Freedom

by bobsmithhome

I am an early retiree. I have been living that life for some time. Many years ago (before it became popular) my wife and I chose to live significantly below our means so we could achieved financial independence. I am now living what you are planning, so I think I can provide more of a sense of the big picture.

Here’s the piece you (and a few others in this thread) seem to be missing… Living below your means isn’t about postponing gratification. In other words, it’s not about giving up products and experiences when you’re young so you can have them when you’re old. That’s not it at all.

What it’s really about is freedom. Most people are, in many ways, slaves. I was a slave. Beginning at age five I was forced to get up in the morning and go somewhere I didn’t really want to go, and do things I didn’t really want to do. Elementary school. Then high school. Then college. Then work. And throughout all those years there was an undertone of fear. Fear that you’ll get in trouble with Mom and Dad if your grades suck. Fear that your performance in college won’t result in a decent job. Fear that you’ll lose your job, and that your family will suffer, if you don’t kiss up to the right people, or meet your quotas, or because some asshole above you decides to eliminate your job… always that nagging worry and fear in the background.

When it comes right down to it, usually you really don’t want to be there. And many of us really don’t want to be doing whatever they make us do. Maybe you’re even forced to do shiet you don’t feel right about, just to survive (cutting corners, speed over quality, turning a blind eye, not being totally honest…). Dealing with assholes. Dealing with office politics. Dragging your ass out of bed at 6 AM. Forcing yourself to go to bed at 10 PM so you don’t feel like shiet at 6 AM. Driving through horrendous traffic. Other people having the power to wreak economic harm on you, and your wife, and your kids (which is a very bad way to be harmed because it involves having decent food, safe shelter, safe transportation, etc.). Many people live just a few weeks, or months, away from financial ruin or homelessness. Always on the edge. Always needing to rely on others for access to a job, or for a loan, or so you can meet your job expectations, or ____ . This isn’t living a life that is free. Not really. It’s living a life in economic bondage. It can be a rather benign type of bondage, but it sure as hell isn’t freedom because your choices are limited, your time belongs to someone else, and there’s always that undertone of worry and fear. «What if?…». «How long can we survive?…». «Will I meet my quotas?….».

So this isn’t about postponing cool shiet from youth to old age. Not at all. It’s about escaping from the economic bondage of a wage slave. It’s about freedom. It’s about removing all that fear and worry from your life. It’s about removing all the bullshiet from your life. It’s about getting out from under those above you who have the power to harm you and your family by eliminating your job, or by tossing you to the curb because maybe they don’t like your attitude. It’s about realizing that nobody should have the power to harm you like that. It’s about wanting to get out from under somebody else’s thumb. You’re legally free to walk away from your job tomorrow, but if you don’t have the economic freedom to do that, you’re not free at all. It’s about being free to sleep as late as you want, stay up as late as you want, and spend your time doing whatever you want. It’s about realizing that there is no security unless you make it.

So it’s all about freedom – not «stuff». The sooner you start working toward untying those bonds, the sooner you will be free. The more you deny yourself now, the sooner you will be free. And you really need to do it when you have the opportunity, because there’s no guarantee that you will even have a job five years from now. And after you have attained your freedom, there’s nothing that will stop you from continuing to work if you’re lucky enough to have a job you look forward to going to (or have a job at all). But it will be YOUR choice.

That’s what it’s really about, or at least that’s what it was about for me. And I’ve got to tell you, achieving financial freedom was the best decision we ever made. I thank my lucky stars every day that we decided to go that route. Most of my peers will die at their desks without ever having experienced what it’s like to truly be free. Yet I live every day exactly as I choose, and with no economic worries, no stress, and no fear. We become so conditioned to the worries and fear that we think we are free when we’re really not. It isn’t until you truly experience this freedom that you realize what you have been missing. The relief and overall sense of peace and happiness is astounding. Don’t let anyone tell you it isn’t worth it.

Source:
http://cavemancircus.com/2014/04/24/middle-class-slavery-really-means-financially-free

Reklame

Seth Godin: What Is School For?

Introduction and Disclaimer

Welcome to the blog!

