Unfortunately, many of you reading this article, like me, are tied to a
desk, a shop, maybe a burger stand. We all have our stories of why we must
go to work and why we are unable to pursue our dreams and become
self-employed. For some of you, it might be thousands of dollars in credit
card debt. For others, it might be College debt; the education you
had to have has landed you forty thousand in the hole and working two jobs
to pay all the bills. You know you want more out of this life.
You know
you want to be free from the job trap - free from punching a clock and
free to work in the yard when you want to. Free to get out of bed
when you want to, free to take home all of the profits for yourself and
not make someone else rich. For many this dream seems to be just that: a
dream. The truth is, however, if you want to be self-employed, you
can obtain it! It may be hard work; it may take a few years and
sticking to a well thought-out plan, but it can be obtained.
As I
write this article, I am about half-way there myself. I have always wanted
to be a freelance writer; a full-time writer to me is the cat’s meow. Everyone around me has told me over and over that I could not make a
decent living being a writer. However, upon doing some research, I have
discovered that I can earn my keep doing something I enjoy, and that other
people are doing it as well.
From what I can see,
there are two types of writers out there: the ones who are writing
machines and therefore make a lot of money and those who play a lot, write
a little, and scrape by. I want to be somewhere in the middle. For many
people, the biggest problem is finding the time to achieve their goals
when they have to work full-time.
I say, don’t quit
your job to chase your dreams. Instead, work a few hours each evening on
your goals. I write every evening for a few hours, publishing as many
articles as I physically can. I am by no means getting rich, but the fact
is I am almost ready to jump ship and quit my day job.
I am not making what
I currently make at my day job by writing at night, but I am planning
ahead so I will not need a lot of money to live comfortably once I leave
my job. Being self-employed and happy does not require a lot of
money. If you are reading this, chances are you are someone who
thinks a little differently about life and also enjoys the thought of
self-sufficiency, so you are one step ahead of most people. To be
self-employed, you need time and a willingness to go without for now for a
big payoff later. In order to be self-employed and chase your
dreams, you need to eliminate as much of your debt as possible and be as
creative as possible at doing so.
Here is
an example of someone who is self-employed and loving it. At the same
time, he lives like a king on a small amount of money. Thomas J. Elpel
from Montana runs a green publishing business, a store, and a business
where he brings people into the wilderness and teaches them how to live
off the land. Sounds pretty cool, doesn’t it? Is Thomas rich so he can
live the life of leisure or is he a famous author making millions from his
books? The answer is neither. He lives cheap.
Over a decade ago,
Thomas had a dream of never having a “real job” as many of us put it. In
fact, Thomas wasn’t even out of high school when he decided to build a
house debt-free. Not just any house either; one made of log and stone. Thomas married his high school sweetie and they began to build their dream
home. It took a number of years to complete the house, but when they were
done they were debt free.
In the years leading up to the completion of their house,
Thomas and his wife had an average combined income of ten to twelve
thousand dollars! How did they do it you ask? Besides living
in a tent and eating beans for a few years, they got as much of the
material from the land they bought as well as from any dumpster they could
find. Because they built the house themselves and got the majority
of their materials for free or almost free, they built their beautiful
home for about twenty thousand dollars.
