There’s only really one sure way to make enough money to make your dreams come true. And no, it’s not winning the lottery. It’s a lot simpler than that
I’ve had the storytelling bug since I was born. I still have piles and piles of notebooks from when I was six, filled with my childish scribble with stories of rockets and aliens and monsters and adventures and unicorns. Stories are in my bones, and I’ve never been able to stop writing them down. But as much as I dreamed of being a writer, I told myself this wasn’t on the cards for me, because – frankly – I couldn’t afford it.
I always assumed that the only people who could afford to become artists were people born into houses that came with their own tennis courts. People who could afford the years or decades it can take before you get good enough at making art to make any money from it.
But I wasn’t born into a house with a tennis court. My family are truck drivers and sales reps and receptionists and they’ve had to work their butts off for every bit of money they’ve ever had. My mother is severely disabled, and I have known since I was young that my family would depend on me my whole life.
It’s a privilege to be in this position – the first person in your family to get a tertiary education – but it comes with a real sense of responsibility. It’s even harder for young, black South Africans, who are often supporting their whole family and still combatting systemic bias in their own lives every day. It’s tough out there.
So how do you make art, when there’s no financial safety net?
Outrageously, a creative writing teacher once suggested to me that I should marry someone rich, so that I could have enough time to write. I laughed at him, but he was right. I needed a patron. But I wanted that patron to be me.
The magic moment for me was the moment I realised exactly how powerful compound interest is. Want to see how powerful? Here’s a question: if you start with R1 and double it every day, how much money would you have at the end of 30 days? Take a guess. I’ll wait.
R1-billion, after 30 days. But half of that money comes from the last day. 90% of it comes from the last four days.
Investing isn’t that complicated, and it’s not that risky if you do it right. But it is the best chance for those of us who don’t have a trust fund to build up the cash we need to fund our most outrageous dreams.
So how did I become my own Blesser? Lean in close, because the secret is disgustingly simple: I lived below my means. I worked side-hustles. I continued living with friends into my 30s. I sold my car and learned to love walking. I saved. And finally, the day came when I decided to take a month off and write my first book.
And then I wrote a kids’ TV show, and published some short stories. And now I’m working on a novel. And every single hour of sitting on my butt making up stories that I am able to buy myself, I am so grateful for. And I’m damn proud of it.
I still have a day-job, by the way. I probably always will. Because even books about money don’t pay that much. But when you know that most of the money you’re earning is directly going into funding your dreams, work is pretty joyful.
For those of us who didn’t come from a house with a tennis court, saving is our superpower. Saving is how we catch up. Saving is how we buy our own freedom.
*Sam Beckbessinger is the author of “Manage your Money like a F*cking Grown Up: The Best Money Advice You Never Got”.
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