Hello.
I'm Sam Fenwick and welcome to Business Daily from the BBC.
How do you make a million before you turn 30?
In our new series, we're speaking to six people from all over the world who have hit that
milestone.
Today, Sharon Tseung.
In 2016 I actually quit my job and travelled the world for two years while building passive
income, because I started learning more about how you can, like, make money work for you.
So, I wanted that financial freedom and I just started studying a lot more around that
and I think that those resources are available everywhere for people.
It’s free on YouTube and all these other places.
There are so many great places that you can learn more about personal finance and building
passive income streams.
Sharon is a former high school chess teacher, a marketing specialist.
She was a digital nomad way before it was cool, and now invests in property.
She made a million dollars before her 30th birthday by building passive income streams,
saving and investing that cash, oh and she managed to travel round the world as well.
It's quite a resumé isn't it.
So, what are the rest of us doing wrong?
Is she somehow special?
No, I don't think I'm special.
I mean, I do think I am privileged and I really appreciate what opportunities I've had.
But when I graduated college, I started with a $30,000 a year job.
So not like a six-figure job right off the bat type of thing and just worked my way up,
and then basically in 2016 actually quit my job and travelled the world for two years
while building passive income because I started learning more about how you can, like, make
money work for you and achieve multiple income streams and that's something I wanted to create
for myself.
So, I wanted that financial freedom and I just started studying a lot more around that.
Sharon runs her own YouTube channel, blogs and tutorials to teach people how to do what
she's done.
Hey guys it’s Sharon from Digital Nomad Quest and today I want to tell you guys about
my financial freedom journey from making thirty thousand dollars a year to millionaire at
thirty.
Now if you guys are new to the channel welcome, I'm all about teaching y’all how to build
passive income, become financially free and design your best lives so if you guys are
interested in that, make sure to subscribe and hit the bell button to be notified of
my latest videos.
But how did she get started?
Does it need a particular mindset?
A grown-up attitude to spending and saving?
I basically lived at home for a lot of my life while my friends were going out in the
city, having fun, spending a lot more.
I just wanted to save up as much as I could.
So, I was very cognisant of like how much I was spending.
So, essentially.
I have always been kind of like that.
I can equate time to money type of thing.
So back in the day I would think how much time did it take me to earn this much money?
So then if I bought anything that would help me justify if it was worth or not.
That's a very mature way of looking at saving when you're in your early twenties.
What did your friends think of that?
Yeah, I mean, I feel like it was not the cool thing to do, because you know, like I mentioned,
everyone was having fun, so I was just like I don't think it's worth it for me to move
out and live in the city if I don’t have to yet, and I mean, I was fortunate enough
to... I feel like my parents really wanted me to stay at home, so I'm very thankful that they
allowed me to, but like it definitely wasn't the cool thing to do.
Do you feel like you missed out a little bit?
No, I still went out when I could type of thing, and had fun, so I always make sure
to have a balance.
I think for me when it comes to spending, I'm more interested in experiences versus
things, so that like, helps me a lot more.
To me, like, material things don't matter that much to me.
But you know, life is short, so experiences matter a lot to me.
So, you don't regret anything from your early twenties?
No, and actually I feel like that kind of sparked the whole two years of travel, because
I was like, well I worked so hard saving, and like stayed at home for so much of my
life, like I'm allowed to kind of go out and see the world.
And where do you think you got that...
Or where do you think you developed your relationship with kind of saving and money?
Yeah, I definitely think my parents instilled that a lot.
They really wanted me to be financially savvy.
So, they taught me a lot growing up.
So, I'm very fortunate that I started off that way.
And what about your dad?
He worked quite hard, didn’t he, when he was bringing you all up.
Yeah, he definitely worked really hard.
So, my parents are actually from China and Hong Kong and
you know he was taking multiple jobs, supporting his way through college and sport, like helping
his family and type of thing.
They both sacrificed a lot to come here and give us opportunities.
You know, they gave up their entire lives essentially to come over here.
