Episode 471: Why He Quit His $100K Engineering Job to Work at McDonald’s w/ Drew Lee

Drew Lee 0:02

So my crazy thought was, man, what if I get a job at McDonald's? Because I've done I've done this before, right? I've gotten jobs at these different alley places just to work. But what if I document it online? What if I create content about an ex engineer getting a job at McDonald's and what it's like, and kind of showcasing how, you know, I have this net worth, and you know it allows me to have some financial independence, to get a job at McDonald's and make content about it, right that no one else is doing. It allows me to take a crazy risk to pursue my dreams.

Speaker 1 0:36

Welcome to the journey to launch podcast with your host, Jamila Souffrant as a money expert who walks her talk, she helps brave journeyers like you get out of debt, save, invest and build real wealth join her on The journey to launch to financial freedom in 54321, you.

Jamila Souffrant 1:07

If you want the episode show notes for this episode, go to journey to launch.com or click the description of wherever you're listening to this episode in the show notes, you'll get the transcribed version of the conversation, the links that we mentioned, and so much more also, whether you are an OG journeyer or brand new to the podcast, I've created a free jumpstart guide to help you on your financial freedom journey. It includes the top episodes to listen to, stages to go through to reach financial freedom resources and so much more. You can go to journey to launch.com/jumpstart

Jamila Souffrant 1:49

Hey, journeyers, welcome to the journey to launch podcast. I'm your host, Jamila Souffrant, and today we have guest drew Lee, who is a 35 year old ex engineer turned personal finance content creator, he grew his audience of 235,000

Jamila Souffrant 2:07

followers on Tiktok and 85,000 followers on Instagram by being transparent about his net worth, which is pretty high, and how he got there. Plus what I think is most interesting is him quitting his job and having this journey of being Coast fi, which we'll get into living his life, being a husband, father and working at different hourly jobs because he wants to. We'll talk about that a bit more. And he's here to share his journey, his story. And I'm happy to have you on the podcast. Welcome. DREW. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. Yeah, so I think I came across your video. Yeah, you're very popular online, and I'm not always like online nowadays, but I saw your video and, like, it was saying you were working at, I forget which fast food restaurant at the time, but that it was by choice because you quit your engineering job. And I'm like, Oh, this is interesting. And I was just so excited to get to talk to you and learn more about your story, because to quit an engineering job, which you earned a lot of money and made it to this kind of coast fi, which we'll define as we talk about it, for people who are not familiar, I think is very extraordinary to make that choice and to be able to So let's go just back a little bit to how you first created or began your journey to financial freedom. How did you even discover that's what you wanted to do? Yeah, so I grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I went to Penn State University for college and studied Industrial Engineering. And I was 2223 when I graduated, and, you know, I got a job. I started making money. I was making $62,000 per year in my first job. This is back in 2013 as a, you know, industrial engineer. And you know, I started having a real paycheck. And the engineer in me, I think, was trying to figure out the, you know, how to handle my money. What should I do with this money that I'm now now making. My parents were very frugal growing up. They raised me to be frugal, so I have that in my blood, and I think I understand the value of being frugal and saving and having money. So that's always been in me. But again, I was getting a paycheck. You know? What do I do with it? Roth, IRA for 1k high yield savings, emergency fund. You know what I do with this stuff? And so I, you know, went down some different rabbit holes online. I discovered Mr. Money Mustache was a big one, right in the financial independence community. Some of my favorite resources are the book I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi. I read that book when I was 23 and honestly, just that book alone will teach you 80 to 90% of what you need to know about personal finance and how to handle your money. The Reddit personal finance subreddit, wiki page, especially the wiki, it's an amazing resource that's free. You know, I read that from head to toe. And Bogleheads. Bogleheads.org is another favorite resource that.

Drew Lee 5:00

It's a community of people that, you know, follow the John Bogle index fund style of investing. And those are, that's another amazing free resources. But I, you know, read all these different resources, and I feel like I figured out the best way to handle my money. And I think that you know how I did it is quite standard across the personal finance and financial independence community. And, you know, I lived below my means and saved and invested aggressively, starting young and six, seven years later, whenever I first quit engineering, when I was at Coast fi, you know, it worked. So, yeah, that's kind of how I got started down this path just trying to figure out the best way to handle my money, because nobody teaches it to us, right?

Jamila Souffrant 5:46

So this was about how many years ago, when you first graduated from when you first graduated.

Drew Lee 5:51

So I'm 35 now. I graduated in 2013 so that's what, Geez, 13

Jamila Souffrant 5:56

years ago. Okay, just orient ourselves for how like you quickly were able to, like, get to where you are, and not necessarily quickly, because I always like to say, like, it's going to take different timeframes for everyone, but relatively quickly, because you were able to start so early. Now, when you graduated, did you graduate with loans? What was your financial situation like?

Drew Lee 6:14

Then? I did not have loans. I was very fortunate. My parents were able to pay for my college. And so, yeah, that was a very fortunate situation. And but I definitely use, I like to say, I definitely used it to my advantage, right? Because a lot of people, you know, they will graduate without loans, but then they'll, you know, buy the brand new car and live in the fancy apartment downtown, right? And all of a sudden, you know, you're, you're debt free, right, coming out of school, but you might not have much a show for it later. So, but, yeah, very fortunate and blessed, but I definitely made sacrifices and live below my means to take advantage of that good situation as well.

Jamila Souffrant 6:50

Yeah, and I feel like that's I mean that thank you for being transparent about that too. Because I feel that. And you know, just assuming, like I you know I know your parents situation or whatever, but I know that as I know you're a dad, and I'm a parent myself. And I think when we think about legacy, or like helping our kids, like what your parents did, what my mom was able to do for me, actually helping me, giving me money for my first down payment for my condo, all those things like, were helpful, but you have to have had the mindset and ability to take kind of that edge that, you know, leading step to make something of it. So I just want to, like, make that clear, because, like you said, there are some people who who have that advantage and still kind of squander it, or, like, don't take the Head Start and so of course, like, great job of, you know, getting the Head Start and keeping up with it. Because not everyone could do that, especially at a young age, making some money. So that goes to show like you, being prudent was helpful.

Drew Lee 7:47

And to add to that, one thing I've mentioned before in my content online is like, really, what I'm doing is a dedication to my parents, right? Because my parents, they met, they lived below their means. They maxed out their 401, KS for I don't know, I mean, 1020, 30 years, you know, a long time, right? And because of the moves they made, they were able to pay for my college and get me off to a good start. And now I'm doing very, very similar things, right? I'm living below my means, max out my 401, K Roth, IRA, and I'm definitely gonna, you know, pass that on to my kids, but, but really, a lot of what I've been able to do is a dedication to my parents, making a lot of good moves on their end. And now I'm just doing something similar, to be honest, right now.

Jamila Souffrant 8:32

So you are working in this engineering job, I think, how long were you working in the field?

Drew Lee 8:37

I worked as an engineer the first time around that I'll say, which will lead to more in my story down the road the first time around until I was 29 or 30 years old, so about six or seven years

Jamila Souffrant 8:50

Okay, and continually earning more. But because you caught on to the fire movement, financial independence, retire early and being prudent with your finances, you're able to really start your journey and capitalize on your income. It sounds like Yes.

