The Ugly Truth

I have a confession to make. I’m not proud of it, but I depend on my wife to survive financially. It’s the ugly truth, even though I have been aware of it ever since I joined her family business. Let me share my story, I promise I won’t make it too long and boring for you.

My wife comes from a wealthy background. As for me, I did not. So, before I wanted to ask my wife’s hand in marriage, as a man, like all other men feel this way, I assume, I wanted to earn first to prove to her and her family. But in doing that, she decided to leave me thinking I didn’t want to marry her. So we took a break instead for about a year.

During that one year, I tried my very best to earn. I tried everything. I mainly wanted to do online business, or is it called internet marketing? Why online business? Only because it looked easy and I get to be my own boss. But boy was I wrong. I made YouTube videos, I tried forex trading, affiliate marketing, dropshipping, multi-level marketing, you name it. This was back when AI was not around(about 11 years ago).

I then decided to join my father, who was an export trader. But for some reason, he didn’t really want me to be a part of it. Don’t really know the reason, but I don’t want to get into that now. Maybe one day I will share that story. So finally, I applied for a job in a start-up company. The founder was kind enough to give me a position to handle their social media, create content for their business. You know how it works. The pay wasn’t much, but I was just grateful to earn something instead of living off my parents at that time.

After almost a year working at the startup company, my wife and I contacted each other. Her father asked to meet me. He worked in the police force, about to retire. His rank was a 2 star general. I could sense he was fierce, but he was nice to me. He knew about my not coming from a wealthy background. But he could see how much I care for and love his daughter. So he asked me to join his business along with his daughter, and he will pay us a good salary.

When I received my first salary from my father-in-law, I had mixed emotions. Happy and slightly guilty because I wasn’t sure if I was good enough. But I received it anyway because I never made that much when I worked for the startup company. Along the way, of course, there were many hiccups, and I still had a lot to learn. Compared to my wife, she did a better job than I did. To be frank, most of the time I didn’t do much work and still received my salary. Until one day, I was given a failed project that I managed to turn into a profitable one. Again, of course, with the help of my wife and father-in-law. But this time I did more work.

Now it’s 2025, and it’s been 4 years already since the passing of my father-in-law. The project finished successfully even after his passing. I then proposed to do another project in the same field as the first one. Only this time it’s bigger. But still using my wife’s family’s resources. My wife didn’t want to go forward with it. She was having issues with her family. But I insisted on it. She wasn’t happy because back then, when her father was still alive, he would always have our backs. This time we are on our own. Well, since I proposed the project, I’m handling it. She does not want to be a part of it.

Fast forward to now, everything was going well until her family decided to divide the inheritance. What I forgot to mention is that the project I proposed is part of the family asset. So I had to stop halfway until the inheritance is settled. I had to make a lot of changes in the project using my own money. Before that, it was the company’s money (family’s money).

So, how are we still surviving? From the family’s money. The money is kept in a high-yield savings account. So we are surviving on the interest generated. It’s still good and more than enough to survive, but I feel so guilty for not being able to contribute anything. So now I’m back to figuring out how to make money online. And my god, there are so many ways to make money online now with AI. My first attempt is to write this and share it on Vocal since I heard that you can make income writing articles. (I’m not a writer by the way) But I hope to one day inspire other dads and husbands that, whatever journey you are going through, you are not alone.

So there you have it. This is my confession. Thank you for reading and listening.