Curious about who here achieved Financial Freedom

[Two Dog]

Hmm, I'd say "...highly increasing the probability" and "...making decent money with the chance of making a fortune." over your words. Don't confuse a clear blueprint with easy or even straightforward. Any child can learn what's involved in running a marathon. Not easy to accomplish even with dedicated training. Same thing with learning to play a musical instrument. Musicians practice thousands of hours to become proficient.

Becoming a business success is no different. It requires a tremendous personal commitment and sacrifice.

Chasing after a *possible* fortune 5 - 15 years in the future honestly isn't enough motivation to keep working at it every day. It's too vague. Almost like a mirage. You have to want to build something. For myself, the initial motivation to start my own business was simply that I hated other people telling me what to do.

 

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[Goodfella999]

I'm not going to say what mine was because it changes all the time. You may say $5M, once you get there, you want $10M, once you get there, you want $20M. The numbers change based on market conditions and you still have to adapt. It's not like you get to $10M and then just chill and do nothing. You need to invest the $10M properly and that is a job in itself.

I think I saw a post where you said "make money online and dump it into rentals". Is this what you've done with the ecommerce money? It seems like some of the highest net worth people I watch or learn from (Ben Mallah etc) all have been doing real estate a long time.

 

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[Ronnie Bryan]

Still a work in progress... But hit goal 1 get out of poverty and goal 2 is near complete. Eliminate debt still have some college student loans I am whittling down. I had a college professor help me go from less than minimum wage to earning $35,000 a year where I am at today! Working on my discipline for tracking pennies and learning about investing from what I can read and humble myself to ask others. What I would consider a milestone accomplishment, but the road is still long. I am just grateful my family is not begging for scraps or wondering where they will sleep or what they will eat. It is important to be humble and grateful and not lose sight of the "why" you do what you do.

 

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[biophase]

Briefly: Can you do whatever you want without money being a problem? If yes, you achieved financial freedom.
If no, you didn't reach financial freedom yet.

That's how I define Financial Freedom.

That is still a very broad definition. Do whatever you want can mean, I want to go on 2 vacations a year or I want to travel 6 months out of the year and stay in luxury hotels and airbnb the whole time.

There's regular people financial freedom and there's rich people financial freedom. I can't charter a private jet wherever I want to go. But I can easily buy a plane ticket wherever and whenever I want.

 

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[Roli]

Hi there,

I want to know who here achieved financial freedom. How long did it take? What value did you add to society? What knowledge brought you there? How hard was the start-up phase? What are your advices to people fighting for financial freedom? Were you alone during that journey? Is there anybody who helped you beside authors? What was your work environment like? Were you regularly travelling from country to country for variety? With how much money did you start up and how much did the execution cost? How was the execution like? Did you ever have "sucidal thoughts" given on how hard that is? How did you deal with that?

Describe briefly the process from acquiring the knowledge to build an idea for a productocracy, to taking initiation, executing and arriving at financial freedom.

I've read the replies and your answers to this thread, and I must say I'm very impressed with your attitude, I feel you have the right mindset, you just need a little push in the right direction.

So a few humble suggestions.

You say that you live in Mauritius, which as far as I'm aware is a beautiful tourist destination. You also say you drive a taxi and are a good salesman.

So taking all of that info, I suggest you find something that is cheap that tourists want. So for instance a shell necklace, then you have ready made customers who come into your cab. You are friendly and a good salesman, so even if you just leave them hanging somewhere prominently in your cab you'll sell them.

You can also use your connections to set up deals with bars, restaurants, nightclubs, etc. on the island, whereby they give you some kind of bonus/cut for customers you bring to them.

Perhaps also you can talk to people who have nice homes and don't rent them out yet, then you set up a website or even just tag on Air BnB and start renting out holiday homes, each time taking a 10-15% (or more) cut.

Remember, it's just about looking around you and identifying common problems that people face, whether those people are residents or tourists, if you find a good problem to solve, you'll make money.

I have seen many new people on this forum come and ask questions, get answers they don't like and never post again. However with you, I have a good feeling.

Oh, and to answer your question, no, I haven't achieved financial freedom (yet), however I'm living a very happy life with my wife, child and friends. I am healthy and so are my family and no amount of money can replace those things.

Good luck, keep asking questions, keep seeking answers.

 

[MTF]

why is this not a business?

Any time you provide value to the world, you’ll have financial rewards.

A lot of non-profits provide value to the world but they don't get financial rewards for it.