Drew Lee 9:07

So the main thing I did, from an investing standpoint is I essentially maxed out my 401 K in Roth IRA, starting when I graduated college, when I was 23 up until I was 29 or 30. Now, there's a year where I took a nice, I'm not gonna lie, I took a nice vacation to Europe, and I wasn't able to max out my 401 K that year. But for the most part, that was my strategy, right? Try as best as I could to max out my 401 K, Roth, IRA, and take take advantage of those tax advantage accounts.

Jamila Souffrant 9:37

And what were your expenses like? Where were you living and then, how did you keep those low man?

Drew Lee 9:43

So I remember my first apartment coming out of college. I had three roommates. I was living in Atlanta, Georgia. At the time, it was part of a rotational program, so you would move every six months for the first two years, I moved between Atlanta, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. But yeah, my rent was $600 a month because I had three roommates. I was driving a 2009 used Honda CRV. My car payment was $300 a month, plus maybe 60 bucks a month in in car insurance. And then I would honestly shop at Aldi and try and cook as much my food at home. I would try and pack my lunches to work. If people were going out for lunch, I would go out with them, right? Because I valued the experience and the networking of going out to lunch with co workers. I think that's important, right? But I'm not going to at that time prices were a lot lower. $10 seemed like an expensive lunch in 2013 right? But I'm not going to spend 10, $15 in law and lunch to go sit at my desk by myself, right? So I would always pack my lunch to work. I would try and cook my dinners at home, avoid DoorDash and takeout. And I think those big three moves, you know, really helped me move the needle a lot, to be honest.

Jamila Souffrant 10:56

Now, did you know so was retiring early or quitting your job, the goal from like, when you first started working, or that evolved, or you just wanted to save and invest, like, what was the goal at that point? What were you working towards?

Drew Lee 11:08

So I had discovered fi and Mr. Money Mustache at that point, but I wouldn't say I was super hardcore on the fi journey at that point, early on in my career. I'll be honest, I was, I was thinking about being CEO. I remember I would have thoughts of, okay, I'm going to get this promotion in three years, and I'm going to upgrade my car to a brand new Honda Accord, and then when I'm 30, I'm going to get this promotion, and I'm going to finally get that cool apartment downtown with big glass windows, and maybe upgrade to an Acura, right? I kept on, and then I would eventually get the mansion in the suburbs, right? I kept I honestly thought like that when I was 2324 years old, I I really wanted to work my way up. I think what changed it for me was man, just after working in corporate for five or six years, I I realized I did not want to work my way up and do this for 30 years, and every time you get promoted, you probably get more money, but also more work and more stress and more responsibility. And at that point, I knew that that type of path was not for me,

Jamila Souffrant 12:13

right, right so.

Drew Lee 12:15

And at that point then I really buckled down harder on on fi and tried to get into real estate to escalate things faster, which we can talk more about. But yeah, it was about five or six years after working in corporate,

Jamila Souffrant 12:29

but it was good that you already had started just being financially aware and doing those things even before you intentionally started the journey.

Drew Lee 12:36

Yeah, and I think the big thing there with me was just understanding the math and the numbers right, when you know the math and realize how much of a compounding effect right starting at 23 is compared to starting at 30. And I'm, you know, I'm an ex engineer. I'm a math I'm a numbers guy. Once I understood that math, it was a no brainer to try and shovel as much money away into these investment accounts as I could when I was 23 so right?

Jamila Souffrant 13:06

I talk about this in my book, Your journey to financial freedom, that everyone's on the path, whether you know it or not, it's just you were we're marching towards, hopefully, if we live long enough for retirement, if some of us are lucky enough to and but we're using our finances and we're living our life, and sometimes you just make good choices without knowing why you're making them. Maybe it's just your background, your culture, just the way you're wired. And I felt like I did a lot of that too in my 20s. I wasn't I didn't start aggressively investing until my early 30s, but I did a lot of things that helped me. That when I realized I was on the financial journey and wanted to retire early, that I could, like, pull those levers and, like, catapult me a bit, like, faster than some people who maybe didn't make as great a decisions with their money. So I just think it's just there are probably things even now, if you're just listening to the podcast and learning about the journey that you've done or haven't done, that doesn't mean like you can't be successful. It's just that knowing this at some point, whether you're 30s 40s, is better than not knowing at all, because you can start to make the changes on purpose. Now absolutely,

Drew Lee 14:13

that really resonates with me as well, because also with my story, I also feel kind of lucky, right? Like I feel lucky that I had this interest in personal finance and investing when I was 23 and I went down the right path of of learning about the right things, and I didn't go down the path of trading or or day trading, or something right or which I am, you know, not, not a fan of but I feel lucky that I went down the right path and learned the things I did. And that's why I feel so strongly about passing this information on, you know, through my content, and just trying to help people as best as I can.

Jamila Souffrant 14:48

And so at the point where you said, Okay, now I don't think I want to do this forever. I want to be able to quit this job. What was your plan at that point? Like, when did you say I want to quit my job? And then, how did you prepare for that?

Drew Lee 15:01

Yeah, so I realized I was CO, you know, I was at work one one day, just kind of looking at my numbers, and I was like, wow, I think I'm co STI. I ran the numbers at that time. I was 29 and I had a net worth of $300,000 and I ran the numbers, and I was like, Man, if I don't touch this money, for you know, if I stop investing and I just let this nest egg compound for another 30 years until I'm 60, it was going to grow into a couple million dollars. And I was like, Wow, that's pretty cool. And I my thought was like, I don't want to do engineering for another 30 years. I'm in this great situation where, you know, I have this nest egg, as long as I can find something to pay my bills, I don't need to make nine I was making $92,000 at that time in 2020 I don't need to make $92,000 because I'm living off of probably $40,000 or $35,000 I let me quit my job and take a risk and do something I'll be more passionate about for the next or take a risk and and do something I'll be more passionate about for the next 30 years, instead of doing this engineering job that I knew I did not want to do for the next 30 years, Right?

Jamila Souffrant 16:20

Right? And just, I mean, you define Costa five, but just for anyone new to this, it's just this idea that the amount that you've accumulated thus far in your investments, retirement, maybe even taxable, you can leave that alone, let it sit, and when you're ready to retire at the standard age, it will be enough to take care of you. And so then you only have to worry about just your living expenses or what you're doing in the meantime. So it's like coasting to retirement and financial independence, which is such a powerful place to be, because it then gives you options, right?

