WEBVTT	#Elemental Media Engine(TM) 2.17.1.0

00:00:02.877 --> 00:00:04.963
When I received my first
engineering job out of

00:00:05.088 --> 00:00:06.631
college, there was a lot of
excitement.

00:00:07.841 --> 00:00:11.219
Over time, I think my job
and my values started to

00:00:11.344 --> 00:00:13.972
shift towards the time and
towards family.

00:00:14.097 --> 00:00:16.266
I realized that, you know,
my dream is to become a

00:00:16.391 --> 00:00:19.310
father one day. My dream is
to have a family and to

00:00:19.436 --> 00:00:21.396
devote myself to that,
because at the end of the

00:00:21.521 --> 00:00:22.689
day, that's all that truly
matters.

00:00:39.622 --> 00:00:40.915
My name is Josh Elwood.

00:00:41.041 --> 00:00:45.962
I am 28 years old and I
brought in over $189,000

00:00:46.087 --> 00:00:48.548
through seven streams of
income last year.

00:01:05.523 --> 00:01:07.942
I work Monday through
Wednesday. I take off

00:01:08.068 --> 00:01:11.237
Thursday, Saturday, Sunday,
and I also work a half a day

00:01:11.362 --> 00:01:14.365
on Friday. As far as my
work schedule, I usually get

00:01:14.491 --> 00:01:15.825
up around 7 a.m.

00:01:15.950 --> 00:01:18.161
and I don't start work
until 8 a.m.

00:01:18.286 --> 00:01:21.164
and I typically put in
anywhere between 4 to 6

00:01:21.289 --> 00:01:23.917
hours a day on those days
that I'm working.

00:01:26.211 --> 00:01:30.423
43% of my income comes from
YouTube alone, which amounts

00:01:30.548 --> 00:01:32.842
to about $83,000 a year.

00:01:32.967 --> 00:01:36.179
My Amazon store brought in
just under $14,000 last

00:01:36.304 --> 00:01:40.850
year profit. I made just
over $33,000 on Patreon.

00:01:40.975 --> 00:01:43.478
Just over $29,000 on Fiverr
.

00:01:44.020 --> 00:01:46.064
$29,000 from affiliate
marketing.

00:01:46.731 --> 00:01:49.400
My cash flow for my rental
property was just over

00:01:49.526 --> 00:01:54.489
$1,200 and I made $639 from
dividend payments.

00:01:56.658 --> 00:01:59.327
Throughout college. I
wanted to be successful

00:01:59.452 --> 00:02:01.746
mainly for my peers. It
wasn't really what I wanted

00:02:01.871 --> 00:02:04.374
to do, but I knew that if I
was an engineer, I'd be

00:02:04.499 --> 00:02:06.167
successful in society's
eyes.

00:02:06.751 --> 00:02:09.170
I would make a lot of
money. I'd have a good life

00:02:09.295 --> 00:02:11.005
and grow old with a nice
pension.

00:02:27.897 --> 00:02:32.193
When I was working onshore,
I'd work a normal 40 to 45

00:02:32.318 --> 00:02:34.279
hour week, and then when I
was working offshore,

00:02:34.404 --> 00:02:36.739
there'd be 12 hour days and
you'd work seven days a

00:02:36.865 --> 00:02:38.366
week. It was really
nonstop.

00:02:39.784 --> 00:02:42.579
I was working offshore in
the Gulf of Mexico, and so

00:02:42.704 --> 00:02:44.706
there were some individuals
that I worked directly with

00:02:44.831 --> 00:02:47.292
out there that their family
time was lacking.

00:02:47.417 --> 00:02:50.003
And they even told me that
that they really missed out

00:02:50.128 --> 00:02:52.338
on their life. I think that
was the moment when I

00:02:52.463 --> 00:02:54.340
realized what this
leadership role that I'd

00:02:54.465 --> 00:02:57.635
eventually progress to, I
would be in a very similar

00:02:57.760 --> 00:03:00.180
situation. I would be
traveling a lot more, I'd be

00:03:00.305 --> 00:03:03.057
spending more time at work
versus with my family.

00:03:03.183 --> 00:03:07.061
It just came down to that
emotional value of my time.

00:03:07.187 --> 00:03:10.857
That's what I need to chase
after. Unfortunately, when I

00:03:10.982 --> 00:03:13.860
was three years old, my
father passed away due to a

00:03:13.985 --> 00:03:15.153
sudden heart attack.

00:03:15.278 --> 00:03:17.739
So it was something that I
grew up with and I

00:03:17.864 --> 00:03:21.409
understood how valuable
that time aspect actually is

00:03:21.534 --> 00:03:22.952
instead of just money.

00:03:29.209 --> 00:03:31.878
The largest factor of why I
wanted to start these side

00:03:32.003 --> 00:03:34.214
hustles, other than just
the fulfillment that I

00:03:34.339 --> 00:03:37.800
gained from it, was to
accelerate my debt payoff.

00:03:37.926 --> 00:03:41.763
So in total, I had about
$40,000 in debt to pay off

00:03:41.888 --> 00:03:43.640
before I could really start
investing into my

00:03:43.765 --> 00:03:53.775
businesses. My first
investment in my Amazon

00:03:53.900 --> 00:03:57.195
business were these
knockoff headphones I would

00:03:57.320 --> 00:03:58.529
call them at the time.

00:03:58.655 --> 00:04:00.949
They would come from
overseas, and I invested a

00:04:01.074 --> 00:04:02.742
little over $1,000 into
them.

