am I late? this is my life. grew up in Detroit, completely economic despair, no, it never truly recovered. decided to give it all up. was under water on my mortgage, lost all my equity and let the bank buy it back on the cheap, sold everything I owned. ended up with around 10k in cash and two suitcases of clothes and things I felt i needed to start again. moved to Asia because I had a friend out that way.

I am very well educated and well skilled in my field which is film and television. ended up becoming well known in a few different countries from my visual work, ended up making a few commercials for huge clients, had many freelance small jobs, kept the minimal life and worked my ass off. now i'm almost 40, still live in Asia, own two properties, am semi-retired, still work for the passion of it and am happier than i could've imagined. plus given how much i hate politics, was happy to get out before the USA turned to shit (both political parties!).

definitely a lot of random luck for me. began with teaching english and randomly met someone that worked for a huge film company that got me my first job for example. first office job sent me on a paid company trip where i met someone that led to huge jobs with huge clients. success is when preparation meets luck.

any advice, i'd say just love what you do, be passionate and do it cause you love it. I was barely making $1000 a month my first few years. sometimes I would run out of money and still have 1-2 days of food i needed to buy. but i loved it. even if it was a $200 job i put my complete heart and passion into it. eventually people took notice. now i tend to make 5-6 grand for about 2 days of work and work just a few days a month.