MMFBT 018: Tom Drake – The Godfather of Canadian Personal Finance Bloggers

Tom Drake enters our studio headquarters on this week’s edition of The More Money for Beer and Textbooks Podcast and lays down some insights in regards to hustling on a side gig in order to get your feet wet in the world of entrepreneurship.

We half-jokingly refer to Tom as The Godfather of Canadian personal finance blogs because he was one of the first guys on the scene.  He now owns several blogs and websites under his Drake Media banner and has been recognized by personal finance experts all over North America as one of the main forces in the blogging community.  Tom also happens to be one of the nicest fellas you’ll ever get a chance to meet and has always lent us a hand when we needed guidance over the past few years.

When most people think of a side gig, or part-time job to supplement their income, they don’t often think about the large-scale potential it could have.  Tom talks to us about how his part-time passion grew from essentially a labour of love, to producing an income that has had a serious impact on his standard of living.  By creating an income stream roughly equal to a middle-class average income out of Tom’s basement office, Mrs. Drake has had the opportunity to focus more on the home life.  I personally haven’t done the child thing yet, but I would imagine being able to have one parent devote themselves fully to the parenting circus without having to worry about work outside the home would be a massive advantage on most two-income households.  While Tom often puts in some late nights, I think it’s fair to say this side gig income has severely cut down on the work-life balance stress that many young couples have to deal with.

Together we compare the pros and cons behind the mindset of an employee and the mindset of an entrepreneur.  Tom shares some of the tips that have made him so successful and explains that while running Drake Media is fun and rewarding, it is also a monster time commitment.  Finally, we illustrate just why you should fire up a side gig while you’re still in high school or in post-secondary. 

The pros severely outweigh the cons in my mind, and we both agree we would should have focused more on that area when we were going through school in hindsight.

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You can catch Tom most often at Canadian Financial Blog.  He’s also active on all of the usual social media hot spots.

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