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Are you thinking about quitting your job their job to either go freelance or start your own business?
23 years ago, I quit my job as a music industry lawyer, so I know it can be a scary thing to do… especially when everyone around you is telling you it’s crazy to leave such a well-paid job.
The first day of my new business career was the first and only time I’ve ever had a full- blown panic attack.
I still remember collapsing on the sofa as I was about to leave for my new office and breathing deeply into a paper bag until I’d calmed down.
I’ve had many ups and downs during my entrepreneurial career.
I’ve built a number of businesses from scratch including several 7 and one 8 figure business but I’ve also made lots of mistakes and been through some pretty tough times.
Despite that, I’ve never regretted leaving the law. Being my own boss and living life on my terms is the only way I would want to live my life.
So, if you have a plan to escape the Rat Race, I applaud you.
It takes courage and conviction to stop following the crowd, relying on someone else for a pay cheque and forge your own path in life.
These 10 quick tips will provide you with a little guidance to make sure you can avoid some of the common pitfalls people make.
But before we go into those let me just say:
If you want to truly escape the Rat Race and live a life you love, you not only need to take practical steps to improve your financial position, you will also need to undo years of conditioning, rebuild your belief system and make a shift from a ‘consumer’ mindset to a ‘producer’ mindset.
To a large extent all these go hand in hand.
From a purely financial perspective, to escape the Rat Race, you need to create enough passive income to cover all essential expenses and enable you to afford the lifestyle you desire.
You do that by cutting out debt, reducing all non-essential expenses so you can live within your means.
If you live frugally, scrimp and save, invest very wisely (and continue to live like that for evermore) then you can escape the Rat Race fairly quickly…
But that never sounded like much fun to me. It sounds like you would spend your whole time obsessing about how much things cost rather than being joyful and carefree.
The saying goes the best things in life are free but the reality is some of the best things in life are NOT free…
The bigger your dreams the more money you’re going to need.
I always say live within your means.
And if you want to enjoy all that life has to offer you, rather than wearing five layers of clothing to reduce winter heat bills and cutting coupons to live within your means, you need to ‘expand your means’.
By that I mean increase your income by creating a business that will, after a few years, run on autopilot, create additional income streams, and allow you to invest in a range of passive-income producing assets that produce monthly cashflow.
That’s what I help people to do via my membership site the Freedom Code but for now let’s dive in.
1.Set realistic expectations.
Don’t expect it to happen tomorrow. It is likely to take 3- 5 years of consistent focus and hard work before you can build enough passive income to survive off – longer if you want a luxury lifestyle.
But what’s the alternative – another 30 years working at a job you hate?
2.Build a financial cushion
So you can leave your job without the pressure of needing to earn to pay bills.
Start by reducing debt and cutting back on unnecessary expenses.
You really don’t need subscriptions to five streaming services or membership to that gym you only go to once a month.
Earn some extra income part time and start saving whilst you are searching for your ‘Freedom Business’ idea.
3.Be committed.
There is a huge difference between being interested and being committed.
Make decisions based on the information available and stick with what you have decided until it becomes clear you have made a wrong decision.
That’s fine. Everyone makes mistakes.
The first business idea you try probably won’t be the one that succeeds.
That’s normal.
Learn from it… And use it to find new opportunities.
4.Don’t try and reinvent the wheel.
The fastest way to build success in business is to model the successes of others – either those who have done something similar in your field or take what is successful, perhaps something in a different industry, emulate it and improve upon it.
5.You must believe you are worth it and you deserve it.
If you have low self-esteem you will find ways to sabotage yourself and your success. You must have a positive self image, or you will fail.
6.You absolutely must have belief in your abilities.
You have to be believe, with great conviction, that you can achieve anything you put your mind to.
Everything is possible.
As Henry Ford said:
‘Whether you believe you can or you believe you can’t you’re probably right’
7.Be focused on one big goal that really inspires you.
Create a burning desire to achieve it. Do this by writing out a description of your ideal life in minute details – read it every day whilst really imagining what you will feel like when you are living your best life.
8.Create a step by step road map.
When you have set your big inspirational goal – something that may take you 5 or even 10 years to achieve, create a road map of how you are going to get there.
Break it down into 5 years, 3 years and 1 year goals.
Decide what you need to accomplish this quarter to keep you on track… and then break it down further into what you need to do this week.
9.Focus on the small actions
The ones you need to take each day to create the right habits.
You will soon start to notice how quickly you are progressing towards your bigger goals without even trying.
As Robert Russell said:
“Habit is God’s way of making good automatic.”
10.No man is an island.
It’s tough starting your own business and sometimes friends and family don’t understand and are not supportive.
If that’s the case, join a group of like-minded people for support and help and find an accountability partner from that group who shares your ambitions.
You can access a free trial membership by clicking on the image below.
If you want to be a professional footballer and win major competitions you’d aspire to play for Manchester United, Chelsea, Real Madrid or another top club.
You wouldn’t be happy playing for your small local club, however fond you are of them, because you know you’re never going to win The Champions League playing for them.
Likewise, if you want to win at the game of life, you need to join a winning team.
And if you want to qualify for that team, you will need the right mindset – the mindset of a creator, an innovator, an entrepreneur… a Producer.
