Even though freedom means different things to different people, I want to share what freedom means to me.
But, let me start with what I believe freedom is not.
WHAT FREEDOM IS NOT
To me working for somebody else, trading my time for a salary, having a three-week holiday a year, and having to reply YES to my boss’s requests is everything, except freedom.
How can you ever feel free, when you have to clock in, clock out, every day, 5 days a week, for 40 years till finally, you retire?
Do you feel free when you work your ass off in your job, and you are left with little time and energy by the end of the day?
Do you think your 40 hours of weekly work are worth the money you get?
In other words, do you value your wages more than your life?
Furthermore, can you build a money stand-by reservoir with your salary, or does it only enable you to pay the bills?
Slavery is a word that conjures up images of the transatlantic slave trade, of cotton-picking, of sugar plantations, of slave ships, of black men and women working for white rich people.
Yet, I believe that every employee is a slave to a certain extent.
Think about it!
When you work for someone else you have to show up at the workplace to earn a living.
Every hour you spend there equals a certain amount of money.
Since there is a limited number of hours you can work in a day, you cannot scale your income to the next level.
Thus, you cannot break through and make your money work for you.
“If you don’t find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die”. - Warren Buffett
As a result, you end up running the “hamster wheel” week after week, month after month, till years become decades.
Then, when you are old, you look back at your life realizing most of it was spent at the workplace.
Does it not scare you?
"Nobody on their deathbed has ever said 'I wish I had spent more time at the office’”. - Rabbi Harold Kushner
On the contrary, I bet, most people on their deathbed wish they had spent more time with their loved ones and doing what they loved.
Perhaps, your free time is also affected by commuting.
Let’s face it, most people wake up at the crack of dawn and spend part of their salary on transport to get to their workplace.
When they finish their workday they still need to travel back home.
Here’s a picture of their typical day: they leave their place before sunrise and get back after sunset when it is dark.
Their life is based on their work and nothing else.
Thus, they live to work instead of working to live.
What about your attire?
Your job may also request you to dress a certain way, to wear a uniform, instead of something that makes you feel comfortable.
Do you get my point?
How is it possible to feel free under these circumstances?
Having stressed how the traditional way of making a living - trading your time for money - is modern slavery, let me tell you what FREEDOM is instead.
WHAT FREEDOM REALLY IS
Freedom to me means doing what I like doing when I want and with who I want.
It means having the possibility of saying NO to what I don’t want in my life, whether it’s about things or people.
Freedom to me means being able to work remotely, whether it is from my couch or a tropical beach.
It means having the opportunity to schedule my working hours, in other words, being my boss.
Freedom to me means having an awful lot of free time to spend with the people I love and to devote to my hobbies.
REALISTIC OR UNREALISTIC
Are you thinking it’s too good to be true?
Well, so did I.
But, then I realized how the internet has revolutionized our way of living.
More than ever before people rely on the net to find a solution to their problems and meet their needs.
Every time someone enters a question in a search engine, they reveal what is on their mind.
They tell you the problem they want to solve.
This is gold for anyone who has an online business that provides a service or a product that meets their needs.
Think about it!
You can target a specific audience with a tailored offer and solution.
Furthermore, you can reach a worldwide audience with your product or service.
For over a decade more and more people have been leveraging the net to provide products or services to consumers.
They have understood the power of leverage.
Think for example of Amazon.
Most of the items purchased on it are sold by average people like you and me.
When you provide products or services with automatic systems to a worldwide audience it means you are in business 24/7/365.
Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t mean you have to work your fingers to the bone, on the contrary, you can earn money even when you sleep.
You have the opportunity to stop trading your time for money and get out of the “hamster wheel” once and forever.
“HOW CAN I EVER START AN ONLINE BUSINESS IF I DON’T HAVE A PRODUCT OR SERVICE?”
Most of us don’t know what the options are and what it takes to start a business online.
The good news is that you don’t need your product or service to get started.
