It will be hard.
Scratch that, it will be impossible.
But like those guys say, Impossible Is Nothing.
Escaping Poverty is tough. But Oh man, living the rest of your life comfortably is awesome. Feeding your kids and making their life easier is so good.
It may take 25 years but it is possible.
THAT’S BULLSHIT!?
YOU TELLING ME THE GIRL SELLING PEANUTS AROUND THE CORNER IN THIS POOR NEIGHBORHOOD HAS A CHANCE!? YOU ARE OUT OF YOUR MIND!
I do believe it’s possible.
Let’s say the girl is 14 years old. Lives with her mother and 5 siblings. She studied till 4th grade but had to drop out to sell peanuts so she can feed her siblings. Her mother is a drunk and drug addicted, and prostitutes herself, she doesn’t even know who her father is.
First thing she must do is decide to escape poverty.
There are a lot of boys who want to take her to bed, she must say no, wait for proper age, or if she meets some boy she likes, absolute use protection. Just don’t get pregnant now.
She must educate herself.
I don’t care how, she could go back to school, the night shift, keep selling peanuts for now by day. She could also save and buy a smartphone and start taking courses online.
At school she could identify problems her classmates have, the school is big, even in poor neighborhoods or countries, some people have money. She could sell something, let’s say perfumes and make more money increasing her income streams. Of course, she needs to be good at selling, hence the importance of learning new stuff and educating yourself.
If she decides to not go to school, no problem, but she still must get an education. She could buy the smartphone we talked about and start taking online courses. She could learn Marketing and business. She would use this new knowledge to make more money selling peanuts. She could also find a way to diversify, and maybe sell other products too.
I am not saying it is easy. But if she really tries, she can do it. And at home, things will not stop, I know that, her siblings will get sick, will need food everyday, and she will be taking some money from the peanuts and investing on the phone and other things she needs to succeed. I know it will be hard, but if she fights, if she doesn’t give up, if she keeps trying, she can do it. I know in my heart she can.
Let’s say you are a guy with two kids, living with your wife and working for a dry cleaning company. You finished high school but no college. You can’t afford to go to college, all your money goes to support your two kids and your wife, who doesn’t have a job because the economy right now is very bad, and more, one of your kids is only 1 and your wife takes care of him. How can this guy escape poverty?
He must want to escape; he must desire it with all his heart.
He must increase his income streams. So first thing he and his wife must do is identify problems people in their neighborhood have that they can solve. Let’s say he lives next to the sea and the fisherman don’t have a place to keep fishes, he can buy a freezer and charge money for keeping the fish for one day and so on. I don’t know what those problems are, but they exist, he must figure out a way to get new income streams, and for that he will sacrifice two or three months of his salary, and they will starve for a while but he must do this. When he starts getting money from the fisherman and he really believes that a degree is what will take him to success, he then enrolls at the University and studies, after work. It will take him 6 years to finish, because at some point he will not have money to pay for his studies, but he will find a way. He will graduate, look for a job with his degree, maybe it will take 2 years, he will start earning more, put some money away for 4 years and invest in something. After 12 years he will have a better life. It is possible.
Stélio Inácio
This text is part of the book Escaping Poverty – 5 Steps to Start your Own Business