Building your Way to Financial Freedom - Should you Focus on your Day Job or Build a Side Hustle?
Hi Steemians!
Today we are talking about something that I am personally really passionate about, and that is the idea of getting to a place of financial freedom.
In this vlog, I talk a little bit about what financial freedom means, and the various paths people can take to get there. I talk about my own story and what has brought me to this point of focusing on building side streams of income.
Now, I know that there are many full-time entrepreneurs here on the site, but there are also lots of people like me that are still working a normal 9-to-5 job, but have aspirations of building something for themselves and increasing their overall income.
In this vlog, I talk about my own experiments with my finances, and how I ran a test for a few months to see exactly how MUCH money I could save by living on a shoestring budget. I actually referred to this period of testing as my, “Cans of tuna instead of sushi” budget. It was a sad couple of months!
I came to the realization that I could not save my way to financial freedom, but would need to fight my way there instead by increasing my income.
This brings up the next logical question, which is the main point of this entire post.
Is it more financially advantageous for you to pour all of your extra time and effort into your day job in hopes of earning more money, or should you look at building additional streams of income?
The answer to this question will be a little different for everyone, but most people are going to find that the ability to gain a substantial increase in wages through their employer is slim. Of course, there are ways to increase your financial situation within a normal employment enviornment. You could learn a new and in demand skill, you could look for a better employer, or you could try to get promoted into a management position.
This brings up the next question, is that what you really want? For some people, that answer is a resounding yes! Perhaps they love the stability of benefits and normal pay, or they enjoy the camaraderie of working on a team. For some people, the idea of branching out on their own does not appeal to them at all, because they like the structure of a normal working environment.
If you’re like me though, and dream of having more freedom in your life, then starting a side hustle can be a great way to make that happen. I’m not suggesting that you quit your job tomorrow without any idea of what you will do, and no savings. I tend to take a more cautious approach, and focus on building diverse streams of income.
Some of my attempts of been successful, while others have not. Right now, I am focusing much of my" side hustle energy" here on Steemit. It’s pretty amazing to get rewarded for publishing content, especially because it doesn’t even feel like work!
In the video, I mention a great resource for those who want to start a side hustle, but have no idea where to even begin. The Side Hustle School Podcast is a great starting point! The host, Chris Gillabeau, she was a different story every day people who have started income generating projects. Each podcast is under 10 minutes, so it doesn’t go into a lot of detail, but it’s a great way to hear a bunch of ideas all in one place. Often times, hearing someone else’s idea may spark something for yourself!
This video is about nine minutes in length, and I do a deeper dive on all of the topics I just covered above.
Now, I have a question for those of you who either have your own experience with starting side hustles, or are a full-time entrepreneur.
What tips or pieces of advice do you have for people who are just starting out in this idea of creating a side hustle or some form of income generating project?
I’d love to hear your thoughts on the subject!
Thanks so much for taking the time to listen and/or read my post! ❤️
xo, Lea
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I think it's important for everybody to find a balance but I believe that most of the time putting your passions to use on the side of whatever job you have is going to get you somewhere even if it takes a few years. When I decided to be a stay-at-home-mom I knew I was going to need SOMETHING aside from parenting to fuel my soul so I took to blogging and have been working hard to build that up into extra income for the family. I get my creative fix and I can help support the fam win win!
I love what you're doing here. You're content is real, genuine and fresh. Loved hearing your take on this and happy I found someone on here close by. We're in Portland!
Wow, it’s great to meet you!! I love Portland. 😊
So cool to hear about how blogging has helped to both fuel your creativity and help provide for your family.
Since you are already an experienced blogger, I’m sure you will find great success here on Steemit!!
I have some ideas on how to save your accumulated wealth\stored labor and protect your purchasing power over the long term :)
Does it have to do with gold? Wild guess, I know!!
Do you recommend people buy actual bars and coins of gold to hold? I know there are some stocks on the normal stock exchange that fluctuate with the price of gold, but I imagine that could still crash with the market.
Oh man you have no idea what you just started! :) .... short answer, no I would definitely not own any ETFs (exchange traded funds) linking to the gold price. No bueno. Probably a good idea to own some actual allocated physical metal through Goldmoney (a publicly traded company). Think of it like a bank account but instead of dollars you actually own physical gold in vaults of your choosing around the world. Fully allocated, 3rd party audited, insured, and redeemable, meaning you can take possession of it if you wanted. Also, you can own in incremental amounts, even just a few dollars with. Having a few coins in your possesion isn’t a bad idea either. I think its prudent to do both. Goldmoney also give you a MasterCard in which to spend the gold with, and you can also transfer it and make payments with the gold. I’ll have to send you some more info :) ... wait this was the SHORT answer???
Wow, that video did a really excellent job of explaining Goldmoney. It’s pretty amazing that the precious metals are physically stored and redeemable at any time. Not to mention that it makes it easy to buy gold on any level of investment.
