Complete Financial Freedom Before Life Purpose

[LfcCharlie4]

Hey, Everyone, I'm new around here and had a question regarding my current strategy. 

I left school last June and ever since have been building Online Businesses and have been doing fairly well for myself so far, and while I absolutely LOVE what I do and helping people with my products, I'm not sure it's truly my life purpose although I definitely believe entrepreneurship is. 

 I've heard Leo say about being strategic in life, so before I go through the Life Purpose course and start working on that I was thinking of continuing on my current path for the next few years, building my income up to a point that will provide me with everything I need financially and allow me freedom etc, and then begin to outsource the majority of my businesses to continue to grow them as hands-off as possible. 

I also plan to reinvest a lot of my earnings into Stocks, Real Estate and other businesses etc to properly secure my financial wellbeing and freedom, as I never want to have to work a 9-5 purely for survival reasons. 

I was thinking of putting everything into this until I'm around 23-25 (20 next week) and fully securing myself financially before fully diving into my life purpose. 

So, I was just wondering if this is the kind of thing everyone means by strategic planning and what you thought of this @Leo Gura as I know you had a business pre Actualized.org. 

Again and thanks everyone and I look forward to a great discussion!

[SoothedByRain]

That is a good long-term vision and plan. It takes real skill and awareness to do so mindfully and with care.

Two great books:

* It's not about the money - Brent Kessel

* Good Business - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

[Average Investor]

In general you will probably have shifts in what you want to do over time. It kind of depends though. I love what I am doing with my business right now. I've found many ways to integrate green and yellow ideals into it and improve the world. Problem with your approach is you are going to have to power through it without really having the extra drive a purpose would be. Financial independence is great and having extra money is a benefit and freedom. But I have to admit with about $20k cash I could have almost no monthly expenses and decent living not a house or anything crazy, buy a trailer. Even if you could not make enough with that assuming you are in the US you would have medical care and food assistance. Money isn't going to find you everything you want in life. I have to admit it makes raising a family easier and things like that, so I can't discredit it. Having nice things is pretty cool, but really doesn't matter too much. I do strive for similar things as you, but I would much rather love what I am doing. 

Learning business is great. You are off to a great start it sounds like. But find something that is really going to give you that spark of motivation and energy to do it. You will be working much harder to get the business off the ground than being in a job, so why do something you don't enjoy as much for the business?  I try to keep myself and business versatile and usually pick up new additions or aspects to my current business, which has been great for it. You might have something around what you do now you have a passion for. Sometimes you have to explore a bit on the side. 

 

[LfcCharlie4]

@Average Investor yeah I get you.

 

however, I do love what I do, and every morning I wake up and look forward to working and have already had some great success from the business, I’m also starting to outsource the not so fun parts, and created quite an empowering vision the other day around my business and that is helping to keep Me on track! 

 It’s  also easy to incorporate green and yellow into my business as I am a publisher and can develop once the foundations are there! 

 

My goal is complete financial freedom which to me means high 6- low 7 figures yearly, as well as lots of investments in various sectors, I get you could survive on like $20k but I want to do things like going travelling etc and wish to have no money worries in my future as I’ve seen what it’s done to people around me! 

Can I ask what is your life purpose? 

[Nahm]

@LfcCharlie4 I did what you’re describing. You’re in a win or win position. I’d suggest doing both the LP course and continuing to build your income sources. They’ll culminate & coalesce like magic either way. A dream board speeds up the coming of that vantage point greatly. 

[Average Investor]

@LfcCharlie4 Reselling stuff. It's awesome for me. So many ways to benefits people, help the environment, teaching others, and more. I've been playing around with wholesale too and it is awesome. I'd do this if I had much more money as I genuinely enjoy learning what items to look for and there is always something to solve. Things could change eventually I imagine this business could run itself eventually, but I love doing it. I would be interested in acquiring other assets and what not too.

If you already like what you do than that is awesome. I think it is really easy to have doubt and fear you may not be doing the right thing. But anything could have purpose that you give it. Don't just bs yourself if you are in engaging in low conscious businesses though.  

[Water]

I agree with @Nahm

There could be something in the life purpose coarse that would offer you a new perspective, which in turn could take you down an entirely new path. It's interesting how a single thought can initiate a domino effect and lead to a completely different life. Kinda like the multiverse/parallel universe theory.

Do you have an idea on what your life purpose is? I would try to formulate some kind of conclusion before you take the coarse to see how they differ. Just for curiosities sake ?

[Leo Gura]

@LfcCharlie4 That's what I did. But it was very painful and soul-crushing.