You’ve all heard the expression the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer.
Well it’s true.
And, there’s a good reason for that. But it’s not why most people think.
It’s not because rich people were born with a silver spoon in their mouth… it’s because they think differently.
That’s right: the way they think is what really separates rich from poor.
Producers get richer. Consumers get poorer.
In short, if you want to win in life, you need to make the leap from being on Team Consumer to joining Team Producer.
But it may not be easy. Since the day you were born, you’ve been conditioned to play for the losing team.
Action man, Barbie, Scalextric, your BMX bike… you’ve been programmed to want stuff in the belief that these things will make you happy.
But if you want to be on the winning team, your mindset needs to shift to being one of producing not consuming.
Once you begin to see the world from a producer’s perspective is like re-tuning a crackly radio station and getting crystal clear stereo sound.
You will start to see opportunities everywhere.
And you will be able to separate the wheat from the chaff quickly.
So, if you want to join the top 1% and play for the winning team re-tune your dial to the way Producers think.
And guess what, the great thing is once you succeed as a producer you will have the pleasure of being able to consume whatever you like in much greater quantities than before without worrying about whether you can afford it.
You need to learn how to become a person who finds good ideas, has the ability to make decisions, to take risks and is willing to make short term sacrifices for long-term gain.
You need to understand leverage and implement it in your business to create systems for:
You must transfer the process of income generation from you as an individual to your business asset.
Your work as a Producer revolves around creating a business asset so it can continue to make money for you for many years after you stop working in the business.
Many moons ago, I was a lawyer working in the music industry and I can tell you as a young man I was astonished at how much money our clients made every year in royalties from songs they had written years ago.
Every time one of their songs gets played on the radio, played live by someone, used in a commercial it adds to their bank balance.
One of those clients was Elton John… and if you’ve seen the film Rocketman, you know how quickly he could write a song. Imagine – a few minutes work and decades later you still earn hundreds of thousands of dollars every year from those few minutes of creative output, without having to raise a finger.
That’s per song.
Imagine having a portfolio of those songs and you can understand how Elton John has manages to live such a lavish lifestyle.
You may not have the ability to write great songs or write bestselling novels but there are plenty of other ways to do similar.
Consumption is easy.
We’ve been conditioned to believe it brings us happiness. We don’t have to make sacrifices to be a consumer.
Producing is difficult and time-consuming.
It involves sacrificing short term pleasure in the expectation of long-term benefits. It’s difficult and it makes us uncomfortable.
It’s the reason only a small number of people are producers. They create the stuff that the rest of the world consumes.
Take a look at the people around you and consider how many of them are producers or consumers. And you’ll see there are very few producers, but they are the ones that create the wealth.
To give a simple example, a blog post like this may take you 10 minutes to read but it took several hours of work to research and write and many more hours to repurpose it and turn it into a YouTube video.
I get paid nothing for those hours – in fact it will cost me money as I will hire people to do some of those tasks like filming and editing.
Why do it?
Because it will be available to read/watch for years… and each week it will attract some new viewers and some of them will decide to join The Freedom Code, my online membership site.
It is like a little soldier working for me 24/7 without any more work from me, and could help produce thousands of dollars in revenue over the next few years.
Or maybe it won’t do that.
Maybe nobody will like it.
That’s a risk you have to be prepared to take as a Producer.
So, you want to get conscripted to Team Producer?
Here are 5 things you can do to step up and join the winning team:
1. Stop procrastinating and start doing
People often spend too much time studying for the sake of studying. It’s a form of procrastination and it can kill productivity.
We hide behind books videos and online-courses and put off engaging with potential customers.
Because we have been conditioned by the school system that we must have as much knowledge as possible before doing anything.
We think we will have the confidence when we have just a bit more knowledge.
But you don’t need more knowledge in order to be a producer.
You already know what you need to get started and you can acquire more as and when you need it.
You only need to learn what you need to solve the immediate roadblock on your journey.
Then when you have solved that problem, progress until you hit the next one and repeat.
Think of your entrepreneurial journey in the same way as a long car journey.
When you start a car journey you don’t wait for every traffic light to be green. If you did you would never get going.
2. Start small
If you look at all the gurus and marketing on the internet today, you could be forgiven for thinking that everyone (except you) has it all sorted – everyone else is crushing social media, they have mastered multiple complex marketing funnels, they have a 7 figure business and investors falling over themselves to invest.
It can create a huge sense of overwhelm and put you off getting started.
Here’s the thing: most of it is absolute crap.
There are less than 5% of businesses that generate over $1M in annual revenue and that includes all the big household names – so the people who are genuinely making that much are few and far between.
Just start somewhere.
Produce something of value to a single person, no matter how small it is. It’s your first step, not your final destination.
Just take that first small step and keep on walking.
3. Focus on the process not the outcome.
Consumers constantly think about the end goal they are trying to reach and what it will mean for them if they achieve that goal.
Producers, on the other hand, Focus on the steps needed to get there.
Instead of saying: “I want 10,000 subscribers”, they say: “I will publish a piece of quality content every day”.
Instead of saying: “I want to make a million dollars in sales this year”, they say: “I will speak with 20 prospects every day.”