This blog was created in 2018 to express my thoughts on the regular career paths that so many people end up finding themselves in as adults, also referred to as the «rat race».

In this blog I will adress certain topics like what the rat race is all about, why it might not be the best way to spend your life, how to eventually escape and my own experiences from the rat race. It also serves as a log for writing down thoughts during my grind of transitioning from an employee to an independent entrepreneur.

In my twenties I started understanding how most people are trained to become a part of the working world since they are kids, and I started accumulating knowledge about this. I also started gathering a lot of information about the rat race and why people were quitting it. This information was gathered mainly through books and podcasts.

I firmly believe that self-education is essential for personal development, and to achieve the best life possible for yourself and those around you. It is said that knowledge is power. This is true in some ways, if it is specialized knowledge within certain topics.
The problem is though, that the knowledge we`re taught (and tested) in since primary school up until we recieve a degree from a college or university, often has limited relevance to life as an adult. Memorizing general knowledge simply won`t prepare the individual for the real world outside schools.

However there are differences between school systems in countries worldwide, a lot of the knowledge we`re taught in school in general is quite unuseful and can simply be found through Google in the 21st century.
Basic knowledge like reading, writing, mathematics, learning a second language, P.E. and some history is necessary to acquire, but we don`t need 13 years of schooling to learn this.
What kind of knowledge do you think would`ve been more beneficial to teach kids to better prepare them for being an adult?
Which subjects should`ve been taught since an early age to build the foundation for a best life possible?
Why doesn`t schools teach us this knowledge?

Individuals are pushed into the school system involuntarily as kids, because «that`s just how it is», without not much questioning from the parents about if this system will create the most optimal life possible for the kids in the future or not.
Unfortunately, instead of creating great lives full of creativity for each of the individuals, many end up with severe problems caused by being in this system that focuses on acquiring a lot of unuseful knowledge and being tested in it.
Problems occur when you try to fit a lot of different individuals with unique qualities into a simliar box.

The goal of the school system is that when students reach the highest level of the system and graduate, they`re ready to become a part of the rat race. Often students have to graduate indebted.
The plan is then to spend 40-50 years in this job trajectory, before retiring around age 65.
An essential question to ask before putting most of your limited time on this earth into the rat race is: is this the most optimal way to spend your life?
Is spending 40-50 years of your life working for someone else on their terms worth it?

Hopefully, when you`ve read through the posts in this blog, you will make up your own opinion on if you should join the rat race or if you should find other ways to spend most of your life.

Disclaimer:

This blog is for entertainment purposes only.

The content in this blog is not by any means financial advice. Most of the posts on this website is based on my own personal opinions.

If you want financial advice, you should seek guidance from a financial counselor.

Advice On Starting An Online Business

Tim Ferriss’s advice on starting a business:

1. It’s easiest to create a category and own it rather than trying to dominate an existing category with something incrementally better. Category Killing or Category Creation. Create a new category that is easily differentiated. * Read: The Law of Category. Blue Ocean Strategy- 20-30% is very good.

2. Don’t obsess about becoming as big as possible. Don’t worry about winning «Best of iTunes» or having «100 million downloads». Just do great work in a category (whether product, service, offering, writing, whatever) that makes you new. «Scale» and «Scaling» are dangerous words. «I CERTAINLY don’t want a gigantic business with 100’s or 1,000’s of employees that I must account for or structure an ORG chart for or manage. Those are not my core strengths nor something I enjoy.» Build the best possible product and explain it simply. * Read: Small Giants

3. Scratch your own itch. Don’t make something for an imaginary, hypothetical audience. Particularly one that you don’t really understand. «As a 39 year old single male am I going to make a podcast for single mothers? Well, I could OR I can write a book that I want but doesn’t exist such as The 4 Hour Work Week or make something I want that I cant find such as an audio version of Letters to Seneca. I may not know if others want it but I know at least one person does, ME. And if I can get excited about it and I am excited about it then I bet I can get others excited about it too.» That’s about as sophisticated as planning goes. Scratch your own itch.

