At the end of 2019, I almost died. You can read the full story here. But I’m grateful. That night, I realized everything that was important to me. Family, friends, and food. 

My biggest limiting factor was time. And what’s that saying again…time is money? Well all my time was being traded for it. I came home every night just to work more and by the time I was done, everyone was asleep or I was too tired to be around them. 

That’s when I binged everything I could about how to make money in my sleep. I wanted to spend the waking hours of my day with the people I cared about. Especially on days like today. Today would’ve been my Ông Ngoại’s 79th birthday. It’s been 14 years, but I still regret how I spent his last birthday alive. 

I was so mad because I cracked my phone screen and all I could think about was how I would get $50 to fix it. It wasn’t until around 10 pm that evening that I woke him up in bed to say happy birthday and kiss him good night. I still tear up thinking about what he said to me…

“Thank you con, I was waiting all day and thought you forgot.” 

I told myself I’d do better next year, but I never got the chance. 

Fast forward to today, I’m still nowhere near that million. Sure, I’ve gotten discouraged over the years, but this time of year always gives me hope. I mean it’s not like I haven’t done my research, learned some new skills, and mapped out what needs to happen next. Now all that’s left is…to do it. 

So here’s my plan: 

1. Real Estate (specifically Short and Mid-Term Rentals)

2. Social Media & Digital Marketing (Nguyening Lifestyles is coming back baby!) 

3. Launching my first scalable product (we’ve got a few in mind, so stay tuned…) 

Stick around if you want to know how. I’ll try to document my journey as I go. I mean, it’s crunch time, I’ve only got 1.5 years left. But after losing so many people these past 7 years, I’ve realized that I just can’t wait any longer. 

This blog post is in memory of Cullen Taniguchi, Bác Ha, Ông Nội, Bà Nội, and most importantly Ông Ngoại.