Drew Lee 16:52

Yeah, absolutely. So two of the things that also helped me be able to quit, in addition to, you know, having that, that nest egg, the $300,000 nest egg, was nest egg, was, I had really low living expenses. At the time. I was living with my girlfriend, now wife. We were sharing a one bedroom apartment in Northern Kentucky, which is part of the Cincinnati, you know, Ohio metro area. Our rent was like 950 a month. So, you know, divided by two, I was, I was responsible for probably 500 bucks a month in rent, so super cheap, you know. And again, I still had the same used Honda, 2009 Honda, 11 years later. And again, yeah, and I was keeping my food expenses low, so I was probably living off of $35,000 even though I was making $92,000 and because I was living off $35,000 I was like, Man, I can quit, and at the very least I can get a job making 15 bucks an hour at Amazon moving boxes or whatever, right? And that way, at least I'll be able to clock out and disconnect and still pay my bills and be able to coast and and pursue other passions I had which were content. So that was also a big thing, that I was able to keep my expenses low, and that I feel it gave me more freedom to quit.

Jamila Souffrant 18:09

And how long ago did you quit? I

Drew Lee 18:10

first quit for the very first time, in February of 2020 it was actually like February 22, of 2020, and it was not a great time to quit. You know what happened in March of 2020?

Jamila Souffrant 18:25

Yeah. And so the plan was, at that point, did you had some money saved up? I'm assuming, did you have a job lined up, or you just wanted to take a break and see what you wanted to do? So I

Drew Lee 18:35

didn't have a job lined up. So the other big thing, reason I quit was I really did want to pursue personal finance, investing, content creation. I knew I was doing well financially, and like I said, I felt I had this, like deep burning desire to help people with this stuff, because I feel like I didn't really do anything special, but it ended up working out well. And I, you know, I know, you know, and I felt very lucky and fortunate to do the right financial moves when I was young, and I had a burning desire to help people with that. So that was another reason I quit, because I really wanted to pursue this passion of mine with the content. And I think that's one more, almost big advantage I had a lot of people, when they think about early retirement, I think they're like, oh, geez, I don't know what I'm going to do with my time, right? You know, I better keep on working to keep me healthy. You know what? I think you kind of know what thoughts on there's a lot of people that don't know what they would do with their time if they retire early. But I am the complete opposite. I have this. This is just my passion, and as you'll hear later in my story, man, I just did not give up. I made a lot of sacrifices to just keep on going on this journey to be successful content. And I think having that burning passion was an advantage of mine and a big motivator also to want to quit early. But yeah, so I quit. I didn't have any jobs lined up. My goal was to. Get a job, some hourly job, right, to pay the bills, because it would be hourly, and I could clock out at the end of my shift, I'd have more mental and brain capacity to pursue content. And, you know, the personal finance investing content, that was a

Jamila Souffrant 20:16

plan, right? So I you mentioned that your girlfriend now wife, you know, you guys were together around then, how did that planning and conversations work out with her? Like, was she on board with that? You know, as you're planning your life together, were you thinking about having kids? I don't know if you had it, have any at that time, but what was that like? Because I'm sure it's like, oh, you have this stable job, you know, you're making a lot of money, and, like, the next step, if you know, is this and this and this and getting a house and having kids. So how did that work out?

Drew Lee 20:44

Yeah, so she's, she's very supportive. I think she saw the fire in my eyes and how passionate I was about pursuing this personal finance and investing content stuff. I think she saw that fire and that passion, and she, I think, respected that, and she's always been supportive of me pursuing my dreams, which has been amazing. And I'm very thankful for her and for that. So she's been supportive. But again, I think it comes back to the numbers and the money and the math, right? I mean, you know, if you have the money and you're if you're at the coast five point and your expenses are low, and you can get do something to cover your bills and have you avoid touching your nest egg. I mean, you know, I think the numbers were speaking for themselves, that I was able to do this and still reach retirement age, you know, at that 60 year old goal or so now you mentioned, like, kids and family and stuff. So at that time, we weren't married, we weren't engaged, we didn't have any kids, and engagement was definitely in the near future, in the back of my head, and we had talked a little bit about it, but man, marriage and kids were not on my radar when I quit in February of 2020, but now what ended up happening for us was I still proposed in the same timeline, about which was summer of 2020 but with everything going on, the marriage timeline ended up getting pushed up. With all the uncertainty with the venues, we ended up having a very small wedding, you know, with all the uncertainty with, you know, the wedding venues at the time with just, we had a very small wedding with immediate family, and then, I'm not gonna lie, our kids timeline got pushed up as well. I think you know that happened for a lot of people in that, you know, 2020, era of all the covid babies. But so we ended up having kids earlier than I had thought prior to covid. But it ended up all working out. And that's kind of leads to the next later part of the story. I I worked some of these different hourly jobs right before I had kids to pay the bills and cover my expenses. But once we found out we were pregnant in late 2020 early, 2021, I was like, Man, I probably should go back to that engineering salary now that our expenses are going to be higher, right? We're gonna have kids. And, you know, at that point we were thinking about, you know, houses and getting out, you know, moving out of just, you know, the one bedroom apartment we were in. So, yeah, at that point, I did start looking at engineering jobs, and I was able to successfully get one and get back to an engineering salary. Okay?

Jamila Souffrant 23:23

So I love this part of your story, because it like shows the reality of like having a family and responsibility is that just by yourself and single or just even dating, you take that risk, it's not that much overhead. Now you're, you know, you have more stability people depending on you, and so you do go back to work. Now, just if you could describe, I don't know if your wife, at the time is working or like, what that looked like, but I know, for example, for me, kind of similar to you, is that I did all the math once I realized I wanted to pursue financial independence, and aggressively saved and invested. And my husband, while he wasn't, like, as involved or on board, he couldn't deny the numbers when I came and showed him my spreadsheet, like here, like, if we are able to invest and save this much, this is what we could have, you know, let's do it. And then eventually, when I wanted to quit showing him, you know, we are we're good, we're Coast fi, and we have enough saved up that we can take this risk. And so for now, you and your wife and then having a baby, describe, kind of like the family dynamic there, was she working, and then what was reentering the workforce? Like, yeah,

Drew Lee 24:35

so she my wife? Or, well, yeah, my wife, back then, she was working as a flight attendant, and then she got furloughed in, I can't remember the furloughed or, like, laid off, you know, around March, April, May of 2020, you know, with the travel being crazy at that time. And then so she was finishing at that time, she wasn't. Was working. She was in grad school, though, for elementary she was getting her master's in elementary education, but she was not working. Got it.

Jamila Souffrant 25:09

Got it. So at this point you're going now, like we need maybe some more stability, more money, so you go back into the workforce.

Drew Lee 25:15

Yeah, and you'll see later on in my story, I ended up quitting again, going back to engineering. But that's been, I think, a big blessing in my story is, I think I do have a valuable degree, and I have good skills, right? And I've been able to quit and enter the workforce, quit again, and then enter the engineering, the industrial engineering workforce again. And so I think that's been able to lower my risk, that I had some confidence that I could get back into the workforce after being off for, you know, a little bit of time, and I had the skills to be able to do that. So yeah, that was a big blessing. And I think depending on what someone's degree is, or what kind of skills they have, they may not be as successful with that, or maybe they might, you know, it just depends.

Jamila Souffrant 26:04

Yeah, that's actually a good point to make, because I think the fear for a lot of people as it should be just to consider it, you know, just calculating your risk is, if this all does not work out, or, you know, I need more, can I reenter the workforce? And so would you say, did you have to, like, upkeep any certifications, or was it just a matter of keeping your LinkedIn updated and being aware of what the industry needed for you to be able to get back in the way you were?

