I graduated from Georgetown Law, but I ditched the legal world to tutor. I made 6 figures while traveling the world.

The pandemic gave me a chance to try new things

My tutoring slowed down significantly at the beginning of the pandemic, so I had a lot of free time. I decided to teach myself data science.

My family friend’s farm near my hometown was short-staffed, so I agreed to help harvest cilantro for about two and a half weeks. It was very hard work and less financially rewarding, but I’ve always been fascinated with agricultural fieldwork.

Weaving work, life, and travel together

One dimension of wealth I struggled with was choosing freedom over time. When a student pays me for the hour, it’s money for my time.

Practicing law was the same thing. At the law firm I worked at, I billed in six-minute increments, which messed with my perception of time. I didn’t like thinking of time as having monetary value.

With my travels and tutoring, I could have buckled down at home and been more efficient, but I wanted to weave work, life, and travel together.

In 2021, I started a new career as a data scientist, working at the intersection of law and data science. But after I moved to Chicago, I started getting more inquiries about tutoring. Now, most of my students are in high school, and I help them with taking standardized tests to get into university.

I’ve recently started learning web development; maybe I’ll also find ways to monetize that.

I have no regrets about going to law school, but I realized pretty quickly the practice of law was not for me.

Looking back, I wish I had tried more things. I’ve heard the analogy of a sail on a ship: You can’t guarantee the wind will come, but the more sails you put up, the better off you’ll be when the wind does come. So putting yourself out there, taking more risks, and learning new skills are all ways of putting up more sails.