Step to success if you are earning less: Part 2

This week, I continue to explore with you the path to achieving success when you are a minimum wage earner.

Last week, we highlighted four steps and we finish off this week with the remaining five steps.

One, consider going rural. It is far, far easier to make a living on minimum wage in a rural situation. There are many small towns where you can find a room to rent for K3 000 a month. Yes, these really exist—I see them fairly regularly when I get out in the more rural areas. So, if a job requiring your skills open up in the rural areas, go for it.

Two, don’t drive. A car is a giant money suck. There should be no ifs, ands, or buts about it, if you’re working minimum wage, your car is killing you. Ditch the car—get whatever cash you can from it. Then choose a place to live where you can get to work by foot or by bicycle. In a small town, it’s pretty easy to reach any other place in the town on foot or by bicycle.

Three, don’t be proud. Pride often keeps people from walking into a Kaunjika shop. That kind of pride is an obstacle ground into you by a life in a consumerist society.

Four, minimise your required commitments. If you are repaying debts, call the debtors and explain your situation and ask for postponement or paying lesser in a particular period. This won’t get rid of your debt, but it can minimise your requirements for the time being. If you have dependents on top of your own children, make sure the burden is not more than you can bear and suffer in silence—not easy to do in our extended family setting but it will kill you. Don’t saddle yourself with burdens heavier than you can carry or you’ll do nothing but collapse.

Five, make a stern commitment to succeed. Even after you’ve done all of this, it still takes some serious commitment to make all of this work. You can get yourself in a position where you’re not spending more than you make, but it takes commitment to stay there. Remind yourself every day that you’re not going to waste money and that you’re going to spend less than you earn this week—and this month—and this year. That’s the one way you can get ahead.

One final tip, don’t give up. If you’re working a minimum wage job, you can change it yourself if very determined and move to middle income earner. But it takes time and commitment and a lot of hard work. It’s very easy to give up the dream of a better life when you’re doing this. Don’t. You can succeed and you will succeed if you spend every day taking steps in the right direction. Surround yourself with people who are also fighting to go in the right direction. Don’t be resentful of people in a better situation than you—instead, use them as inspiration and realise that if you keep on the path, you’ll get there
too.