Amit Patel

Hi, I’m Am and I founded Believe in Plan B in 2020 after years of searching and yearning for a different path in life.

I was born and raised in London, UK, and after attending a good school, I went on to study Maths at university and then headed into a career in Banking.

Just writing that sentence provokes a lot of mixed feelings for me.  Sounds like a solid path to take, right?  Good education, good career, good life!

Well sometimes…

And don’t get me wrong, this path afforded me some incredible experiences and opportunities as well as some of the luxuries of life.  Not to mention an astounding set of friends and colleagues along the way!

The problem is the path we take is not always the one we picked for ourselves knowingly.

My family is of Indian origin and I grew up in a predominantly white area.  I had both cultures influencing me in positive and negative ways.  The world was my oyster but probably best to be a doctor or a dentist, so I rebelled (a little) by going into finance!

Society, our families, our schools and ourselves are influenced heavily towards particular ideals that strive towards a linear path to success.

You can’t blame a parent wanting this path for their child when this is all they know; this is what society tells us.

These influences led to poor choices from the subjects I picked to the career I chose.  I left university before completing my degree to chase a job in banking as I thought I would have arrived and achieved success.  I felt I had something to prove.

I chased the next role, the next promotion, the next pay rise, the next prestigious company for my CV, each time feeling a short-lived high of accomplishment but actually feeling hollower inside.

I had a feeling that life was meant to be more than working for someone else in the corporate rat race.

During my 20’s distraction was key.  Young and well paid, I travelled a lot, socialised a lot, drank a lot!  With no responsibility and constant distraction, the career was a means to an end and served me well enough.

I was still learning constantly at work, the future seemed bright and I felt happy.

When I met my wonderful wife to be in my late 20’s the expected path of buying a house together, getting married and having kids seemed a no-brainer.  And that is exactly what we did, and we are now the proud owners of 2 little girls who we absolutely adore.

Everything was coming together nicely yet as each game of life milestone was ticked off an internal feeling of uneasiness grew.  A feeling of being trapped, unfulfilled and general indifference to the way my life was heading.

The place that I spent most of my time was the place I least wanted to be.  That feeling was trickling into the other parts of my life and ultimately left me feeling more and more drained.

I think what made it most confusing was being genuinely happy with some elements of my life and totally unhappy with others at the same time.

The heavy feeling that staying in my career, making x amount of money and giving up my time was the only way to provide happiness and comfort to me and my family.

This internal anguish led to a few dark years of escapism.  I started drinking more, gained weight, stopped pushing myself at work and was less present at home.  This period coincided with the birth of my first baby girl and although I kept it together in the most part the pain I felt and caused was deep.

A Fresh Start.

It was at this point I asked myself what my purpose was, what am I passionate about and what would be my legacy.

I believed something needed to change, there had to be a Plan B.

I didn’t want to chase after an unfulfilling golden goose anymore.

I needed to heal myself and my relationships by tackling a few problems at a time.

Over about 18 months my focus and mantra became Health, Wealth and Self:

• I had some counselling with my wife and on my own.
• I spent more quality time with my kids.
• I made the decision to purposefully end my career and to look for a new one on my terms.
• I brainstormed online business ideas based on my interests.
• I went to franchise fairs for inspiration and networking.
• I started reading books and listening to podcasts for enrichment rather than just entertainment.
• I stopped drinking completely for 10 months.
• I started exercising regularly and improved my diet and lost over 20kg in weight.
• I trained to become a counsellor for children.
• I moved to new house, in a new community.
• I deep-dived into my finances and found efficiencies and savings.

None of these steps were quick or easy and most are work in progress but each one either brought a sense of achievement, service to others or decluttered my mind and helped to change my perspective, form good habits and be more present.

These crazy uncertain times have brought much hardship to the world, but it has also brought opportunity.

Opportunity to spend time with those we love.

Opportunity to see the world with barriers down.

Opportunity to reinvent ourselves.

During this time I chose to add something else to my list and that was more education.

It was time for ACTION.

I wanted to learn the skills to market products and services online.  To leverage this knowledge for online business ideas as well as traditional business opportunities.

That is when I came across an amazing online education product and community.

I was ready to work hard at something fulfilling and potentially rewarding but guidance, community and mindset are so essential, and this is available in abundance.

I am still learning every day, producing, creating, serving and most importantly have thousands of community members and mentors to guide me.

I would love to have the opportunity to do the same for you.

There is always a Plan B, believe!

If you would like to learn more from the video series that started it all for me, please enter your details below.