For the new readers, I am Muhammad Rizwan, founder of Escapetivity. The purpose of this introductory post is to introduce myself, my reasons for creating the “escape” blog and how you as a reader can benefit from it.
Who Am I?
This is my first blog. I am an engineer by education. I am also a millennial. An interesting thing about me is for the longest period of time I never knew who precisely a millennial was. One fine day, sometime around 2013 after hearing about the term for the umpteenth time, I finally decided to look it up on the internet and quite interestingly discovered that I was a member of that generation.
After graduating in 2007, I started my career in the Canadian oil-sands industry in northern Alberta where I ended up working for more than 11 years in various technical and leadership roles. During that time, I have experienced an industry, a company and a city go from red-hot ($120+/barrel) to dead-cold ($25/barrel) – or as economists like to say “boom and bust”.
When I started my career, the oil-sands industry was labelled as the proverbial blue-eyed boy in the room. Companies offered six-figure salary packages to entry-level workers (in addition to other perks). The media fawned over the huge capital investments that were in the pipeline. Coming out of college with a student loan, joining the industry was a relatively straightforward decision. The downside of living through harsh winters in a somewhat remote location was a suitable compromise.
However, after 2012, the global issue of climate change started to gain real traction. The oil-sands industry, heavy on carbon emissions, went from being a blue-eyed boy to the elephant in the room. The oil price crash in 2014 and the Fort McMurray wildfire didn’t help the situation either. Investment plans were abandoned and projects underway were cancelled. Employee benefits were slashed and layoffs became the norm. Fortunately, I was still gainfully employed. However, the thought of continuing in an industry in long-term decline was worrying to say the least.
So, Why I Am Here? Why Am I Blogging?
Well, in a nutshell, you can describe my experience as fairly ordinary. I followed the cookie-cutter life manual to the best of my ability – get a college degree, get a good job, work hard, gain experience, deliver results, get a mortgage, buy a house, start a family and happily retire at 60 with a fully-paid off house and a nice, fat pension. However, after more than ten years of working in the same company, I found myself stressed and over-worked due to the ever-increasing requirement of ‘high performance’.
It was demotivating. I needed a way out. I needed to escape.
What’s more I was certainly not alone in facing these challenges. Other people in the workplace and those in the larger community were struggling as well. No one seemed to have a clear answer or an escape route. The common thread that I discovered through my experiences and those of others is that the cookie-cutter life manual simply does not work for the vast majority of millennials and Generation Z population. And that is exactly is the purpose of my blog – I will share my experiences and provide a viable alternative that is suited to the environment many people today find themselves in.
What Is This Whole “Escape” Thing About?
As I want you to get the most of out this blog in the least amount of time, let me explain clearly what this blog will be about:
1. In the first part of this blog, I am going to show you how to achieve financial independence. I am going to walk you through the process of building your wealth in a disciplined manner, minimizing your taxes, protecting your portfolio from market volatility and cultivating it into an entity that provides for your needs while self-sustaining itself.
2. In the second part of this blog, I am going to show you to develop your personal brand. I am going to show you how to find the right job for yourself, how to manage your career and how to select the right type of work experiences that enhance your market value.
I am of the belief that combining these two elements together will allow you to escape the hamster wheel. After all, “escape” is the very theme of this blog. Interestingly, that is why I decided to name this blog escapetivity – the opposite of “captivity”.
Of course, you are free to start wherever you want depending on your own situation and preferences.
So, Ideally For Who Is This Escape Blog For?
I am guessing that you are visiting this blog because you are looking for a way to escape the rat race. Or maybe exploring something new interests you! My primary target is for millennials and Gen Z individuals who are popularly classified as the “lost generation”. That is, the people who have entered the workforce in the time of high unemployment, inflated real estate markets, record levels of student debt and more recently a global pandemic.
How Can You Get Involved?
Comments, disagreements and differences of opinion are encouraged and always welcome!
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