I saved every penny and worked all the hours God sent.
I would be in a salon working until 6pm and then did mobile too until 10pm including my day off and Sundays. That brought money in.
I cut out all unnecessary expenditure. To this day I still haven't bothered getting another mobile phone as I learned during that stage to live without one. I didn't have Sky. My car was falling apart. 'Dinner with friends' meant me going to Asda's reduced aisle and cooking whatever they had for "10p" and advising friends to bring a bottle when they came to my house. I had to read my food labels on my cans to discover what was in them as there were no fancy graphics or logos...it was 'supermarket basics'. I learned how to bake my own bread as it saved 40p per loaf. I didn't take any holidays. I didn't take any taxis. I wore the same 'clothes fashions' for about 2 years. I also skipped a few things that most people pay such as TV license and simply switched the TV off unless I was watching videos/DVDs. Even now I can cook a mean pasta with nothing except supermarket basics pasta, supermarket basics tomato soup and the reduced veg that nobody wants - enough for 4 days!
My mum was a single mum on benefits all my life and so we had no money. She was always in debt when we grew up and I was determined not to follow that route.
I opened my first 7 seater salon with nail desk and beauty room when I was 23 without any loans from the bank, grants from the government or credit card debts either. From day one it was all mine and funded from my savings.
I'm in my 30's now with a while to go before I'm 35 and I now have 2 salons, a city center building that I rent out, a hair academy, a nice house in a desirable postcode, 2 cars on the drive. Everything is paid for. I have no mortgages or debts outstanding. I also have enough cash savings to keep me comfortable for the next 10 years should everything go tits up tomorrow.
I'm sharing this because I'm hoping there might be someone like a "younger me" reading this thread at some point who is wondering if yet another night in is ever going to be worth it in the long run, or if it's worth just taking some of the money out of the bank that they have worked so hard to save and getting a little something to treat themselves for working flat out yet again for another week.
The answer is 'keep going the way you are going'. Opportunities come to those who seek them. They are not delivered by a government or a grants program ... go do a paying client instead of sitting through one of their talks - it all adds to the pot - a bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush. Keep your eye on the ball and listen to people when they talk to you - you just never know who is going to give you a golden nugget of information about an empty premises or other opportunities. Hard work and savings pay off - nobody ever gets rich by spending their money on whatever everyone else is spending their money on just to 'keep up with your mates'. Keep thinking about where you want to be in 5 years time and ask yourself if the takeaway/sky movies/newer car/mobile phone is a price worth paying to sacrifice that dream?
Hope this helps somebody.