To ask you to share how you did it

[Moneymanifestor]

Not a TAAT but inspired by one and a comment from another MNer. I'm a prolific name changer but I predate penis beaker.

I've seen a few threads lately about marrying rich, high earning husband's etc. and I thought it was time to ask the high earning women here to share how they did it. I'd would put a high earner at 70k and above.

I'm a business owner and my company makes multi 6 figures a year. I sell digital courses and consultancy. I have 1 virtual assistant and my business model is very lean. My salary to myself is 250k.

I left school at 17 with no qualifications. I didn't go to university. I worked in admin for 10 years before deciding I'd had enough of earning 25k. I did a course for 1 year part time despite struggling to afford the tuition. I bought a domain for £25 a year and set up my website. I wrote my first course based on what I had learned and started to sell it. The first year I made 50k and it's grown each year. My business is 3 years old!!

My username is a positivity anchor for me. I had to do a huge shift in mindset and it's one of the ways I remind myself that business isn't a zero sum game. I want to hear from other high earners that didn't start from a position of privilege because I want other women to see that with today's technology anyone can start a business for less than 100 quid.

damnthatoneistakenagain
Do you and your husband own the companies that pay you?

But here's what you posted on another thread yesterday, @damnthatoneistakemagain

damnthatoneistakenagain

The 'I earn £200K and DH earn half a mil a year but it's not that much' brigade are out in force on here.

Always pop up in their droves, but I don't know a soul irl who earns like that, and I know doctors, surgeons, dentists, vicars, reverends, head teachers, architects, bank managers etc etc. Earning nowhere NEAR what some claim they are earning on here.

This thread smells like the farmers just sprayed the fields with fertiliser.

So yesterday you didn't know a soul like that, but today you are a soul like that?

So yesterday you didn't know a soul like that, but today you are a soul like that?

That's right yes.

I love this!!! Such an inspiration.

I'm 28, have gone out IT contracting and I am earning good money (just over a 100k per annum), but for me contracting is a stepping stone to getting to literally where you are OP. I want to work for myself, I want to make a change and I want people to learn from me and my experience.

My fiance and I have bought our first home a year ago, we plan to move out in 4 years and buy a big house. we're trying to plan a model where we live off his income a save mine, it seems almost achievable. This should help us save for a new house and maybe start to pay off this mortgage. I see our current place as our pension, we don't want to sell.

Do you have any tips OP about how to start out and get new clients and grow a consultancy? I honestly feel like given a chance I can help large companies save so much money on their IT spend! I see so much waste that I can foresee and mitigate.

One thing I've never had is a mentor or any support or guidance from family. I wish I did, I feel with some direction I could really accelerate things.

This is my favourite MN'r thread yet!

SophoclesTheFox snap! I spent 8 years travelling the world. I think it has aided me greatly in progressing with my career as I am more willing to take risks.

I don't know any massive earners, but I never said I wasn't one.

HTH.

Perhaps we should take this as the inevitable reminder that on an anonymous forum, we could all be lying through our teeth, or engaging in compulsive Walter Mitty-style fantasy.

Not a high earner. Never will be. Do not care. Nice for those that are though!

A school friend of mine who dropped out of uni in the first year and had a bit of a chequered career (including sacking it all off and going to be a European tour guide for a couple of years) came home and walked into a job that pays close to the threshold you indicate as high earning (more if you count all the bonuses, expenses, benefits etc).

Over time and through her varied experience she developed skills in a niche area that people find useful; but I think it's all down to her personality - she is incredibly easy to get along with, very vivacious, positive and can-do even in the face of some real shite life has thrown at her, and when she is committed to a project she literally puts EVERYTHING else on hold to deliver to the best of her ability. She's very good at identifying what is really important to her clients/employers and stripping away everything else.

She's not even that fussed about money, really, as she was happiest when living literally on less than 15k per year plus bed and board in grotty hostels! I find her success inspiring, but as a friend who loves her I also kind of wish she'd hit the road again with change in her back pocket because that was inspiring too and she was happier.

Certainly I think the defining feature that has made both her career and her 'fuck it all' phase so successful is her ability to make a very rapid assessment of an opportunity and decisively say 'why not?' rahter than overthink and talk herself out of things. Certainly the opposite (and if I'm honest laziness) is what has hindered me in achieving likewise!

I'm in the NE and earn a decent salary (>£50k with very good pension and benefits) working in finance, but my earnings are pushed higher as I am also a landlord with multiple (extremely well maintained) properties.

I was lazy when I was younger and didn't work for my exams, ended up at a good redbrick uni but came out with a poor degree through lack of work. Bounced around not knowing what to do and fell into finance.

As an adult I did my professional qualifications and moved around, securing good pay rises.
My issue is that if I'm not engaged with the work I'm doing I lack motivation and I feel that has meant I haven't progressed to my full potential. However, given the combined income from my 9-5 and my landlord activities affords me a comfortable life with time for my kids I feel I have nothing worthy of complaint.

I appreciate mine isn't quite the inspiring story of others but I wanted to put out there that you can also just fizzle along if you choose the right sector and grab opportunities and you can still earn a very good living.

I've been very lucky as well, my personality is quite vibrant and people tend to like me, I interview well and therefore people want to work with me.

Honestly writing it all down I could and should be doing more but it would require more bravery on my part....... Still time though!

I think you may have solved my problem op I have been wanting to run courses in an area which is close to my heart but wondered how I would "run" it there is someone doing a very similar thing to what I want to do but in the real world and they are very staff hungry, and due to the nature of this issues the people who could do them are not well off. I think on line would be the answer it would also make my market bigger rather than fixed to the region I am in.

