Thread by @Finstor85

I have been wanting to pen this down since a while. I think this is right moment. I achieved FI long ago but 2020/2021 played a crucial role in achieving that multiplier effect. I have surpassed my initial FI goal by 5fold already.

I don't own a home. I never took any loans, I don't have credit cards. Since my first job, I was focused on building passive income sources & I knew it is going to take time. I think finally I have reached a place where these sources can take care of my living very well.

I haven't been trading since some time as I focus more on professional side. I hold a concentrated PF, track few businesses, so i don't have many threads to write. I don't spend time knowing something abt everything. Rather, spend time to know everything about fewer things.

I don't want to be hooked up to terminal since I don't aspire to be fulltime trader. I love my job, it makes significant impact on cashflows of businesses I work for. It matter what I do & I don't hate my work.

I knew that building at least 5 passive income sources that can generate consistent income will take time, a decade perhaps. I am 36 now. But I started in my early-mid 20s. I will disclose some sources now.

I write for an international journal
Serve as a technical advisor to a publication house
I offer my technical advisory to some firms for their internal purpose
I have had a paid wordpress plugins on themeforest that bring in steady money
I do shopify consulting to a few local cos

I am also a contributing UX advisor to a fashion accessory startup in the US
I ghost write for some blogs
I did MF distribution business for 10y which I stopped but commission still flows in

I have built & sold off a few websites back when Page Rank used to be the thing
I was building IPL based game back in 2009 but it was legally shut down on BCCIs notice.

Not all of these are active all the time but at least 3-4 are active most of the times!

All these years I have lived with an entrepreneur's heart & mind. I have no shame to accept that I have had 3 failed startups. The last one was the one I left my high paying job for. But none worked for different reasons.

1st was a service called "mealwala[dot]com" which was sort of a pre-swiggy/pre-zomato ideation. I built the website/app but the partner who was funding this left to pursue other opportunities. This was in 2007

2nd was a small charting software that I was building with 4-5 friends. Too many cooks spoil the broth. Didn't turn up well either. Again, partnership issues.
This was in 2011

The last one is pretty recent. I left my high paying job for it. Didn't take a dime from company's income for 2y, scaled up & won some amazing international logos. I was leading tech & product development as a co-founder

This one was pretty serious since we grew tremendously in 2y, got a buy out offer in the 1st yr itself from a US based investor. From sweeping floors to wearing suits & presenting product to CXOs, we did everything.

Built a super amazing team of developers, were midst of demoing to top listed companies in India & again fall out happened. Partner wanted to grow the company into a service provider since it was easy money, I wanted to build a SaaS platform.

Depleted of all savings other than some equity investments, I started consulting again. The message to folks is - don't trade off higher ambitions for markets. Build multiple skills, additional proficiencies, passive income sources. Bull run isn't forever.

Try to design, build, ideate, write, speak, present, sell, learn to code for fun, but don't overlook other sides of life for markets. Markets are forever. There was a time in my 20s when I wanted to be fulltime trader/investor too.

Today, I have both skills & capital to be fulltime trader/investor but I have realized that's for some later time. Not now.

Building something of your own has to be for a right reason. Being fulltime trader/investor too has to be for right reasons. If only reason you can give is - I want to be my own boss, then you are not ready yet! You need better thinking.

Network! Network! Network! I cannot emphasize how important this is. Regardless in market or startup space, you need to connect with right people. People who are better than you, people who will keep pushing you to do better.

I am no expert on this topic but I know that there is more to life than markets! Never settle, never look to retire, the FIRE narrative is a sham. Stay relevant, and make market as one of the income sources.

Retrospecting, I see more failures than success. But that builds your character, will, and mettle. If there is ever something you have been wanting to do, just do it. I will build something in parallel & jump in once it is making money is a sham! Mostly, never works out.

If you have no liability, you are in 20s or even 30s, take risks, take a leap of faith, don't get stereotyped. I am writing this with only one intent. I see tremendous time drain on Twitter/WA on the name of market. Endless, meaningless chatter. Content is endless, time isn't

Last point - there are exceptions to everything. Don't take my word for anything. It is just my own journey/experience & yours can be very different. Try to get the gist. Tschüs!