Drew Lee 26:32

Yeah, the industry I'm in, you don't really need, it doesn't really need or require certifications, to be honest. So nothing was required there, but, yeah, but I think I did have pretty good experience from my career before quitting. I think that helped. But yeah, no certifications or anything were required, or anything like that, right? Well, I

Jamila Souffrant 26:54

just think it's just important to know if you are, like, looking to dabble in this, right, like to maybe quit your job eventually, and whether it's for entrepreneurship or to take a break, is to think about, like, kind of what the options are for yourself if you needed to re enter that's how I thought about it, like worst case scenario, I can always get a job in X amount of years if you know, journey to launch at the time doesn't work out, or we just need more money. But I think the other thing too is that's all great when you're planning it, but to actually do it, I think for some people, it's hard, like, would you actually want to re enter the workforce? And maybe, I don't know if there's some shame around feeling that, oh, like I said I was quitting and I was done, but I'm going back. Did you have any of those things come

Drew Lee 27:36

up for you? No, to be honest, you know, I guess I just, I never really thought like that. But I think even if I did, I think I would have just tuned it out. I knew I had this burning desire and passion to do the personal finance content. And you know, as you'll see, you know I was going to do anything and everything I could to to pursue this dream of mine, and you know, if that means, you know, and sometimes, yeah, I think you have to accept that you tried and you failed, right? But that doesn't mean you're quitting. But I tried, I failed. I went back to engineering because that's what was required and the numbers required. And then eventually I did, as you'll see later, I did gain some traction on social media, and I quit again to again, keep on pursuing this dream. And again, the numbers were still working out kind of but, and, but, yeah, I that never once crossed my head. I was always just, I think, focused on me and my dream and what I wanted to do.

Jamila Souffrant 28:37

And sometimes it feels like the idea of failing is like more scarier than like, actually failing, so therefore it prevents the person from trying, which it gets a lot of people stuck, where it's just like, it's actually, even if you do fail and fall falter, it's actually not as bad as you're creating the situation in your head.

Drew Lee 28:55

I agree that. I think the much worse feeling is, is the what if feeling right and not knowing that you didn't try or what if you could do more. And that's one thing I love about my journey, is even I do feel successful, you know, quote, unquote successful now as a content creator. But again, I struggled for three years as a content creator and but the thing that I loved was I would never wonder 30 years from now, what if I tried to be a content creator? What if I right? And that's I that is an amazing feeling, even if you fail, right? It's an amazing feeling to know that you went for it and took your shot and tried.

Jamila Souffrant 29:34

So how did you quit again, the, I think, second time, right? And then getting jump into full content creation,

Drew Lee 29:41

yeah, so I started that engineering job, and this is in summer of 2021, and at this time, I actually hadn't started social media because I got in a weird place with covid, and I, you know, it's hard to just start things. I'm not gonna lie, that's a big hurdle for a lot of people. And I. Just never started, to be honest. So I went back to engineering in summer of 2021 at this point, I hadn't even really created my social media accounts. I I just never started. So I was working that engineering job about a year later in summer of 2020, 22 my wife is finally like, like Drew, just make a video. You've been talking about this for two years. She probably getting annoyed at me just talking about it, not doing anything about it, right? So she's like, just make a video. So summer of 2022, I was still working that engineering job. I finally made my first Tiktok video. Six months later, in December of 2022 I had probably 20,000 followers on Tiktok. And at that point, man, the thought, the thoughts in my head at my engineering job were that company. It wasn't a bad job or anything. It was a good job, but it was the what if, right? What if I put 50 hours a week into content creation instead of 50 hours a week into this engineering job, right? And so I kept on getting these What if thoughts, and at this point, I had quit engineering once already. So I knew how to do it, right? I knew how to get the health insurance and what I needed to do for that. Like, at this point, this is in my comfort zone, right? I quit already one time. So I was like, You know what? I'm gonna take a risk again. I wasn't making any money from social media at this point. I mean, very, very little, maybe $10,000 a year. And so I quit again to pursue this dream of mine and go all in so I wouldn't have any regrets in the future. So that was December of 2022, and I did. I pursued content creation full time for eight months. So now we're in August of 2022 does this timeline? Are you

Jamila Souffrant 31:48

following August of 23 the

Drew Lee 31:50

next year? Yeah, I'm sorry, August of 23 I apologize. Yeah. So I quit. I quit that engineering job. Pursued full time content creation for eight months, and again, I was unsuccessful. I had increased my income a little bit, but not anywhere close to meeting my engineering salary. And again, full transparency at that time, the engineering job I had quit, I was making exactly $100,000 per year, again in Cincinnati, Ohio, but I wasn't anywhere close to that with my content income. And so, man, I start applying to engineering jobs again, because I was like, man, I was losing money every single month as I pursued this dream. So it's funny, I call what I did extreme cost fi. So I actually feel that I was ahead of cost fi, and I had extra money that I could lose where I would still be at cost fi. Does that? Does that? Does that make sense?

Jamila Souffrant 32:43

That does so you were pulling money. It was, were you pulling money from your investment accounts, or you had a savings account?

Drew Lee 32:50

I had some savings, but I eventually burned through that, and I was pulling money from investment accounts to stay afloat. Taxable?

Jamila Souffrant 32:58

Was that the taxable accounts or retirement

Drew Lee 33:01

I didn't have very much taxable because I heavily prioritized tax advantage accounts. And, you know, I wasn't making a crazy amount of money even in my engineering career, so I really only had the money to max out my tax advantage account, so I had like, $15,000 in a taxable brokerage account. So this

Jamila Souffrant 33:20

is like a small detail, but I think it's important, because I know that part of the goal is to save as much as possible into the tax advantage accounts, like our retirement accounts, but then sometimes you hit these places or things in your life where like, oh, I might need that money. So you did pull out money from those account. Like, what was that like with thinking about the fee or the cost of doing that.

Drew Lee 33:44

So the Roth IRA, you can pull out contributions, tax and penalty free prior to 59 and a half, but you can't touch your gains until you're 59 and a half. So I was able to pull some money out of my Roth IRA, tax and penalty free, again, just the contributions, not the gains. But I'll be honest, the other thought that went through my head was when I think of myself being 60 years old, I want to have money in different buckets, like I want to have money that's pre tax and I want to have somebody some money that's post tax in a Roth IRA. So I didn't want to just pull my Roth IRA money out, and then I only have money in the one pre tax bucket, if that makes sense. So I ended up pulling out some money from my 401, K or it was actually a rollover IRA, because I had rolled it over. You know, whenever I would leave all these jobs. So I actually pulled money out of my pre tax rollover. Ira and I did pay taxes, which I'm okay with, because I hadn't paid taxes on the money. I'm not worried about the taxes, but I also did pay some of the 10% penalty and but from my standpoint, it's not ideal, and I want to say like I'm. Not recommending or suggesting anyone do what I did. I do consider myself crazy, and honestly, like I was, it's just super focused on my passion. And I do think I'm crazy my I think my story is a little bit crazy, so I'm not recommending this to anyone, but you know, if I needed $10,000 yeah, I'm gonna have to pay taxes, but the 10% penalty is $1,000 which, if I'm pursuing my dream, and I feel like I'm ahead of cost fi, and at that time, I probably had a net worth of $500,000 for me to pull 10,000 out of a rollover IRA pay 10% penalty of $1,000 it wasn't the end of the world, right? Because I did really feel that I was that far ahead of my age, you know, for my goals at my age. So again, I think you have to be in a really, really good position like I think I was at that time to consider something like this and not recommending it for most people, but that's what I did end up doing.

