Disability no object …

I think that there are fewer ‘hold backs ‘ to getting what we want than we think …

Here, Lance shares his disability, but that’s NOT his hold-back … access to money is. But, I think that’s NOT his hold-back either, and it shouldn’t be yours:

I’m 32 years old and born completely deaf. I’ve worked twice as hard as my non-disabled peers to get to where I am now and am only 18 months away from being completely debt free including having my home paid off.

Meanwhile I am working full time and am trying to get a side business going that focuses on media services for the Deaf population. I strongly believe that my media business will someday replace my current income.

Now, I’m doing everything I can coming from low class family on both my side and my wife’s side to fund my way to success while watching friends from wealthier families getting much further ahead to their wealth than I am. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a competition and I’m happy for them but I’m seeing that it takes money to make money and the road I’m taking with “self-made-funds” is taking forever. While I know my friend with a wealthy father in law wouldn’t be nearly as far as he is without his in-law’s fund I feel like in order to succeed you need to know someone wealthy, I see it all the time. My problem is I have absolutely no relatives who are wealthy, no friends with money enough to invest, or any kind of connection to people with money.

Being on the path to debt-free I really don’t want to borrow money either, I hate debt but at the same time I know it’s necessary as you call good debt. One of my next steps requires $35k – $50k, so I’m asking you where someone in my position can find that kind of money without having to save it over the next 5 years.

Now, Lance may have some advantages that some of these ‘wealthy-relatived others’ don’t have: for example, Lance is debt-free (almost)!

And, I have wealthy relatives, but would never have considered holding my hand out, anyway … some people have the ‘take gene’, but others don’t.

I don’t.

Lance could go to a bunch of non-wealthy friends and ask for a little from each … he might be surprised to find that 10 friends would be happy to cough up, say, $5k each. And, he may be able to tap into government grants to make up the difference, given his disability and the planed area for his business.

But, Lance’s best bet IMHO is to refinance his house. This is a good opportunity to lock in a very low interest rate line of funding for his business anyway by fixing at the current low home mortgage rates.

I know that this goes against Lance’s “pay off your home mortgage” mentality, but is his house any less valuable or livable because he does/doesn’t carry a mortgage?

Of course not!

If you also have a hot business idea, but have stalled for lack of money, maybe you should do the same?

But, you have to REALLY believe in your business …

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7 thoughts on “Disability no object …

  1. Have Lance been following you for a while? if he has, I think he already knew in his head that the answer lies in Taping that home equity. Maybe Lance’s hold back is more of (not wanting to be in Debt) than anything else.Or,maybe he isn’t as sure about that business as he thinks he is,and is afraid to take out that home loan on something he isn’t sure of. He needs to research this,make certain it has potential,and he has what it takes to run a successful business, then take out that loan.

  2. @ Steve – yes, if your goal is to be “debt free” instead of “financially free” then that’s exactly what you’ll be πŸ˜‰

  3. @ Illiquidity – In bad times …. no. In good times … no πŸ˜‰

    You may be able to get a personal loan, but you are often better off saying that it’s to buy furniture than to fund a business.

  4. Really? I knew it could be difficult to get financed for a business,but its that difficult that you would be better off saying its for something else ?
    I think ,depending on start up costs, its best to finance it yourself,or find friends or angel investors. But I’m not so sure about outside investors unless its a last ditch thing ,where you just don’t have the equity in your Home or some other form of financing .

  5. Don’t have much to add that AJC hasn’t, but I wanted to say good for Lance! My brother was born deaf (Yup, I am fluent in ASL and ESL) and we never let him think for one second he couldn’t do whatever the F he wanted!

    Rock it out Lance…I would love to know more about the business.

  6. @ Evan – how do you sign ‘F’ πŸ™‚

    BTW: as a post-script, Lance says that he intends to continue working on his business plan while he pays down his home mortgage.

    I have to ask: if the business plan is ready to go, why procrastinate? [UPDATE: Lance has since told me his VERY good reason for this … essentially, he intends to start his business ‘part time’, then go full-time when his home is paid off and he can risk being jobless if all goes belly-up]

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