Instead of saying: “I want to be a best-selling author”, they say: “I will write 3000 words every day”.
Focusing on the process forces you to produce results continuously. It helps you to hold yourself accountable for what you do every day.
Having a big inspirational goal, you are working towards will keep you motivated through the tough times, but focusing on process-related goals is what will get you there.
4. Build the right habits
If your process-related goals (e.g. “I will produce 3 Blog Posts every week”) are what you will do, then the habits you form are how you will accomplish those goals.
‘Habits are God’s way of making good automatic’ – Robert Russell.
Habits will help streamline your processes and establish automatic behaviour that leads to continuous consistent output.
Once you have established the right habits, you no longer consciously think about what you are doing.
Your actions become automatic just like brushing your teeth or driving a car.
5. Don’t worry about failing. Just produce consistently.
I’m not saying that you must produce a perfect piece of work every day. But produce something. Consistency is critical to success.
It’s what Darren Hardy calls ‘The Compound Effect.’
Of course you will have good days and you will have bad days. But you can’t let your bad days stop you from moving forward.
Jimmy Carr is one of the most successful comedians in the world.
But he has admitted in interviews he writes lots of bad jokes every day. But his process is to just to keep writing and then he weeds out the bad ones so that he is left with the good.
As a producer, the most important thing is to keep the momentum going and show up every day.
If you don’t things are likely to stall. So, keep on producing.
When you’re ready to make the switch to Team Producer, I can help.
You can access a free trial membership by clicking on the image below.
And listen… You don’t need to be sad, worried, or sick to do this.
Even if you’re happy with how your life is going right now, you should still write a life script.
I’ve used this technique to lift me up when I was down and keep me motivated and on track when things were good.
Don’t let the dramas of the outside world, your past failures, or even your past successes define or limit you.
Think instead about what you want your future to be like.
How do you want to spend your days? Who would you like to hang out with? Where do you want to live? How much will you get paid? How healthy are you going to be?
So, consider this… What kind of movie do you want yours to be? A comedy? a new experience? A heart-warming inspirational story? A hero’s journey where you triumph over adversity?
Most people don’t know they can make their own decisions.
So, they let other people pick the story, the characters, and the setting of the movie.
In other words, they are supporting actors in their own film!
Well, starting today, write, direct, and be the star of your own movie.
Write it into the script if you want a life with more passion, amazing relationships, and a great business.
You are a unique way that Universal Consciousness shows itself, and you have your own purpose and gifts.
And you have the power to make your life fit the way you want it to be.
But to get the most out of this process, you need to write a script that lets you dream big and still believe it’s possible for you.
Because if you don’t believe it, you won’t expect it, and you won’t get what you want.
So, let me show you how to do both of these…
How to write a script that will catch your attention and get you excited!
Here’s how to write a script of your life that will help you make the movie of your dreams:
1. Write your story by hand as if you were living it RIGHT NOW. Putting your vision into words is vital. It will help make it more concrete and easier to remember. Write it down in as much detail as you can. Have fun doing it.
2. Make it big: Let your imagination run wild. Don’t be afraid to dream big when creating your vision. You want it to be inspiring and exciting enough to motivate you to take action.
3. Make it a vision of your future that is very upbeat and positive. Talk about what you want most in each part of your life: your body, your business or career, your finances, your relationships, your mind, and your spiritual connections.
…Perhaps you want a close affectionate marriage, or perhaps you want to be single with multiple partners?… What type of house you want to live in?… What’s the garden like?… What area is it in?… What can you see from your window?… What amenities does it have – perhaps you’d like a swimming pool, a home gym, a cinema room?… What’s the view like?… Is it in the mountains?… Can you see the sea?… Perhaps it’s right on the beach?…Who shares the house with you?… What animals do you have?… What can you hear?… Can you smell fresh flowers or maybe the salty sea air?…What car would you drive? Perhaps you want several cars.…How would you spend your days … Playing golf, sailing, doing yoga, meditating, writing, painting, playing your favourite sport, volunteering for a charity, helping animals?…
It’s your life script, you decide. Try and be as specific as possible.
4. Use all of your senses and give as much information as you can about where you are, what you look like, who you are with, what you do, how much money you have, etc.
See and feel yourself living your life according to this script that you wrote yourself. The more you feel it, the more real it becomes and the more it comes to you.
5. Every day, go over your script. You can’t just write your life script once and forget about it. You should read it every day and tweak it if you need to in order to stay motivated.
Use your life script to stay motivated and focused on your goals. Review it regularly to remind yourself of your vision and progress, and make adjustments as needed to stay on track.
It…
💥 Makes you want to change or figure out what you really think about the future.
💥 Helps you get past beliefs that hold you back.
💥 Keeps you focused on what you want instead of what you don’t want, which makes you more likely to get what you want.
💥 Makes you feel and expect more about what you really want.
💥 Uses the power of the Universe to bring you people, places, and things that are just what you want.
Once you have a plan that lets you dream big, you may need to work on your belief that it’s possible.
To do this, you should read your script out loud and record it.
Then, listen to it every day more than once.
I think you should listen to it when you wake up and again right before bed. You can also listen in your car, get ready, work out, or cook while listening.