Like a friend who's in reforestation says, there's no money in saving the world.

He plants fast-growing Miyawaki forests to provide habitat and/or corridors to vulnerable species.

Nobody pays him for that (sponsors support the projects, it's not his financial reward).

Many non-profits do more good than shitty call center companies but nobody cares.

 

[Andy Black]

He plants fast-growing Miyawaki forests to provide habitat and/or corridors to vulnerable species.

Nobody pays him for that (sponsors support the projects, it's not his financial reward).

Can he turn a profit doing this and reinvest it back into planting even more trees?

I like to think of business as "Help people. Get paid. Help more people." If you get paid to help people then you can reinvest it back into helping even more people.

In the case above: "Do good to the world. Get paid. Do even more good to the world."

This is where business can be a great vehicle to help more people and add more value.

Many non-profits do more good than shitty call center companies but nobody cares.

Maybe they'd do better if they could get more people to care. It's like having a good product and making it hard for people to share/buy/etc.

Google gives eligible charities a Google Ads grant of up to $10k/mth spend. Not enough charities avail of this and other free resources.

 

[MTF]

Can he turn a profit doing this and reinvest it back into planting even more trees?

I like to think of business as "Help people. Get paid. Help more people." If you get paid to help people then you can reinvest it back into helping even more people.

In the case above: "Do good to the world. Get paid. Do even more good to the world."

This is where business can be a great vehicle to help more people and add more value.

If his "customers" are animals and not humans, it's really hard to follow this "help people" philosophy. Because it's literally for animals, not humans.

Nature stewardship is hard because the point is to reforest an area and leave it alone for the animals to live, not for the humans to visit and turn it into an amusement park. The only "reward" humans get is feeling like they're for once caring for the planet instead of cutting everything up for profit.

 

[MTF]

Swap "help people" with something else?

"Plant trees. Get paid. Plant more trees." or whatever.

If we can create that virtuous circle of "Do X. Get paid. Do more X." ... then we can scale up.

I can see this working as a separate business that donates a portion of the profits to the non-profit arm. The non-profit in itself IMO can't really be run as a regular business.

The only exception would be to buy a huge piece of land, reforest it, and then turn build a visitor center and stuff like that but that's not always possible (the friend usually plants tiny forests that connect larger swaths of public land).

I like social impact businesses but as @Altaff pointed out, it usually takes way longer to make them work. Meanwhile, if your family is starving, that's no fun. Better start with a lucrative business and once it lets you retire then reinvest and refocus on what changes the world. Save yourself first before you can effectively save others.

 

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[pk0815]

for me personal, financial freedom
is that you are in charge of your on timeschedule. you decide when, what and how you are doing things.

with that out of hand, i achived financial freedom by investing the last 10 years in the markets. i started as a 18y old with no financial background and with only a few bucks in my pocket.

the biggest mistakes i made was right in the beginning. i wanted to become rich quick so i spent the first few bucks on different courses and trading programms. what a stupid idea that was. after i learned my lesson i focused on building the right mindset and to watch other successful investors to learn their techniques. i started to invest in the right businesses with the right mindset and 10y later i finally achieved my goal.

after a few months of independencie i faced mental problems. the first time in life i had no goals for the future and i was struggling to motivate myself.

so TMF really changed my life upside down what financial freedom couldn‘t. i now have a new purpose in life. i‘m writing now a book to help others become financially independent. this book showed me a new path a new long-term goal in life

don‘t stop!! always learn and improve your skills.

hope that brings any value to you.

 

[Kirsov]

Hi there,

I want to know who here achieved financial freedom. How long did it take? What value did you add to society? What knowledge brought you there? How hard was the start-up phase? What are your advices to people fighting for financial freedom? Were you alone during that journey? Is there anybody who helped you beside authors? What was your work environment like? Were you regularly travelling from country to country for variety? With how much money did you start up and how much did the execution cost? How was the execution like? Did you ever have "sucidal thoughts" given on how hard that is? How did you deal with that?

Describe briefly the process from acquiring the knowledge to build an idea for a productocracy, to taking initiation, executing and arriving at financial freedom.

 

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[Kirsov]

I created a business that sells dog collars and leashes and also donates to dog rescues. It was a very long process, filled with learning the ins and outs of ecommerce, SEO, marketing, etc. Basically you just go do it and learn as you go.

I see. It is happy to hear that you achieved financial freedom. How long was the process from start to finish (finish being when you got enough to be financially free forever)?

