At the beginning of the year I asked myself what my life would look like if I didn’t have to worry about money. As you can imagine it was quite different from reality…
I was disillusioned with life and work. I had spent 10 years building a business which I always dreamed would someday make me rich and free me from the trap of selling time for money. But I woke up one day and realised all I had built was a job, and even though it was “my company”, it just meant I could never get away from the boss! Over a course of year of trying various options, and trying to compromise, I made the cut. I left with nothing.
Starting from scratch was scary but liberating. I started freelancing and looking at options to create products and assets that would generate annuity income. Something like “Candy Crush” would be nice ;) Freelancing gave me flexibility, but it didn’t give me freedom; I still had to trade time for money. And it also turns out that no-one pays you to sit at home and play around with app ideas, and the pressure to do “real work”, which brings in real money, is very distracting. This wasn’t working.
On my 34th birthday I made the decision to be “Free by 40”.
That means paying all monthly expenses and debts with annuity income and having a buffer to spare. That’s the goal within 6 years. But it’s not about the money. It’s about the freedom to do what I’m called to, and not what I’m told to.
For me Freedom is having a passive income that allows me to live simply, frees me to work on what excites me, and gives me the opportunity to travel and spend time with people I love. Freedom is having the time to prioritise my spiritual, physical and mental health. Freedom is giving my wife the option to be a full time mom if she wants to, without the fear of being drowned in monthly bills. Freedom is serving God, not Money. Freedom is being able to help other people without the excuse of “not having enough time”.
I realised that I need something that will start generating income NOW, with a very low investment of time and money. Seems unlikely. But an impossible goal, and a “life of quiet desperation”, has a way of opening your eyes to opportunities you would have never noticed before, and I found something that fits my criteria very well… Its funny how the simplest solutions are usually the least obvious.
This is just one egg in one basket, but it gives me the confidence that freedom is possible. Its time to stop making excuses and break the cycle. No one is going to do it for me.