Archive for the ‘Freedom’ tag
Giving Up and Returning to the Working World… Part 2
Dumb Money
Now I’ve been fairly passionate about not trading time for income and asking at what point do you pay yourself? This is why it’s a difficult concept for me to grasp that I’m actually thinking of returning to the working world!?
I can confirm that the working world is definitely DUMB & EASY MONEY. It is a hell of a lot harder to generate passive and alternate income streams. Wake-up, on with the uniform, show up at 9am, look busy, leave at 5pm, pay check every Wednesday. Repeat.
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results” – Mr Einstein.
Since joining the free world, I’ve discovered that I am purveyor in the fine art of procrastination. Making the transition from the working world where I had someone else’s tasks to avoid doing, versus avoiding and procrastinating over my own work is a sticking point. You (I) have been moulded since day one into being told what to do. Nick’s guest post talked about his One Week Freedom Sample Project and much to my anguish my results have been all too similar.
I thought I’d be easily able to transfer my 65 hour work week into 65 hours of my own personal productive time. Imagine that, 65 hours! But alas, procrastination, a lack of external pressure and focus and the bank balance credits have swelled to a whopping $320.
Phase II of Operation Free World
My main motivators for saying goodbye to the working world were to clear my head, stick it to the man, kick-start some extra curricular schemes and dedicate more time to my software muse. In my two months of freedom I’ve been able to start-up my extra projects and it has become apparent that the software thing doesn’t require my full time attention. My extra projects I’ve started will generate an income but will take some time to promote and build-up. These factors combined with a gentleman’s $600k of property investments lends itself to this escapee heading back to the big house to rent out my brain for 40 hours per week.
Phase II of my foray into the free world has taken on a new definition. Test and tweak a few small income generating projects, cancel out the noise of the hundreds of ‘helpful’ resources out there and only focus, study and implement a select few, make the transition to location independence, continue writing for the free world and build up all of my side projects while still maintaining the dumb income source.
The Idea of a Job Makes Me Throw Up in My Mouth a Little…
So while I successfully escaped from my previous maximum security prison where I was serving a long sentence, guilty of renting my mind for peanuts, I’ll be temporarily re-admitted to a minimum security/day release type establishment where I’ll be trying my best not to spend 8 hours of my day pretending I’m not surfing the internerd researching my next muse, reading an eBook or looking at stock charts.
Give yourself a free world sample; turn off your TV for a week, do your food shopping at a local market garden, exercise, read, minimalise, de-clutter from all of your junk & maybe do some free world research?
Next time you see a tall, robotic, corporate uniform wearing, miserable looking soul on the way to work, actually nevermind, that’s everyone!
Tell me about your free world or convince me to NOT look for a job in the new year! Leave a comment below this post or sign-up for the RSS feed or emails. Now that I’ll be heading back to the working world, expect plenty of new insightful tirades!
Giving Up and Returning to the Working World… Part 1
Ah, the free world. What a glorious time it’s been so far. Not commuting in peak hour traffic, being able to set my own to-do lists, taking control, discovering a massive location independent network, no collared shirts and trousers… life is good.
“I’ve seen the promised land, and it is good!”
Let me quickly jump in and say I’m not giving up! I still want to be the poster child for the free world, ‘automated’ (yeah right!) income and quitting work to launch a successful start-up. But let’s continue…
My sabbatical from the working world has cleared the air. Everything I do in my own time in regards to freelancing, web design, options trading or product development is targeted and concise – How can I use my time in the most effective way to get from zero to $$ in the most effective way?
No career path bullshit, no office perks, no future opportunities with company X, no job security trollop, just action. After all, no matter who you are working for (yourself included) you’re still trading your time for dollars, but it’s nice to enjoy what you’re doing along the way.
This two-part article serves a few purposes; an explanation, a page full of excuses and an attempt to convince you (and myself) that I shouldn’t even be thinking of returning to the working world, albeit temporarily.
Phase I of Operation Free World
Courtesy of Brian Armstrong's 'Breaking Free' eBook. Click the image to grab a copy!
Prior to resigning from the 9 – 5 I had been toiling away researching life after employment and working on my first muse courtesy of reading the Four Hour Work Week. I’d set up a proprietary limited company (Incorporated Company for ya’ll in the US) and was nearing the completion of product development for the software start-up.
I had a few other post-employment plans that I hadn’t had time to kick-start but would implement once I escaped Alcatraz and had a bit more time; options (stock) trading, set up a website, starting a couple of professional service side projects and finally launch the software muse. Sure, I’d be fine in terms of an income.
After two months in the free world, total income generated = $320.