Jamila Souffrant 35:56

Hey, journeyers, if you are loving this podcast, then you will love my book, Your journey to financial freedom, a step by step guide to achieving wealth and happiness. I wrote this book for you. This book is for you if you want a clear and enjoyable path to having more money options and a rich life. This book is for you if you hate your commute and the fact that you need to seek approval or permission from a boss. I hated that when I worked this book is for you. If you weren't born into wealth, you didn't marry rich or won the lottery, but you still want freedom. This book is for you. If you're at a crossroads, a major decision or event is imminent, maybe a career change, marriage, starting a family, pressures are reaching a tipping point, and the discomfort and the desire for more can no longer be ignored, and this book is for you if you find yourself zoned out at meetings, looking out the window or daydreaming about the life you truly want, so go pick up your journey to financial freedom.com. So I can show you how to map out how to get from where you are today to where you ultimately want to be and enjoy the journey. While you're on the path, head over to your journey to financial freedom.com. To see where you can pick the book up. It's available on Amazon, bookshop.org, Barnes and Noble, your local bookstore everywhere, go to your journey to financial freedom.com. To get the book. Now, I know for me, like, when I think about needing to touch any of our money, I don't like thinking about it, like, if I had to come to that, but that is the point of it. Like, you know, some people don't like touching their fu money, or their like savings or even their retirement accounts, which, for most people, that won't make sense. But if you need it, like, that's the point of the money is to help you live, pursue your dreams. It's great that you were able to touch and do that. Now, at what point, though, did things turn around because you're applying now, you're like, Wait a second. I'm like, kind of, I don't want to, like, do this for years and years, like, pull money out of my account. Now you're applying for more jobs. When did it turn around for you in terms of your finally making money from the content?

Drew Lee 38:04

We still have a little bit of ways to go before it turned around. So let me just quickly go through the timeline. So I ended up going back to an engineering job August of 23 I worked there for six months, and again, no disrespect to the company, but it just, I was like, I just can't do this. And, you know, I'm always thinking about other things. And so I quit again in April of 2024, to again pursue content at this at that time, I ended up getting a job at the airport for Frontier Airlines. It was paying 20 bucks an hour that, you know, just helped with bills. And I really did enjoy that job. But I ended up getting a job there just to have, you know, some money coming in. I would drive Uber to also have some money coming in. And then I was also pursuing content and I did that for about a year, year and a half, and my content creation income did go up at that point, I probably got to 40 or $50,000 a year in content creation income, but again, that's not nearly enough to pay the bills for a family of four, right? So now we're in summer of 2025 I'm making about 50 grand from content creation, but it's still not enough to pay bills. And I have this crazy idea. I had worked at Panda Express, Amazon, Frontier Airlines, all these different jobs in the past, even prior to content, just because I needed money to pay the bills, right? And I needed jobs. So my my crazy thought was, man, what if I get a job at McDonald's because I've done I've done this before, right? I've gotten jobs at these different alley places just to work. But what if I document it online? What if I create content about an ex engineer getting a job at McDonald's and what it's like, and kind of showcasing how, you know, I have this net worth, and you know, it allows me to have some financial independence to per. Pursue my dreams and take a crazy risk, like get a job at McDonald's and make content about it, right? That no one else is doing it allows me to take a crazy risk, to pursue my dreams. And so I kind of made content around that story, and even the story I'm telling you now, and all the different risks I took and how money allowed me to take those risks. And yep, I got that job. McDonald's started making content around it, and, man, three months later, the content performed extremely well online. I think my followers on Tiktok went from like 130 to 200,000 after the McDonald's series, my tech followers on Instagram doubled from like 30,000 to 60,000 now I'm at like 85,000 so yeah, it was wildly successful, I would say. And it got to the point where, after doing that McDonald's series, I was making more money from content than my engineering job. And then now I finally feel confident in my career as a content creator, you know, a personal finance investing content creator. And so that was again, summer of 2025 it's now what spring 2026, right?

Jamila Souffrant 41:04

Right now, when you talk about making money from the content, is that mostly just like being paid by the platform, whether it's Instagram or Tiktok for views or through brand partnerships or a combination of both, it's 80%

Drew Lee 41:17

brand partnerships, and then the rest is a combination of views, money from views primarily on Tiktok. I'm not, I'm really not on YouTube or anything. I'm really just on Tiktok and Instagram. So views from Tiktok and then some like affiliate commissions. But it's my bread and butter, is the brand deals at this point in my content career, right?

Jamila Souffrant 41:40

And, and it's, you know, just interesting that you just found an angle people are very interested in. And I think part of it, which I'm gonna love to kind of talk about these jobs and kind of, like, where you're working now, and like, what that's like, like, because the position of like, kind of privilege to be able to be like, okay, like, I actually want to work here at McDonald's and like, share this experience, versus, like, the person who has to work at McDonald's and then does not have financial security, like, it's a it's like, totally different. But the option, I think, is intriguing for people that you do it. And so I'd love to kind of jump more into that and what that is like. Because why those jobs and not? Maybe I don't know. I always say I would like want to work at Trader Joe's, because I just love the vibes at Trader Joe's. Like, if I could, if there was one closer to me, but why those specific things? And let's just talk about what that's like.

Drew Lee 42:32

Yeah, I love fast food. I think it's so cool how you can go through a drive through and get your food in two minutes, right?

