The Day I Woke Up with $22,000 in My Checking Account

With my Amazon.com Kindle book published, Udemy courses humming along and payments deposits due from clients on my database consulting side of business, it seemed like payday was finally upon me. All my efforts were finally paying off!

A normal morning, I logged in to check my business checking account like I do pretty much everyday and thought, “Dang! My amazon and Udemy sales REALLY spiked last night. Whoo-hoo time to celebrate!”

I proceeded to look through the transaction detail and my heart sank….an extra deposit from a client. It was a mistake. Drats.

I was in fantasy land for about 5 minutes. A few hours later I got a humble, yet cautious email from my client- “Um…we made a little mistake.” They had sent over my $11,000 payment twice! They were at my mercy because technically the money was in my account and there was nothing they could do to prevent me from running off with it. I didn’t hesitate- Hey no worries, I’m sending your check off ASAP. And I did.

This was a weird occurrence but encouraging nonetheless because I got some takeaways that showed me some unexpected progress in my personal and business growth.

Not That Surprised

I saw that high balance and thought it was somewhat higher than I anticipated for my account balance but not improbable. It is very realistic that this could happen to me, perhaps even this year. I’m not terribly far away from this scenario. A few years ago, I probably would have fainted and maybe fled the country with such an absurd amount of money.

Strangely Honest

The thought to keep the money didn’t even cross my mind. Well, maybe it did. It was a fleeting thought that got SMASHED by my character commitment. BAM! I spent the last few years of my life trying as hard as I could to be honest and forthright with people and clients. This was not the time to break that trend. I need my reputation!

Happened for a Reason

I wasn’t disappointed, but came away hopeful. In fact I took a nice screenshot for my dream board. To make this amount of money monthly through my business is a real goal I set at the beginning of the year. Plus, once it goes on a dream board, we all know it’s as good as done!

The money’s back, safely in my client’s bank but that moment, that amount is forever etched in my mind. Some day soon, this will be my reality!

Update as of January 15th, 2016

I came very close to reaching this $22K in the bank, as I ended grossing about $123,000 in revenue for 2015. I closed the year out with a lucrative $25,000 contract that was paid out in small increments. So it happened but in smaller chunks….I’ll take it!