 

[Kirsov]

I'm not going to say what mine was because it changes all the time. You may say $5M, once you get there, you want $10M, once you get there, you want $20M. The numbers change based on market conditions and you still have to adapt. It's not like you get to $10M and then just chill and do nothing. You need to invest the $10M properly and that is a job in itself.

Ohh I see. Thanks for sharing mate

 

[Angler]

Yes I have. I was the 23rd member on this forum

That is a short, precise, and powerful one line

 

[Goodfella999]

@biophase , Im sure the depreciation on your rentals helps offset high income from online business for taxes. Thats an issue Ive started running into, only so many traditional write offs. Need to buy more properties.

 

[Kirsov]

So how do we define financial freedom here?

For me, I define financial freedom as being able to do whatever you want to do without money being a problem. It is when you don't have to deprive yourself from anything just for the sake of money. It is when you can stop working if you want to and still have enough money to live your lifetime. If you are obligated to work despite though your expenses<income, I don't define that as financial freedom because you still isn't free.

Briefly: Can you do whatever you want without money being a problem? If yes, you achieved financial freedom.
If no, you didn't reach financial freedom yet.

That's how I define Financial Freedom.

 

[Kirsov]

Still a work in progress... But hit goal 1 get out of poverty and goal 2 is near complete. Eliminate debt still have some college student loans I am whittling down. I had a college professor help me go from less than minimum wage to earning $35,000 a year where I am at today! Working on my discipline for tracking pennies and learning about investing from what I can read and humble myself to ask others. What I would consider a milestone accomplishment, but the road is still long. I am just grateful my family is not begging for scraps or wondering where they will sleep or what they will eat. It is important to be humble and grateful and not lose sight of the "why" you do what you do.

Keep fighting for the wins. You will eventually reach your destination. Just like you achieved your first goal of getting out of poverty, you'll eventually reach the others too, given that you keep putting great efforts in what you do.

While you are learning about investing, in the meantime, try to see what value you can provide to society. What does people hate in your region and wish there was? Find a need.

Respect CENTS, create a productocracy and you'll eventually strike gold.

Keep crushing it!

 

[Kirsov]

That is still a very broad definition. Do whatever you want can mean, I want to go on 2 vacations a year or I want to travel 6 months out of the year and stay in luxury hotels and airbnb the whole time.

There's regular people financial freedom and there's rich people financial freedom. I can't charter a private jet wherever I want to go. But I can easily buy a plane ticket wherever and whenever I want.

I see. I'm talking about regular people financial freedom then.

 

[Antifragile]

Actually, I don't see any real difference between the two. A business is something that generates cashflow. Hopefully.

Someone's $10M apartment building throwing off $10K monthly (yes, the numbers don't make sense but humor me. Maybe they overpaid in a bidding war or discovered it was built over a nuclear dump site and the tenants ran off) isn't any different than the Dollar General throwing off $10K monthly to me. I think of it more in terms of inbound dollars vs. outbound time. If the property management company and general manager both call with questions for an hour each month, it seems exactly the same.

Are you saying there's an inherent difference or just assuming the biz takes up more personal time?

The difference is one has net worth of $10m. And the other is presumably an illiquid business, giving you profits > personal expenses. Meaning, your business makes you more than you spend.

To me, without net worth; there is no “financial freedom”. I separate income from net worth. Wealth is based on net worth.

 

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[Kirsov]

So taking all of that info, I suggest you find something that is cheap that tourists want. So for instance a shell necklace, then you have ready made customers who come into your cab. You are friendly and a good salesman, so even if you just leave them hanging somewhere prominently in your cab you'll sell them

Thanks for the reply and the suggestions.

I never thought about selling things to them. I always brought them to stored to buy souvenirs and local things made for tourist. You've just opened another way for me. I regularly ask tourists what they wished were better there and the most common answer is that they didn't get the chance to have a sugarcane drink. No hotels do sell that, neither do local stores, neither it is available in supermarkets. I thought about making up a brand that do sell this thing but I never made a move on it. Why? Because I've talked to a small audience only. For it to really work, it has to be something the market want. It may have been that majority of the tourists I was with wanted sugarcane drinks but the others who I wasn't with didn't really care.

You can also use your connections to set up deals with bars, restaurants, nightclubs, etc. on the island, whereby they give you some kind of bonus/cut for customers you bring to them.

About that, I tried, and sadly it was in vain. They said that they are going not going to pay me any kind of bonus, they didn't really care. I think that it's because I'm not big enough.