I’m not overly concerned at the lack of income as I hadn’t planned on any cash credits until the software project kicked off. I’d made a conscious decision months before escaping prison to save hard, budget and cut my expenses down in order to pay myself. I wouldn’t be living a life of luxury for a while but I’d be investing my own money and buying time. What’s the point of having cash reserves if you’re not going to use them? (Much easier in theory than in practice) I needed a new plan…
Are you stuck in the 9 -5 with plans to break free? Watched prison break too many times & got a full body tattoo of Tim Brownson’s ‘How to be Rich and Happy’ to use as your escape blue print? Currently toiling away at a muse or disgusted that I’m thinking of getting a job? Jump right in and leave a comment!
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The Great Freedom Sample Exercise
Well it’s nice to know that I’m not the only one who likes to procrastinate in the free world. Back when i was serving my sentence I used to marvel at the thought of turning my 65 hour work week into my ‘own’ productive time. Once I get past the sleeping in, nipping to the shops and putting off jobs, I’ll let you know how it goes.
Nick Bryan, a fantastic writer from feeding the black dog took time out of his suspense filled comic strip drama of hats, tea cosies and beanies at behatted and was nice enough to write a guest post for the free world.
The Great Freedom Sample Exercise
Recently, I took a week off work, for no particular reason. Well, there was a clear justification, namely to use up my paid holiday. But I’d been to Ireland for a holiday with my girlfriend fairly recently, didn’t have any drive to go anywhere else and, above all, am reliably awful at organising anything.
So, with nothing to do, I decided that my week of nothingness would serve as a Great Freedom Experiment. I could work out whether I could organise my own time, launch a project, push it, exploit my tiny amount of contacts and, above all, drastically increase the number of tweets on my Twitter account. Did I succeed?
Well… kinda.
Beginning
I’d been toying for a while beforehand with the notion of launching a “Proper Blog” and trying to run it in an efficient, meaningful manner. Make my name as an Internet Writer, try to earn a few pennies from stringing words together, feed the tiny boxed ego that longs to be published in any form, all that stuff. This seemed as good a time as any.
Luckily, much of the tedious blog-starting stuff had already been done. So Monday, my first day of fake-freedom, was launch day. And I’m pleased to report it was pretty excellent, perhaps even too excellent.
The blog went live, people emailed me, I was spotlighted by a helpful friend, comments happened, I wrote more. It felt good, verging on awesome. But, as you will know if you ever see a movie, when a new venture starts off awesome, the reality check is inevitable.
Middle
Things kept going well for a while, but by Wednesday it began to feel… subdued. I hadn’t gone out for a while; the obvious victories weren’t coming as quickly. I even started chatting to work people via IM about, um, the work I was meant to be on holiday from.
And yes, that tweet count shot way up. I sighed, organised a few social occasions and duly escaped, telling myself I’d at least achieved something.
End
Around the end of the week, or perhaps the weekend, I started to worry I wasn’t handling my semi-mancipation especially well. I was a little lonely, very unmotivated and had started procrastinating to a degree that swallowed hours in a single gulp.
Eventually, I wandered off back to my parents’ house, and spent a fairly enjoyable few days of drinking with old friends and blogging on their sofa. Which, all told, was an upbeat end to a lukewarm week.
So, Can We Learn Anything From This Farce?
There’s a lot of writing about the joys of freedom and whatnot, especially in the “blogosphere”. So much so that the ongoing bloody hard work involved, as well as the degree of single-minded concentration, may be somewhat overlooked.
Did I fail? Not exactly. I think it might be something I could enjoy if I were able to establish a routine. (Perhaps one involving a decent laptop and writing in differing locations.) But nor did I take to it like a fox to an overflowing trash can.
With no deadlines or superiors hovering over you, motivation becomes your own task. It’s something I’ve never had to do, and I’m fast realising I have to practise. Balancing this with day-to-day tasks and, y’know, having a life, it wouldn’t be easy. But this is the real world, and occasionally realism kicks idealism. We’ll just have to see what happens.
Recently, I took a week off work, for no particular reason. Well, there was a clear justification, namely to use up my paid holiday. But I’d been to Ireland for a holiday with my girlfriend fairly recently, didn’t have any drive to go anywhere else and, above all, am reliably awful at organising anything.
So, with nothing to do, I decided that my week of nothingness would serve as a Great Freedom Experiment. I could work out whether I could organise my own time, launch a project, push it, exploit my tiny amount of contacts and, above all, drastically increase the number of tweets on my Twitter account. Did I succeed?
Well… kinda.
Beginning
I’d been toying for a while beforehand with the notion of launching a “Proper Blog” and trying to run it in an efficient, meaningful manner. Make my name as an Internet Writer, try to earn a few pennies from stringing words together, feed the tiny boxed ego that longs to be published in any form, all that stuff. This seemed as good a time as any.