In practice, once you have a bunch of money and success from a non-purpose business, you will become so attached to it that you are not likely to ever find your true purpose. You will get comfortable and lazy and finding your LP will become too risky and inconvenient.

Money and success easily corrupts the mind, getting it to justify whatever brings in that money as "good". You will start telling yourself things like, "Well, what if this thing I'm doing is already my LP? It probably is. Why rock the boat?"

The enemy of the great is the good.

Besides which, you could easily lose all your money before you reach some kind of level of total security and freedom. Chasing money does not guarantee you money. The point of aligning with your LP is that it gives you the super-human passion necessary to become successful. It's hard to become successful at something your heart isn't into.

[electroBeam]

I'm currently doing what you're doing: I'm making a startup which definitely isn't my life purpose(but its much more altruistic and high valued than what startups normally are), and part time I'm building skills for my true LP. Its very challenging doing something that isn't your LP because in a lot of moments you will like you are wasting your life/soul. You will wonder whether starting from you LP from the beginning was the better alternative, etc. Motivation is a massive problem here, and to be honest there is no quick fix/solution to it. You need to roll with the punches when it comes to motivational problems. If you're making a startup you will also be under a lot of stress. 

On the contrary depending on how esoteric your LP is (mine is being a guide for deep levels of consciousness, in other words a religious leader for yoga and shamanism) it may be extremely hard to make a living off of it. You need courage, deep giftedness in your craft, communication and conviction skills, resistance against corrupt sceptics and rationalists and even irrational religious types, etc. Because you are poor, money may corrupt your life purpose, which in the end will ruin it and give you a bad reputation. I hypothesise that Its much easier to build your life purpose from a place of lots of money then not because you will have less materialistic fears and more opportunity to do stuff. What Leo said here logically makes sense, and may be true, but I've got no experience with that. 

This is a tricky one, and people are going to give you diverse viewpoints, but most people don't start off with their life purpose, not necessarily because that's the better route. 

Edited November 4, 2019 by electroBeam

[Water]

2 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

@LfcCharlie4 That's what I did. But it was very painful and soul-crushing.

That's a good point... 

A few questions if I may. 

1. Weren't you able to integrate your past business into your LP? I understand that won't be the case for everyone. 

2. Did you know you beforehand that you would be able to integrate it into your LP? 

3. Did you dissolve it or is it still running? 

[Leo Gura]

3 hours ago, Water said:

That's a good point... 

A few questions if I may. 

1. Weren't you able to integrate your past business into your LP? I understand that won't be the case for everyone. 

No, I had to start anew from scratch. Of course many skills I learned transferred over.

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2. Did you know you beforehand that you would be able to integrate it into your LP? 

I knew that I would not. It was a stepping stone.

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3. Did you dissolve it or is it still running? 

A lot of it dissolved on its own. And I handed it over to my brother to manage so I could be free of it.

It's very hard to leave a successful business that brings in lots of money. Very hard. It's like quitting heroin or the mafia.

[electroBeam]

4 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

It's very hard to leave a successful business that brings in lots of money. Very hard. It's like quitting heroin or the mafia.

But doesn't having lots of money, without consciousness get very very very depressing after a while? Like you always get sick of too much of something, and then you're stuck in this pit of suffering with no way out. 

[Leo Gura]

11 minutes ago, electroBeam said:

But doesn't having lots of money, without consciousness get very very very depressing after a while? Like you always get sick of too much of something, and then you're stuck in this pit of suffering with no way out. 

Of course it can. Like heroin or eating too much food.

But if you're disciplined, you can put that money to good use rather than allowing it to make you lazy and indulgent.

You're never gonna be sick of simply have lots of digits in your bank account. The problem comes in what those digits drive you to do, or not do, and what you're sacrificing to get those digits in the first place. If you have a lot of digits and it doesn't corrupt you, no problem.

[Average Investor]

@Leo Gura I've had corruptions in old businesses that skewed my thinking like you suggest.  I read authentic happiness and applied a lot of that to this business. I really just like it. I can probably find a lot of reasons or ways to make it not seem like some ultra humanitarian thing. But I really could make a difference in my local community and to others by teaching them. I've been finding ways to support local businesses and even donate to less fortune people with goods as finding surpluses of stuff is the name of the game in reselling. As well as I really like the idea of recycling. I have even been wanting to start getting more eco friendly packing materials aside from my already second hand boxes. 

Now is all of that delusion?  Probably some of it. I mean when I buy something off someone and I know I can make $100 off it, but I paid them $1 I don't find it immoral because they wanted $1 for it.  I make money from my expertise though like any craft. But I can understand maybe that person really needs the money or life has put them where they could not get the education I have and I am taking advantage of that. A lot of the time the person just wants to get rid of their stuff though, or in the case of wholesale it doesn't apply.

