How To Achieve Freedom In Life

At the ripe old age of 52, 4 months, and 20 days. On Dec 1st, 2018. I officially ended my working career. I was tired, done, finished, and out of there. When I started my journey of 30-plus years of being a slave to the grind. I had big plans which consisted of finding a good company to work for, earning a decent salary, and retiring from the same company with a good pension. That plan blew up in my face, and it didn't take long due to my chosen career path. I had way too many jobs to keep track of, which also provided me with no job security, let alone put me in the position of receiving a pension. The main reason why my career went like this is I entered the manufacturing sector in Canada right when the manufacturing sector started on a downward trajectory of becoming almost non-existent, as it is today. While working in this sector, though, I had skills. I went through 4 plant closures and 10 layoffs. On Dec 1st, 2018, at 10:45am. Chasing the American Dream and being a slave to the grind officially ended. That was the exact same second I officially launched my new life plan.

Many things led to this day of me walking away from it all. The biggest was, I now had the desire to have control of my life, and I wanted to live life on my terms, and the biggest of all. I wanted choices in life. I also had a dream I needed to pursue, especially while I still had my health and was young enough to enjoy life and chase my dream. I took the chance, I rolled the dice and I did just that. I decided to give it all up and chase after my dreams that started when I was fourteen years old. If you have read any of my previous articles. You know what that life is. If not, it's living in a small beachside community where it's warm year-round.

After hearing the door close for the last time as I walked away from the business for the final time. I had a big problem. I had no real plans with all this free time I now had available. My entire life revolved around one thing, especially after my wife passed away, which was, you guessed it, work. Due to this, I had no interests or hobbies, as work was my life and identity. With the business now sold, I now had the time for me to find something to do that I liked and enjoyed, I had the time and I didn't want to park myself and waste away in front of the TV watching reruns. I needed to develop some hobbies and learn who I was outside of work. I was looking forward to solving this major dilemma, as I viewed it as a good problem and situation for me to be in. It was also what I needed, and I was up for the challenge.

I now refer to myself as, semi-retired, as I wasn't fully giving up earning an income. The income I would make moving forward would be on my terms, and when I wanted. The dream life that I wanted to pursue. I pictured myself lazily swinging in a hammock, sipping on a beverage with my wife by my side enjoying a mid-afternoon siesta, and eating our dinner together on the balcony while watching the sunset over the ocean. I wanted to essentially take it easy and enjoy life. Sounded good to me.

When I started to think about the vision that was in my head regarding my retirement life. I wasn't being realistic. The day 24 had hours and the week consists of seven days. My vision of my retirement activities might consume at best, maybe several hours of the day. I also couldn't see us hanging around the beach every day of the week and sitting out in the sun, as I burned easily. The second reality check concerning what I envisioned. My wife doesn't and I only drink on special occasions, so swinging in a hammock all day and enjoying various beach-themed beverages on the beach, was a no for us. I needed to expand on my retirement vision and plans.

With my newfound freedom, I now had a lot of time on my hands so I started watching YouTube searching for ideas and new things to learn. It wasn't long before I realized that most of the videos that I watched, either the concept didn't interest me, came across as a scam, or were too expensive to start, after all, I no longer had what my friends and family would refer to as a "real job" as I was now on a strict budget.

After about a month of unfocused research, an idea started to form in my head. I have always been interested in various business ideas and concepts, so why not give myself a challenge, if anything it will make my search on YouTube more focused. The idea that started forming in my head, involved creating a source of passive income I could work at when I wanted anywhere in the world. I added an additional part to this challenge, it had to cost me nothing to start, as in 100% free, and no it wasn’t starting a YouTube channel, at least not right away

I looked at the same side hustle concepts everyone else was checking out, such as affiliate marketing, dropshipping, and blogging. None fit the criteria I had set out for myself. which was the challenge of the cost. All of these needed some amount of capital to get started.