Jamila Souffrant 42:41

Your kids must love you. You love fat. They're like, Yes,

Drew Lee 42:44

Dad, well, I have high cholesterol, so I try not to eat it. But I love, yeah, I do love the fast food, how it tastes and the concept of it, right? And so I think, and this is where the engineer in me is, like, I'm just so fascinated by how the processes and how they can get your food to you in two minutes. And so that that interests me so much more than a grocery store or retail. And I've worked in warehouses before as an engineer, and like I said, I worked at Amazon in the past. I worked at Macy's when I was in college, you know, during the holidays home from college. So I, you know, I've done some different environments as well, but, but fast food and the processes and the behind the scenes, it's so fascinating to me, and that's what I love about this, is you get to go to these different places and see the behind the scenes and learn. And I always tell people, man, even if I had a billion dollars and I could, like, I can't do whatever I want right now, right? I'm not, I don't, you know, I'm not full if I, but if, even if I had a billion dollars, man, I would love to work three months at every fast food chain in America and just see. It's fascinating to me, right? I I really, really enjoyed working these jobs, and, you know, doing them and seeing them behind the scenes. So, yeah, but, but you brought up one thing earlier about how, yeah, I'm in a extremely different financial position and life position than a lot of other people working these jobs. And so I guess I have two kind of two things to say on that. Number one is, I'm a good guy, right? I'm try. I want to help people with personal finance, right? I want to help those people that improve their situation and improve their personal finances, right? So, like, I do get, you know, some hate online, because, you know, people think I'm privileged and doing it for fun, doing these jobs for fun, while other people are relying on it to pay their family. And yes, it's, you know, a lot of unfortunate situations. But like, my end goal is to with my content is to help people with money, right? So when people watch my content, like, I'm very respectful, I'm never making fun of or, you know, anything like that, if anything, I respect these jobs a lot and how hard they are and how hard you have to work to make $15 an hour, day in, day out, and they. Don't have another option. So and the, sorry, the one more point I want to touch on, if that's okay with all this, is, yeah, it's given me such a broader view on our country and and the income gap, to be honest, right? Because I grew up in suburbia, you know, we didn't really leave suburbia. I went to college to be an engineer. After college, I lived in nice neighborhoods, and I hung out with other engineers. Right? I was never leaving my bubbles, to be honest. But after working at all these different jobs, I've met such a wide spectrum of people and people in different financial situations, and I used to also drive Uber a lot, as I mentioned. And when you drive Uber, you're driving to neighborhoods of your city that you normally aren't driving to, right? And you just see so much and experience so much more of of the country and the gap you know, that we have in so I think that's extreme. That's been extremely beneficial for me, just to understand people in all these different situations and and now I get it right? Like whenever I drove a used Honda, I would always dream of having a nicer car, but a used Honda is a luxury, right? There's so many people that number one, don't have a car and they have to take a bus to work, and number two, they have a really crappy, unreliable car, and they would kill for a 10 year old Honda that you at least know is going to start right. So I think it's really brought in my perspective, which I love, to be honest.

Jamila Souffrant 46:22

Yeah, okay, so let's talk about, okay, there's a couple of things I want to talk about. Where are you currently working at now, this probably will come out and really quickly. So, or if you want to share, or, yeah, I

Drew Lee 46:32

don't mind sharing. It's all over. My Content. I'm currently at Shake Shack restaurant. Love it.

Jamila Souffrant 46:38

Love it. So with that, do the people? What that you work for? How long do you work in these places? Is one

Drew Lee 46:43

so it varies, and I'm still figuring all this out too, right? So McDonald's I worked at for two months, and the reason I quit was because there was a, I hate to say something about people, but there was a manager that was rude to me and did not respect me, and everyone else was was great, but this one manager just did not treat me well. And again, you know, I think that's the beauty of of having money, and that's why I want other people in these jobs to get their in their financial situations improved, so that if there is a bad work environment, you can leave and go to another job, right? So I ended up quitting. That's why I ended up quitting McDonald's after two months, and then I worked at IHOP for probably six weeks as a server. And I'll be honest, that just was not a good fit. I was not meant to be a server, right? It's a very you have to be a certain type of person be a server, and that's not me. I did not like working with the customers and just being at the mercy of them for your your paycheck, which I think a lot of other servers will resonate with. But yeah, that was not for me. So I ended up quitting that job, and then I worked for UPS as an a seasonal driver delivering packages out of my car. That was seasonal, so I stopped right around Christmas time, when, you know the seasonal job stopped. Then I volunteered for a few shifts at a food bank. That was a really great experience, but again, that was just volunteering. It wasn't a job, right? So I just signed up for a few shifts, and I was done all this time. I was applying for jobs. I got rejected from Starbucks, got rejected from Dunkin Donuts, I got rejected from Olive Garden. I got rejected from Taco Bell. So honestly, I was having trouble finding a job. I'm not gonna lie.

Jamila Souffrant 48:26

Were they saying you were overqualified? Why were you rejected? You know,

Drew Lee 48:30

I didn't really get feedback. And to be honest, I didn't ask for feedback, I think, yeah, Taco Bell and Olive Garden, I got interviews. Duncan and Starbucks. Initially, I didn't even get interviews, so they must have and sometimes, like, sometimes I apply with my engineering experience, sometimes I don't. It just varies. You got to just try different things and see what works. But yeah, so a few times I don't really always know why I got rejected, but sometimes I do think it was overqualified. Sometimes you just don't vibe with the manager, whatever. So, right?

Jamila Souffrant 49:01

And so your latest job is at Shake Shack. Now. Now do did the people ever know that? Like, like, right now, do they know that your social media account, what you do? I think I saw a video on that. But like, do they know that? And then, when we talk about personal finance, like, what are you bringing? Are you, like, giving them tips? How are you sharing what you do? Like, how are you helping in the way that you want to help kind of spread the financial knowledge.

Drew Lee 49:23

So when I applied to Shake Shack, I did tell them during my interview that I'm an ex engineer, and, you know, over the last couple years, I've worked different hourly jobs because I prefer hourly jobs where I can clock out and fully disconnect. And they understood that, right? Because they're managers, and they understand they I'm sure they have stuff to do at 9pm at night, sometimes, right or 10, right? So they know, I'm an ex engineer, but I never mentioned anything about content. But I'm realizing now, as I do this more, you know, I do have a decent amount of followers, and my videos are getting a decent amount of views, and one of my co workers and a manager ended up. Finding out about my content page after just a couple videos. So now some people know. I don't think they're going around telling everyone in the restaurant I'm a content creator, but I know some people at the restaurant do know, but I think a majority don't know I'm a content creator. But again, I'm not gonna I never outwardly tell people, but if they tell me they saw me and they asked me about it, I'll gladly talk about it. So that's kind of where it stands right now. If people know or they don't, as far as personal finance and investing, though, and how I tie all this back to it, I don't. Again, if one of my co workers asked me a question, I'll gladly answer it. But I'm not going around the restaurant. You know, with my I will teach a be rich book and, you know, telling everyone about it, right? But, but that was never really my intent to help the people at the jobs. And my intent is still to help people through my content. And the way I do that with my content is, whenever I make content about the restaurant jobs, that's to get the views and the eyeballs to get the brand deals. So I can do this as a career, and then I will also make content about my journey and how I got to where I am. And that's why I'm always transparent about my net worth, because I want to show people exactly how much I have and exactly what I did to get there, which was live below my means, right? Have have a decent income and invest as much as I could, as early as I could. So that's how I tie, tie it back to personal finance investing is I'm able to work at Shake Shack as an ex engineer because I saved, invested early, and I was able to take a risk and pursue my dreams and pursue doing something kind of unique like this.

Jamila Souffrant 51:36

Okay, so let's say, you know, I know there's a different range of people who work at these places, right? But let's just say you drew who doesn't have the network that you have, maybe has some debt and is just starting out working minimum wage at one of the like, let's say Shake Shack. What would you do, starting now to help you get to a better place in let's say one, 510, years, like, what are the steps you would take? Like, if you had the motivation and knowledge that you have?

