Paul's Next Book
Coming in 2025
Coming in 2025
Chapter ONE
I started my engineering and construction business from zero. No one rolled out the red carpet for me. After more than twenty years of hard work and sending two sons to college, for the first time, I became a self-made millionaire. While I was at the very peak of my home-building business and about to semi-retire, I became entangled in an unfortunate and destructive divorce. I tried my hardest to finish it in a friendly manner so that I could save my business. Unfortunately, that did not happen.
After two and a half years of brutal court battles, I lost my home, and later, my business. Most of my savings and retirement money had gone toward the expensive legal fees, as well. In the end, it was so bad that although I had voluntarily given her half of the assets, it felt as if the two divorce attorneys had gotten the other half. On top of that, because of my previously high income in the home-building business, I had to pay her a huge monthly alimony—until she died or remarried. Since murder was not an option, my only way out was for her to get remarried. I was praying and begging everyone, “Please Marry My Wife.”
At about the same time, the housing market in Central California, where I was working, started to collapse. I could not even pay my own bills. How could I pay the unrealistic monthly alimony? Everything seemed to cave in at the same time. In a short span, I went from Hero to Zero. The destruction was brutal.
Since there was no way that I could earn enough money to pay the alimony, I decided to leave the country. I found a job as an English teacher in China that would pay me about eight hundred dollars per month, and that was enough to live over there. Although English is my second language, to the Chinese, I was speaking English like a Harvard graduate. They couldn’t hear a difference.
Despite everything, I was very concerned about her. She was my first love, and we had been married for twenty-nine years. How was she going to take care of herself?
On the other hand, I had to question, why should I care for her? I had tried my hardest to finish it in a friendly manner, and she had refused. I had voluntarily given her our beautiful five-bedroom family home that was paid off, her Mercedes Benz that was paid off, all of the furniture that was paid off, and a lump sum of cash. She had a master’s degree and children in college. She could have easily supported herself. I should not have felt bad at all for not being able to take care of her. It was time for me to leave her and take care of my own life before I lost more. It was time for me to move to China. Let her suffer her life without me. It would be a BIG punishment for her!
About a month after our divorce, while I was preparing to move to China, one of my friends called me and said, “I have news about your ex-wife.”
I angrily said, “I don’t care anymore. I’ve had enough . . . but . . . what is the news?”
He said, “Your ex-wife is getting married to your neighbor.”
I screamed, “Whaaaaat?! She kept me in court for two and a half years, ruined my thriving construction business, and now she is getting married to my neighbor?” How naive I had been!
A few minutes later, I realized that this was actually great news. With her getting remarried so quickly to our neighbor, I wouldn’t have to pay alimony much longer. I believed I had just struck a gold mine. Suddenly, my neighbor had become an angel sent from heaven to save me.
Now, I had another challenge: Would their marriage go according to plan? How soon would they get married? What could I do to make sure that their marriage would go smoothly?
There were too many unknowns and uncertainties. Time was working against me. I was out of work, and I had to put my plan for moving to China on hold—at least temporarily. I was just waiting, and waiting, and waiting. I could hear the clock ticking. I had never been so vulnerable. My whole life depended on their marriage. If they got married, I could stay in the United States and restart my life. If God forbid, their marriage plan failed, I would have to move to China and teach the English language. With English being my second language, I could ruin the Chinese people’s English skills for years to come. It was one of those crucial times in my life, and I just had to wait and pray that their marriage would go according to plan.
Soon after, a friend called and said that he had received a wedding invitation. He said that the wedding date was about a month later. This news was like music to my ears. It was like rain in the desert. How could I have gotten so lucky? At the same time, the tension inside of me began building. That one month felt like an eternity. It wasn’t just her wedding; it was my BIG DAY too—I would soon have my freedom back.
A week before the wedding, I even left town to make sure that I wouldn’t disturb their plans. The wedding was on a Saturday night, and I went to Las Vegas to celebrate my freedom. I was with a friend, and we spent the evening walking up and down the street, trying to keep me occupied. I was anxiously waiting for the good news: the confirmation of their marriage. I waited, and waited, and waited—but there was no news and no phone call. It was devastating. I barely slept that night. When I did, I had a scary dream that the wedding had been canceled and I was teaching English in a village in China. After school, she and her attorney chased me down a narrow alley behind the building with a big syringe and a long needle to suck the last drop of blood from my body. I ran, and ran, and ran. I ran as fast as I could. Luckily, I fell off a tall bridge. My head smashed into a big rock, and I woke up. What a relief! It was morning.
