At the JT Foxx 2015 reunion, I got to meet and talk to so many fantastic people. One interesting couple I spent a little time with was Karen and Weelam Awyoung, a married couple and multimillionaires. Karen and Weelam shared how they managed to achieve success despite both having full-time jobs and a child to raise.
For those with bad connections, we’ve written up a brief excerpt of the stories in note form below the video. However, when you have time and a stronger internet connection, listen to Karen and Weelam as you will get more out of their story.
You need a proven side business
The first thing that Karen and Weelam shared with me was that in order for you to give up your job, you must already have your business venture ready to go. To ensure your business venture is ready to go it may involve some initial sacrifice.
For Karen and Weelam, they sacrificed their free time to work on a business that they could run in parallel to their full-time jobs. For example, Karen and Weelam would spend their evenings looking for properties and studying whether the property would be a good buy.
They decided to become weekend warriors that sacrificed time spent in front of the TV and at the bar. Using that time, they developed a formula to decide if a property was worth buying for them. After two years, they were able to see if their formula was working for them. After the two years, they analysed their side business’s income and found that it gave them enough to sustain themselves so they made the brave jump into running the side business a full-time job.
Their rule of thumb is; if the cash-flow from your side business is equal to 33 per cent of your income then you should think about giving up your job and doing your business full time. You may be more comfortable with 50 per cent. No matter the percentage you need persistence and to take action to achieve your percentage goal.
Despite all the knowledge and resources that are available to you, nothing can help you take action. You need to take action yourself. You need to start doing tasks and taking actions that bring you closer to your goal.
Family help
Fortunately for Karen and Weelam, their families live overseas so family issues weren’t too much of an issue, but their daughter took priority. At times, they were a little sleep deprived because they had to work long into the night, look after their daughter, and work their full-time jobs.
Karen and Weelam had each other as support, which helped make their journey that much easier. They had some helpful advice for couples; If your spouse doesn’t understand what you’re doing or has fear surrounding the process you may need to compromise with them.
To get started in the property business Karen and Weelam needed education. In their case, they used their parent’s knowledge to help them buy their first rental property. However as their business grew, Karen and Weelam realised that residential properties didn’t help them reach their financial goals. In order to overcome this challenge, they sought an expert’s advice to help them move forward.
Investing in coaches is the same as investing in yourself
You need to be strategic with who you get to coach you, and you need to trust your gut. If a coaching program isn’t right for you, you just need to move on. Karen and Weelam had, at least, a dozen coaches and spent a quarter of a million dollars before they found one that was right for them.
It took them three to four years for them to get to their current level. Their first coaching programme was all about residential properties. Although after the program was over they didn’t want to continue with residential properties, they still gained so much knowledge from the process. You need to go up in stages of ability, every piece of knowledge or skill gained will help you with your goal.
Eventually, Karen and Weelam got into self-storage, because to them it “just made sense”. They jokingly admitted that “storage is not sexy”. However, storage was sexy to them, and this was their niche area that they found. This niche was found through thorough examination of what they wanted from property investment, and what they were willing to trade for financial freedom.
Karen and Weelam’s final words to entrepreneurs were; “You need to juggle your income streams, feed your family, and make sure you have an emergency fund. Be smart with what you spend your money on. Focus on the goal, and be persistent”.
Huge thanks to Karen and Weelam for sharing their insights with us. If you found their story helpful:
- Like the video and subscribe to the channel for more property and financial insights and strategy.
- If you’re feeling super generous, write us a comment and share the article with your friends to help them become motivated and inspired too.
If you are starting your own financial freedom journey, enjoy the following articles from our library which will help spring-board you into a new chapter of achieving your life dreams.
- Trick yourself into becoming a money magnet
- The hidden costs of wealth creation
- Seven techniques to save more
- Five personal growth areas you must spend money on
- How to raise £250,000 in 7 days
Finally, if you are interested in the lessons from other successful people who attended the JTFoxx family reunion event check out the following articles:
- Bleeding is part of success – Paul Kanofski
- Fear induced obstacles to success – Damien Elston
- Solve this Japanese Multimillionaire’s Secret Riddle – Chris Okazaki