Try using the Voice Loop App which will play it over and over as you drive or go for a walk.
By repeating new ideas and beliefs at regular intervals, you will be able to change your thoughts and beliefs (your paradigm).
When that happens, you will change the way you act.
Creating a vision board to accompany your life script can also massively reinforce its power.
It can also be a fun and creative way to bring your vision to life.
It is a powerful tool for keeping your vision front and centre in your mind and motivating you to take action towards your goals.
1. Gather materials:
You’ll need a board to attach your images and words to, such as a poster board, corkboard, or foam board.
You’ll also need magazines, newspapers, or printed images from the internet that represent your goals and aspirations that form your Vision.
2. Identify your goals:
Before you start collecting images, it’s important to identify the specific goals and aspirations you want to focus on. This could include things like a house you’d love to live in, cars you want to own, beaches, career goals, personal growth, relationships, health and wellness, or travel.
3. Collect images:
Flip through magazines or search the internet for images that represent your goals and aspirations. Look for images that evoke positive emotions and feelings of inspiration and motivation.
4. Create your vision board:
Print if necessary and cut out the images and words that resonate with you and arrange them on your board in a way that is visually appealing and meaningful to you. You can use glue, tape, or pins to attach the images to the board.
5. Display your vision board:
Once your vision board is complete, display it in a place where you will see it every day, such as your bedroom or office.
6. The feeling is the secret:
Take time to look at it regularly and visualize yourself achieving your goals and aspirations.
And as you look at it and imagine your best life, really feel what it would be like when your life looks like that.
Life scripts work because they make you feel like something good is going to happen.
The flow of plenty always goes to the mind that is open and ready for it.
Expectation is the force that brings your dream closer to you.
Soon, chances and people who can help you will start to “show up,” and they will continue to do so until you become the person you want to be.
Then, your whole life will be what you think it can be.
Don’t just read about this process if you want to take your life to the next level and further.
Don’t wait. You’ll be glad you did it.
You can access a free trial membership by clicking on the image below.
Darren Hardy said:
“Your past doesn’t define you, it prepares you.”
And yet in every society in the world in any country you will find that people are programmed to live from the outside in.
What I mean by that is they allow external events and third-party actions to cause them to act in certain, often predictable, ways. Often when this happens they are either remembering something from the past or imagining that what’s happening is putting their future happiness at stake and the primeval ‘fight or flight’ response kicks in.
What many great thinkers and leaders have taught us is that: if we want to make the right choices and stay in control of our actions, so we get our desired results, we must learn to live from the ‘inside out’ rather than the ‘outside in’.
What do I mean by that?
Well, like most creatures, we have five senses – sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. Those senses process the billions of pieces of information that are around us at any one time.
But, as human beings, we also possess higher faculties which no other animal, as far as we know, has. These faculties are perception, reason, imagination, memory, will and intuition.
Very few people have been taught how to use these higher faculties to create the life they want.
It’s not something that is taught in school… Though it really should be.
When we look at successful people, we generally assume that they have been blessed with some talent the rest of the population doesn’t have, because we lack the awareness of exactly what this person is doing that makes them seem so different and more capable than ordinary people.
But the reality is we all have these higher faculties and when we learn how to use them others will also start to view us as extraordinary individuals. Even though it isn’t really true – it’s just that you will have learned to tap into your higher faculties.
When you do encounter people who have achieved notable success in life – it’s likely that they are not aware they are using these faculties and they are not consciously aware that it is this that is responsible for their success.
They are what’s known as ‘unconscious competents’.
They are successful but they don’t know why.
So just imagine, now you are aware of these faculties and how they can be used to shape your life, how powerful you can become if you strengthen them and then consciously apply them.
Just think about that for a minute and really let it really sink in.
You now know why some people are successful and some people aren’t. You know that you have the power within you to be achieve whatever you want and you know what you need to learn and practise to achieve it.
Whether you apply that knowledge to get what you want is up to you. So, you should be honest with yourself: how much do you really want it?
Now cast your mind back to when you are a small child and no doubt you will often have heard things like:
“Do what I tell you!”
“Look what you’ve done now!”
“You’re so clumsy!”
“You’re no good at that are you.”
“Why do you always get that wrong?”
And on and on it goes.
The conditions or circumstances surrounding us begin to affect the way we think.
School report card reports supposedly tell us how bright and studious we are.
Later in life we get bank statements that we think reflect how much we are worth.
We get sales reports and performance appraisals at work.
All of these are simply a record of the past or someone else opinion of how well you have done in the past.
And it’s these sorts of records that end up controlling the direction our lives take.
We act from the outside in.
In other words, we let past events or past performance dictate our future results.
But those results no longer exist… Except in our minds.
To use them to guide you in the future is like driving a car whilst constantly looking in the rear view mirror when you should be focused on what’s ahead.
And, if you do that well… guess what – you’re going to keeping running into problems.
You must learn to not be affected by them as you move forward. You see, when people look at their past results those results register in their mind, and the results cause them to perceive the world in a certain way that then causes them to have certain expectations and act in a certain way.
It’s what you might call a self-fulfilling prophecy.
But scientific research has shown that the results people get in life are largely determined by the view they have of themselves – their self-image.
