How To Stop Trading Time For Money

How To Stop Trading Time For MoneyHere’s an inspirational ramble on how to rise up out of the duck pond of “time selling” and soar with the entrepreneur-minded eagles! Fasten your seatbelt and enjoy the flight!

If we were immortal and had unlimited time in a day this wouldn’t be so much a problem. But we have only 24 hours in a day and we want to make to best use of it.

Not many of us enjoy giving up 8 hours (and usually much more) of our precious time for a job. Add to that time spent commuting to/from work. This does not leave us much time left in the day for important things like family, rest and recreation, pursuing things we enjoy, or even sleep!

 

40 Hours a Week for 40 Years


We have all been brought up on this “40/40” ethic. That the good life of retirement awaits us after we put in 40 hours a week for 40 years making somebody else rich. Unfortunately it does not seem to work out that way. Too many of us end up having to work on into those retirement years just to make ends meet. We are chronically stuck in this “A day’s work for a day’s pay” trap.

True, that “time is money” but trading YOUR time for money is not very effective. It seems like today, we work even longer and take home less pay than we did in the twentieth century. What ever happened to work-life balance?

Nope. Not my cuppa tea!

 

The Mindset


If you tell a lie loud enough, long enough, people will believe it! That’s how we end up in these mental ruts of thinking there is only one way things are done. We’ve been told over and over that the way to success is to get a degree, get a job, and save for retirement.

We need to take a big step back and rethink and reframe the way we think. That is think unconventionally. Think out of the box and be an innovator!

Do we follow the herd or do we explore new paths? Do you want to waddle in the duck pond or do you want to soar with the eagles?

 

Follow Success


Surround yourself with big thinkers. It has been said that you become what you think about. So, choose wisely! Don’t spend your precious time with people who don’t believe in you and your unlimited potential. Misery loves company, and the duck pond is very crowded. The sky is vast empty and can be lonely, but you’ll soon meet up with other eagles carving out their own lifestyle.

Read books, subscribe to blogs, follow successful folks on social media – fill your Inbox with “success stories” and inspiration!

Several years ago, I bought a set of cassette tapes by Earl Nightingale called “Lead the Field”. This was the one thing that started me thinking beyond the “job mentality”. This classic is still available today and is a great addition to your library of success programming.

 

Think In The Long Term


We want it all now! There are plenty of crooks out there preying upon our impatience with all sorts of glittery get-rich-quick scams. The lotteries are filthy rich off this, too. We expect magic!

Well, if you’ve been working a job for awhile, you certainly didn’t get to where you are overnight. Starting a new path to financial independence is going to take effort, consistency and a lot of patience! The only difference between this and the job is that YOU decide how much you are worth. Working that job, your employer decides how much you are worth.

Think of where you want to be in the long run. When starting a journey to a worthy goal, getting started and taking those steps are going to be the hardest.

Envision where you want to be:

  • Next week
  • In a Month
  • In 6 Months
  • A Year
  • 2 Years
  • 5 Years
  • Your lifetime!

In Chinese business it is not uncommon to have a 100 year plan! So, what do you see for yourself? Write it down!

 

Be Your Own Boss


At the same time, we all hear of people who seem to have endless free time and no money worries. Sure, there are the tiny few who may have won the lottery or are sitting on a fat trust fund. But what about the other majority?

Maybe they’ve decided to “be their own boss”, to think differently from the herd slogging it out on the nine to five grind.

So, how do you get out of the time-selling trap?

 

Passive Income


Those words again. The title of my blog site is “I Do Passive Income”. So what is Passive Income?

Basically, it is income that you don’t have work continuously for. Income for which you don’t have to be physically present at all times to produce it. This is opposed to job where if you stop working, you don’t get paid! Some obvious examples of passive income would be:

  • Interest from an investment.
  • Rental income from real estate.
  • A royalty on intellectual property like books or music, etc.

These are some of the conventional ways. But I’m not into the conventional stuff 😉 In this era of online business, there are other very creative ways to earn passive income.

Passive income does not materialize overnight. No – you won’t get rich quick 😉 As the graphic at the top of my site depicts, it takes an initial investment of effort. A willingness to map out a plan and follow it through thick and thin.

It is a lot like turning a lot full of weeds, rocks and trash into a thriving vegetable garden. You have to put work into before it will start to return results.

After the initial building up phase, you operate in more of a “maintenance but continuing to grow” mode. At this point, you may be reaping a bigger return with less requirement for effort from you.

That’s the spirit of Passive Income.

The ways to build an income stream are limited only by your imagination. Below is a teaser of an approach I am following.

 

Generating Multiple Streams of Income From a Website


Multiple Streams of Income From Your Website

Throughout this blog, I am sharing a lot of tips and wisdom I’ve gathered over time since that first listen to “Lead the Field”. With some honest work, your own website can be “cultivated” into a source of income 24/7/365.

If this is something that is attractive to you, I invite you to check out:

 

How To Turn Your Blog or Website Into a Thriving Business!

 

I do hope you’ve found this post inspiring! If not, well, at least you can print it out and potty train your puppy on it. 😉

Feel free to share your comments, thoughts, questions below!

Best

Oren

Oren's Profile Picture

2 thoughts on “How To Stop Trading Time For Money”

  1. This is a great post. You are right we have all been brain washed to think we have no other options in life but to work save and hopefully have a nice comfy retirement (if we last that long). I have always thought the best options in life were down that road less traveled. Time is sometimes our worst enemy but if you can set up a passive income then time can become your very best friend indeed. Are you taking the road less traveled? We should give a medal to the guy who said that.

    Reply
    • Hi Margaret, A lot of great things have happened because of forward thinking individuals who decided to travel the road less traveled. That’s the route I enjoy traveling, and sharing on my blog. I hope many more find their unique “roads less traveled”.

      Thanks kindly for your comment!

      – Oren

      Reply

Leave a Comment