Drew Lee 52:06

Now, amazing question. I love it. So number one, you got to figure out a way to make more money, right? $15 an hour. I mean, you can be super frugal, but $15 an hour is going to be tough no matter, no matter what, right? So you got to figure out a way to make more money. The one, the one path I found from working these jobs is a lot of these companies do have good upward career paths for you, even if you're coming in at 15 bucks an hour. That's one thing I love about Shake Shack and Panda Express talks about this a lot as well. Chipotle, I've never worked for them, but they're, they're always advertising that, you know, their general managers make six figures, right? But I think if you're, if you don't have a college degree or anything, and you're coming in at 15 bucks an hour, I think you can work your way up, right? If you're reliable on time, right? You're hard working, and you follow instructions, and you're doing what your boss asked you to, and you're showing that you are a good worker. I really do think there is a lot and you have to be at the right company, I'll be honest. No offense to McDonald's, they didn't advertise this upward trajectory as as well as a Shake Shack or Panda Express, but so I really think you can do well. And, you know, go, go up the ladder with some of these companies, even if you're coming in starting at 15 bucks an hour. And one of the things I found from working these jobs is, right, all these chain restaurants, they're all standardized, right? A Big Mac is a Big Mac. Where would any any McDonald's you're at, because they have processes that define exactly how to make a Big Mac. There's processes that define exactly how to make the orange chicken or a Shack burger, right? So if you can understand these pro you know the processes and the standards and do them extremely well and follow the instructions to a tee, your managers are going to notice that, and they're going to see you doing really well. And that's what I do. I'm an engineer. I love these processes, and when I go to these jobs, I follow them exactly. I make the prettiest Shack burger. I'm not going to lie, because I follow the instructions exactly to a tea. I make the best bacon at Shake Shack. I honestly, I would say this is going to sound arrogant. I make the best Shake Shack bacon in the world, because I literally followed the instructions to the tea of exactly what the corporate chefs and corporate engineers that designed the bacon process want, and I make the best bacon Shake Shack bacon in the world because I follow the instruction. So if you can follow the instructions at McDonald's pan Express, Shake Shack, show your manager you're reliable on time, and you're making extremely good bacon, and you're making the best shack burgers, right, following the instructions. They're going to see that, and you're going to do well. And in fact, I already got promoted at Shake Shack to be a trainer after six weeks because, and you know, they know I'm an engineer and everything, but they see that I'm making good bacon, right? And I'm following the instructions, and they want me. Be to train other people how to make the bacon, I think so. And I believe in the restaurant path of going up after being in the fast food industry and seeing, you know, some of my managers and GMs have come, have done that path, and so I really believe in that, if you can. So I know that's a long winded answer. I really believe

Jamila Souffrant 55:18

in that path. No, it's, like, I think it's a great point about, if you wish to stay within or you don't want to kind of pursue something out. Because some people are just working the job, and it's their side thing while going to school or doing something else, they don't want to move up in that way. And so, you know, the idea, hopefully, is going to school or pursuing something else to make you more financially stable. But it's also a pathway, if you can work within the system, to get there. And again, I think there is a privilege of mindset is such an important part of this, everything we're talking about here, because I think there are circumstances for some people that it's like a top, bottom, systemic issue that is hard to get out from no matter like, how much you know you try. Like, it's hard for some people with the way the system is set up, but for some people who can kind of overcome that and have the mindset to want to overcome it, and the energy right? So people are like, so just tired, they don't have the damn energy to, like, do all the things they just like trying to make it, you know,

Drew Lee 56:25

I agree. I agree. And I see that when I'm working these jobs, I see that then, yeah, I agree. It's challenging, it's it's tough,

Jamila Souffrant 56:33

yeah, but, but if you happen to be someone who has the energy and the mindset to want more and to kind of can, like, do more than I think there is a path for you like to make it, you know, like, even if you're starting places here that and you don't want to be there, right? And you want something more, but income is such a big driving force in all of this. Like, it's not necessarily like, our luxury to not have to make as much money. I'm talking about myself now too. Right now is because I was able to earn so much money in my 20s and 30s when I was working a corporate career. And so one of the things I want to ask you now that you have worked at different restaurants, because I always thought like, if I wonder, if I worked here, would I still want to eat from this place? Now that you actually have worked in a few places like, you feel like, oh, I would still like order from like these fast food places, yeah, without disparaging, I guess, like them. What are your thoughts? Like? You still feel like, Oh, I'd still eat here, like, now that I know how things are done, yeah,

Drew Lee 57:29

I absolutely would. I want to give a shout out to Panda Express. There. They have amazing processes. Their food is, you know, I was chopping fresh vegetables in the back, right? I want to give a shout out to Panda Express. They're actually one of my favorite things to eat. I love the orange chicken there, but yeah, they big shout out to them, like I was very impressed, even after seeing the behind the scenes there. But yeah, I would absolutely still eat fast food out even after working in all these places. And I think that's again, you know, there's a reason there's so many McDonald's locations, because they have the process in place, and they are very strict on cleanliness. And, you know, I remember when I was there, we had a audit from corporate, and somebody's coming in and making sure we're doing everything right from a safety health perspective, you know, making sure the food's at the right temps, all that type of stuff. So I think all these big companies, they do have, you know, all these processes and checks and balances in place to make sure, you know, everything is safe and clean, and I think that's why they've been able to expand and still do well and things like that. So I do feel good even after being seen behind the scenes.

Jamila Souffrant 58:34

Yeah, that's just good to know. Now I now I can, like, not feel so guilty when my kids are eating all their fast food.

Drew Lee 58:41

So I love it's not healthy but, but it should be clean,

Jamila Souffrant 58:45

yes, when it just comes to, like, just the things like health insurance and where you currently are. Because I see another barrier for people, whether they want to quit their job and become, like, full time content creators or entrepreneurs, to thinking about that having a spouse and kids. Like, now, where are you and like, how are you supporting, like, the those responsibilities in your life? Yes. So yeah,

Drew Lee 59:08

my right now, we have two kids there. We have two girls, four years old and two years old. And my wife is a stay at home mom with them, so she's not she works harder than I do, right? But, you know, not working a quote, unquote job. But let me touch on health insurance. And yeah, because so that health insurance was one of the biggest barriers before I quit for the very first time in 2020 I remember the months leading up to me quitting. I you know, I knew was coming up, but I was trying to figure out what to do with health and health insurance. And once I figured that out and felt confident about it. The next day I put in my two weeks notice, once I figured that out, so I, whenever I quit these jobs, I use healthcare.gov the Health Insurance Marketplace. So you can, if you go to healthcare.gov you can put in your information and you can get health insurance, you know, independent health insurance quotes. Uh, immediately, and they can start the very next day. So that's why I did and that's what I still do now. The one thing that helps is one of the things you put in is your income, right? So I'm not gonna lie if, if you have low expenses and you can live off a lower amount of money, then you're gonna get a lower premium or lower rates, right? If you're quitting your engineering job because you you have your own business that's making 200 grand a year, yeah, you're going to pay a lot in health insurance compared to if you're quitting engineering to go work at Amazon for 15 bucks an hour, you're going to pay a lot less than that case, right? So it's dependent on income, but anyone can get a health insurance quote immediately and have it start tomorrow. Now, I was getting a good rate in 2020 because my income was low, but now that I'm making more from content creation, my premium is a lot more. Now I'm making more, so I should be able to afford it, right, you know? And so I'm not mad about it, right? But yeah, now I feel comfortable doing it and again, if I'm making more, I should, I probably should pay more if I'm making less, and I probably should pay less and I'm okay with it, but yeah, that was my biggest hold up. And I think it's easier than people think. I'm not saying it's cheap, but it's definitely easier than people think to get health insurance starting tomorrow, if you if you need

