Things Didn’t Always Go as Planned for Sure!

I am a registered nurse, real estate investor, options trader, and holistic confidence coach. I work full time as a nurse and manage all of my rental properties, trades, and coaching clients. Why? Because it’s good stuff! 

I am an immigrant from Bulgaria who came to the United States on a student visa in 2000 at age twenty-four to pursue my master’s and doctoral degrees in violin. I was born and raised in the family of classical musicians and began playing the violin at age six. I earned my bachelor’s in 1999 from the National Academy of Music in Sofia, my master’s in 2002, and my doctorate in 2007 from Louisiana State University. I spent a total of twenty-six years of my life perfecting my instrumental skills, with the intention of succeeding in a highly competitive field that was enjoying less and less support and popularity, as technology and the Internet prompted a shift in priorities in a vast segment of the population with regards to cultural and educational choices.

Bulgaria is a country of the former Socialist Bloc. Growing up during communism left a lasting memory of a unique type of overall economic insufficiency and the censorship of many freedoms that people in this country have been enjoying for a long time, until relatively recently. I still remember my parents trying to tune the radio up to foreign news stations to learn about events in my country that my government didn’t want us to hear about. Being a dedicated musician from an early age created a protective psychological shield from some realities of my country’s political system, but it could not prevent my parents’ frustrations and anxiety with their professional and financial struggles, making it hard for them to ignore the corruption and lack of integrity of the political elite and those conveniently close to it or safely shielded under its powerful wing. To make matters worse, the perceived need for classical music and music education in Bulgaria gradually but steadily spiraled in a downward direction after the regime dissolved.

I was systematically psychologically programmed that I had to leave Bulgaria in order to grow personally and professionally. Practicing the violin multiple hours each and every day was perceived as a way to acquire great proficiency and thereby increase the chance of being noticed by a reputed foreign violin teacher and offered a scholarship at a prestigious music school abroad. As a result of my desire to leave the country and establish myself at a better place, I practiced anywhere from six to eight hours daily in middle and high school. After high school, nine to ten hours of daily violin practice was not uncommon.

Coming to the US at age twenty-four for my master’s and doctoral degrees, I had to learn an entire new culture not only in terms of communication and social acceptance, but also with regards to technology, because I was hardly exposed to any of the modern technology while pursuing my bachelor’s degree in music in Sofia. The first time I touched a computer keyboard was at twenty-three during the TOEFL examination, and once I finally landed in the US in August of 2000, a kind graduate student at the LSU library helped me create my first email address. In addition, I needed to overcome a partially cultural and mostly self-inflicted negative perception of myself that proved to be the most burdensome of all challenges.

During my seven years of study at LSU, I slowly found out that there were opportunities for personal growth other than music. I also couldn’t stay in eternal denial of the fact that, even after winning an orchestra audition while competing against forty to 500 other violinists for a single spot, job security was far from guaranteed. Many orchestras began downsizing and some even went bankrupt after 2006.

I was employed with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra when the 2008 financial crisis hit. As I witnessed talented and successful young musicians transition into professional fields dramatically different from music or the arts in general, I realized I had to make some changes. That’s when I understood how difficult it was to break out of a comfort zone. I also went through a painful divorce at the time. This event managed to motivate me to become a highly independent and self-reliant person. I decided to pursue a career in nursing.

I graduated from the St. Joseph’s College of Nursing in 2011 and started my first nursing job. Ironically, that was the very year the Syracuse Symphony declared bankruptcy. The reason I chose to become a registered nurse was that I desperately wanted to be helpful to other people. Somehow, being a musician for almost three decades did not provide confidence that my work was useful to society. I had played many concerts as a soloist, chamber and orchestra musician, toured many countries, and taught children and adults how to play the violin. Yet I knew I had untapped abilities, and a craving for exploring those more in-depth developed during nursing school.

I also became a dedicated martial artist, which was a dream I had not been able to accomplish for a long time. Martial arts practice taught me what it meant to persevere and keep going.

Once I saw I was able to successfully transition to a completely different professional reality, I started wondering what else I could learn. I set a goal to make myself financially independent, meaning not having to rely on an employer to provide for my desired lifestyle. The Syracuse Symphony’s going under water left a big red flag in my mind and I resolved to never count on being steadily employed, but instead find ways to create consistent multiple streams of income that were not necessarily related to a job.

I started acquiring rental properties in 2014, and in 2017, I began trading options. My curiosity and determination to free myself from the lifelong concept that having a well-paying job was the best or only way to live well helped me through this new and steep learning curve. I had never purchased real estate property when I acquired my first multi-family rental. My boyfriend and I learned to manage real estate well before he bought our house. I kept building more profitable assets while he was in charge of the house and, once the investment portfolio grew to where we were both happy with it, we made the house debt disappear. The house was paid off in five and a half years, yet we never stopped acquiring cash-flowing assets while also working full time as nurses.

Today, my boyfriend and I are financially independent. The only reason we keep working in an increasingly frustrating healthcare system is that we enjoy being helpful to our patients. But we do not have to succumb to any conditions that are against our medical ethics or health values, out of fear we would not be able to put bread on our table.

Being an investor has allowed me to view my life and purpose from an entirely different angle, with a whole new perception or understanding of the meaning of the word ‘freedom.’ I am adamant about time management and efficiency. I am a fierce health advocate. My fitness routines are 2.5-3-hours long, and I go to the gym a minimum of four days a week. My workouts are well planned, focused, and uncompromising. I will turn forty-six this month and have never felt stronger. The other thing I do not compromise is my diet. My boyfriend and I have been vegan for over four years now. We take no pharmaceutical drugs.

My goal is to serve as a prime example to my patients and loved ones when it comes to achieving perpetual health and wealth through self-discipline and accountability. I am also adamant about having control over my life, as opposed to entrusting important decisions to others. This is what keeps me vigilant and willing to be a lifelong learner.

I am acutely aware of the direction in which the healthcare system is going in its incessant search for more profitable ways for long-term disease management rather than causal treatments aiming at disease elimination and lasting health. Having solid knowledge about health and wealth is crucial in today’s highly corrupt and manipulative environment. It has never been more essential to a person’s peace of mind to find ways towards prosperity by legal, moral, and ethical means. Being financially independent has allowed me to explore opportunities undreamed of before, but most importantly, it has opened my eyes to today’s reality, thanks to the ability to place myself in a position of a side observer who has choices, rather than remaining a slave to a system that is ultimately geared towards benefiting a selected few.

I want to show others that the system and the world around us, regardless of their flaws, are perfectly workable if we position ourselves strategically by utilizing a well-planned course of action as determined by goals reflecting our strongest desires and dreams. There is always opportunity and there is always something to learn. After realizing this, it has become hard for me to get bored with life. This transition in mindset was possible for me because of desperation and the feeling of having hit bottom at one point in my life. I felt stuck and limited in so many ways that the only option left was to simply start walking in the new direction and keep going until a goal was accomplished, and then set up more and more goals, and continue.

I am your typical example of a late starter in life. To be wealthy, you don’t have to be born into a wealthy family. Wealth and health are a matter of mindset more often than many people realize. And I am convinced that, if I could do what I did, so can you!