Perhaps also you can talk to people who have nice homes and don't rent them out yet, then you set up a website or even just tag on Air BnB and start renting out holiday homes, each time taking a 10-15% (or more) cut.

I like that idea, thanks. I am going to try that out and see how it goes.

Remember, it's just about looking around you and identifying common problems that people face, whether those people are residents or tourists, if you find a good problem to solve, you'll make money.

Yes, whenever I talk to people, I try to listen to the "market mind." But, I don't have any intention of starting up an enterprise here in my country. I may try to develop my entrepreneurship skills here but I will set up set up my business abroad as I hate living here.

I have seen many new people on this forum come and ask questions, get answers they don't like and never post again. However with you, I have a good feeling

Thanks. I have the intetion of not posting for a while though. I frequently get away from my phone for a long period. Basically, I shut down everything and it's just me and work. I get lazy when I use my phone: text messages, calls, etc. I become very distracted as such. Well, I will still be using the phone for notes and things, but, it will always be on airplane mode with no wi-fi. Then, after I notice that I made a significant progress, I will reward myself with 1-2weeks of "leisure".

Oh, and to answer your question, no, I haven't achieved financial freedom (yet), however I'm living a very happy life with my wife, child and friends. I am healthy and so are my family and no amount of money can replace those things.

What do you do for a living? I am happy to hear that you are healthy and living wonderfully with your family, kind of a rare thing these days. Where are you from?

Good luck, keep asking questions, keep seeking answers.

Thanks! Good luck to you too! Well, I won't really say luck. Good "probability"

 

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[Two Dog]

Briefly: Can you do whatever you want without money being a problem? If yes, you achieved financial freedom.
If no, you didn't reach financial freedom yet.

That's one definition. Another is Buckminster Fuller's (assuming it was actually him) where your monthly cashflow exceeds your monthly spending. Another is net worth. I know people who think FF belong to each of those categories. The problem with your definition (to my mind) is there is always something that can't be purchased regardless of your wealth. Jeff Bezon and Elon Musk are monumentally rich individuals in the history of mankind, but the list of things that neither of them can ever own is literally endless.

My take for the last few years is simply that FF means money thoughts don't cause you any stress.

You don't worry about buying things day to day, you don't worry about running out, you don't worry about giving it away to friends, family, charities, whomever. You just live your life. One of the saddest things imaginable is someone who's worth millions who's still banging away because they're terrified it will not last or will be taken away or God only knows what. No amount of money is going to give them peace or FF by my definition. At the other end of the spectrum are cloistered monks who are endlessly content without a dollar to their name who would probably qualify.

That's why I haven't thought FF can be measured solely in dollars for a very long time.

 

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[biophase]

Sure, that's straightforward enough. Also pretty accurately describes my situation over the past few years.

Just throw in a touch of real estate. I haven't completely come around to valuing net worth more than cashflow though. There's too many people that are wealthy on paper, but have so little cashflow that their hands are still tied. Sure, money is fungible and it's possible to convert between the two. It just tends to be a bad idea with illiquid investments, collateralized loans, etc.

I prefer the idea of owning a business that throws out $100K monthly cashflow (which is far in excess of our own spending) with the overage being dumped into largely illiquid long-term capital investments like stocks, bond, real estate and private equity investments. As I'm writing this, I think the underlying problem is my deep skepticism that conservative investments will continually pay out for a lifetime. Just like I'm surprisingly pretty skeptical that our life insurance policies will actually pay out to the kids. There's really no easy fix for that perspective except more experience.

Was there a point in your net worth where dumping everything into a low-risk income stream made sense?

Aren’t we saying the same thing? You mentioned making $100,000 a month and then dumping the overage into some form of investment vehicle.

So you are taking part of your monthly cash flow and using it to increase your net worth. So you are valuing your net worth.

But during this timeframe, you aren’t technically financially free. Because if you were you would not need to take part of your monthly cash flow to increase your net worth. But at some point in the future, you look will be worth so much that when you look at that $100,000 a month coming in, you will think, do I really need to save any of this money or can I spend it all and still be OK?

 

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[Antifragile]

someone who wants to find another way of providing energy to the world while causing the least pollution possible

why is this not a business?

Any time you provide value to the world, you’ll have financial rewards.

 

[Kirsov]

On the other hand, I’d you are thinking of renewable and green energy work, that shit is not only a big deal these days, it also pays well! Why not start with doing what you love as a business?

Foe me, that's because of the process. It costs a tremondous amount of knowledge and money to work on such big things. In the meantime, who is going to finance my family and myself? Nobody. I will still be depriving myself for years(decades).