Then I discovered a version of content creation called content repurposing. Due to my personality and working background, I am a very creative person and I also have some computer skills along with some basic graphic design skills which were essential for some of the ideas that were popping into my head. Content Repurposing was the perfect fit for me. I could start out by using free versions of various apps and software. Once I start earning an income, then I can consider expanding into other concepts that involve a startup cost

It didn't take long to figure out the order of how I was going to go about doing things. First things first. I needed to learn how to properly create my content, and YouTube was my go-to platform, after all, it was the only platform my budget allowed me to use. I would start by posting articles on several pay-per-read sites, and grow things from there. In the first month with a casual schedule. I uploaded 10 articles to these sites. I then fell into the habit of throughout the day. I got into the habit of starting to create three articles a week. I also got into another habit of checking the analytics for any commissions only to see absolutely nothing. In two months and almost 30 articles, I made a whopping amount of $2.78.The reason why this amount was so low. What the guru's didn't tell me is with these pay-per-view sites I was posting to, you have to reach a certain amount of followers first before you qualify to be paid. But that's ok, I had the time.

Once my first earnings were deposited into my account It was now time to celebrate so I decided to buy an extra-large coffee at the drive-through spending my entire sales commission. Initially, I wanted to go to Starbucks, but I didn't have enough money. Though I had made $2.78, this told me I now had proof of concept as the money I earned was from some of the first articles I created. I was making money and I was already making a profit. Other than my time, This creative venture cost me nothing.

Within my first year. I would casually create several articles a week. which would then become a blog on a niche website with affiliate links, chapters in a book, a faceless YouTube video, and, a podcast. My creating schedule was not a strict one, as I would take time off whenever I wanted, and the nice things about all this. I still received a deposit in my bank account. Things were going very well and all the projects were making an income. My overall time per week that I spent doing this once I had everything figured out and a system in place averaged 10-15 hours. As I was making money, I also invested in a hosting plan for a website for the blog and some tools to improve my article creation. The first year. I had earned almost $7000 and spent less than $165 on this concept. Then I had the best idea I had ever come up with. I had two choices. I could continue on this path of creating content, and slowly build up these multiple passive income streams, or, I could bundle everything together and sell it all off for a very nice multiple of its yearly income, and repeat the process, and that's what I decided to do, sell it all off

I am now 5 years into this side hustle project. With my wife by my side, we average between 10-15 hours a week each creating content. I have also built up and sold four projects, and if you are reading this article, this is project number five

With the money that is earned from doing this. It's not life-changing. To most, it will seem like it’s not even worth the hassle. So why did I do this challenge shortly after selling my original business? For me this is simple. It not gave me something to do which is very critical when you retire. It also was a way for me to keep my mind active which is also very important. When I decided to pursue my dream life and enjoy a much simpler and laid-back lifestyle. I did this so I could have choices in my life. As I mentioned these funds aren't life-changing for us, but to others, they could be. With these extra funds, my wife and I decided to help others and donate 100% to various causes to help others anonymously in our community

While I am sitting at the beach with the South China Sea My wife and I can feel the warm breeze coming off the water. It's an amazing site and one of the things we love to do and never get tired of is watching the sun set slowly into the sea. That is when I turn and look at my amazing wife and I ask her, what do I want to do tomorrow? She looks at me and gives me that smile that I know so well and says let's decide when we wake up in the morning. That's when you know, life is good

For retirement. People choose to do so many different things. Others will fail to plan. When planning for your retirement, most people will think about the financial aspect only similar to what I did. What is equally important as I found out very quickly, is you also need to plan what you are going to do with all the available free time you now have, and be realistic about it and not just have a glamorous vision in your head like I did. When I entered retirement. I didn't have any hobbies or even interests to pursue, I didn't even really know what I liked as far as activities because I allowed my work to consume me and become my life. Some people will say I went from one business to another and never retired. My answer this is that retirement is a mindset, and when you do something you love, that happens to make money, you will never work another day in your life again.

How I Became Free in Life

A Retirement Side Hustle That Worked for Me

My Illusion of Retirement