Hello everyone,
My name is Cristi, I've been reading the forum for a while now and found a wealth of information. Thank you
I'm writing this for myself more than for others, so it might be incoherent at times.
I'm a software engineer, specialized in web development, with about 15yrs experience in the field. I've been freelancing/contracting for most of this time, I'm at the top of my game, getting well paid, but still somehow, something doesn't feel... right. OK, I'm well paid, I might even get more money if I can optimize my rates and my time, but my income is completely tied to the hours I put in. If want to take a break, I can't. I can't because it means no income. And I can't because for most clients I'm the only "team" so someone needs to be on top of things 24/7. I haven't had a vacation without my laptop in over 10 years. I can count on one hand the days I haven't opened my computers in the past year. I'm stuck.
About 1 yrs ago I finally realized that if nothing changes, I will have to spend my whole life in front of a computer. So I took the "traditional" route. I researched and started reading and watching videos about saving and investing and budgeting and so on. You most certainly know the books and you know the direction, I was merging to the slowlane. I am already in the deep, I already bought a little more house than we could afford (financed of course). Already bought the new car (at least this one I paid cash) got married, two kids, switched countries. But for a little while it felt like progressing.
But it still somehow felt like it's not enough. Just by applying some simple math it occurred to me that saving, investing, budgeting is not going to be enough. They're fantastic tools to have, but they are defensive. To explode wealth and to have freedom, you need to combine the defensive with a good offensive. So I started looking at ways to increase my hourly rate. I found contracts that pay more, I doubled down and put in more hours. I nearly doubled my income in 6 months. I've started (learning and) investing in stocks. Started scalping crypto, mining crypto. Started looking into real-estate (thank the Force I didn't buy something). I basically tried a bunch of stuff, but all with the wrong mindset.
But it still somehow felt like it's not enough. And don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about money. Something, somehow it's not enough. I have a young family, I love spending time with them. I live in an amazing place, I love spending time outside. I love living, but instead, each of my attempts only glued me more and more to my laptops. I started to be resigned with the idea that I'm selling time. This is my product, I'm the product. I'm selling time, availability, expertise. So I need to become the best version of myself so I can optimize my rates, and earn more while working less time.
Then one night, after watching countless videos on investing, budgeting, financial independence and so on, I stumbled upon James Jani's channel on youtube. (I'm sure he's on this forum. James, thank you & "Salute!") In one of his videos he mentioned MJ's TMF and in another he mentioned Unscripted . I figured I'll check them out. After reading only the first few chapters of TMF I knew this is the ideology I was looking for. It is so simple, yet so beautiful. Even though on some level I already knew and understood almost everything in MJ's book(s), having someone articulating it, putting it into words, voicing it is so liberating, so powerful!
The key takeaways for me are: "I'm not selling time, I'm selling my freedom." "Bring value to the society and that value will be rewarded."
I already returned/removed the other "financial independence" books, like the 4 hours week, the ones from the Double Dad, the power of attraction ones that say that you only need to really want something and the Universe will grant it. What a load of crap!
I'm still action faking, I'm still looking for "the idea", I'm still wasting time on useless things, but I'm awakening and I'm taking a pledge to ride the Fastlane to the end! There are so many things I need to learn, I don't even know where to start. There is a long and hard battle ahead, but I'm ready.
Thank you everyone! Thank you MJ!
My name is Cristi, I've been reading the forum for a while now and found a wealth of information. Thank you
I'm writing this for myself more than for others, so it might be incoherent at times.
I'm a software engineer, specialized in web development, with about 15yrs experience in the field. I've been freelancing/contracting for most of this time, I'm at the top of my game, getting well paid, but still somehow, something doesn't feel... right. OK, I'm well paid, I might even get more money if I can optimize my rates and my time, but my income is completely tied to the hours I put in. If want to take a break, I can't. I can't because it means no income. And I can't because for most clients I'm the only "team" so someone needs to be on top of things 24/7. I haven't had a vacation without my laptop in over 10 years. I can count on one hand the days I haven't opened my computers in the past year. I'm stuck.
About 1 yrs ago I finally realized that if nothing changes, I will have to spend my whole life in front of a computer. So I took the "traditional" route. I researched and started reading and watching videos about saving and investing and budgeting and so on. You most certainly know the books and you know the direction, I was merging to the slowlane. I am already in the deep, I already bought a little more house than we could afford (financed of course). Already bought the new car (at least this one I paid cash) got married, two kids, switched countries. But for a little while it felt like progressing.
But it still somehow felt like it's not enough. Just by applying some simple math it occurred to me that saving, investing, budgeting is not going to be enough. They're fantastic tools to have, but they are defensive. To explode wealth and to have freedom, you need to combine the defensive with a good offensive. So I started looking at ways to increase my hourly rate. I found contracts that pay more, I doubled down and put in more hours. I nearly doubled my income in 6 months. I've started (learning and) investing in stocks. Started scalping crypto, mining crypto. Started looking into real-estate (thank the Force I didn't buy something). I basically tried a bunch of stuff, but all with the wrong mindset.
But it still somehow felt like it's not enough. And don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about money. Something, somehow it's not enough. I have a young family, I love spending time with them. I live in an amazing place, I love spending time outside. I love living, but instead, each of my attempts only glued me more and more to my laptops. I started to be resigned with the idea that I'm selling time. This is my product, I'm the product. I'm selling time, availability, expertise. So I need to become the best version of myself so I can optimize my rates, and earn more while working less time.
Then one night, after watching countless videos on investing, budgeting, financial independence and so on, I stumbled upon James Jani's channel on youtube. (I'm sure he's on this forum. James, thank you & "Salute!") In one of his videos he mentioned MJ's TMF and in another he mentioned Unscripted . I figured I'll check them out. After reading only the first few chapters of TMF I knew this is the ideology I was looking for. It is so simple, yet so beautiful. Even though on some level I already knew and understood almost everything in MJ's book(s), having someone articulating it, putting it into words, voicing it is so liberating, so powerful!
The key takeaways for me are: "I'm not selling time, I'm selling my freedom." "Bring value to the society and that value will be rewarded."
I already returned/removed the other "financial independence" books, like the 4 hours week, the ones from the Double Dad, the power of attraction ones that say that you only need to really want something and the Universe will grant it. What a load of crap!
I'm still action faking, I'm still looking for "the idea", I'm still wasting time on useless things, but I'm awakening and I'm taking a pledge to ride the Fastlane to the end! There are so many things I need to learn, I don't even know where to start. There is a long and hard battle ahead, but I'm ready.
Thank you everyone! Thank you MJ!
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