00:04:03.117 --> 00:04:05.578
I tried to sell 7 to 8
different products.

00:04:05.703 --> 00:04:14.045
All of them ended up
failing. Selling on Amazon

00:04:14.170 --> 00:04:15.630
is extremely difficult.

00:04:15.797 --> 00:04:18.299
You spend hours and hours a
day really looking through

00:04:18.424 --> 00:04:21.302
all these different product
niches to see what's in

00:04:21.427 --> 00:04:24.639
demand and what's trending
upward in consumer demand.

00:04:30.853 --> 00:04:34.899
And that gave me that aha
moment and that motivation

00:04:35.024 --> 00:04:37.694
that I could turn this into
something that actually can

00:04:37.819 --> 00:04:41.197
produce income. After those
iPhone cases, I focused on

00:04:41.322 --> 00:04:43.032
selling sports and outdoors
equipment.

00:04:49.706 --> 00:04:52.250
Once I really started
profiting off my Amazon

00:04:52.375 --> 00:04:55.044
store, I actually ended up
paying off all my debt.

00:04:55.169 --> 00:04:58.214
I still wanted to create
another side hustle because

00:04:58.339 --> 00:05:00.425
I was having so much fun
doing this.

00:05:00.550 --> 00:05:03.261
So I started looking into
other income streams, and

00:05:03.386 --> 00:05:07.307
that's when I found out on
YouTube in February of 2020,

00:05:07.432 --> 00:05:09.767
I decided that it would be
a good idea if I could

00:05:09.892 --> 00:05:12.103
actually take all this
knowledge and all of these

00:05:12.228 --> 00:05:14.939
mistakes that I made
throughout my journey with

00:05:15.064 --> 00:05:18.568
my side hustles and to
teach others how to actually

00:05:18.693 --> 00:05:22.071
gain financial freedom and
to pay off your debts using

00:05:22.196 --> 00:05:24.991
side hustles. I'm looking
for a consistent trend

00:05:25.116 --> 00:05:28.494
upward to make sure that
there's going to be a demand

00:05:28.619 --> 00:05:30.413
and it can forecast future
demand.

00:05:48.056 --> 00:05:50.892
So I realized that I could
quit my job in February of

00:05:51.017 --> 00:05:57.023
2021. I was making, I
think, $3,400 after tax, and

00:05:57.148 --> 00:05:59.984
that was exactly the amount
that I needed to sustain my

00:06:00.109 --> 00:06:01.486
lifestyle as is.

00:06:01.611 --> 00:06:04.364
At that moment I was only
devoting maybe 10 hours a

00:06:04.489 --> 00:06:06.908
week towards my side
hustles, and if I could put

00:06:07.033 --> 00:06:10.787
in an entire 40 hour week,
I could just imagine what I

00:06:10.912 --> 00:06:15.083
could actually grow that
to. There's a lot of

00:06:15.458 --> 00:06:18.920
questioning my decisions in
my own internal self.

00:06:19.253 --> 00:06:21.964
Is this the right move,
Josh? You worked so hard for

00:06:22.090 --> 00:06:23.883
this for years and years in
college.

00:06:24.717 --> 00:06:27.345
You've got a great job and
now you're just going to

00:06:27.595 --> 00:06:28.930
basically give it all away.

00:06:29.055 --> 00:06:32.558
So there was that doubt in
my mind, but at the same

00:06:32.683 --> 00:06:35.853
time I was willing to bet
on myself that I could make

00:06:35.978 --> 00:06:39.399
this work. And being in my
mid-twenties I thought that

00:06:39.524 --> 00:06:41.526
this was the best time
since I didn't have any

00:06:41.651 --> 00:06:43.528
dependents. I did not have
a family yet.

00:06:43.653 --> 00:06:47.198
This was the best time to
take this risk and if it

00:06:47.323 --> 00:06:49.742
didn't work out, I could
always jump back in.

00:07:01.212 --> 00:07:04.132
Obviously with seven income
streams, it can become a

00:07:04.257 --> 00:07:07.718
lot. Throughout 2022, I
realized that my time is

00:07:07.844 --> 00:07:10.763
much more valuable if I can
give that to my students and

00:07:10.888 --> 00:07:13.433
people that I'm teaching,
and I honestly gain a lot

00:07:13.558 --> 00:07:15.059
more fulfillment in that.

00:07:15.184 --> 00:07:18.229
So for 2022, I am straying
a little bit away from

00:07:18.354 --> 00:07:21.274
Amazon and through my
rental properties and

00:07:21.399 --> 00:07:25.361
focusing more on YouTube
and content creation.

00:07:39.959 --> 00:07:42.003
I just really started to
love cooking ever since the

00:07:42.128 --> 00:07:45.173
pandemic, and as I started
to gain more time for my

00:07:45.298 --> 00:07:46.549
businesses.

00:07:46.674 --> 00:07:48.885
And what I love most about
cooking, obviously the

00:07:49.010 --> 00:07:52.305
food, but the second thing
I'd have to say is just

00:07:52.430 --> 00:07:55.725
being able to see the smile
on my wife's face or my

00:07:55.850 --> 00:07:58.227
mom's face when I cook her
something great.

00:07:58.603 --> 00:08:02.023
Just seeing that treasure
and that value is just

00:08:02.148 --> 00:08:04.317
awesome. Cheers to making
it happen.

00:08:04.859 --> 00:08:06.443
Cheers! Good ball.