There are far too many people in the world who live to work. People who are forced, through circumstance or any outside pressures, to work a job that they hate, for mediocre money, poor conditions and limited freedom.
It needs to stop.
Ever since I left University, I’ve been determined to become financially free. Financial freedom is all about your circumstances allowing you to live without fear of where the net pay check will come from. It’s about being able to check your online banking account without worrying about whether you’ll be able to afford that unexpected bill. Depressing fact: only 44% of Americans can afford a $1000 emergency. At its highest level, it’s about making money totally and completely passively.
The question is, of course: how do I get there?
Before we start, a quick caveat: I’m very lucky in that I don’t have any dependents right now. Parents or carers have so much to worry about with looking after other people that financial freedom is often the furthest thing from their minds. However, these lessons in financial freedom are still really important to remember as they’ll help you to live a happier, more productive, life, regardless of your current situation.
Here are the six levels of financial freedom:
Level one: a day job
It’s become a basic expectation that the vast majority of people will need to find a job at some point. It could be shelf-stacking, or gardening, or working in a library, or something else entirely. Either way, as adults we’re expected to work, pay our taxes and, in the current day-and-age, just about get by.
The unfortunate reality remains that working a regular day job usually won’t lead to rich and fame, and you probably won’t live in one of your fifty million-dollar houses all over the world. That’s not to say that a day job is without its merits. If you join a union, for instance, you can stand up for your rights and prevent your employer from taking advantage of you.
Still, though, you need to make sure you’re well-compensated for your day job. Find something that you love and you’ll never work a day in your life. It’s a tried and tested cliche, but it’s true.
Sadly, the best paid jobs are often the least enjoyable, so let’s see how we can start to supplement your income to get you closer to becoming financially free.
Level two: beer money
Beer money really means small bits of cash to supplement your other incomes. It’s a small bit extra to go towards small purchases (like beers!).
There are loads of ways to earn beer money. My favourite place to find them is on this subreddit, but the one that I’ve used extensively to earn hundreds of pounds is prolific. I’ve already written about this one: the idea is that academic surveys pop up throughout your day and you can complete them in your downtime. Prolific makes clear the purpose of the survey, how long it’ll take, and how much money you’ll earn.
If you want a full breakdown of it, click here.
Start earning some beer money to power up your spending power, or keep reading if you fancy a little more financial freedom.
Level three: online writing
I’ve been writing on this website since 2018, but have monetised the blog since 2022. In two years of monetisation, I’ve earned – *checks notes* – a whopping $13. The idea that I’ve earned with my creative product is the most important part to me – though obviously I would love to start earning enough to match my full-time income as a teacher.
There are people all over the internet who have taken their online writing to the next level and actually don’t have a full-time job, since their side hustle has become their full-time gig.
Even still, it’s probably not a good idea to put all of your eggs in one basket. What if, one day, you fall out of love with the idea of online writing? What if your blog suddenly stops earning through ads? Let’s take it to the next level of financial freedom.
Level four: affiliate marketing
When your online space starts to take off, you might get noticed by companies and brands who want to work with you.
I’ve been part of the Amazon Associates program since starting my blog and have earned around £100. This works in that, if you click this link, you’ll be directed to whichever Amazon page that I’ve linked (in this case, the smart plugs that I’m currently using to control my bedroom lights, which I love using since it means that I can turn off my lights without getting up before I go to bed). Notice that an #ad symbol is next to it, to indicate that I get a small percentage of the price of this product if you buy through my link.
Amazon is one of the easiest affiliate marketing programs to get involved in, since your audience just need to make three purchases through your link in a 6-month period.
What’s exciting is when an email lands in your inbox, requesting that you try out a product for free and, if you like it, you can join their affiliate marketing program. The Amazon principle applies to these: I would get a kickback if you sign up using my referral link.
I’ve recently joined the Lingopie affiliate marketing program to level up my Spanish learning. A full review is in the works, as well as how it supplements my current work with Duolingo. The long and short of it is that they’ve produced a bunch of bespoke shows that offer duo subtitles, allowing you to watch foreign-language shows and follow along whenever there are new words that you might not understand. You can new words to a word bank for self-quizzing, record your voice for pronunciation practice, and chat to online teachers. I’m going to do my first session tomorrow night, so I’ll keep you posted on how that goes.
If any of that sounds interesting to you, you can sign up using my link here. #ad
Level five: become an entrepreneur
So many Youtubers count themselves as entrepreneurs these days. It makes sense: often they will have started out by themselves, upgraded their setups and hired a bunch of people to help them out, be it managers, personal assistants or writers.
You needn’t go that far. You could, theoretically, do it all yourself. Come up with an idea, put out feelers to see whether there’s a demand for the product, and then work out how to sell it. Sell the thing in your free time in the evenings or on the weekends and earn money on the side.
The only issue with this level? It requires actual, active, work. You can’t just make something once and leave it to make money, so it might feel like a second full-time job. Hm, that’s not good.
There’s got to be a solution.
Level six: make it once and sell it forever
I’ve not yet tried my hand with level five, but I am interested in jumping straight to level six: the highest level in financial freedom. If being financially free is about making money and not needing to worry, it should also be about having very little active input in the process. That’s why my next venture will be to produce some kind of online course, to make it really, really, good, and to sell it forever.
There will be no physical distribution, no need for any actual input on my part. I will make the thing once and sell it forever. It could be a step-by-step course on how to become an online writer or it could be a collection of resources that I’ve produced in my teaching career. Whatever it might be, decide on how it best fits the niche of your online writing platform, since that’s where your audience is, make something that you’re passionate about, and get marketing.
If you can reach level six, and do it well enough so that people will send you real money for whatever good or service you provide, then that is true financial freedom. If you wanted to, you could then quit you day job and work on your business for the rest of your life.
Are you interested in achieving financial freedom? What are you doing to get there? Let me know in the comments below.
If you liked that, you’ll love.…
Hardly Hamilton 