Jamila Souffrant 1:01:17

it or want it right right now. Drew as we wrap this up, I do want you to share, or I think would be helpful for our audience to maybe just get some tips from you. I think maybe just like two subject matters that I think you excel at right now, which is content creation. So people who want to get more into content creation and make money from it, like, what tips do you have from that or to them? And then the other area in which I think would be helpful is for people who just want to get started, who want to see gains, and like, get to where they're going faster with their personal finance and financial independence journey. What would you

Drew Lee 1:01:52

tell them? Sure? So, number one with the content creation. So, and this is specifically related to, like, short form content like Tiktok, Instagram reels, stuff like that. I'm someone that I prioritize quality over quantity, so I think the number one most important thing if you're making a Tiktok video or reel is you want people to watch it right. And you want people to watch it as long as possible. The worst thing that can happen is somebody sees your Tiktok video and they scroll away after one second, because then tick tock knows. You know, people are scrolling away after a second. That must not make that must not be a good tick tock video, and we're not going to show it to more people. So, yeah, I prioritize quality over quantity. And to do that, you know, you want to make sure you have a good hook in the first couple seconds, whether that's a text hook, a text on screen, a visual hook. Maybe you're in some crazy location, right? If you're standing in a boat in the middle of an ocean making a tick tock video with a cool background, people are going to be more intrigued than if you're sitting in your living room, right? So that's just one example, right? But maybe you want to have something cool in the background, something to make people want to watch. And I think without that, what was successful about my McDonald's series was I was just sitting in my car, so it wasn't a cool background or anything, but I had a good hook in the beginning. Hey, I just finished my second shift at McDonald's as an ex engineer. Right? There weren't, there aren't too many people doing that, and it was just kind of something new, fresh that I think nobody else is really doing, and it made people want to watch. And so I think that's what made it successful. So you just got to figure out something to make people want to watch and stay and watch on your video, and the algorithms are going to push it to more people. Sorry, that was a long answer. No, that was good.

Jamila Souffrant 1:03:33

Find that angle. Find find the angle of your story that makes you unique. And we all have it. And having the guts, right, and the energy to want to put it out there, is the other thing. And I sorry.

Drew Lee 1:03:42

And one more point on that, you got to try different things. I think the worst thing people can do is they make 10 videos and they're all similar, and they're all not performing well, and they're trying to figure out why, you know, why they're in 200 view jail, right? Or their videos aren't doing well. I think you have to try something different, right? Get a boat and go to the lake and try making that same video. Like, seriously, like that, that would catch eyeballs or something, right? But you got to try different things. And I think the engineer engineer in me has been good at that. And just figure, you know, figure out what works and trying different things. The second part of your question, I'm sorry, can you repeat it?

Jamila Souffrant 1:04:16

Tips on the personal finance journey or the like, that side of things like, what would you tell someone to do if they can right now, after listening like that, they can help their finances in their journey. After listening, what should they do?

Drew Lee 1:04:27

Yeah, it. I always like to tell people investing is the easy part, right? If you just simply contribute to your 401 K and Roth IRA and use basic low cost index funds like s, p5, 100 US, total market International, total market funds. And you do that for 30 years, you're it's a very, very high success rate, very, very high, right? So the investing is the easy part. The hard part is having money, right? And that's where, you know, we talked about, if you're making 15 bucks an hour, you're not going to have that much money left over to invest. The hard part is having money to invest, and that's increase your income. Yeah, and also having the discipline to keep your expenses low. But I always tell people, you got to focus on that stuff. There's a reason I'm so frugal, because it makes a difference. When you're frugal and you keep your keep your expenses low, and you it can increase that delta between your income here and your expenses, right? And I think the second big thing is you got to understand and trust the math. I'm a math person, and even if you're just contributing $300 a month, and you do that for 40 years, from age 23 to 63 right? That's going to be a lot of money, and it's hard to trust that math initially, because you're not seeing that growth initially. But like, math is math. That's why I love math. And I hate, I hated reading books in English in school because, you know, the teacher asks you a question. There's not it's subjective. Math is math. If you contribute $300 a month for 40 years, it's going to start slow, but whatever year that is, 1520, 30, it's going to go like that. The math is the maths, and you got to trust that and be patient, and at the same time, you know, it helps if you can obviously increase your income and invest more than $300 a month, but the math is a math, and you got to trust that.

Jamila Souffrant 1:06:11

Oh my gosh, that's actually really great advice. I realized, I don't think I said your your Tiktok or Instagram handle, because we're talking about, I'm sure people like, Okay, let me look this guy up. So can you please share where people can follow you and find out more about you?

Drew Lee 1:06:24

Yeah, so my handles on Tiktok and Instagram are at dollars with Drew Tiktok and Instagram. I'm not really much. I don't really do too much on YouTube, so yeah, primarily Tiktok and Instagram and yeah, that's really it, those two platforms.

Jamila Souffrant 1:06:41

I will link those in the episode show notes. But this was like such a great conversation. I'm so glad to have come across your content. I'm pretty sure you're going to inspire and help a lot of people with this episode and just overall moving forward. So thank you once again, for

Drew Lee 1:06:56

coming on the show. Thank you so much for having me. I really enjoyed chatting with the you know, with you about this stuff. It's so fun to talk about financial independence and just share the Word and share some of the you know, our different journeys. But yeah, thank you so much for having me. I really

Jamila Souffrant 1:07:10

appreciate it. Don't forget. You can get the episode show notes for this episode by going to journey to launch.com or click the description of wherever you're listening to this. And you can still grab your jumpstart guide for free to help you on your journey to financial freedom by going to journey to launch.com/jumpstart

Jamila Souffrant 1:07:32

if you want to support me and the podcast and love the free content and information that you get here, here are four ways that you can support me in The Show. One, make sure you're subscribed to the podcast wherever you listen, whether that's Apple podcast, that purple app on your phone, your Android device, YouTube, Spotify, wherever it is that you happen to listen, just subscribe so you are not missing an episode. And if you're happening to listen to this in Apple podcasts, rate review and subscribe there. I appreciate and read every single review. Number two, follow me on my social media accounts. I'm at journey to launch on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and I love, love, love interacting with journeyers. There three, support and check out the sponsors of this show. If you hear something that interests you. Sponsors are the main ways we keep the podcast lights on here. So show them some love for supporting your girl four. And last but not least, share this episode, this podcast, with a friend or family member or co worker so that we can spread the message of Journey to launch. All right, that's it until next week. Keep on journeying. Journeyers. You you.

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