It may bring in huge profit at the end but it may also be a big failure.

Like a friend who's in reforestation says, there's no money in saving the world.

He plants fast-growing Miyawaki forests to provide habitat and/or corridors to vulnerable species.

Nobody pays him for that (sponsors support the projects, it's not his financial reward).

Let's say it costs more to consume a "pollution-free" source of energy than normal sources of energy. Would majority of the world want to pay more for the same amount of energy? I doubt that, that's not really in their self-interest. I would be spending more money to sustain the project while the money received will be much less than what I spend, hence, profit will be none and soon, I'm dead.

I'll take Elon Musk as an example. He was fascinated with space things since he was very young, but, he co-founded paypal as his first company. Only later, after making billions, he launched SpaceX. If he fails, he still have financial freedom whereas if he started SpaceX in the beginning, I doubt he would still be financially free if he failed and I doubt he would even be able to start the company, given a huge amount of money is required.

Take Jeff Bezos an another example. He founded Amazon to trade books in the beginning. Did he love trading books? No. It was just a need he was solving.

I will take MJ as an example also. He loves writing books. Did he write books in the begininng of his career? Nop. He solved needs until he reached financial freedom. Only then, he started to do what he love and turned into an author.

 

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[Kirsov]

I’m going to recommend the autobiography of Henry Ford.

That was a man with a mission. His mission and his livelihood lined up. It wasn’t long before his livelihood was a distant consideration. He wasn’t building cars just to go do something else later. He was interested in totally changing the mobility of the world.

You can’t read that book and determine Henry Ford wasted his life building instead of enjoying himself. He spent his life absolutely slaying his giant.

I don't think that he was "saving the planet" there, but instead, he saw a need and fulfilled it. He was saving the humans, not the planet. Planting trees for animals and to help with climate change, only a minority oh humans will help and are interested in. But, needing an automobile to move from places to places? It is a need of everybody.

Humans are self-centered. What's in for them to help save the planet? Are they receiving any service in return? No. Then, why would they do it? To help the future generation? That's not being self-centered and only a minority of the world population isn't self-centered.

Cars on the other hand, it is purely self-interest if someone is buying it. What's in for them? Well, anything a car brings to your life.

 

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[Two Dog]

I'm not sure I can. Please explain further, I am interested to hear your thoughts on this.

Sure thing. You can build, run and sell an online business from almost anywhere in the world nowadays. The only requirements are motivation, action and knowledge. Kind of sounds like an infomercial, but it's true. You need to supply the first two elements and the third is readily available on the internet and through forums like this one.

Empire Flippers has done a fabulous job of classifying online businesses into 17 categories. I'm posting a link to their valuation tool which details all of them. I'm also posting a link to their active business for sale to give you a better idea of what's possible. Hopefully, that's enough to get you thinking about what's possible from the island. If you don't know what all the categories mean, jump online and start researching. I had to look up one myself just now. ;-)

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Y'know, many digital nomads actually GO to places like Mauritius to run their businesses!!!

And nothing at all prevents you from going elsewhere as well.

 

[Trait]

I can tell you my personal guesstimate after many years, many entrepreneurs and far more wannabe entrepreneurs is that about 10 - 20 out of 100 potential entrepreneurs do anything at all. Most give up without ever starting. 90% of the starters eventually give up within the first 3 - 12 months. That means about 1 - 2% overall stick it out until something eventually works after almost certainly failing several times in a row. Take it as either slightly depressing or highly challenging. Both are true.

Its pretty incredible seeing ~90% of people quit even after knowing the most clear blueprints to making a fortune, like its not rocket science. I guess perseverance is what most lack on the way up. Reminds me of the Steve Jobs quote
"I'm convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance."

 

[Kirsov]

That's alot of questions!

I don't know how it works here, I'm new. What is the maximum amount of questions I can ask? Any other rules I should be aware of?

 

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[Kirsov]

Yes I have. I was the 23rd member on this forum

What value did you create? How was the process?

 

[Kirsov]

How do you define financial freedom? For some it's when they can quit their job. For others it is when they can never work another day in their life. It's hard to say, because you really don't know how much is enough. So you just keep going until, one day you realize that it is enough. I would say it took 13 years for me.

I define financial freedom as not having to work another day in your life for the sake of money and money is no more a problem in your life. Instead of money being scarce, it becomes an abundant resource to you. That's how I define financial freedom.

If you don't mind, how much was your enough for you?

 

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