Day 2: My Story

Intro

Hi, I’m Joyce Meettoo and this post is about my story and why I started my own online business. Three main and major events caused my transformation and it’s due to them that I am here typing this post and participating in this 30 Days Challenge together with the Legendary Marketer family.

I’m 26 years old, a Mauritian guy trying to build himself a legacy and get himself out of this ‘matrix-like” life. Like everybody, I too grew up with hardships and had gone through a lot and it was not an easy life. There were indeed happy moments as well as dull, sad and frustrating ones too.

I was born in Siracusa, Italy on the 1^st of June 1993 and 8 days later, my uncle, living in Mauritius, met with a road accident and passed away. After 9 months of staying in Italy, my parents had to leave my elder sister and me with my grandparents to take care of us while they stayed in Italy for around 2 more years working. But, after that, they returned and since then I’ve been here in Mauritius.

I grew up in a middle – class family whose main source of income was farming. When I was still a kid, my grandfather beat all the knowledge of a vegetable seller into me. It was indeed an amazing experience to learn the value of money since my childhood days by selling vegetable on Sundays.

However, after coming back to Mauritius, my father did not continue the farming business but started afresh working as a taxi driver in near hotels. He did contribute partly but, after my grandfather’s death, he had to look after the farming business as well as work in his taxi, which was hard. With the help and motivation of the family, he managed to keep the family business going but now it’s only sugarcane plantation as a side business and taxi driver as full time while facing a huge financial problem.

Adult Life

After my high-school (2012), due to limited funds, I stayed in Mauritius and studied Mechanical Engineering at the University of Mauritius itself. That year, I met a girl. All started with a simple friendship and by being by each other’s side and supporting each other during challenging events in our lives, falling in love was inevitable.

After 4 hard years, I finally graduated. My father was already growing old day by day, working to support and feed a family of 5 (grandmother, mother, me, my younger brother and himself). I told myself that it was high time for me to work and help him pay all his debt (over Rs 2 Million) which he accumulated over the last 23 years (he built us a house, married my elder sister and bought a taxi for work).

And thus, the “rat race” began.

First Event

However, nothing goes as planned, well that was for my case. Two jobless months after my graduation, I worked as a trainee mechanical engineer with a stipend of $250/month. It was really hard but I truly learned a lot but this job lasted for 3 months. I then started working for a contractual parastatal job for 2 years with a fixed stipend of $625/month. Then, at the beginning of 2018, my father fell gravely ill.

It was like the main pillar of the family crumbled. After 2 months he got well but during the time he was ill, that phase hit me hard. As the eldest son and the only one working, I was taking care of the family. I was contributing before but now I was alone taking care of everyone. I started wondering, “How did papa do it? Without even complaining about it”. I started thinking about ethical alternative ways of getting out of this matrix and started to be frustrated and stress-eat. As a result, I started to neglect my health and gained weight.

I knew I would not be able to do any financial progress if things continued like this. I would also not be able to help my father with his debt let alone saving for a future for me and my girlfriend. I also knew that after those 2 years, I would have to look for a job that would pay me enough to sustain my lifestyle. But deep down, my mind knew that finding another job would just be a temporary solution to my permanent problem.

Second Event

At the end of January 2019, I managed to get another job as a project engineer. It was a 7 am to 5 pm job and it paid well but was extremely stressful and tiring. There were days I wasn’t even returning home and had to work on sites and sleep there itself. I gave my best performance to satisfy my employer. However, at the end of the month, I was paid only about 30 % of my original paycheck.

Of course, taxes were being cut, but my employer kept 3 weeks’ worth of money with him, saying that it’s his company’s policy to do so and I felt cheated. We argued on that, and I asked “How am I going to pay my monthly bills? I have a debt to pay” and to my astonishment, I was the reply “Well, it’s your problem, not mine”. I felt cheated. I was angry, frustrated and wanted to quit.

But, at that time my girlfriend motivated me to learn as much as I could by working there and gain work experience until I could leave that job for another one with better payment options. I was already facing financial problems by helping my father and maintaining a relationship with her but, I gave myself that ‘hope’ of receiving the next paycheck and continued to work there.

For the next coming month, I continued to work tirelessly and gave my best performance again. There were days I couldn’t eat on time due to my work schedules. I even had to do overtime where I even worked for 2 full days to complete a particular project. Nevertheless, I was waiting patiently for my paycheck. To my surprise again, I was paid for a month but my overtimes were not paid. I was not even given a driver’s allowance for which I drove from the head office to various site locations.

I was frustrated…

On the first night after my paycheck, I was sitting on the roof and gazing at the stars and enjoying some personal time with myself which I was rarely getting. I couldn’t see me achieve the life I planned, I simply couldn’t. I kept asking myself, “How long will this continue? How long will I be working my life away for someone else?” I can’t go on living a life that would be dictated by working for someone else’s dream. I am here to achieve something for me and my family.

So the next day, I resigned.

Third Event

Days went by, so did weeks and months. I was broke and without a job that could provide my monthly paycheck but I did not want to have that life where I’d be working to make other’s dream come true and not mine. I started looking for ways to earn a living by starting my online business.

And then one night, my girlfriend and I  had the biggest argument and I broke up with her. It was the hardest decision of my life to end a relationship of 7 years. Through our arguments, I was reminded by her that I was poor and I wouldn’t be able to give her what she wanted and that was pretty damaging to my pride. Being in a relationship for so long, I felt she didn’t understand my worth.

She was an amazing girl and I truly wanted to keep her happy but not after that argument. I was, and still am, thankful for every moment I have spent with her and we have been through thick and thin together, but things were not the same anymore. We were not able to understand and support each other and instead of hurting each other, I took my decision.

The Change

Before that, I wanted to re-enter that cycle also known as “work – pay bills – sleep” but after the breakup, I was motivated to change everything, to achieve that dream where I would free my father from his debt and achieve that financial free life. Yeah, I did have my post break up phase but I was more determined than ever. I started looking at online money-making videos and online business videos more.

I mentioned in yesterday’s post what happened during my 3 months and how I’ve changed. I also took control of my health and got fit.

I grew this “winning and successful mindset” by being here, at the Legendary Marketer family. Now I’m different because, what I used to refer to as “obstacle”, I now refer to them as “stepping stones” for success. What I used to refer to as “failures”, I now refer to them as “learning experience”. If those events in my life didn’t happen, I wouldn’t have been here. “Whatever happens, happens for the best”

This is only the beginning! As, there will be more amazing stories to write, more amazing people to meet and many more unforgettable events to come. So, let’s do this.

You can always leave a comment and I encourage and highly recommend you to check this amazing educational platform that changed my life. Always feel free to ask me for help in your online journey. Thanks