I’m a Self-Made Millionaire: What Being Broke Taught Me About Keeping Wealth
Alisha Pennington is the co-founder of Pennington Perspective, a business consulting and mentoring firm that helps entrepreneurs plan, scale and expand their fast-growing businesses. During her decade in the industry, Pennington Perspective has served more than 650 aspiring entrepreneurs and over 60 small businesses and corporations across more than 30 industries.
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Her role is what she calls “the visionary” — she excels at big-picture thinking, identifying market opportunities, spotting future trends, generating concepts, marketing and building relationships.
Today, she’s a self-made millionaire, but she doesn’t come from money — and her humble beginnings gave her the mindset she needed to grow and build wealth.
It’s Not About Making Money — It’s About Hoarding It
Pennington’s modest roots paved the way for her future success. Her first financial advisor was the woman who gave birth to her — and she taught her not how to make money, but the value of keeping every dollar you don’t absolutely have to spend.
“I was raised by a single mother who instilled in me the value of work ethic and how to ‘hoard money,'” said Pennington.
That lesson from the lean times became her mantra for building, securing, maintaining and guarding wealth during the success she achieved later in life.
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Bad Timing Necessitates a Second Income Stream
Pennington had the unfortunate timing of leaving school and entering the workforce during the greatest economic calamity since the 1930s.
“As I graduated with my master’s degree in 2011, I was staring down an economy that was still recovering from the Great Recession,” she said. “Because I worked all the way through college, I didn’t have student debt, but due to the economy, I was forced to take jobs that were paying less than $20,000 a year. I pieced those together and decided to start my own business.”
Her background was in sports medicine and athletic training, but the self-employment revolution was only in its infancy, and to branch out on her own, Pennington had to pioneer the concept of the side hustle for her industry.
“At the time, the gig economy had barely begun, and the business model of working freelance did not exist in my profession,” she said. “I created a staffing agency model for sports medicine professionals, specifically athletic trainers.”
A Side Hustle Becomes a Source of Wealth
The sports medicine and athletic training staffing agency she built is called ATvantage, which connects trainers looking for work with clients looking for trainers. The company vets trainers, assists in placement, pre-screens clients and negotiates contracts.
It’s a success today, but in the beginning, her second stream of income was modest — yet considering her limited income, a little went a long way in providing sorely needed financial security.
“The first year, 2012, I made $7,000, which, for a kid earning $20,000 total in a year, that was a significant increase,” said Pennington. “The next year, I earned $25,000, out-earning myself in this ‘side business’ — more than jobs I was being offered paychecks for.”
As the economy recovered, her side gig gained traction. “In that year, 2013, I took a full-time job making $40,000 and would yet again out-earn myself a year later, making over $100,000 in my business.”
Grown-Up Success Built on Childhood Money Lessons
The money she made in ATvantage’s early years wasn’t enough to be considered wealth on its own, but her mother’s philosophy helped her parlay a second revenue stream into real financial security.
“Those three years, I hoarded all that money and used it for a down payment on a house,” said Pennington. “The trajectory of my business continued upward, hitting the seven-figure mark in 2016, and personally, I started buying real estate and flipping it.”
Pennington was now a millionaire, but she kept counting every dollar and wasting none — in short, she kept hoarding money, just as her mother taught her.
“We lived in every house we flipped, meaning we moved every two years,” she said. “We often had to do short-term rentals or other in-between living situations to make it work.”
Her thrifty ways and resourcefulness paid dividends in the long run.
“We’ve now flipped a total of five houses that we’ve lived in,” said Pennington. “The business earns more than $3 million a year, and we’ve arrived at a place where things are comfortable.
It was the work ethic from being raised by a single mom, with an emphasis on saving, that led me to where I’m at today, as a self-made millionaire.”
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: I’m a Self-Made Millionaire: What Being Broke Taught Me About Keeping Wealth