I packed up my stuff and headed toward Los Angeles to see my parents. Still no news. Finally, at about ten in the morning, while I was driving across the desert, I called one of our mutual friends who had attended the wedding. I asked him about it. He said, “Paul, congratulations! The wedding went smoothly. You are off the hook.”
I pulled my car over and parked it on the side of the road. I got out and walked to the middle of the barren land and screamed, “Yesssss . . . Yesssss . . . Yessss! Thank you . . . Thank you . . . Thank you!” I then screamed even more, as hard as I could, to make sure it would reach the heavens. It felt as if the outgoing husband was happier than the incoming husband.
Her quick and surprise marriage to our neighbor was a real blessing. It had happened four months after our divorce. I couldn’t have been happier—I had my freedom back. I had my freedom back, but I had nowhere to sleep.
Unfortunately, shortly after in 2008, the housing market crashed, and it completely wiped out my home-building business in Central California. After more than twenty years of hard work, creating jobs for the local economy, and sending two sons to college, a home-builder became homeless. I was sleeping in my construction truck, friends’ houses, and motels.
How could I get back on my feet?! At my lowest point, I had lost practically everything. Everything, except THE MILLIONAIRE WITHIN ME. I was determined not only to get back on my feet, but to reinvent myself for a much better life.
Several years later, while I was at the very bottom of my life, financially and emotionally, and could not see any light at the end of the tunnel, I started my new journey of “365 DAYS in STARBUCKS,” one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life.
It helped me tremendously to get focused and to develop the discipline I needed to reinvent myself for a better life. That ultimate level of discipline I mentioned on the back of my book would turn out to be very powerful and priceless! I told myself, “If I can achieve this, I can conquer the world—not literally, but definitely figuratively. I should be able to achieve my challenging goals, even the ones that looked unattainable in the past. And I can definitely become a self-made millionaire . . . AGAIN . . . for the second time!”
I then decided to write this book, so that I could help others, too.
Well, are you excited to re-start your life for a better future? Are you ready to achieve your challenging and unreachable goals? Are you ready to unleash the millionaire within you, as well? Then flip to the next page, and let’s travel together to YOUR better future . . . a much better future! Even though we can’t see each other, I promise, I’ll be with YOU to the last page!
After two and a half years of brutal court battles, I lost my home, and later, my business. Most of my savings and retirement money had gone toward the expensive legal fees, as well. In the end, it was so bad that although I had voluntarily given her half of the assets, it felt as if the two divorce attorneys had gotten the other half. On top of that, because of my previously high income in the home-building business, I had to pay her a huge monthly alimony—until she died or remarried. Since murder was not an option, my only way out was for her to get remarried. I was praying and begging everyone, “Please Marry My Wife.”
At about the same time, the housing market in Central California, where I was working, started to collapse. I could not even pay my own bills. How could I pay the unrealistic monthly alimony? Everything seemed to cave in at the same time. In a short span, I went from Hero to Zero. The destruction was brutal.
Since there was no way that I could earn enough money to pay the alimony, I decided to leave the country. I found a job as an English teacher in China that would pay me about eight hundred dollars per month, and that was enough to live over there. Although English is my second language, to the Chinese, I was speaking English like a Harvard graduate. They couldn’t hear a difference.
Despite everything, I was very concerned about her. She was my first love, and we had been married for twenty-nine years. How was she going to take care of herself?
On the other hand, I had to question, why should I care for her? I had tried my hardest to finish it in a friendly manner, and she had refused. I had voluntarily given her our beautiful five-bedroom family home that was paid off, her Mercedes Benz that was paid off, all of the furniture that was paid off, and a lump sum of cash. She had a master’s degree and children in college. She could have easily supported herself. I should not have felt bad at all for not being able to take care of her. It was time for me to leave her and take care of my own life before I lost more. It was time for me to move to China. Let her suffer her life without me. It would be a BIG punishment for her!
About a month after our divorce, while I was preparing to move to China, one of my friends called me and said, “I have news about your ex-wife.”
I angrily said, “I don’t care anymore. I’ve had enough . . . but . . . what is the news?”
He said, “Your ex-wife is getting married to your neighbor.”
I screamed, “Whaaaaat?! She kept me in court for two and a half years, ruined my thriving construction business, and now she is getting married to my neighbor?” How naive I had been!
