Are you a woman working long hours for a company that doesn’t value your contributions?

Still investing time and emotion into romantic relationships that go nowhere?

Well, you’re doing it all wrong. Save yourself the struggle and focus instead on a winning strategy: finding a rich husband.

I know what I’m talking about. I’m a Manhattan trophy wife and I’m living my best life.

My day is filled with Pilates and Mahjong, sporting Birkins and getting blowouts, and chatting during private school drop-offs. By night, I’m dining with friends at places like Maxime’s or Casa Cruz, or getting snapped at charity events.

In the summer, I head to the Hamptons with the kids and occasionally visit Nantucket or Newport for some parties. During the winter, our family goes skiing in places like Aspen, Big Sky, or Lech—a small Austrian town that feels like a winter Monaco.

But it took a lot of work to get where I am today. I wasn’t born with a trust fund. I didn’t even go to college. 

The name ‘Sterling’ isn’t my actual name. I can’t disclose my real identity because my prenuptial agreement prevents me from publicly sharing any details about my marriage.

Over winter as a family we ski either in Aspen (pictured), Big Sky, or, Lech, the tiny town in Austria that is basically a snowbound Monaco

If you live near the Hamptons, Martha’s Vineyard, or Nantucket, these are great options at the right time of year to meet single, wealthy men 

But I was once poor and I didn’t like it. So I made myself rich and here’s how I did it:

As a young woman I got myself to New York City, changed my name, faked my resume and signed up with a temp agency that placed me as a receptionist in offices all over town. 

Then I got a job as a hostess at a midtown restaurant popular with the office crowd.

Both options put me in front of single, professional and occasionally even handsome men, and I got a modest pay check and a free meal.

I dated doctors, lawyers, bankers, real estate brokers, accountants, diplomats, lobbyists, arms dealers, software developers, ad agency and marketing guys, consultants and a host of other professionals. 

Those first few years I would accept almost any invitation, but I knew better than to drag things out if I suspected it would never work. One date, maybe two if he took me someplace nice or if he had tickets to something I wanted to see.

As for sex, I held out as long as I possibly could without losing his interest. Why? Because once your very-high-net-worth man has had sex with you, you have no leverage over him anymore.

In the summer I take the kids and move out to the Hamptons and maybe visit Nantucket or Newport for a party

Some women have always been in search of a rich husband – Audrey Hepburn played a gold digger in Breakfast at Tiffany’s

Marilyn Monroe, Lauren Bacall, and Betty Grable in 1953’s How To Marry A Millionaire 

It took me just under four years to land my first husband. I met him while I was covering for a receptionist on maternity leave, and when she came back and I was moved off the desk, he started showing up at the bar where I worked.

I had him hooked, all I had to do was reel him in.

When we split, I started all over again, padded with a small settlement from the divorce.

This time I worked the charity circuit. I went to every party I could secure a ticket for. 

I’ll won’t bore you with the minutiae of how long it took, how many men I had to go through, what terrible things I had to do, and how many times I came close to getting remarried, but I eventually landed on my feet. 

I am now happily married to a very high-net-worth individual who is more than a decade older than me, and have been busy making children to secure my retirement.

Mine is only one success story. If you, too, want to meet, date and marry a rich man, there is plenty of inspiration – from Lauren Sanchez and Melania Trump to Wendi Deng Murdoch and Tiger Woods’ ex-wife Elin Nordegren. 

Sanchez’s grandmother was a maid scrubbing toilets, and now she’s about to marry one of the planet’s wealthiest people.

As for Trump, she has turned her profitable marriage into an empire of her own – estimated to be worth between $50 and $70 million from her jewelry and skincare lines and other investments.

You, too, can change your life – but it’s not easy. 

To start with, you have to be physically fit. You will never find and marry a rich man if you are not committed to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Boring, but true.

I work out eight to 10 hours a week and devote another three hours to recovery work such as massage, cryotherapy, stretching and vitamin injections.

While you are at it, fix your pearly whites – great teeth signal good health, even if they are fake.

Tattoos and excessive piercings are a hard pass. By excessive I mean anything more than one hole in each earlobe. If you have already started down the path of getting inked, stop now. Typically the very rich do not go for tattoos.

Your hair should be clean and neat, and the color should remain on the spectrum of natural human hair colors. Nothing unnatural, please.

Next, insert yourself into a target-rich environment. That is, a place where as many rich men as possible are clustered into a small geographic area.

They mostly work in cities such as Manhattan, Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, Austin and Atlanta. They mostly vacation in the mountains, on the coasts and sometimes in the desert.

Certain locations are great options but only at the right time, think Aspen, Vail, Telluride, Park City, Lake Tahoe, Sun Valley, Miami, Palm Springs, the Hamptons, Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, Malibu and Big Sur. 

Now, depending on where you are, there are jobs that don’t need a college degree.

If you know how to ski, you can be an instructor or guide. The money isn’t outrageous but you’ll be networking with the 1% in no time.

If you can’t ski, be a bartender or waitress. In Aspen, the Ajax Tavern and Cloud Nine Bistro are crawling with moneyed, single men looking to meet women.

If you live in or around any of the aforementioned cities, get a job as an assistant at a public relations or event planning firm; receptionist at an art gallery; assistant for a real estate broker; secretary at a financial services institution or law firm; sales or leasing agent for private aircraft; or personal shopper at a high-end men’s retailer.

If you live in Malibu, Palm Springs or Florida, you could be an intake coordinator at a luxury detox facility.

Don’t forget volunteering opportunities, either. Donate a small amount of your time at a local assisted living facility or nursing home could deliver the chance to meet an octogenarian multi-millionaire without heirs to look after him. You never know! 

Lauren Sanchez had humble beginnings – her grandmother was a maid scrubbing toilets

Now Sanchez is about to marry one of the planet’s wealthiest people, Jeff Bezos

Melania Knauss worked as a model until she bagged Donald Trump 

Now Melania is personally worth between $50 and $70 million

The point is: you want to be around rich people, doing rich people things.

Finally, you need to know what to expect from various types of professional men.

If, for example, you’re dating a doctor, you should beware of naughty nurse practitioners who want to take your place.

If you’re dating a lawyer, you have be OK with him regularly canceling plans and you’d better enjoy arguing.

But don’t ever think the hard work is over once you’ve bagged your billionaire.

As well as my strict exercise regimen, I get a facial and a mani-pedi every week, visit my dermatologist every quarter to combat the effects of aging, and keep my face, neck, and décolletage pristine. A stylist comes to my house a few times a week to keep my hair fresh and maybe give me a spray tan or touch up my lashes.

My personal shopper provides a few new clothing pieces and accessories every season, whenever I have an event to go to, or whenever I’m bored, so that my wardrobe is always fresh, flattering, and forward.

I’m expected to look great all the time. It’s my job. And it could be yours too.