12 Months An Employee

Well it’s actually closer to 14 months.

But it is almost precisely 12 months since I walked out of my business for the last time.

I don’t quite know how I feel about this anniversary, however the past 12 months have been incredibly eventful.

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My return to full time employment has, overall, been a fantastic decision.

Financially, I’m getting back on track:

As of today, I have approximately $90k remaining in business debt which is significantly down from the original debt of $145k.

I’m not sure if I’ll achieve being debt free within 2 years, however this will likely be due to us buying a home to live in early next year (if all goes to plan with the banks). More on this below.

In regards to my career:

Things are looking interesting indeed. My boss left the company, and recommended that I move into his role.

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Moving into his role sounds daunting, and would mean managing a small team again. Experiencing business failure destroyed my self confidence and while I’m gradually rebuilding my confidence, I’m not quite sure that I am ready to take on a senior role already. However my old boss appears to think that I am ready. So I should probably jump at the opportunity if the offer presents itself.

Naturally, the extra income would be massively helpful. And would see me pay down debt quite quickly. So this must also be considered.

Being home again:

Moving back to our home town had been an excellent decision and I am so happy that I am able to see family and close friends as often as I want.

It’s also been incredibly helpful to have family available to help out with things such as looking after our dogs from time to time and it’s been even nicer to be able to help my family with things that I’ve never been able to do while living interstate. As weird as it sounds, helping my sister get her house ready for sale was an excellent experience. Given that only months prior I would only have been able to offer verbal or emotional support.

Planning for the future:

Next year I hope to be moving into a new home. Renting a home has been nice, but my wife and I feel the need to be in a home that we own. And I have an idea that I would like to experiment with.

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I have found a great home that I would like to purchase. It has a 100,000 litre rainwater tank, a massive vegetable garden and situated in a very private location.

My plan is to set the property up to be as self sufficient as possible:

• install a large solar power system on the home
• ensure the rainwater tank is plumbed into the house with filters installed so that the water is fit for drinking
• set the vegetable garden up to provide year round produce
• build a chicken coop so that we have tonnes of eggs.

We would then pay down the debt on this property as quickly as possible and save up a deposit for our next property.

Once I have found a suitable second property, I would set that one up with sufficient rainwater, solar power and room for vegetable production as well. I would then rent this home out while making it clear that the incoming tenant would have low overheads (free water and power) and therefore their cost of living will be lower.

The rent on this property will be slightly higher than the market average given that I will have created a home that is much cheaper to live in than what is typically on offer.

I’ll repeat this process 3 - 4 times until I have a reasonable portfolio of sustainable homes.

I expect to be purchasing one property every 1 to 1.5 years.

And that’s a wrap

So there we have it. One year in and new goals to work towards in order to secure my financial future.

Hopefully I’ll have an update on the purchase of a new home in the coming days. I have a meeting with the bank today so hopefully that goes well.

Have a great week!