I want to share something personal with you—I never envisioned Steady Compounding as my full-time pursuit.
It was January 23rd 2020.
I was three years into my public service contract with a year remaining, when a message titled “WHAT’S NEXT?” popped up in my inbox.
You see, I’ve been crazy passionate about the stock market since 2007 when I was seventeen and I’ve had aspirations of a career in investment fund management.
But as we all know, life doesn’t always glide smoothly and sometimes we have to put aside our dreams and aspirations to make things work. Both my parents stopped working since I was nine, bills needed to be paid and food needed to be put on the table for my family.
So, when a scholarship offering full tuition, overseas exchange, accommodation, and a monthly allowance came my way, I knew that would solve my immediate financial woes.
The catch? A four-year bond in public service post-graduation.
The pen felt extremely heavy as I signed the scholarship. Because with each stroke, I was burying my aspirations for four years upon graduation.
Deep down, I feared that I would regret not pursuing my aspiration when I was older. So I scheduled a delayed message for the year before my bond was up, titled “WHAT’S NEXT? ”
This was a reminder for me to pursue my passion, and use the remaining year to get there.
Receiving that message was a wake-up call. Initially, my attempts to pivot industries met with silence – no surprise, considering the drastic change. I had a finance degree, but so did thousands of others. I needed to stand out.
That’s when SteadyCompounding.com was born.
Initially, it was a platform for sharing my stock analysis and investment philosophy, a way to differentiate myself. Unexpectedly, it went viral. We’re talking hundreds of thousands, then millions of views. Job offers from around the world started coming in.
That’s when I discovered the idea that changed my life forever.
An idea from “The Almanack of Naval Ravikant” struck me — digital leverage.
In the past, people got rich using two forms of leverage, labor and money. The only way to generate true wealth is to hire other people to work for you, or to make your money work for you.
Today, the internet empowers us to disseminate our work with minimal additional effort and costs. Every new subscriber to my newsletter added no extra time to my schedule, severing the traditional tie between time and income. It allowed me to earn from my insights and love for analyzing stocks and investments.
And my life has never been the same again.
Books have always been my mentors, guiding me towards success. Often, ideas from books opened my eyes to a life-altering paradigm at the right time. The cross-pollination of ideas from various fields can be a powerful force.
If one of your goals for 2024 is to delve deeper into reading and find inspiration, I have something that might just aid you in this journey. Books have transformed my life, I believe they hold the power to transform yours.
This marks the launch of the Steady Compounding Book Club – a newsletter where I will share my personal reflections, detailed notes, and engage in enriching discussions on each book I explore.
If you’re ready to embark on this path of discovery and growth…
>>> Click here to be part of the Steady Compounding Book Club
Speak soon,
Thomas