Luckily, much of the tedious blog-starting stuff had already been done. So Monday, my first day of fake-freedom, was launch day. And I’m pleased to report it was pretty excellent, perhaps even too excellent.
The blog went live, people emailed me, I was spotlighted by a helpful friend, comments happened, I wrote more. It felt good, verging on awesome. But, as you will know if you ever see a movie, when a new venture starts off awesome, the reality check is inevitable.
Middle
Things kept going well for a while, but by Wednesday it began to feel… subdued. I hadn’t gone out for a while; the obvious victories weren’t coming as quickly. I even started chatting to work people via IM about, um, the work I was meant to be on holiday from.
And yes, that tweet count shot way up. I sighed, organised a few social occasions and duly escaped, telling myself I’d at least achieved something.
End
Around the end of the week, or perhaps the weekend, I started to worry I wasn’t handling my semi-mancipation especially well. I was a little lonely, very unmotivated and had started procrastinating to a degree that swallowed hours in a single gulp.
Eventually, I wandered off back to my parents’ house, and spent a fairly enjoyable few days of drinking with old friends and blogging on their sofa. Which, all told, was an upbeat end to a lukewarm week.
So, Can We Learn Anything From This Farce?
There’s a lot of writing about the joys of freedom and whatnot, especially in the “blogosphere”. So much so that the ongoing bloody hard work involved, as well as the degree of single-minded concentration, may be somewhat overlooked.
Did I fail? Not exactly. I think it might be something I could enjoy if I were able to establish a routine. (Perhaps one involving a decent laptop and writing in differing locations.) But nor did I take to it like a fox to an overflowing trash can.
With no deadlines or superiors hovering over you, motivation becomes your own task. It’s something I’ve never had to do, and I’m fast realising I have to practise. Balancing this with day-to-day tasks and, y’know, having a life, it wouldn’t be easy. But this is the real world, and occasionally realism kicks idealism. We’ll just have to see what happens.
Head over to feeding the black dog for a nice dose of daily cynicism or for something a bit more light hearted check out behatted.
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10 Reasons You Shouldn’t Be At Work Today…
Your suspicions are correct; you are smarter than your boss! It’s not just that feeling you get once every so often, being asked to do yet another mundane, repetitive and pointless task… Unfortunately for your boss, you were brought up in the era of the PC, the internet, email, google etc.. It’s a whole new ball game.
Companies today aren’t ready to adapt, the ‘company’ as a model hasn’t advanced at all with the rapid change in technology. Webcams, video conferencing, instant chat, emails, FTP servers, PDF’s, and you’re still having pointless meetings, faxing, printing out mountains of paper and clocking in at the office from 9 – 5!!!
With all this technology and resources at our fingertips, and more often than not freely available, workplaces still aren’t moving towards being effective and efficient. We’re still padding our day out with 8 hours of ‘work’. You STILL sit in your cubicle, if you’ve been good you get an even bigger cubicle. So with the change in technology, your earned dollar still have to pay for the office overheads, your manager, his manager, their company cars, the receptionist, the building lease, the office equipment, your transport to and from work, uniforms etc. All unnecessary items that the freelancer or home based consultant simply doesn’t have to deal with.
The freelancer either has the option of working the same hours and making a lot MORE money, as they save on all of the above mentioned garbage, or they can work LESS for the same amount they were making in the office. Either way, it’s their choice.
The freelancer is providing their value direct to the customer. Sure you might have to work late into the night, because YOU said YOU would to YOUR customer. Not because your boss asked you to.
This all leads to individuals providing value direct to the customer and focusing on their core business.
The 10 reasons why you shouldn’t be at work right now….
- You’re smarter than that, just because everyone ‘got a job’, why should you?
- Driving in peak hour traffic this morning was over-rated.
- You’re becoming a domestic pet.
- Your pay is limited. You might think you’re lucky enough to have the ‘overtime’ carrot dangled in front of you, have fun working that 65 hours this week.
- It’s nice to have Friday drinks with your own friends, not people you have to spend 40-50 hours a week with.
- You’re all grown-up, you should be able to wear what you want.
- There’s plenty of other ways to make money, you should spend your days doing what you enjoy. Don’t fool yourself, you don’t enjoy data entry, answering the phone and dealing with customers.
- You’re good at what you do; you should get paid what you’re worth.
- It’s Friday, long weekends are the shit!
- You didn’t wake up at 6:30am this morning to sit in a cubicle all day and play solitaire.
Now you might be one of the lucky few who enjoy their jobs, congratulations, you’re in an elite group. But YOU should still be reaping the financial rewards of your job.
Enjoy your day, hang on and battle through, it’s not long until it’s the weekend, and you’ll be released for two days of good behaviour!
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