Adam’s story is inspirational. And hopefully a little confronting…
“Freedom was a lot closer than I thought.”
I wasn’t sure what Adam was talking about. I knew where he was at. I knew his game plan.
He was on track to replace his income. Definitely. That was the peg in the sand he had set for himself. But he wasn’t there yet.
He was maybe about three-quarters of the way down that road towards his definition of ‘financial freedom’. He was making good progress, definitely, but you don’t want to take your eye off the ball too early.
“Was?” I said, cocking my head. “You got a deal you’re not telling me about, Adam?”
Turns out there wasn’t. He was about where I thought he was. Financial freedom was still a few deals away. But it turns out the freedom comes in many flavours.
You see, Adam worked in I.T. He had a good job. He was on a good income. But he was in a field where your skills could become obsolete, almost overnight.
The industry could change, and then suddenly your skills are no longer in demand.
“Everyone would say, ‘Oh, you’re in I.T. You’ll have a job for life. But it’s not like that. My first job was managing servers. Now that’s all done in the cloud. I’ve had to reinvent myself more than once.”
This used to give Adam anxiety. Was he doing enough to keep his skills sharp and to keep himself employable? Where was the industry going, and would his skills still be relevant when it got there? What would his employers want from him in 5 years? … in 10 years? … in 20 years?
It was one of the reasons why Adam wanted to replace his income – to protect himself from all these worries.
And while Adam hadn’t quite replaced his income, he had gotten to a point where he was close enough to realise that he was definitely heading for the exits.
He had learnt the art of the deal. He had a good system and he was working it. He knew there were opportunities everywhere.
“If I lost my job tomorrow, I don’t even think I’d bother updating my resume,” he said.
“I’d just put all my time into those next couple of deals.”
“It’s incredibly liberating. I know that ‘a job’ is just not my future anymore. And that means I’m no longer dependent on what my industry or some imagined employer might want.”
“For the first time in my life, I feel like my future is longer dependent on my ability to please others. It’s dependent on me – my skills, and my ability to sniff out and orchestrate deals.”
“I’ve still got a job, but now, I’m free.”
Freedom, empowerment. All before he had even reached his peg in the sand. Bravo, Adam.
Now. Let’s talk about you.
Have you asked yourself lately: “Is my future dependent on my ability to please others?”
If so, are you ok with that?