4. How big does your enterprise need to be? You really only need 1,000 True Fans to fuel your life. * Read: 1,000 True Fans- Very related to Small Giants

5. How do you make decisions based on your 1,000 true fans? Have clear, measurable objectives with check ins every week, month, quarter, or all of the above so you can track your performance in those key performance indicators, those key metrics. Be VERY precise in your thinking and objectives. There’s a German proverb that translates as «Everything with measurement and objective.» . Forget about time management. Focus on the few critical things (often the most uncomfortable). Effective over efficient whether in business or personal life. * Read: The Effective Executive- This is a gold mine. The 80/20 Principle- It can be 95/5 or whatever and it doesn’t have to add up to 100.

6. You now have 1,000 customers. You thought your business was going to save you from your 9-5 but now you’re working 18 hour days. What to do? 80/20 your business. One of the first steps could be doing an 80/20 analysis on your customers. Which 20% of customers are producing 80% of the revenue? Which 20% of customers are producing 80% of the headache? Replicate the good. Fire the bad. 80/20 can be applied in a million different ways. Stay focused. You’re crafting a life, not just a business. * Read: Vagabonding- It’s easy to loose sight of why you started. Vagabonding isn’t about travel, per se. It’s about philosophy, thinking about materialism, examining notions such as «more is more», utilizing time instead of money, building that currency, etc. It can act as a course correction and if you’re working to make your business bigger without much thought it can help with that too.

Summary: To succeed in business simply do these few things. This will put you ahead of 99% of the world who is trying to start businesses. If you actually do this prep work and training in advance you stand at least a 50/50 chance.

1. Build the best possible product, whatever that is.

2. Build an easily differentiated product.

3. Explain your product simply.

4. Scratch your own itch.

5. Focus on 1,000 true fans.

6. Have clear, measurable objectives with check ins. * Check in every week, month, quarter, or all the above to track your performance in those key metrics.

7. Stay focused. You’re crafting a life, not just a business.

* As a first time entrepreneur you don’t know what you’re doing. You don’t know what you’re good at. You don’t know what others like. You throw a bunch of stuff on the wall. You try a bunch of advertising. You try a bunch of explanatory messaging. Whatever it is you try a bunch through Split testing. Then you start figuring out what kind of works. The Effective Executive helps with this as does the other recommendations.

* Measure twice. Cut once – when starting a business. You don’t want to create a monster that you have to feed. That would be creating a prison for yourself instead of freedom. It’s much harder to fix this after the fact. This is why you must Measure twice. Cut once.

* Work hard. But only when it’s applied to the right things. «Everything with measurement and objective». Pick up these books. Read them as often as I do. Craft a life, not just a business.

Source:

Ways To Build Income Streams Online

• E-commerce

• Informational content creation

• SaaS business

• SEO consulting
• Programming consulting

• Online coaching

• Trading stocks and other investments

• Affiliate Marketing

• Create an app

• Dropshipping

• YouTube

• Freelancing

• https://dynamitejobs.co

Ways To Escape The Rat Race

There are both multiple ways to escape the rat race and multiple reasons to do it.

Here are some of the ways you can escape the rat race long term:

• Online Business, location independent

• Moving to get a job some place you’ve dreamed about living

• Multiple income streams online

• Investments that generate a passive income (typically requires years of work upfront)

• FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early)

• Earning an income, so that you’re able to support yourself, on something that you’re passionate about like painting, music production, writing books, being a coach for a sports team, designing clothes, photographing, djing, dancing, creating a podcast, helping others improve their lives etc.

In this blog we will mainly focus on how to build a location independent online business and how to make enough money on that business, so that you`ll eventually have the freedom to spend life the way you prefer.

The way to do this is not to immediately quit your job or your studies to become an entrepreneur full-time, but to start with building a side hustle online while you`re working or studying, and aim to make that side hustle a full-time gig long term.

It is also smart to build multiple sources of income online, so that you won`t have to rely on only one stream of income, in case problems occur for one of your income streams.

We will later discuss different ways to build income streams online.

