What A Winning $5000 Lottery Ticket Taught Me About Life

Corey Koehler
2 min readJul 2, 2024

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I still have the big check they gave me! It’s a great reminder.

30 years ago this week, I was at one of the lowest points in my life, and then this happened.

I had less than $10 to my name. I had to tuck my tail between my legs and ask my dad if I could sweep his shop floors for a few bucks.

With the $10 in “change” that I had, I needed to take a cab to my dad’s shop. But I also wanted a pack of Marlboro Reds (priorities).

So, I had the cab drop me off at a Kwik Trip, and then walked the rest of the way.

I bought the smokes and two lottery scratch-off tickets.

The ticket ended up being worth $5000 — and a hell of a lot more, considering how it changed the trajectory of my life.

That ticket, along with my disgust and shame about my life decisions at the time, triggered a turnaround.

I attended a Lutheran School from kindergarten until 9th grade. We studied the Bible every day.

But it wasn’t until this period of my life that I started to believe in divine intervention.

That’s why you never give up. Ya just never know.

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Corey Koehler

Google Ads Guy | Entrepreneur | Music and NFL Geek | 80s Kid Sharing adventures in music, marketing & early unretirement. https://start.redefiningretirement.io/