So, I'm very thankful that they did all that for us.
What do you think in particular your dad kind of instilled in you, working that hard?
I learned that it's not about how much you make, it's about how much you keep, essentially,
so that started me off really well, I think.
In high school I took multiple jobs as a chess teacher, actually, at multiple chess clubs
and I would just save that money up.
You know, learning so much from my parents about that, I think that helped me a lot.
So, your parents must've been very proud when you graduated from the University of California.
You got your bachelor's degree.
You'd started your job, but then you packed it in to go travelling and to work on these
kind of side hustles as you call them.
So, what did your parents do then?
Yeah.
Did they try and convince you not to go on this big trip of a lifetime?
Yeah, I mean, they basically did not want me to go.
I think, especially as a solo female traveller, they were definitely worried, but I think
that all parents get worried, so totally understandable.
But I remember I asked my mum like, “how does health insurance work while abroad”
and she started crying because she was like, “I didn't realise you were serious”.
So, I did it anyway because I think that I wanted to make sure I was living a life true
to myself, and sometimes it's really easy to get pulled into what people expect of you
or what people want from you, so that was part of the journey too, that, like, I wanted
to make sure through this journey of being a digital nomad for two years, I could understand
what I personally want and, you know, things like that.
You're obviously very close to your mum and dad.
Yes.
But you didn't feel that...
But you still went.
Yeah.
They didn't stop you from going, and that was part of your journey I suppose, your growing
up and maturing.
Yeah, I think so.
Honestly, I’m really close with them and a lot of my life, like I always want to make
sure they're happy.
So, this is definitely like a first time where I kind of went against it, but I think they
understood that, like, I needed to do this and there wasn't really going to be any stopping
me because this was something that I was obsessive about.
So, hang on a minute.
What exactly is a digital nomad?
What are passive income streams, and how exactly do you make money while travelling the world?
Well first, a digital nomad is someone who can work location independently.
I think, you know, because of this pandemic that is actually happening a lot now, but
back in the day it wasn’t common that you could do remote work.
And then passive income is essentially income that it might take some time and effort to
build up, but little time to maintain, essentially.
So when I first started out, actually my first passive income stream was creating an Etsy
shop, so I began selling digital products like Photoshop templates and Microsoft Word
templates of things like resumés, save-the-dates, wedding cards, photography mini session ads
and more things like that.
I was shocked, within a few months I was actually making some sales on my digital products,
but it wasn't like that much, but you know.
I think it was in 2015 I was just making maybe 50 bucks a month, or 100 bucks or
something like that, and I was like, oh my god, this can work.
So, every little bit counts in my opinion.
So that was my first taste, yeah.
And you'd looked at how long it took you, the time investment that you’d put into
that, and you decided that 50 bucks a month was enough for the time that you were putting
into it.
Yeah.
To carry on.
Yeah, because if you think about it, if it's something where you keep getting sales every
month, then that actually adds up a lot, right, so you know, 50 times 12, that's 600.
But then if I keep growing that, that could be even more, and I eventually hit over a
thousand a month and more type of thing.
So, as you build it up it can be more and more.
So, I first started with that one and then I went into a Merch by Amazon business, so
that is basically you sell custom apparel by uploading designs placed on hoodies, shirts
and other products which will be listed on Amazon, so whenever people buy from your listings,
you receive royalties and Amazon’s going to print and fulfil your orders for you.
So that's like another zero-to-low capital passive income stream that I attempted, and
I just kept trying a bunch of different ones and then kind of documenting them on my blog,
so teaching people how to do it as well.
And were they all kind of like small amounts of money, which, when they come together,
they amount to quite a lot?
Yeah, I mean, I was basically making like four to five grand a month after a while,
so it was like Etsy, Merch by Amazon, Amazon FBA was another one that I did.
These side hustles, if we call them that, you were able to still do this while you went
on your two-year holiday?
Yeah, exactly.
I mean, honestly, I was trying to see if this was something I would just do forever.