If you stop allowing past performance to shape your self-image and you develop a more positive view of yourself, you will naturally get much better results.
That may sound unrealistic but many respected scientific studies have shown this to be true.
Whether it’s school children, salespeople athletes or business people – it’s clear that a better self- image leads to a dramatic improvement on future results.
Conversely a recent study revealed some staggering statistics about what happens to a person with a negative self-image:
⚠️ Creativity decreases 18%
⚠️ Errors increase 30%
⚠️ Illness is either more likely to start or be exacerbated 83%
⚠️ Just three minutes exposure to the news can increase negativity by 27%
Negative self-image is detrimental to yourself, others and your business!
Whereas having a positive self image can massively increase your chances of success.
For example in one experiment with school kids who were not performing well, the kids were actively encouraged and told by teachers that they were actually very good at subjects (even though they had been failing).
Shortly after their grades improved massively.
Why does it work?
People who score a well in tests at school have confidence that they can do well. They go to class and start expecting to succeed. They become a successful person in their mind and success then naturally follows.
So you don’t have to let past results determine your future results. You just have to change your thoughts about yourself, improve your self-esteem and your upgrade your belief about what’s you are capable of.
This is how it works:
Most people see what’s going on outside (lie a performance review) and react to it.
Their thinking produces feelings.
Those feelings cause them to take certain actions and those actions produce their results …same thoughts, same feelings and same results over and over again.
That is why the majority of people keep getting the same results year after year and struggle throughout their entire lives.
You must become more of a neutral observer, like you are watching events on a big screen and don’t allow yourself to get caught up in it.
You really don’t need to let it affect you.
This is how powerful successful, people operate: they observe events around them in a neutral fashion and do not react.
Instead, they shift their perspective and look to find the positive in any situation. Then they think about what it is that they want to happen.
By thinking the right thoughts, it causes the right feelings, that cause them to take the right actions and produce the results they want.
And the circle spirals upwards not downwards. Then they consciously observe the new results, adapt to them and immediately begin to think more thoughts that will create the necessary fellings and actions of how to improve further.
It all starts with thinking…the thinking causes feelings…the feelings cause the actions…and the actions cause the results. Start to live from the inside out and see how quickly your results change.
You can access a free trial membership by clicking on the image below.
Jaspreet Singh, the Minority Mindset, is an attorney, investor, and CEO of Market Briefs,. In this video he shares how anyone can get rich.
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“It starts with a mindset of believing it's possible for you. And then you can start to get financially educated, and start asking the questions, what can I do with the assets I own? How can I invest what I have? How can I build a business?"
― Jaspreet Singh
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Jaspreet “The Minority Mindset” Singh is a serial entrepreneur and licensed attorney on a mission to spread financial education. His YouTube Channel has over one million subscribers. Although he didn’t receive any formal financial education – he’s on a mission to make financial education fun and accessible.
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How many of those interesting people you know went against the odds and proved people wrong?
Think about all the boring people you know (there are probably a lot of them!) and how many of them live mundane lives doing exactly what others expect of them.
They got their degrees, got jobs, got married, had kids, and now spend most of their time inside, and the only interesting or entertaining stories they have (that they endlessly repeat) are from school or university.
You don’t have to fit into society.
Nobody cares. They are too busy dealing with their own lives to give you much thought.
You can do whatever you want, and no one will remember in a few months or years.
We are occupying this planet for an infinitesimal time in about a billion years, both the sun and this planet will be gone.
Nothing you or any of us does really matters.
So, stop worrying about what others think and just do whatever you think is right – whatever makes you feel good.
Here’s a little poem to inspire you:
– By Steve Jobs
Here’s to the Crazy Ones!
The misfits.
The rebels.
The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.
They’re not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo.
You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them, disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you cannot do is ignore them.
Because they change things.
They invent. They imagine. They heal.
They explore. They create. They inspire.
They push the human race forward.
Maybe they have to be crazy.
How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art?
Or, sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written?
Or, gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?
We make tools for these kinds of people.
While some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.
Try this activity to push your limits:
People don’t usually say hello – especially in big cities. It’s a shock to the system.
Every day, walk down the street and smile and say hello to at least 10 people you don’t know. Most of the time, it will be strange and uncomfortable. You might feel good or get some strange reactions. So what.
You might meet interesting people. Or you could make someone’s day better.
It’s a great challenge and a step towards doing something different from what people usually do… The path of least resistance is often the path with the least amount of freedom.
It’s easy to follow the crowd, do what you’re told, and not ask questions.
But you have to work hard to think.
Stop worrying about the haters and naysayers who will try to bring you down to their level.
Instead, start living your life in a way that means you won’t have any regrets when you look back 30 or 40 years from now.
The thing you’re scared of (because you worry about failing or what others may think) is likely to be the very thing that will bring you huge success and freedom.
1. Common sense.
Break down the clichés you use every day.
If you say “that’s just the way it is” a lot, you should think about why you do that.
What are you trying to call “common sense” that has nothing to do with common sense?
Find out if this way of thinking has ever kept you from doing something because most people were doing the opposite, and then you found out you were right the whole time.
2. Reframe.
People often say what they are against instead of what they are for.
