What are you really after in life?
What is true freedom and fulfillment, and how can we actually achieve it across the most important areas of our lives?
While ample beginner content is still written ( it’s great for context/foundation) what I really want this site to be is a gateway into ‘the next level’ of living.
So what are we really targeting? What is the next level?
For me, it’s achieving location and (marginal) time freedom while being able to work towards complete financial freedom.
Let me explain that more.
Location freedom is easiest and should be the first type of freedom you go for. Get a remote job (now easier than ever, thanks coronavirus), move somewhere cheaper than your monthly income and boom.
Time freedom comes next. And I say marginal time freedom because only the truly rich (passive asset owners/investors) have complete and utter time freedom. The rest of us (business owners, active investors) never are truly free to do NOTHING forever.
We all have to work some, but we can arrange our life in a way that we can work more or less WHEN we want to. This is marginal time freedom, and shouldn’t affect your happiness if you chose a job/business you actually like working on.
I have a tech startup, and work as a software consultant. Both gigs require that I ‘answer to’ clients and managers, but I can make my own hours as long as I get the work done. That’s marginal time freedom and 100% location freedom.
Next up is what we all REALLY are after, financial freedom.
Financial freedom comes in a ton of shapes and sizes and you’ll need to define your own. Mine is this:
“Financial Freedom is when you have enough cash/income to only work on the things you love doing while living the lifestyle that fulfills you”
Let’s unpack that a little bit more because it covers several different scenarios and income brackets.
You should have written out an ideal lifestyle by now. Break it down into specifics (where will you live, how often will you travel, what kind of places will you stay in, what toys do you want etc.) and then price out each of those things.
You should end up with a ballpark “Idea Lifestyle Cost” per month/year.
If you can earn this number without doing things you dislike, then in my book you are financially independent. So let’s look at two extreme examples.
Self Reliant Man John and Mark both have an ideal lifestyle cost of 60k (it goes further than you think). Both men have businesses that make them 80k/year net of expenses and taxes. So both can afford their ideal lifestyle.
John absolutely loves his business. He loves the marketing, his customers, working on new products. He spends part of his profits to outsource the tasks he doesn’t like (invoicing, customer support etc.) and only focuses on the stuff he’s really into.
John is financially independent.
Mark on the other hand does NOT like his business. He makes the same amount as John, but works 10 hours a day, and is super stressed out. At this point, he actually doesn’t want to do ANYTHING with his company and would be overjoyed at just being a hands off owner.
Mark is NOT financially free, because while he can afford his ideal lifestyle he still spends time doing shit he doesn’t like.
Mark’s best course of action is to figure out how to hire people and delegate the growth of his business until it earns him that 60k passively (without him doing any work).
Maybe that’s impossible, but it’s what he should be striving for. Either that or try another idea/business.
Where are you in your hunt for freedom? Hit reply or comment on substack with the following.
What is your ideal lifestyle, and cost?
Are you able to achieve it currently with your business/work?
What % of the time do you spend doing things you’d rather not be doing? What are those things?
I read all replies and respond. Until then, happy hunting.
-Bryce