Thanks for sharing! I’m glad I know more about this. Especially since I’ll be sporting the shirt. 😉
Do you see your account value rise and fall as the price of gold fluctuates, or does it stay stable based on the price you purchased it for?
The value of the account does fluxucate over the short term yes and that is reflected in your balance. However..... gold is money.... not considered to be an investment but savings itself. Gold will not make you rich, but it will keep you from going poor. Over long periods of time gold outperforms every currency. This means that your purchasing power will be protected. So only allocate to gold what you wish to be protected in the future.
Thanks for clarifying. That makes a lot of sense to transfer long term funds that you want to stabilize to an asset like gold.
It’s really cool that you are working with an organization that you are clearly so passionate about. 😊
YEAH! Bring in the charts! That’s a lot of green... mostly in double digits. Pretty cool to see that info all in one place - especially because it spans a worldwide market.
I’ll have to scroll back through your blog and find some of your t-shirt tour posts. Sounds fun!
This is great to know. I need investments that I can get into with small amounts of money and add to them over time. Goldmoney is absolutely worth checking out. Thank you
I'm I.J. @steemcafe Really enjoy your posts.. Hope all is well. Wanted to invite you to speak at our Steem Creators Conference in Las Vegas, NV April 13-15, 2017. It will be held at the Tuscany Suites & Casino. https://www.tuscanylv.com/ You have an amazing story. I'm sure people would love to hear more about your unique story & of course your success.
Also we will have excursion that people can participate like indoor skydriving, exotic car driving, botanical gardens, restaurants,night clubs, etc, etc Contact me [email protected]
Wow! So honored that you would think of me. Just sent you an email for more details. 😊
Wow you go girl!
financial planning is very important
Hey I’m a physician working sometimes 80 hours a week. Always time for the hustle. Steem makes the game that much more fun! I like your mindset.
Thanks @tfeldman! Man 80 hours a week... you are definitely hustling hard! My dad is a GP and he would often moonlight at the hospital on the weekends to pick up extra cash sometimes.
You have a valuable, rare skill and I’m sure that will set you up to have MANY options for earning in your current and future career!
You use your day job for resources to expand your streams of income (passive income if possible)and to network (letting people know what you do and put you in touch with people who are likeminded or need your services).
You can do it by:
Taking what you learn at your job and doing it independently on your off hours.
Create a way for people to learn something and make it accessible and payments accepted 24/7 (like a starbucks barista creating content on how to make drinks, reviewing products, or sharing info on the different blends)
Or Monitor the behavior of the customers or consumers and invest/resell/dropship whatever commodity is hot at the time.
Best case scenario our job feeds your dreams and passive income ventures, your passive income ventures relieve you of your job, now you have time and money to focus on your dreams.
Wow, GREAT response!! I really like that you provided some actionable tips for people starting out. I especially liked your first tip about analyzing your curtain skills, that you may be using in your day job, and see if there’s a way to put that skill set to work on the side.
Actually, I really liked all of your ideas! The Starbucks barista one is brilliant. I was a barista/coffee shop manager for six years, so I especially related to that one!
Thanks again for the great response!
I started steemit for the very reason of building an entrepreneurial predicament for myself that would support me, with a bit of time and effort, economically. I am very stressed, and even if i am not really making any earnings, i discovered that steemit was already supporting me for the simple fact i was in this platform.
It's so refreshing to be among so many creators and friendly people 🙏
Curating thoughtfully - and soon authoring - is proving itself to be quite therapeutic as it allows me to take a break from the somewhat frustrating job i have and be creative, even for the smallest things like writing comments. Sounds weird?
Therefore i am so glad to see you, and many others, becoming more and more successful in this platform that is giving back so much to the people who love it and embrace its lifestyle wholly. Definetely looking forward to become a 360° steemian like you!
You always leave such thoughtful and engaging comments @destrudo! I can’t wait to see your content once you start posting!
I can definitely see how curating and reading through content would be therapeutic. There are a lot of different types of content here on Steemit and it is fun to see people post about what they are passionate about!
Thanks again for the thoughtful comment and have a great day!
Personally, I think that it is much much advantageous to start your work instead of doing a job for others but yeah I have to agree with you that it totally depends on the aspirations and dreams of a work. Some people do of finding a stable job whereas other people dream of setting up a business. I am into the second one.
Awesome, thanks for chiming in! I do think Steemit tends to attract people who are more entrepreneurially inclined. 😊
nice :-) great that i find you and your profil. will follow to enjoy more articles of you. i like your thinking. nearly the same way i think :-)
Thanks for stopping by and adding to the conversation
@coruscate 👏 very well written!
The advantages of the yesteryear are gone, our only option to gain financial freedom is to sell other freedoms or to branch out and discover additional forms of income. The opportunities my father had are no longer available to me or anyone in my generation. Even when discovering said opportunity living costs comparably bring the value of that job today down to the minimum wage of yesteryear.
Such a true statement. Times have changed, and so have the way people earn money. Thanks for chiming in!