Escaping the 9 to 5, how I did it? I never did like the 9 to 5 so I knew I would have to work twice as hard at something else, to escape its clutches. In my 20’s I had many jobs – you know the kind; anyone could do them and they were poorly paid. After leaving school and not doing great in my A-levels, I wandered from job to job without much of a direction.

Life was pretty meaningless other than desperately looking for a job, or direction which paid more than the minimum, and which gave some kind of satisfaction and purpose. I was lucky enough to be able to still live with a parent, although I didn’t see it that way at the time; and nor did they!

Many jobs were on production lines and supermarkets. I got a job as a lifeguard which was a bit more interesting, but only seasonal. My passion was the martial arts and I threw all my desperation (and anger) into that for many years.

Escaping The 9 to 5 – I Hated The 9 To 5

When I was 24 I was still in the same boat as I was when leaving school at 19. I had gathered some random qualifications, but not really found a direction.

Working as a lifeguard in Morecambe, UK, I met another martial artist and he told me his instructor was a stuntman! I realised this was my chance to do something for a living I could really get behind; something I would love! I was sick of what was on offer at the job centre and my whole life looked like that for many years.

Here was something different and amazing which I thought I could do! I got the stuntman’s details and arranged to meet him at his Tae Kwon Do school. He gave me the rundown about how to become a stuntman! I went about learning the 6 disciplines I needed to qualify for the British stunt register.

It was a tall order of course, but I didn’t see myself working at factories for the rest of my life.

A Meaningful Career, Not A Job

It took me four years of training in various disciplines: rock climbing, SCUBA diving, martial arts, fencing, trampolining (and swimming) before I was eligible to join the UK stunt register. I also had to gain experience in front of the camera which I did through doing background artist (TV extras) work.

It wasn’t easy and I was also working a number of jobs including delivery driving, taxi driving and working on building sites in addition to the TV Extras work I was doing. I also signed on unemployed several times too. Using an old VW Golf I had bought for £450, I would break down on nearly every trip! I had to factor in an extra hour on long journeys to allow for a breakdown!

After I joined the Stunt register in 2002, I was super excited. However, it wasn’t until 2 years later that I got my first job as a stunt performer on a film. It was called Enduring Love and I was doubling Rhys Ifans. In between jobs, I was driving taxis and delivering food for an Indian take away.

What Is Success?

I hadn’t escaped the 9 to 5 though. Not at this point. At this point I was still living at home with my Mum! I was working as a taxi driver and had only got one paid job. This counted for about a week’s worth of work. I wasn’t working the 9 to 5, as such. But I was still working in a low paid job and definitely not where I wanted to be in life. The work I got helped me pay off a credit card, and I was back to zero in the bank!

I changed jobs a number of times while seeking the stunt work. I used some of my qualifications to get work teaching trampolining, rock climbing and martial arts. But the work in those areas was pretty much either part time or temporary so I was still taking driving jobs and working in offices intermittently. I worked at a climbing wall for a while, but my real passion was the martial arts. So I eventually moved back to Leeds, where I initially met my Wing Chun instructor, shortly before leaving school at 19 years old.

Escaping The 9 To 5 – How I Did It

Jumping forward several years, I was still juggling work with the stunts. I was losing the faith though, and was watching friends get married, buy houses and live a very different life to my own. Still chasing the “dream job”, I wondered whether I was missing out on the really important things in life.

I got my HGV licence to help me get some work in between film and TV jobs. The gaps between stunt jobs were sometimes months and sometimes years. There was no way of knowing when I would work next. This became pretty stressful and I struggled to plan anything, on the off-chance a job would come up. I booked a Hong Kong trip (see picture above) and some work came in! To make this trip came at a sacrifice of 2 weeks of work on Game Of Thrones! I’m not sure I made the right decision! I eventually opened up my own Wing Chun school in Bradford. Building this school took some time. At first I had a heap of problems with it.

I was struggling to make money from stunts still, and I was also attempting to build my own martial arts school, which wasn’t making any money. So I looked for another solution. I had dabbled online with eBay and tried my hand at buying and selling on the auction site. But I had also started looking at other online businesses too. I found an online business while browsing Facebook one day and decided that I should spend some time looking into it. It was to prove a good decision.

Escaping The 9 To 5 – Trading Time For Money Trap

Despite attempting many different strategies to make money in some interesting ways, I was still “trapped” because I was always trying to make money by selling my time. What I subsequently learned from joining an online business community, was to leverage my time by selling other people’s products on the internet instead.

While learning how to sell products online, I was also able to access trainings and learn how to market my martial arts school properly too. Between growing my Wing Chun school, selling products online and getting work as a stunt performer, things rapidly changed. I no longer was relying on a single source of income.

I realised I had actually escaped the 9 to 5 – and would no longer need to work in another 9 to 5 job.

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