The problem is that if you are “against” something instead of “for” something else, your brain keeps thinking about what you are against.
For example, if you say, “I hate being fat,” you are concentrating on being fat.
“I’m against war” means that war is the main topic. Try rethinking these kinds of thoughts and actions in terms of what you want to get closer to instead of what you want to get away from. E.g. “I believe in love and peace.”
3. Read.
Look up laws and customs about normalcy from other places.
Then, look up what your society thinks is normal through that lens.
A different perspective will help you realise that there is no ‘normal’ – it’s just what you become accustomed to and it varies according to the culture you were raised in.
Do you do the same things over and over? Are you stopping yourself from trying new things?
What little things can you do differently today to spice up your life?
How would you explain the word “normal”? How does it fit into the world you live in?
What historical figures, contemporary celebrities, (or people you know) do you admire because they didn’t do what everyone else did?
I can help.
For ongoing advice, mentorship and support to quit your job and start a business that runs on autopilot, so it delivers the money and freedom you want, come join my online community and Crack The Freedom Code.
Starting a business can be an exciting and fulfilling endeavour, but it can also be challenging to come up with the right idea.
So, it is essential if you are going to start a business that you choose what you invest your time and money into very carefully.
Ideally, you want to find something that aligns with your interest and skills, but also has the potential for significant financial success.
Here are a few tips to help you find a good business idea:
One of the most effective ways to identify a profitable business idea is to look for problems that need solving.
Whether it’s a product or service, your business should aim to provide a solution to a real problem that people are facing.
Start by asking yourself and others around you what issues they are struggling with, and see if you can come up with a solution.
Next time you find yourself saying, “WTF, why do they do it like that?” (or similar) – recognise therein lies opportunity.
If you are thinking like that, so are countless others.
They are your market.
Your business should align with your passions and skills.
If you are passionate about a particular subject, you will be more motivated to work on it and will be more likely to succeed.
Similarly, if you have a specific set of skills that can be leveraged in your business, it will give you a competitive advantage.
Before committing to a business idea, it’s essential to research the market to see if there is a demand for it.
Look at your competitors and see what they are doing well and what they are not.
You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Identify any gaps in the market that your business can fill.
Look for ways to do it better – Amazon, Uber, Deliveroo are just 3 examples of multi-billion-dollar companies that took an existing service and did it better.
This refers to the difference in value between what someone is willing to pay for a product or service, and the actual cost of producing or delivering that product or service.
He argues that businesses that have a large value skew are more profitable and sustainable in the long-term.
A product or service with a high value skew means that the customer is willing to pay much more than it cost to produce or deliver it.
This allows the business to make a significant profit margin.
Creating a value skew involves finding ways to deliver more value to customers than the cost of producing or delivering the product or service.
There are several strategies that businesses can use to create a value skew:
a) Innovation: Introduce new and unique products or services that customers cannot find anywhere else.
b) Branding: Develop a strong brand that commands a premium price, and is associated with quality and exclusivity.
c) Personalization: Offer customized products or services that meet the specific needs of individual customers.
d) Education: Provide customers with valuable information, insights, or training that helps them solve a problem or achieve a goal.
e) Convenience: Make it easy and convenient for customers to access your products or services.
f) Scarcity: Create limited availability of your products or services to increase perceived value and demand.
g) Service: Offer exceptional customer service that exceeds expectations.
h) Network effects: Create a product or service that becomes more valuable as more people use it.
Creating a value skew takes effort and creativity, but it can be a powerful way to increase profitability and customer loyalty in the long-term.
One key point is whilst you should be committed to your course of action, if for whatever reason it’s REALLY not working and you can’t find a solution, don’t be afraid to pivot: Sometimes, even the best-laid plans can go awry.
Take what you’ve learned and use it to adjust your approach.
Starting a business is inherently risky, but without risk, there can be no reward.
Be willing to take calculated risks, and don’t be afraid to fail.
Failure is a natural part of the business process, and it’s often a necessary step in the journey to success.
Keep in mind that finding the right business idea takes time and requires a lot of self-reflection and research.
However, by applying this advice, you’ll be stacking the odds in your favour and giving yourself the best chance of success.
I can help.
For ongoing advice, mentorship and support to quit your job and start a business that runs on autopilot, so it delivers the money and freedom you want, come join my online community and Crack The Freedom Code.
Humans require freedom if they are to be happy.
But the majority of people have no understanding of what freedom is or that they are not actually free.
Their freedom is curtailed in many ways for arbitrary, often politically motivated reasons and even worse they imprison themselves with false beliefs.
There are two main ways our freedom is restricted:
With Power-Over, you could hurt someone physically or emotionally to force them to do what you want. This is how the government and police control you and restrict your physical freedom.
Power-Within has to do with self-esteem, self-worth, and acceptance. In other words, anything that originates from your own thoughts and beliefs.
Power-Over:
Coercive relationships start early in life with parents exercising authority over children and then teachers and it lasts a lifetime in the form of government, the tax bodies, the police and other institutions.
At least until Covid, a lot of people thought they could generally live as they pleased, as long as they paid their taxes and followed what laws the government of the time made (supposedly) to provide a safe society for the benefit of all.
