Everything on the line
I'm old and busted, buried in debt, with two kids headed to college in less than a year. Last month I quit my job. This month I started a clock: six months to make my first million, documented in the open, with the real numbers on the table.
If that sounds reckless, I get it. But I've spent a long time being quietly, respectably behind — and quiet never once paid a bill. So I'm trying the opposite. Loud. Public. On the record.
The rules I'm holding myself to
There are only three, and they exist because I need them to.
- Low or free to start. If a "system" needs $497 up front, I don't have $497, so I find the free version or I walk. That single rule kills most of the advice out there.
- Real numbers, no shame. Every dollar in, every dollar out, posted whether it's a win or an embarrassment. Rounding up is lying, and lying is how I got here.
- Everything on the line. No safety net to fall back on means no excuse to stall. The deadline is the point.
The best filter for bad advice is a checking account that can't afford it.
Why in public
Because private goals are easy to quietly abandon, and I've abandoned enough of them. When the number is out where you can see it, I can't pretend the month went fine when it didn't. You're the accountability I couldn't buy.
There's also a chance this helps someone else who's staring at their own scary number. I'm building the app alongside the journey — it starts with the same Wheel of Life check and money scoreboard I'm using myself, and it's free to start.
What happens next
I'll post the real breakdown every step of the way — what I tried, what it cost, what it made, and the parts I got wrong. Some months will be rocket ships. Most won't. That's the honest deal.
Pull up a chair. Let's see if this works.
Want the play-by-play as it happens? Follow on YouTube or open the app.