Live is short.
As Ferris Bueller says in the classic movie from 1990, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
I have come to a realization.
I am passionate about people living lives of freedom. Time freedom, financial freedom, and moral freedom are fundamental to a life lived well.
Time Freedom
As a father to three young ladies, I am shocked at how quickly they grew up.
Recently, I was reminded of when my grandfather(Pa) came to the hospital to see his first grandchild, me.
After asking for the wrong baby, Pa forgot his daughter(my mom) had a new last name, he saw me. The story goes, he then proclaimed, “Before you know it, he’ll be going off to kindergarten.”
Now, my eldest will be graduating high school in a few months.
My wife has been full-time self-employed since 2003. I joined her in 2012. We’ve been blessed to go to our daughters’ events without having to request time off from work.
When you are self-employed, you live your life without having to check with your boss about time off.
- What you can do with time freedom:
- Work when you want
- Wakeup when you want
- Attend your child’s school events
- Work the hours you want
- Vacation when you want
- Help a friend out at the last minute
- Travel more
- Visit family and friends
- Take friends or family to appointments
- Have lunch with friends and family
- Golf when you want
- Enjoy a beautiful day without working
- Enjoy snowfall without having to get to a job
- Volunteer during the week- not just weekends
- Serve your community
- Work around your family’s needs
- Have parent-teacher conferences during the day
Financial Freedom
When you are self-employed, you can be compensated for the value you bring and not the time spent on a job.
As a web designer, 5 years ago it might take me 10 hours to do a set of design work and coding. Now, I can do that work in 3 hours.
Did the value to the customer change because I did my work in 3 hours instead of 10? No. I should be compensated the same since the value was the same.
Financial freedom also entails deciding on how much work you want to do.
Several years ago, my wife and I knew we were going to face a large, relatively unexpected, expense in six months. We did not have the cash on hand to pay for it.
If we were employees, there would be no way to increase our income to pay that expense, unless we were paid overtime.
As two self-employed people, we realized we could give ourselves raises immediately. We could offer more tutoring (my wife) or I could find more people and businesses to help design websites for.
We made enough extra money to pay for most of the expense had it all paid within the 60-days allotted.
What would you do with financial freedom?
Moral Freedom
You and I live based on our respective moral codes.
When you are self-employed, you are not part of a large organization that does things or supports things you are morally against.
Most companies give money to politicians, especially the party in control (locally or at the state or federal levels). If you are for that party, your sweat and toil generate money that the company you work for gives to that party. By working for that company, you are forced to support something you are morally against.
As a self-employed person, I only promote causes I agree with.
I only work with clients that I want to.
Even though something may be legal, I might have a moral objection to the activities.
I believe in the sanctity of life. I would not do a web site for an abortion client.
If I worked for an agency, I might be forced to do that.
Spiritual Freedom
The most important freedom is spiritual freedom, which falls under Moral Freedom.
I am not ashamed to say that I am a believer and follower of Jesus Christ.
There are times I am ashamed of what “The Church” has done and said.
Don’t hold what the Church has done against me. Every organization is bound to make mistakes in pursuit of what they think is right.
I am convinced that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
We all need salvation. We need someone to take away our well-deserved punishment. The problem is, only a perfect person could step in and pay for our sins and mistakes. Thanks be to God that He sent Jesus to save the world and all who believe in Him.
There is only one mediator between God and humanity. That is the person of Jesus Christ.
You might be a moral atheist, a “good” Muslim/Jew/Buddhist/etc. but no one will get to heaven unless they come to Jesus and have their name written in the Lamb’s book of life.
These are my core beliefs, and I will not budge.
As a full-time self-employed person, I enjoy the moral freedom to make this kind of statement.
It will repeal and anger some. It will also attract others.
Do not expect a Muslim or Kosher Jewish deli to offer a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich.
Regardless of your faith, I will respect you as a person and do what I can to help you in your business. Assuming you are not doing something morally questionable.
Can You Relate?
I use my skills to create and present training materials to help people see a way to the life they want. I then use my web design and marketing skills to create an online presence that helps them bring in clients and money.
Many people sell products and courses to those wishing to create a side hustle or become full-time self-employed.
What many of these products and courses lack are specifics and help along the way.
I have no desire to have 100,000s of people buying my courses and services.
I want to work with up to 100 individuals each year. I want to become invested in their lives and business. I want to know their birthdays when they celebrate a child’s achievement and be there when they need help.
If you can relate to this, you are the type of person I want to work closely with. If this doesn’t resonate with you, that is fine. I will still work with you and give you 100%.
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