But we’ve never really been free to do what we want.
So am I advocating taking to the streets and protesting?
No.
I believe that is a pointless waste of time in most cases. Instead, I believe that ‘freedom is an inside job’ and you can be free regardless of how unfree the environment you live in may be.
The idea that true freedom is an “inside job” means that our sense of freedom isn’t just based on events or situations outside of us, but on how we perceive them and feel about them.
This means that even when we can’t change things outside of ourselves, we can still feel free if we focus on the things we can change, like our thoughts and feelings, and if we develop a sense of internal empowerment and self-determination.
From this point of view, true freedom isn’t just the lack of restrictions from the outside.
Instead, it’s a way of being where a person feels free to act and think in line with their values and goals, no matter what’s going on around them.
In other words, real freedom is an inner feeling that comes from a sense of psychological freedom and independence.
But, in the world we live in now, we often don’t act the way we want to because we fear there will be adverse consequences if we do.
People say that society reinforces “norms” that make it hard to think about your own needs, interests, and desires or act on them.
People instead choose to “fit in” or even sacrifice themselves by putting the needs of a group or community before their own.
Most of this is self-imposed, since many of us live in worlds where we lock ourselves up in our own prisons of self-limiting beliefs.
And we tend to blame outside things and other people for how we feel and act, like our partner, parents, boss, government, or the person who cut us off on the way to work.
We tell everyone around us what we want them to change, how they should do this or that to fit in with how we think the world should be.
And we think that if they did these things, it would make us happy.
“If only my wife would stop spending money…”
“The government should stop immigrants taking our jobs.”
“If only my boss would give me a promotion”
But who are we to say what other people should do?
No one put us in control.
We only have power over what we personally think and do.
And if we think that our happiness depends on other people doing what we think they should, we will stay trapped in our own prison of frustration and unhappiness.
We can in fact choose how we respond to any situation… Whatever it is that someone else says or does, we do not have to react and let it make us angry or upset.
Victor Frankl wrote in his famous book “Man’s Search for Meaning” that you always have a choice about how to deal with even the worst situations, and that this choice can give your life meaning and purpose.
If you don’t know who he was, during World War II, he was locked up in a concentration camp, where guards who considered Jews to be sub-human, held his life in their hands on a daily basis.
It’s astonishing but even in those circumstances, he was able to retain a positive state of mind.
If he can do that in the worst possible situation, it’s clear that we are also able to choose how to deal with problems in our own lives, no matter how bad they are.
It’s very simple to concentrate on external problems that place restrictions on your independence and blame them for your lack of freedom and dissatisfaction.
But picture a scenario in which all of those apparent external constraints have magically disappeared.
Then, would you feel truly liberated?
I doubt it.
By conditioning our minds to believe certain ‘perceived truths’, we limit ourselves in a much sneakier way.
The majority of our limiting beliefs, whether it’s “I’m not good enough,” “I’m too old for that,” “I’m not brave enough” or I’m not clever enough — all stem from a fundamental belief that in some way we are ‘not enough’ of something.
Ask yourself:
Before we even consider standing up against the limitations placed on our freedom by the government and others, we must first recognise, accept, and work through these self-imposed limiting ideas that keep us trapped in a prison of our own making.
Whether you are a lawyer or other professional who would like to quit their job, escape the rat race and live a free-er more enjoyable life, then why not register for a free trial membership of my website The Freedom Code, where you will find a community of like-minded professionals at various stages of planning, transitioning out of their careers and starting their own businesses.
As a member, you will receive education, tips, advice, support, mentorship and accountability.
So come and crack the freedom code and create a life you love
I was fortunate (in some ways) to go to one of the top grammar schools in the country.
But I was always a bit of an outsider, especially after I quit the football team and stopped doing other extracurricular activities after the age of 14.
I wasn’t an active trouble maker – I just didn’t like what I felt were nonsensical rules. I had a strong desire just to be myself and hated being told what to do or how to look.
But despite my lack of interest and mediocre results during term time I was still able to do well in exams.
That pattern continued at university and I ended up with a very good degree, a distinction from Law School (something that still amazes me 30 years later 😊) and subsequent offers from several top law firms.
I didn’t really know what I wanted to do but I had in the back of my mind that I wanted to work in the entertainment industry probably as a film producer, and law seemed a potential route to get into that. In retrospect it was actually a pretty good plan as several of my contemporaries ended up doing just that… And some of them have produced BAFTA award-winning TV series. I must admit I feel slightly envious of those accomplishments at times.
So, I accepted a job with an entertainment law firm, partly because I told myself, even if I wasn’t that interested in the law, it was a means to an end, and partly because they gave me a big lump of money to go fund a gap year…
And I willingly accepted their bribe.
Meandering around the world for a year with my girlfriend at the time was amazing. We stayed in cheap hostels and existed for a year off just a few thousand pounds – but it was more than enough.
We had the time of our lives: Scuba diving, white water rafting, skydiving, safaris, nights spent in the desert under a billion stars, surfing, ancient temples, elephant treks through the jungle and a lot of partying.
I remember landing back at Heathrow a few weeks before I was due to start my new career and feeling utterly deflated… like my life was somehow over. I just wanted to get back on that plane and carry on travelling.
