Who doesn’t dream of a life where money isn’t a concern, where life isn’t controlled by your job and where you have the freedom to travel as you please?
Let’s face it, there aren’t too many of us who don’t want this.
But getting there, for many of us, feels so far away if not impossible. Changing this way of thinking, however, is actually your first step. While many of the people who reach financial freedom do so due to being dealt a good hand in life, there’s nothing to stop you from reaching this point yourself.
This article isn’t here to suggest that reaching financial freedom is easy; far from it.
Instead, it has been written to simplify the process down into just 3 steps. It’s then over to you to apply these three steps and master each one accordingly. Importantly, not everybody reading this article will walk away and become a multi-millionaire. But anyone who does correctly follow these three steps should put themselves in a better situation mentally, physically, and financially.
Get Good At Something
Let’s start with the first stage on your journey to financial freedom.
Unless you are incredibly lucky (such as winning the lottery), it’s almost impossible to get rich without being skilled at something. The good news is that if you can elevate yourself to the top 1% of your field, it doesn’t matter what that field is. The world’s best bankers, investors, doctors, artists, athletes, and marketers all share something in common: a hefty salary!
If you’re not happy in your current career or you currently work an unskilled job, then you may need to first find something that you both enjoy and want to get good at. Alternatively, take a look at your hobbies.
For the majority, though, you’re probably already skilled at something, whether that be in your career or outside of it. You could work in a local supermarket but enjoy playing the guitar in your spare time. You could be training to be a teacher or 10 years into a career as a plumber. In all these examples, there’s a skill to master.
Turn Your Skill Into A Product
Now comes both the hardest and most important stage.
In truth, the majority of people who reach financial independence don’t do so by working for somebody else. And most people need to find a way to start their own business at some point.
This is where you need to take what it is you are good at and turn it into a product or service. If you decided you were going to get highly skilled at photography in your spare time, you could start by selling canvas prints at local crafts markets. If you committed yourself to becoming the best accountant you could be, your product could come in the form of business consultancy.
It doesn’t matter what it is you’re selling, but it does matter that you don’t skip the first stage, as you won’t get very far without a quality product.
Turn Your Product Into Passive Income
You might be able to transform your wealth without this stage. But the final stage is usually what sets apart high earners and those who well and truly do not need to worry about money. This involves taking your product from the previous section and finding a way where it makes you money while you sleep.
Let’s go back to the examples used in the previous stage. Selling canvases in your local area is a great starting point, but it’s limited by geography and time-consuming. Creating a website where you sell these items instead removes physical barriers and allows you to earn passive income. In the case of an accountant offering financial advice to businesses, passive income could come through a book or an online business course.
As a general rule, when selling a product, the long-term play should be an online store. For a service, though, packaging your expertise into an online course tends to work better.