@44PumpLane the thing I don't understand is the 'fell into' part! Lots of people seem to 'fall into' amazingly lucrative career tracks on this thread... not to pick on you but could you expand? Just I thought jobs in the finance sector were prized and very hard to come by, unpaid internships etc...

Namestheyareachangin

This is outing but I haven't said anything on mn that I wouldn't say irl....

I left uni and thought I fancied HR but having not done HR at uni it was impossible. My boyfriends sister in law at the time was a recruitment consultant who implied it was similar so I applied for a grad programme at a local recruiters and got the role..... Hated it, I'm not a sales person.

I did Business and Economics degree and have always been good at maths so a colleague put me in touch with his wife who worked in a large Service Centre for a multinational that is in the region and I applied for a start level finance role in accounts payable and got it.

Once in the organisation I thrived as I was smart and motivated and given a lot of opportunity to move about and get some excellent experience.

Stayed with them for a number of years, did my professional qualification to become a Chartered Accountant and then when I felt I'd got everything out of the org I could I moved on.

Jumped into a forecasting role in a bank, didn't enjoy it so left after 3 months to go join another finance service centre (made aware of the role by a former boss so very lucky there- although application and interview process was independent of him so getting the job was all me).

Joined as a management accountant, loved the role and performed very well, moved within that organisation due to my reputation.

Maternity leave, came back, took a voluntary redundancy and moved roles into a reporting role at a UK wide company as a maternity cover. During the time I was doing the mat cover I was approached by a recruiter about a business I had previously applied for and turned down due to long commute, turns out they had another site closer to home and wanted a Head Accountant, sort of finance business partner type role. I had impressed previously and therefore they met me for a casual chat and I started working for them.

That was long.... But you did specifically ask so wanted to be honest and precise. Some luck in there, a lot of stumbling about and most of it based on my personality and being qualified... But ultimately a couple of good moves and not just staying somewhere because you've only just started!

As long as your cv isn't full of short stints and you can explain them, moving about can be valuable.

OP, it sounds like MLM, but in IT, and with larger sums of money

I've worked hard but don't seem to have had much luck. I'm nearly 30 and earn just under £25k, in central London, as an executive assistant supporting four directors. My mistake has probably been sticking to public sector and non-profit organisations, but I'm an introverted oddball so doubt I'd get on in a more corporate environment either.

@bubblesforlife - Without knowing your actual skills and experience it's hard to help as it's a busy market area, but there's always space for more good people; you'll succeed or fail depending on how good you are. At 28 you've got limited experience so set up a limited company with insurances and PAYG accountant, then apply for appropriate contracting roles through recruitment consultants to extend your experience on cost saving projects in the best sectors. After a few years of projects you'll develop a big linkedin network. Then each time you are looking for a new role contact some of the senior directors to ask if you can help. Take them details of the services you offer, gather details, write them a proposal and hire junior contractors you've met along the way to deliver it. Base yourself at a Hubble / Regus / WeWork. When you're getting enough work you can take on permanent delivery staff, sales team etc.

As a “fell into it”, I can expand a little...I was made redundant from a role in economic development and literally took the first contract role I could get my hands on to get the mortgage paid, which happened to be in banking. I had to sell hard on how my skills were transferable across, and it turned out they really were. I had to do similar to get back in the door after my globetrotting days, emphasising the narrative of how my break and the activities I did in it made me a more attractive employee.

I can’t say I haven’t worked hard, as I obviously have, I prep for interviews like it’s my specialist subject on mastermind, and my job is stressful and intense (not there today), but I never had a master plan to earn pots of money. That has been a bonus. I like what I do, most of the time.

@mrex thank you for your response, I really appreciate it.

So i've got 7 years, leading software implementations, in both the detailed technical components, business and management aspects. I've been able to make cost savings on any program I've worked on, and have some really large and reputable companies on my CV, with references.
So i've been around the block in my 7 years, and it's still growing, some really interesting projects. I'm already contracting now, so I guess my next leap is for someone to believe in me to help me 'fix' their IT dept! I'm totally ready for it. website set up etc! But no bite yet, but SEO isn't my strong point.

@bsc how exactly?

I sell digital (online) courses that I have developed and created myself (hundreds of hours of work btw). People go to my website, click buy, get the course delivered to them virtually. They get a product, I get paid.

I don't have any staff and I don't have any affiliates selling my product. It's about as far from MLM as you can get.

@Moneymanifestor

I guess because it sounds a bit like you took a course in how to make money from selling courses, and are now making money selling courses that tell other people how to make money selling courses. So it goes on and on and eventually there is no-one left to sell a course on how to make money selling courses to!

But I think you just gave that as an example so as not to out yourself?

@bubblesforlife - I love how eager you are and I suspect you'll do very well. My only cautionary note is that the big cost saving programmes are different than just saving money from within a programme. You have to do detailed asset lists (harder than you might think even with software scanning tools), preferred supplier strategies, negotiations and then migrations and managing the business impact of the changes. There are a lot of roles out there and if you pick up a senior role on an appropriate project then you will get the chance to learn while being well paid.
If you want to just go ahead then you'll need to define your service offerings for sale and go to pitch the work; companies will want to see that you've personally done this work before they take you on. Google cost reduction consultancy / cost management consultancy and check some websites to get an idea of how experience and results are often used in sales. It's also common to take a percentage of the savings as your sole recompense, but you need to write those contracts very carefully to avoid being screwed over by your clients.
I'd love to help you more but that would be chargeable .