more than a year here are the numbers:
Investments: $130,018
Savings: $77,600
Net Worth: $207,618
Expenses: This hasn't really changed much since last year, i'm still living at home and plan to for at least another year, maybe two. I did, against my better judgement, purchase a used (new to me) 2013 Chevy Cruze, so now that I carry full coverage insurance that expense has gone up a little bit, but the better gas mileage sort of makes up for it. Unfortunately since i'm only 24 and live in Michigan the insurance cost is quite high... I didn't need it, but it is nice to be able to go somewhere and not worry about breaking down! I paid cash for it so there are no payments.
Since everything depends on sales it is hard to say exactly what my monthly income is, but on average I am putting it at around 18k. I am struggling as to where to put all the money. Since I will be in a high tax bracket i'm looking for all ways to try and lower my tax burden. I am not interested in retirement accounts as I don't plan on waiting that long to retire. Do any of you have any tips as far as business structuring that might help? Or any other ways to lower the amount I need to pay in taxes (I've paid some already this year, and it has been more than I have ever paid and it's only August!)
Hopefully it won't take me quite a year to post the next update. Any advice on what I should do with the money is appreciated... buy a house? put it into another business? put it into more investments?
Thanks!
R.J.
Investments: $130,018
Savings: $77,600
Net Worth: $207,618
Expenses: This hasn't really changed much since last year, i'm still living at home and plan to for at least another year, maybe two. I did, against my better judgement, purchase a used (new to me) 2013 Chevy Cruze, so now that I carry full coverage insurance that expense has gone up a little bit, but the better gas mileage sort of makes up for it. Unfortunately since i'm only 24 and live in Michigan the insurance cost is quite high... I didn't need it, but it is nice to be able to go somewhere and not worry about breaking down! I paid cash for it so there are no payments.
Since everything depends on sales it is hard to say exactly what my monthly income is, but on average I am putting it at around 18k. I am struggling as to where to put all the money. Since I will be in a high tax bracket i'm looking for all ways to try and lower my tax burden. I am not interested in retirement accounts as I don't plan on waiting that long to retire. Do any of you have any tips as far as business structuring that might help? Or any other ways to lower the amount I need to pay in taxes (I've paid some already this year, and it has been more than I have ever paid and it's only August!)
Hopefully it won't take me quite a year to post the next update
. Any advice on what I should do with the money is appreciated... buy a house? put it into another business? put it into more investments?Thanks!
R.J.
Re: l2jperry's ERE Journal
That is a lot of money, 18K / month from your own business at 24! Congrats!
Not sure how attached you are to your business, but perhaps you could just sell it out, invest the proceeds and call it quits since its so successful? That also depends on how much income you need. I think the trick (at least mine) is to just fit into a low enough tax bracket where deductions/exemptions put you under the radar for taxes.
Not sure how attached you are to your business, but perhaps you could just sell it out, invest the proceeds and call it quits since its so successful? That also depends on how much income you need. I think the trick (at least mine) is to just fit into a low enough tax bracket where deductions/exemptions put you under the radar for taxes.