It’s been a crazy month, friends.
Let’s Set The Scene…
During my 1-year in Australia, I made some pretty drastic decisions on how to spend my time. While the original plan was to use my “Working Holiday” to, you know, WORK, that wasn’t how it panned out. Instead, I ended up spending the majority of my spare time educating myself on how to manage my money in a way that fostered a clear path toward financial independence through passive income.
Kind of a mouthful, I know…but don’t worry. I’ll be diving much deeper into this rabbit hole in the future (don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to stay in the loop for that 😉 ).
Basically, the strategies I developed through numerous books, blogs, YouTube videos, and online courses allowed me to creep my bank account in the positive direction while traveling through Australia, despite not working a single normal job.
I’m pretty dang proud of that.
HOWEVER . . .
While learning how to finesse my money was cool and all, I won’t lie to you folks; the gains I saw were mediocre at best. While my fellow UW grads back home were making 60-80K in their fancy tech jobs, my weekly profit margin was about enough for a dinner for 2 at Applebee’s.
Granted, I wouldn’t trade positions with anyone; living on the other side of the world while still managing to inch upward on the financial scale is pretty frickin sweet. BUT, at the same time, I have ambitious financial goals for myself. If I’m going to have any chance of reaching them, I’ll need a heck of a lot more cash flow than a couple-hundred here and there from stock trades.
FAST FORWARD TO NOVEMBER, when the next step in my financial quest slapped me in the face. I was walking home from the gym, and my phone rang.
It was a recruiter.
From Tesla.
Long story short, they wanted me to join their team in Auckland, New Zealand, on a 3-month contract.
I was ECSTATIC.
A Brief History of my Tesla Nerdism
It’s no secret that I’m a huge Tesla fan, stemming all the way back to October 2018 when I first started obsessing over the stock market. I stumbled across them while researching the best way to invest my money toward companies that are doing GOOD in the world, rather than just mindlessly throwing it into a fossil-fuel-riddled index fund like generations past.
Tesla checked all the boxes: an ambitious vision for a sustainable future, a clear path to get there, and a partially-insane meme lord supergenius for a CEO.
I was an instant fan.
For the next year, I followed the story of Tesla very closely. Being an informed shareholder was part of it, but mostly I just genuinely loved the storyline of it all. Most of the world knows about Tesla by now, but for those that don’t, here’s a recap in 27 words:
For nearly 2 centuries, global energy production has been hopelessly dependent on coal, oil, and the rest of the fossil fuel industry. Then along came Elon Musk.
Here’s an excellent explanation from one of my favorite YouTube channels on why Tesla is NOT a car company, but a full-fledged fossil-fuel curbstomp machine:
In less than 2 decades, the story of Tesla vs. Everyone is about to unfold, and we’ve all got front-row seats for the slugfest.
I’m going to cut myself off here before getting too deep . . . but I think you get the gist. In the last year, I’ve rarely gone a 3-day span without reading a tweet, liking an Instagram post, or watching a YouTube video covering the latest news on Elon’s crazy little EV company that’s taking on the entire fossil fuel industry by itself.
To have the opportunity to join them firsthand, in New Zealand of all places, is just freaking awesome.
The Next Step
It’s been awhile since I’ve worked a 9-5, so it’ll be a change of pace for sure. But, at the end of the day, we all need to shake things up every once in a while! I think all humans can agree that it’s important to take whichever actions will lead us toward our long-term goals, while also doing our best to make a positive impact in the world. At this juncture, I know 2 things:
- My bank account could use a boost.
- Forget the money. Nothing excites me more than joining the company that’s changing the world more than any other today, and arguably in history.
If I haven’t made it clear, my choice was easy.
I signed the contract.
It’s been real, Wellington. I’ll definitely be back.
AUCKLAND . . . . . . . . let’s get it!
Photo by Bharat Kumar
Update: 3 months later, and my contract is complete! New post is in the works, where I’ll go in-depth on the full experience. STAY TUNED 🙂
-Ben