A few minutes later, I realized that this was actually great news. With her getting remarried so quickly to our neighbor, I wouldn’t have to pay alimony much longer. I believed I had just struck a gold mine. Suddenly, my neighbor had become an angel sent from heaven to save me.
Now, I had another challenge: Would their marriage go according to plan? How soon would they get married? What could I do to make sure that their marriage would go smoothly?
There were too many unknowns and uncertainties. Time was working against me. I was out of work, and I had to put my plan for moving to China on hold—at least temporarily. I was just waiting, and waiting, and waiting. I could hear the clock ticking. I had never been so vulnerable. My whole life depended on their marriage. If they got married, I could stay in the United States and restart my life. If God forbid, their marriage plan failed, I would have to move to China and teach the English language. With English being my second language, I could ruin the Chinese people’s English skills for years to come. It was one of those crucial times in my life, and I just had to wait and pray that their marriage would go according to plan.
Soon after, a friend called and said that he had received a wedding invitation. He said that the wedding date was about a month later. This news was like music to my ears. It was like rain in the desert. How could I have gotten so lucky? At the same time, the tension inside of me began building. That one month felt like an eternity. It wasn’t just her wedding; it was my BIG DAY too—I would soon have my freedom back.
A week before the wedding, I even left town to make sure that I wouldn’t disturb their plans. The wedding was on a Saturday night, and I went to Las Vegas to celebrate my freedom. I was with a friend, and we spent the evening walking up and down the street, trying to keep me occupied. I was anxiously waiting for the good news: the confirmation of their marriage. I waited, and waited, and waited—but there was no news and no phone call. It was devastating. I barely slept that night. When I did, I had a scary dream that the wedding had been canceled and I was teaching English in a village in China. After school, she and her attorney chased me down a narrow alley behind the building with a big syringe and a long needle to suck the last drop of blood from my body. I ran, and ran, and ran. I ran as fast as I could. Luckily, I fell off a tall bridge. My head smashed into a big rock, and I woke up. What a relief! It was morning.
I packed up my stuff and headed toward Los Angeles to see my parents. Still no news. Finally, at about ten in the morning, while I was driving across the desert, I called one of our mutual friends who had attended the wedding. I asked him about it. He said, “Paul, congratulations! The wedding went smoothly. You are off the hook.”
I pulled my car over and parked it on the side of the road. I got out and walked to the middle of the barren land and screamed, “Yesssss . . . Yesssss . . . Yessss! Thank you . . . Thank you . . . Thank you!” I then screamed even more, as hard as I could, to make sure it would reach the heavens. It felt as if the outgoing husband was happier than the incoming husband.
Her quick and surprise marriage to our neighbor was a real blessing. It had happened four months after our divorce. I couldn’t have been happier—I had my freedom back. I had my freedom back, but I had nowhere to sleep.
Unfortunately, shortly after in 2008, the housing market crashed, and it completely wiped out my home-building business in Central California. After more than twenty years of hard work, creating jobs for the local economy, and sending two sons to college, a home-builder became homeless. I was sleeping in my construction truck, friends’ houses, and motels.
How could I get back on my feet?! At my lowest point, I had lost practically everything. Everything, except THE MILLIONAIRE WITHIN ME. I was determined not only to get back on my feet, but to reinvent myself for a much better life.
Several years later, while I was at the very bottom of my life, financially and emotionally, and could not see any light at the end of the tunnel, I started my new journey of “365 DAYS in STARBUCKS,” one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life.
It helped me tremendously to get focused and to develop the discipline I needed to reinvent myself for a better life. That ultimate level of discipline I mentioned on the back of my book would turn out to be very powerful and priceless! I told myself, “If I can achieve this, I can conquer the world—not literally, but definitely figuratively. I should be able to achieve my challenging goals, even the ones that looked unattainable in the past. And I can definitely become a self-made millionaire . . . AGAIN . . . for the second time!”
I then decided to write this book, so that I could help others, too.
Well, are you excited to re-start your life for a better future? Are you ready to achieve your challenging and unreachable goals? Are you ready to unleash the millionaire within you, as well? Then flip to the next page, and let’s travel together to YOUR better future . . . a much better future! Even though we can’t see each other, I promise, I’ll be with YOU to the last page!
Read more in the book
Coming in 2025
Coming in 2025
I LOOOVE my Starbucks family❤️
On my birthday they surprised me and brought tears to my eyes!!
On my birthday they surprised me and brought tears to my eyes!!