Jason’s Plight March 22, 1999March 25, 2012 “Hello, my name is Jason from Stockton, California. I wanted to take the opportunity to send you this e-mail after reading part of your book. I have a huge problem. I am a deaf individual with extremely a lot of bills. I really am trying to make extra income to pay all those off … and also so I can start spending for leisure like vacation (which I haven’t had in 8 years!), buying my dream house, a new car… Right now it’s always bill collectors calling me almost everyday. It’s embarrassing and also very frustrating. I always feel disappointed in myself about the current situation I am in. Sometimes I dream of being rich. I wanted to ask if you would help me out in accomplishing this goal? I am currently 27 years old, single, I work as a mechanic for a truck dealership in the trucking industry … I am very good at what I do, and enjoy it. I spend a lot of my time wrestling (hoping to make the Olympic team this time) and doing restorations on classics (just recently finished a 32 Ford Victoria). “So what do I need to do? Would you help me a little? The reason why I am asking is I hardly have any extra money that I can use for investing. So basically I am stuck here. I really would appreciate it.” Sadly, Jason, I have no idea what I could say beyond the 200 pages of my book. But if the only happy people on this planet are the ones who are rich, we are in deep trouble. (And I can promise you not all rich people are happy.) I would point out that you have a good job that you can take pride in doing well and that you say you enjoy. Right there, you’re ahead of a (sadly) HUGE percentage of the population. Plus you have your sport — so I’d guess you’re in peak health/physical condition. Another thing to be proud of; another blessing to count. I don’t know enough about your situation, but I would think a good mechanic could more than support himself with no dependents and save enough to quickly get out of debt and then begin saving/investing. And of course it may be that someone else might pay you more, or that you could go into business for yourself — perhaps on the side, at first, working on collectors’ cars and old classics. There must be a market for that kind of expertise. You live vaguely near Hollywood, so how about writing to the Prop Departments of the movie studios and letting them know you can do wonders on the old cars they occasionally use. (Or, failing that, find out the names of the specialty companies from which they rent them.) Indeed, with the Internet, how about a page of your own that essentially says, “Classic Car Restoration and Repair” — and troll the appropriate sites yourself looking for rich collector customers? I’m just thinking off the top of my head, based on no actual knowledge of your field (but when has that ever stopped me?). And any kind of entrepreneurship would interfere with your wrestling, and would be complicated by your being deaf. But after you win your gold medal this might make sense (and the medal couldn’t hurt business). I guess my advice boils down to this: Keep wanting and striving … but c’mon! You’re doing great. And if you have to starve a little to save money and get out of debt, well, that just helps you make weight.