It wasn’t really like a holiday, I was trying to make a new lifestyle for myself essentially.
So, I was like, can I support myself with passive income and enjoy my life abroad?
And because I've created these income streams, they’re like working for me while I'm like
seeing the world.
I’m getting sales and things like that on these different income streams without having
to, like, actively make that money, if that makes sense.
I spent time setting those up and then it’s like little time to maintain to keep getting
that income.
I came back from the travels because I decided that just chasing that numeric goal wasn’t
that fulfilling for me, like, I needed to spend more time learning skills and creating
something more impactful.
I was actually saving and investing my money and like growing my nest egg, but it just
wasn't fulfilling.
Like every day I would just question, like, what's my purpose type of thing.
So, ultimately, you need to figure out what matters to you and you know, you have to make
sure you are doing things that you love and not just chasing money, essentially.
So that's basically my realisation, after those two years.
Like I could have kept going and just kept trying to increase my passive income, but
actually coming back and building this brand around personal finance and like around how
to achieve passive income and things like that, has actually been way more fulfilling
and ultimately these past three months I actually averaged around $33,000
a month, $34,000 a month.
So, like it's grown a lot by just kind of focusing on building one thing I'm passionate
about, and just focusing more on the impact.
It might be easier to say that now that you've actually made a million.
True.
You know, you are in a more privileged position to be able to sit back and go OK, well what
do I actually want to focus on?
Yeah, I mean, I would say back when I came back from everything, I was far from the million
point, but I started working a full-time position, was able to land a six-figure position, like
before that I hadn't worked a six-figure position.
Then I already had these passive income streams working for me so that supplemented it even more.
I was investing all that money and started investing more into real estate and then,
my personal brand took off, like I would say, in these last couple years.
At what point did you make it to that million threshold?
It was, I think, the beginning of last year.
I kind of have a spreadsheet where I calculate my net worth, and I was like wow, I finally
hit that point.
And how did that feel?
Yeah, it felt great.
I mean, I couldn't imagine that that was going to happen because I mean, back in the day
I was kind of far from it, but I think it exponentially grows as you are like creating
multiple income streams for yourself, saving a lot of it, and then putting that back into
investments, it can actually grow a lot faster.
So, I feel like your first, like 100,000 is quite difficult.
But it can move a lot faster if you're focusing on the right things.
What's the next point that you're looking at to keep you going, to keep you motivated?
Are you looking at the next million?
You know, I actually never had the million mark as a goal.
So, I was more interested in cashflow, so like having passive income that equated to
X amount per month type of thing.
The million mark just like happened, and I'm very happy about that.
I think my next goal, instead of focusing on a money amount, is just like, do what I love.
So it's more about like getting better at real estate.
Keep building the repository of content and courses and stuff like that, that can help
people in these areas that I care about.
So, honestly, that makes the journey a lot easier, I think, because it is easy to get
burnt out if you're constantly, like, focused on the money and it's not as fulfilling.
So, let's recap.
Sharon's worth more than a million dollars.
She has a six-figure marketing job, a growing property empire and a lucrative personal brand.
But what's it all for?
If the bottom line, isn't what drives her, then what does?
All of this stuff is about living life true to yourself and like, having the time with family and friends, and having experiences
and doing stuff that aligns with yourself versus, like, being stuck in something you
don't want to be stuck in.
So I think the way I think about it is like, time is like way more important than money.
So, the way I created these income streams, it's more about the time that it provides
and the freedom it provides.
And what do your parents think now?
I think they're very proud of me because they did tell me like they wanted me to focus on
building something more impactful and bigger, and I totally agree with that, and I would
say they are proud of me because I am doing that.
Sharon Tseung closing this episode of the Million by Thirty series on Business Daily.
I'm Sam Fenwick and this programme was produced by Carmel O'Grady.
If you want to get in touch with me, I'm on Twitter @BBCFenwick, and for more, please
download our Business Daily podcasts.