Books

• Buy This, Not That by Sam Dogen
• The Exitpreneur`s Playbook by Joe Valley
• The Lean Startup by Eric Ries
• The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko
• How To Get Rich by Felix Dennis
• The 4-hour Work Week by Tim Ferris
• The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham
• Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
• Zero to One by Peter Thiel
• The 100 dollar Startup by Chris Guillebeau
• Principles by Ray Dalio
• Sam Walton: Made in America by Sam Walton
• How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
• Purple Cow by Seth Godin
• The Million-Dollar, One-Person Business Elaine Pofeldt
• 1000 True Fans by Kevin Kelly
• The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E.Gerber
• Black Box Thinking by Matthew Syed
• The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
• Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
• The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker
• The Most Important Thing by Howard Marks
• One Up On Wall Street by Peter Lynch
• Anything You Want by Derek Sivers
• Blue Ocean Stratehy by W. Chan Kim
• The 80/20 Principle by Richard Koch
• Small Giants by Bo Burlingham
• Unscripted by MJ Demarco
• The Lessons Of History by Will Durant
• The Psychology Of Money by Morgan Housel
• How To Win At The Sport Of Business by Mark Cuban
• The Wealth Of Nations by Adam Smith
• How Rich People Think by Steve Siebold
• Built To Sell by John Warrilow
• 22 Immutable Laws Of Marketing by Al Ries and Jack Trout
• What You Can Learn From Books by Adam Ashton and Adam Jones

Retirement at 67?

The way I see it, the concept of working until you’re 67 and then retire, is a trap.

Who came up with the concept of working around 47 weeks each year (out of 52), and doing that for 30-50 years of your life?

Let’s say you’ve graduated from college at age 22. Then you get a job in the field of your education, and you work in that field until you’re 67 years old. By that time you’ve worked 45 years, and can then retire. The average life expectancy in the U.S. is around 79 years. You’ve then got 12 years to live life to the fullest.
The problem is though, by then you’re old and most likely quite worn-out.

You don’t have the energy that you used to have, you’re not that attractive as you used to be and you might even have quite severe health problems.
How can you live life to the fullest then?

The truth is, society has designed a life path that benefits the economy of the society and capitalists, and not you as an individual.

If you follow this path as most people do, you will eventually get screwed over. Working hard for 45 years, and eventually being able to retire at 67?
The retirement age might even get extended to 70 or more years of age (https://www.express.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/1659606/state-pension-age-increase-working-saving-retirement).

Sounds like a pretty bad deal, and a terrible way to invest the limited amount of time you have on this earth. There is no certainty that you’ll get reborn or go to heaven, as some religions assume. For all we know, you might just end up dead in a casket, and that’s it. No more chances, this was your shot, and you spent it working almost your entire life, without taking time to really live more?

Don’t you think there has got to be better options than this?

Online Business

Source:

https://m.soundcloud.com/user-760533378/why-i-left-private-equity-to-start-a-business-and-live-on-the-beach

The Standard Menu

As kids, many of us don`t know much about the working world.
Most of us just want to have fun, do things we like and which make us feel happy.

As we grow older, and approach our late teenage years, we have to figure out what we want to become when we grow up. What kind of profession we want to have.

There is usually a list of certain professions we can choose between when we are going to decide what we want to become. A standard menu.

This menu often includes professions like:

• Engineering (computer, chemistry, construction, biomedical, electrical, mechanical)
• Accountant
• Lawyer
• Nurse
• Carpenter
• Medical Doctor
• Dentist
• Teacher
• Physical Therapist
• Hairdresser
• Police officer
• Firefighter
• Chef
• Psychologist
• Plumber

While many of these professions are necessary for society to function as a whole, not everyone wants to be placed in any of these «boxes». There are other ways to contribute.
Not everyone wants to work 40-hour weeks or more for a company or organization they don`t own.
It is also important to notice that it is challenging to get a job in some of these professions, even after completing required education.
One of the reasons for this is that higher education has become quite common in developed countries, and that simply too many people are educated within certain professions. What used to be a safe choice, suddenly isn`t that safe any more. You can also end up becoming a cog that is easily replaceable.
For some professions where you can get a job, there is a requirement that you work more than 40 hours per week or you won`t get work at all.

Not all the options that benefit you as an indivdual are on the standard menu.
To find these options, you might need to think outside of the box.
You also need to understand what a good life really is, and what you should aim to pursue in life.