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I have a job making well over six figures. I am not bragging but I'm not going to be overly humble about it, either, because I put my blood and tears into getting there. I spent 6 years in college obtaining two degrees (and starting a PhD). I spent most of my twenties working like a maniac in the professional accounting sweatshop industry, also known as the Big 4.

I was horrifically underpaid on an hourly basis - I was working 80 hour weeks when I was making $35,000 per year. I roughly estimate my earnings at the time to have been about $12 per hour. That's not shabby - it's probably a working wage in many parts of America - but it's not exactly what you'd hope for if you have an advanced degree in accounting.

There was a payoff, though. The payoff came in three parts. One: I laid the foundation in my first 10 years for my current position. I view it as retirement in small. I worked hard and was "frugal" with my wage to earn a better "retirement" post-Big 4. I only have the "senior expert consulting" tag now because of the effort I put out for the previous 14 years.

Two, I got to see the world on my companies' tabs. I traveled from 1996 to 2004 to every single corner of the globe. Some employers flew me coach, some business - I stayed in fleabag hotels in third-world countries but I also stayed in opulent palatial hotels and even in country estates and former palaces. I had to work like a maniac (meeting at 9 am in Frankfurt! meeting at 3 pm in Paris! report due by 2 am European time that night!) but I also got to sip martinis at the nicest lounges on four continents without spending any of my own money.

Three, I learned what the real secrets are to success as a corporate cog. Again, no pride in saying this, just observing what floated and what sank as I slowly, slowly floated. So from that, here are my eight tips to set yourself on the road to a six figure career.

1. Pick a good college major. Don't major in English, or history, or poli sci. I'm sorry. It's true. I love history. My dream major was either linguistics or Russian history, specifically early Soviet history (1917-1939). They still are my dream majors, for that matter. I got a major in mathematics, though. I wasn't great at it, but I wasn't bad, either. To this day, though, I get goggle-eyed looks from my finance colleagues when I say I don't have an accounting degree - I have a degree in MATH! Just like that guy from A Beautiful Mind! I even studied exotica like chaos theory. No matter that I couldn't

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