Throughout this journey I’ve been ridiculed, laughed at, and looked down upon, all because of a decision that I made that changed my world. In 2006 I found myself way over my head and unable to cope with the hand that I’d been dealt.
My problem was that I believed whole-heartedly, in the idea that I was able to achieve the American dream. A dream that says I was able to live a life where I was able to prosper and be happy. The life style that I had chosen to live however, was not conducive to that dream. The decision however, to never again believe in the concept of using OPM (other people’s money) to afford the type of life that I wanted to live started me on the road to live the life I wanted to live. I learned that if I wanted to prosper, the best way for me to do that is by my own efforts. Another lesson learned was that, if all of my effort was spent paying back OPM, then my chances of prospering financially was slim to none. So as long as I owed someone, I could not make any headway. In fact, if felt like I was moving backwards. I needed to get control of the tools I had in my tool box.
It wasn’t until I got completely fed up with being in my situation and hit my breaking point, that I was able to make the decision to do something to make a change.
My entire adult life I’ve heard the saying “that you must have money to make money, and the best money to use is other people’s money”, and well I believed it. The process began that inundated me with finding more and more work to make ends meet. But that merely landed me in a place where I had a stressed family life, a struggling to survive career, and no way to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I was truly tired of just getting by on what I thought was the bare minimum.
So that day in 2006 I knew something had to give. We decided to start this journey to a life without debt. At this point in our lives we were deep in a financial hole, with a very small shovel to dig our way out.
This is our journey to a debt free life! My hope is that telling this story will help inspire you to stop looking for other people to solve your problems, financial or other. There is one person that can change your life and that person is you!
Corey Stokes 