I've thought a lot about wanting to be successful and it is a goal to have some business like really make it for me. I see the hollowness in all of the riches and stuff. I think more what interests me is the freedom and the life style I could have. Opportunities to travel. If I decided to have kids I could provide something so much greater than what my up bringing was like with the knowledge I have and resources. That and not feeling like I just accepted some mediocre life of scanning stuff at a check out stand. 

You steered me in a really good path like 9 months ago, when you suggested I narrow in on something and now I did and it is really starting to take off. I was in a very devilish industry and really diluted myself to think I was helping people. I don't want that to happen again with this. I do wonder if there is something even larger out there for me. But I think we all could wonder than with any path or choice we make. 

[Leo Gura]

5 hours ago, Average Investor said:

I do wonder if there is something even larger out there for me.

There is, if you dare.

[Commodent]

11 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

Very hard. It's like quitting heroin or the mafia.

Oh, tell us about your time in the mafia. Didn't that work out with your LP?

[Average Investor]

@Leo Gura I'll keep my mind open to it and try to figure it out. Need the cash for now I feel like at the least. Thank you. 

[remember]

9 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

There is, if you dare.

i dare you, so you could give an answer, instead of hiding.

[LfcCharlie4]

@Leo Gura

 

 

 

 

2

On 11/4/2019 at 10:23 PM, Leo Gura said:

@LfcCharlie4 That's what I did. But it was very painful and soul-crushing.

In practice, once you have a bunch of money and success from a non-purpose business, you will become so attached to it that you are not likely to ever find your true purpose. You will get comfortable and lazy and finding your LP will become too risky and inconvenient.

Money and success easily corrupts the mind, getting it to justify whatever brings in that money as "good". You will start telling yourself things like, "Well, what if this thing I'm doing is already my LP? It probably is. Why rock the boat?"

The enemy of the great is the good.

Besides which, you could easily lose all your money before you reach some kind of level of total security and freedom. Chasing money does not guarantee you money. The point of aligning with your LP is that it gives you the super-human passion necessary to become successful. It's hard to become successful at something your heart isn't into.

 I understand completely. 

 However, I definitely would not call my online publishing businesses soul-crushing or painful. 

I'm even building brands around meditation and spirituality to help introduce people to these topics who aren't ready for the full-blown nonduality side of things. 

On top of that, I'm coaching others now and helping them grow their businesses which is very fulfilling. 

I've also recently upgraded all the products (Books) I provide and the system makes sure each book we publish is very high quality and provides solutions to the customers' needs and actually helps them. I've also started my own fiction brand which requires minimal work as me and my partner have a coach who does the majority of the work for a % split, and that alone will hopefully provide substantial income after the 3-year contract is up. 

 In terms of my own businesses, I'm beginning to outsource a lot of the work and training employees to my quality standards, therefore I know in a couple of years fully outsourcing this to where I max spend 5-10 hours a week on it will not be any issue at all, while at least maintaining similar earnings. 

 It could also lead to my LP as it is possible to build a brand around near enough any sort of topic. 

 Right now I completely feel this is what I want to devote my next 2-5 years too, maybe that's being stupid but it allows me incredible freedom to work on Personal Development, Health& Fitness and my Spirituality (working with Ramaji and Ananda (RASA)) and have seen amazing results in the areas in the last 6 months. 

 Have you ever heard about how Purpose can work in 3's? I was contemplating this as I feel one of my purposes is to do with helping people achieve financial freedom as I have always been passionate about Business, Investing etc, but I also feel one day I want to become a Spiritual Teacher, however I wouldn't want to do that until I am completely finished and ready, as there's too many people I believe who simply try and talk the Ego to death and it rarely works, I endlessly listened to Eckhart/ Rupert etc for almost 2 years, and while the theory is helpful it doesn't really allow you to reach the highest levels of self-realization and is easy to take that 'back seat' route. 

 

Onto number 3 and I'm extremely passionate about Health/ Fitness, Sports (as you know from my posts lol) and Biohacking or even finding ways people can optimize their health and how they feel. 

 Maybe you think I'm being stupid or wasting my time, but what feels right to be right now is to grow my businesses to the levels I have in mind, and keep providing products that are helping/ entertaining readers in various areas of life, and that to me is far from soul-crushing, I also did this to avoid going to University and going down a corporate route related to Investment Banking, Accounting, etc where corruption can certainly be rife. 

 This is a stupidly long reply and I have waffled on for a while, but I hope you get the gist of what I'm trying to say  

[Joker]

@LfcCharlie4 Can I ask how you got started with your publishing business? Did you take a course? I'm intrigued...