Financially Free
I’m not talking about being filthy rich. I’m talking about living life on your own terms. Building something that you will be proud of. Being financially free from worry and corporate wage-slavery.
There’s a big difference between being rich and wealthy. To be financially free, you need to seek wealth. IE: Smart with money, and dedicated to your field of choice. Being rich is for the lotto winners, who quickly go bankrupt. To be financially free, you need a steady income stream to be free from the doubt that comes from traditional employment. What happens if you get laid off? Suddenly, no income stream. That’s not freedom. That’s constant appeasement and reliance on your job to ensure you can continue to eat.
Reaching independence requires reaching the stage of being financially free. You can’t speak your own mind, or be your own person, when you are constantly relying on a single corporate wage-slave job to pay rent.
Does this mean you need to be a doctor or a lawyer? So you can rack in huge sums of money, so if you get fired you never need to worry? Of course not. I am not trying to encourage you away from a traditional job (especially a blue-collar one), but I am trying to convince you to find some passive income sources to be free from worry. So you can reach that stage of financial freedom.
The Perks of Being Financially Free
Flexibility is the biggest one. If you have a passive income source that generates enough for you to live on, who needs a job? You can travel the world if you’d like. Spend more time with family. You can dedicate more time to doing whatever you value in life. That is nearly impossible with a traditional 9-5. Good luck seeing the world when you only get one week off a year.
No longer dependent on job security. No longer worrying about how you will pay the bills if you get fired or laid off. Avoiding dealing with a boss who treats you like a number that can be replaced. With financial freedom, you can live a life of your own choosing without constant fear of “losing that job security”.
Not a corporate slave-monkey. Let’s be completely honest for a second. Working a 9-5 gets others rich, not you. You’re an accountant making 60k a year? Congratulations, the leaders of your firm probably make 100 times that. Not even considering the price-per-person of board members and shareholders. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather make 50k doing something for myself rather than make 100k being a corporate servant. If any of your coworkers won the lotto, do you think they would stay at their job? Hell no. They’d jump ship right away. The same is not true for those that are financially free. Many of them would be ecstatic, but would still want to put in work for what is their own creation.
Not to forget…
More time off. Sure, starting out it will actually be a lot more work than a traditional 9-5. You may work 80-hour weeks for a long time. This won’t last forever, though. Some of the top dogs that can claim to have reached financial free living say they work about 2-10 hours a week. Plus, the traditional 40 hour a week job is not actually 40 hours a week. Consider commute time, getting ready, forced lunch breaks, and de-wind time after work. Not to forget that usually after you are too exhausted to do many things post-work.
Working on something that you built. This is your life and your business. It will hold a much stronger meaning to you, especially as you get older and hold on to it. A corporate job means nothing besides a paycheck, but building yourself and your own creation is a beautiful thing. Do you think you will look back when you’re 80 and be happy about working as in a corporate gig? Unlikely. But looking back on a lifetime of building your own brand or business? Hell yes.
So what skills do we need to get these perks?
Skills
Drive, motivation, and commitment. Have (or acquire) that drive to get goals and accomplish them. The financially free lifestyle is not one that is easy to get. It requires some serious motivation and dedication. Commit to your goals. You can’t let them slip or constantly procrastinate it. If you do, you won’t get anywhere.
Break old habits. Shrug off materialism and consumerism. Focus more on minimalism during the initial stages. You can’t be going out and partying every night when you could seek an extra dollar. You can’t be spending $1000’s extra on shit you don’t need when you could put that toward an investment. Get rid of those bad habits early or I guarantee they will haunt you.
Seek an income-generating idea you are interested in
This is obviously the biggest skill needed. You have to have the analytical and business-aptitude to find an idea that you enjoy working with that will help you become financially free. You also have to find a way to monetize it. Can you make money by talking about Roman artwork? Well… maybe. But would that be as good as an online business geared toward a large niche that others haven’t targeted yet? Nope. Find middle ground between what you like to do (so you stay dedicated) and what makes money.
Financial Aptitude.
Live below your means. The less you buy, the more you can invest.
Avoid debt, or try to get out of debt. Debt is a huge financial obstacle to being financially free. It’s best to avoid it to begin with if possible, however, sometimes it is clearly not possible. The best way to handle required debt is to focus on getting out of it as quickly as you can. Make a plan, listen to the advice one step above, and get the hell out of it quickly. Make sure you have an emergency fund as well.
Listen to basic economic principles. The market dictates how much money you can make. How valuable are you to others in terms of service or expertise? These are important. Your financial aptitude will help you to get more valuable in terms of the services or products you offer to generate an income stream. By becoming more valuable as a freelancer, you’ll make your job of reaching financial freedom a hell of a lot easier. If someone has to have (or buy from) you, that can be converted into a literal gold mine.
Finally: Just Do Something
I can’t do this step for you. You have to make it happen. Find a way or a path and get started. You may not stick with the first thing you choose, but at least the groundwork and the gear toward commitment will have begun.
Consider some of the following:
- Internet Marketing
- Blue collar side business
- Building a business
- Search Engine Optimization
- Web Dev
- Selling products online
- Virtual Assistant
- Innovating a product and selling in stores
- Build a brand
- Youtube commissions
- Graphic Designer
- Web Developer
- Fiverr Service
- Affiliate commissions
- Advertising
- Building an online service
- Ebay reseller
- Programmer
- Freelancing
- Online consultant
- Ebook sales
… and infinitely more.
I hope this article will have sparked a passion in you to discover a passive income idea to better become financially free. Even if you have a 9-5 right now, you can implement these steps slowly during your time off. Start slow and build up your goal until you can become financially free. You won’t go from 0 to 100 immediately, as it is a learning process. However, once you get going and truly get committed, you will fall in love with it.
And it will help you get one step closer to true independence.
