I wrote about this in my book Freelance to Freedom. So many people get mixed up and confused when it comes to money, entrepreneurship and their career aspirations. We set off on one path and then, without realizing it, make a slight turn and find ourselves in a neighborhood that we didn’t intend to go to. Even though we were attempting to go somewhere.
What happens is we get sidetracked from our original plans. It’s not much different from veering off onto the incorrect street. We set out on a plan of freedom. We want to create a business that gives us control back. The flexibility to not be in a nine to five, to not have our days eaten up by doing meaningless work for mediocre income.
So we have this dream of freedom. Running our own show. And in that moment, it’s really not about the money. It’s about the time. It’s about the work we do. It’s about not waking up from an alarm clock blasting in the dark so that we can go do work that we aren’t passionate about.
It is about waking up naturally, without needing an electronic jolt, and doing the work you love when you want to, and where you want to. The sad part is that so many people don’t even dream of that any longer because they don’t believe it’s even possible.
And often the reason why they don’t believe it’s possible it’s because they don’t think they can possibly make the money they need to survive doing work that they love. But just like the story in yesterdays blog post ‘How Can I Replace my Income’, how much do you really need to live that life?We get sidetracked because instead of focusing on what we need, we look way past to all of the things that we might want. What you need is limited. What you want can be endless.
The secret is focusing on what you need. Freedom comes first. Luxury comes later. So how do you do that? How do you get started so that you can at lead get to freedom?
You need to gather your fruit. I’m not talking about bananas, apples and tomatoes (yes, it’s a fruit!). We’re talking about your basic household expenses. Here is a simply way to break down your fruit.
FRUIT
F- Food
R- Residence
U- Utilities
I- Insurance
T- Transportation
Add all those up. What is that total for you?
Your FRUIT are your necessities. You can add in some entertainment, as well—just don’t go crazy. Everything else is a bonus, meaning expendable. If you can be sold on this idea, and live it, you have the framework to create an income that will get you on the path towards financial freedom.
What you will realize is that your basic needs aren’t as much as you thought they were. And when you can see that it doesn’t take nearly as much to gain your freedom as you once thought, the hurdle of earning that amount of money isn’t nearly as daunting as you previously thought.
So gather your fruit and realize that you are closer that you might realize.
-Vincent