It never occurred to me that was entirely possible… Especially, if I was prepared to do a bit of work here and there. But in hindsight I’m not sure if it was that I didn’t think of doing this, or I did and I just didn’t have the courage to reject what everyone expected of me.
So like most people I knew, I moved to London, bought some suits and joined the rat race.
One thing I will say about lawyers, which I may not have appreciated at the time, is that the people I worked with were by and large really good decent people especially if you compare them with the people I’ve encountered in the property industry over the years where ethics can be in very short supply.
However, despite working with nice people, I realised very quickly that this was not something I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I looked around at the partners in the firm – those in positions we were meant to aspire to – and saw how stressed and unhappy they were; how hard they worked, never seeing their families; and how grey and tired they looked.
It really cemented the notion in my head that money was not everything. And even if I could earn a 7 figures income as a partner in a big law firm I valued by freedom much more than money.
Anyway, though I found it dull, I was reasonably competent at the work. But unlike many of the other young lawyers I really resented having to work much longer than the contracted hours often being expected to give up weekends at a moment’s notice and sometimes working through the entire night.
The firm seemed to want my entire life in exchange for a pay check, and I wasn’t prepared to sell it that cheaply.
I lasted six years working mainly in the music industry which admittedly had lots of perks like famous clients, free tickets to gigs and VIP passes. But no amount of celebrity parties with free alcohol could compensate for the fact I hated going to work each day.
So much so, that at times, when walking down Fleet Stret on the way to work with all the other besuited ‘rats’, feeling trapped and miserable, I seriously considered walking in front of a bus.
Then one day, after a meeting where I had told a favourite band of mine that I loved their new album, my boss said to me, shaking his head with a wry smile, “Frazer, love isn’t a word that lawyers use.”
Something in me just snapped. I decided enough was enough. I could not spend my life doing something I had no passion for alongside people who, although pleasant, bottled up their emotions and seemed unable to express any real joy or pleasure.
I didn’t really have a plan at the time, my girlfriend was head of promotions of Virgin Records, my best friend was commissioning editor at Loaded magazine, and I knew lots of people in the media who seemed to like me.
Based on that I figured, “Oh well I’m sure I can work something out.”
So, I came back after the Christmas holidays and handed my notice in. Even though I wanted to move on with my life, I always think it’s important to stick to what you’ve agreed and so I stayed and worked my three month notice period.
My boss was a lot more understanding than I thought he would be and in fact we ended up agreeing a deal where I would stay on as a consultant and do 10 hours a week for the next year.
That helped the firm to find and train somebody new and it certainly helped me by providing a financial cushion whilst I got my new business off the ground.
So along with my friend Adam who decided to go part time at Loaded, we started an artist and event management company. And for a couple of years, before we decided to go our separate ways, we had a really great time whilst making a decent amount of money.
Since parting ways with Adam (still a great friend), I’ve started various different companies. Some have been successful. Some have not. But it’s all been a great and useful learning experience.
And apart from a difficult period around 2010, when I was completely broke, and I ruefully imagined how much money I would be making had I remained a lawyer, I can honestly say I’ve always been glad I made the decision to leave the law.
So, I’ve had many ups and downs. I sold one company for a few million, sold a couple more for a lot less, franchised another.
And using all the lessons I learned from bootstrapping previous companies, I started one company in 2012 and built it to a valuation of £30Million by 2019. It subsequently collapsed due to a series of adverse Covid-related events.
I’d spent nine years working seven days a week to build that business never even paying myself much in the expectation of selling it or floating it for a big pay day. To see it collapse after what could be described as a perfect storm of adverse events and being left with nothing was pretty devastating – and it took me quite a while to recover from that.
Still, I’ve spent a long-time studying psychology and personal development over the past few decades, and one of the big lessons I’ve learned is to really focus on being grateful for all the good things you have in your life.
It changes your whole mood and your attitude when you do that.
So, I am now grateful that I don’t have the burden of 30 employees (which I found very hard despite them mostly being lovely people).
I am grateful I am free to spend my time as I like, that I have very flexible working hours and can basically work when I want.
I am grateful I had a period of owning the car I always dreamed of (a DB9 if you’re interested).
And I am very grateful that, shortly, I’ll be moving abroad, where I’m intending to build my perfect, eco-friendly, home.
And, at the end of the day, despite the ups and downs, I’m grateful for the fact I’ve lived life on my own terms for the past 23 years and for the valuable experiences and insights I’ve had during that time.
I now know what it takes not only to find good ideas, get businesses off the ground and scale them quickly and structure them so they can run on autopilot – leaving the business owner the free time they want and the money to enjoy it.
I know what works and what doesn’t and I’m now able to share that knowledge with others, guide them on their journey… and make a good living from doing so.
It’s a good place to be.
So, no regrets.
Whether you are a lawyer or other professional who would like to quit their job, escape the rat race and live a free-er more enjoyable life, then why not register for a free trial membership of my website The Freedom Code, where you will find a community of like-minded professionals at various stages of planning, transitioning out of their careers and starting their own businesses.
As a member, you will receive education, tips, advice, support, mentorship and accountability.
So come and crack the freedom code and create a life you love
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