In my Money Makers interview series, I interview notable professionals and entrepreneurs. Generally, my interviewees have created a successful business or are leaders in their field. In this article I interviewed Chris, the creator of the BetaModification Twitter account. I’ve personally used his tips on growth to expand my blog and social media influence. Without further ado, let’s get into the interview!
For my readers who may not be familiar with you, would you please introduce yourself? Who are you? What do you do?
Hey, my name is Chris, @mybetamod on Twitter. I’m 33 years old and I’m currently a navigational officer for ships. Most of my working history has been at sea, exploring the world. Now I am back home utilising my skills ashore. This has allowed me to use all the life lessons I’ve learned to start my self-improvement journey.
Is there anything you want people to know about what you do for a living? For example, what sets you apart from others in that industry?
I work in the private sector in a high pressure role, it can be a pretty toxic environment, the blame game is rife in our industry. What sets me apart is that I am one of the few people in the industry that is not complicit with this behaviour or being a target of this behaviour. I use these skills I’ve learned to help others to not become a puppet to their toxic work environment.
How did you get your start? Knowing what you know now, would you have done anything differently?
I got my start in life from joining the armed forces, I’d been to university, but that did not give me the start I wanted in life. The armed forces taught me a lot about group mentality and toxic behaviours which in turn helped me eradicate any toxic influences from my life after I left the forces. This allowed me to quickly climb the corporate ladder. Knowing what I know now, I would not do the same again. I believe these experiences to have been necessary evils in life for me to grow my mindset, so I have no regrets at all. Through our struggles we become stronger.
Knowing what I know now, I would go straight to starting my own online business from the moment I left school.
Is there anyone who has really inspired you – authors, coworkers, or managers?
Being into my music and being from Liverpool, no one has inspired me as much as John Lennon. He was a man that had the platform to influence the entire world, and he didn’t just say what society wanted to hear either. I believe he inspired many to not allow themselves to become imprisoned by society and to instead chase their dream.
What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced so far, both in your field and in personal finance?
The biggest challenge I ever faced was leaving the forces. I did not have a career lined up and I had no money coming in, all I had was a dream. I left because I knew I was worth so much more, I KNEW I was more than just a number whose life was decided for him, regardless of what people around me tried to make me believe. Once I’d left, my lack of income and moving back with my parents caused me to be treated with less respect than how I was treated in the forces. This got into my mindset and made me question my worth again. It was a real challenge to not allow that negative influence from others to get into my head and hold me back. Toxic influences were always attempting to hold me back at this point, just like they hold others back, but I never allowed it to stop me, within three years I’d trebled my salary and had bought my own house, and just one year after that, my side hustles were significantly increasing my income.
Time for a bit of a loaded question – what is your favorite thing about what you do for a living?
My favourite thing about my job is being on the river on a nice day, I absolutely love being out on the water.
At the end of the day, what is the main thing you hope you achieve?
Financial Independence, I don’t hope I will achieve it, I WILL achieve it.
What’s the best piece of advice you received growing up? How did it shape you into the person you are today?
It wasn’t advice as such, it was when my dad admitted responsibility for something that I believed to not be his fault, he didn’t need to admit to anything, but he would not allow me to think negatively of the person I blamed. This was my first lesson about taking responsibly and not allowing my bias to cause me to blame the wrong people.
Everyone views success differently, what personal metric do you use to define your own success?
For me success is in the mindset, if you’re happy, you are a successful. I believe you can define your own success as it doesn’t really matter if someone else sees you as a failure when you are happy. I am a success because I’m grateful for what I already have and I’m happy because I’m making daily progress to what I really want. For me, you don’t have to have ‘made it’ to be a success.
People tend to struggle with finding a good work-life balance, especially these days. How do you manage? In other words, what’s an average weekday like for you?
I work 12 hour shifts, 4 days on, 4 days off. A good work life balance is a challenge as I’m often off work when other people are in work. But this doesn’t mean I can’t do what I love, it just takes some adjustments…. For example I lost most of my 5-a-side football games when I took this job, but now I play 5-a-side football with musicians who work at night and are free during working days.
If you love doing something, you’ll find a way. On my days off from my main job I can still work 6+ hours a day on my side hustle, but I still find time to spend with my family every day, and I still see friends at least once a week. It’s all about prioritising your time and setting boundaries so you stay in control of your own time.
What’s something you’re interested in – outside of work?
Travelling, I love nature. Nature blows my mind more than anything man has ever created, and I can not get enough of it.
If you had to give advice to someone who has just joined the job market, what would it be?
- Don’t do something just because it’s respected by society, feeding your ego will not make you happy in the long term.
- People in the work place are likely to doubt or be threatened by your dreams, be careful who you share them with.
Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed learning about Chris and his views on life and personal success as much as I did! If you like what he had to say and want to see more, be sure to check him out on Twitter, @mybetamod. As always, if you have any thoughts you’d like to contribute, add a comment!
