How I learned to think long-term

Today I get loads of likes, I’m flooded with inbound leads and I make 6 figures a year.

But it took a damn long time…

Eight years ago, I was just 17:

• Living in a council house

• Severe social anxiety

• No clear career path.

But I knew I wanted to:

• Be someone competent and useful

• Make some money

• Enjoy my life

• Be proud of myself!

The problem was I had no real foundational blocks to build from.

So I set to work solving one of these problems at a time.

Age 17: Income

I got my first a job at McDonald's. I made £5 an hour.

It wasn’t much but it was the first time I was earning for myself.

I come from:

• A council house

• A ‘poor’ working class family

• Free school meals

So, this felt pretty damn good!

Age 18: Income

It was time for me to go to University (Art school of all things lol).

I put my newly developed social skills to the test… and found that I was actually more confident than people my age.

It only took a year to go from social inept → the confident guy in the room.

An early lesson that the life I ‘dreamed off’ was achievable.

I lasted 3 months at uni.

Had some fun, but wasn’t learning much. What’s next?

Age 19: First Corporate Job

I landed a project management apprenticeship at £18K a year.

And it was the first time in my life I really applied myself to something.

The only downside - it was 2 hours from where I lived:

• I was travelling 4 hours a ay there and back.

• 25 percent of my wage was going on my travel

• Take off rent too and I was dirt poor

I was fortunate to have a paid apprenticeship, but £18 K is f**k all when you live in London.

So 1 year into the apprenticeship - I decided to start a side hustle and make some extra £££.

Age 20: ‘First’ Business

I had tried other businesses in the past, but this was the first one that made me some “decent money”.

The business? Selling clothes/trainers on Depop and eBay.

Bear in mind that:

• I’m still at the corporate job 4 days a week (4 hours travel a day).

• I’m studying at uni 1 day a week (a 4 hour trip from London)

So while I was travelling I would:

• Manage the shop on my phone

• Buy more stock

• Talk to customers

When I get home in the evening (after all the work, all the travel) I would take the clothes that had arrived and:

• Wash & iron them

• Photograph and upload to my site

• Bag up and deliver parcels to my local Post Office

The profit? £5-10 per parcel.

I'm doing so much for so little, but I badly needed the money.

I kept this up for 2 years. It was tough. Working all the time, still barely making ends meet.

When my apprenticeship came to and end, I decided to go all in on the business.

Age 22: Full Time Entrepreneur

I decided that I was going to go all in on the  business.

(Which is still one of the best decisions I have ever made).

At this point I’m making around £1,000 - 1,500 profit a month. Barely ends meet in London.

Like every great entrepreneur, I watched Gary Vee bang on about making content.

So I spent the first 9 months:

• Growing and Instagram Page

• Growing a TikTok account

• Growing a podcast

I was posting 1-3 times a day. It made me grand total of £0.

But I learned LOADS about content.

One day I got a random DM on my Instagram account. That DM turned into my first $1000/mo social media marketing contract.

Age 23: Commit to content

With 9 months experience and my first client, I went all on the content thing.

My next contracts paid my fuck all (£2-300 a month).

And I was doing WAY too much work for them:

• Instagram & TikTok content

• Paid Ads

• Influencer campaigns

And eventually, I stumbled across LinkedIn.

I quickly realised its potential and started consistently posting on it 19 months ago.

It became so promising that I dropped literally everything else.

TikTok, paid ads, clothes/trainers - everything.

A few months after I committed to content, I started consistently hitting £10k a month.

TLDR;

• I was 17 when I said one day, I want to be someone.

• It took 6 YEARS to find my thing and actually start making decent money from it

• Today I’m 25 years old, and climbing towards my next goal of £50K/mo

From earning £5 an hour at McDonalds - I’ve come a long way.

That journey taught me how to think long term.

In my opinion ‘How long will it take?’ is the wrong question to ask.

For some people, months. For others like me, years.

But if you keep going for long enough, it doesn’t matter.

As long as you don’t stop…

Eventually you will win.

If you give up on content creation after 3 months because it’s not working…

Maybe you should try 8 years.

Until next time,

Ethan Golding

P.S.

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