All you need is a laptop and an internet connection!
As I have already mentioned in previous posts, there is a path I have also taken that you may consider, i.e. affiliate marketing business model.
The concept is simple, every time you refer a customer who buys someone else’s products or services you receive a commission.
What intrigues many people to get started with this business model is that you don’t have to own any products or services.
You don’t need a website, marketing materials, payment processors, or customer support – because the product creator provides all that.
So, it’s a low-cost way to get started online.
All you have to do is to learn how to market online and present whatever product or service you endorse to the potential customer.
“Can I really do it?”, you may wonder.
Learning how to market and sell online is no different than anything you have learned and implemented in your life.
You need to learn the basics, apply them, then rinse and repeat.
There is a learning curve to go through, but if I’m doing it, anyone else can do the same.
It all comes down to how bad you want to get out of the traditional way of making a living - “hamster wheel” - and get started online to finally achieve the FREEDOM you deserve.
The game-changer when it comes to learning any new skills is the environment in which you learn them.
If you can surround yourself with training, coaching, mentoring, workshops, do so and you won’t regret it.
That is exactly what I’ve been doing.
I’ve joined a community of digital entrepreneurs, people who have already achieved the outcomes I set for myself - one of them - living the laptop lifestyle.
Even if I am not where I want to be yet, I am grateful to the community for their support and the growth I've experienced.
Thanks to them, each day I get a step closer to my ideal meaning of FREEDOM.
WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU HAD MORE FREE TIME AT YOUR DISPOSAL
As I mentioned above one of the main benefits that comes from having an online business is time FREEDOM.
You can schedule your day, week, month, and year as you wish.
What would you do with it?
- Learn to play chess/football/the guitar/ the piano – whatever your passion was when you were younger before you got stuck in the “hamster wheel”. Let’s face it, to get good at any sport/instrument/leisure activity and enjoy them you need to practice over and over again – which requires time – lots of it!
- Spend more time with family, rather than spending roughly 80% of your waking week hours with people who don’t care about you, for who you are simply a number.
- Stop waking up to an alarm clock – because you don’t need to leave your place at 6.00 am each weekday.
- Prepare and cook healthy meals – take time to experiment, try new recipes, and enjoy them, rather than gobbling up a sandwich in the 10-minutes break you have at your workplace.
- Go to the gym when it’s not crowded – so you don’t waste time waiting for someone else to let you use the machines.
- Go shopping when everyone else is at work – buy the freshest products, without having to buy the “leftovers”.
- Be present when friends and family need you.
- Take world trips without having to beg your boss for time off and plan 12 months ahead.
FINAL THOUGHTS
If you are anything like me, and you have realized that the status quo, i.e. working in a traditional job will never provide you with the FREEDOM you want, I am more than happy to show you the same steps I've taken.
If what FREEDOM means to me means the same to you - and you are looking for a way to get out of the “hamster wheel” and regain your freedom - I would love to share with you the same online education system that got me started online.
The same key resources that have enabled so many people to leverage the net, and make the transition from working in their traditional job to working for themselves online.
More resources for YOU:
We already have more freedom than we appreciate.
You can quit your job right now and you will gain a lot of time. Of course you will lower your standards of living but if you live in Europe or North America it’s highly unlikely that you will starve. You don’t have to hold a job and the society will support your existence.
You can choose a corporate path – with enough persistence and abilities you can work 80 hour weeks and have the freedom to choose luxuries – like using a private helicopter instead of a taxi.
You may successfully develop an affiliate marketing career and end up with the laptop on the beach and one day realise that you do is all mainly to impress your friends or show your parents who was right. That freedom would be questionable.
Although the subject is complex it’s worth examining in your head what freedom means to you.
Thank you for your article.
Thanks for sharing your thought Mikolaj! I think everyone has their own definition of FREEDOM, in the above article I wanted to give my own definition and perspective, but I respect everyone else’s point of view, and I appreciate you expressed yours 😃