I have dreamed about becoming rich my whole life. I saw the glamorous lives of celebrities and billionaires and I wanted that for myself. I wanted to live in a mansion and have servants to wait on me hand and foot. I wanted a private jet and a villa in Switzerland. I wanted to sit by my pool and live the life of Riley for the rest of my days.

Alas, it was not to be. But for a very different reason than you might think.

I came from humble beginnings. My family were lower middle class and I never had much in the way of luxuries. I really didn’t lack any of the necessities of life, but I didn’t have more than the basics. This state of being, naturally, made me envious of those people who did have the finer things in life. I believed that excess would bring me happiness, respect and satisfaction.

My pursuit of riches was interrupted by …LIFE.

I had to live in this vast ocean of capitalism starting with next to nothing. I had to make a living to support my family. I had to make sure we had food, shelter and clothing. I had to find the means to survive. Who had time to dream big when the rent was due?

As I didn’t have the luxury of a trust fund or a family business to fall back on I realized if I was going to rise above my circumstances I would have to take responsibility for my own success. I would have to find a way to become more than I was.

So I started to read books..

Read Books

I read hundreds of books. Maybe thousands. Books were low cost, and I couldn’t afford seminars or training courses. I didn’t know any rich people. I had limited resources, but I kept on reading. I always read books that taught me something. I would learn about business, real estate, investing, money management, stocks, math, accounting, philosophy, psychology. The more I read, the more I learned. The more I learned, the more I changed. I was becoming a different person. The knowledge that I was absorbing became a part of me and I started to think differently. I started to see opportunities where I wouldn’t have previously. I started to treat money differently. I started to experiment with investing and money management. I made mistakes, I lost big. But I kept learning.

Eventually I stumbled across a few ideas that actually worked out. I started to move forward financially. I continued to read, learn and experiment. I refined my approaches and pushed my comfort zone. I tried to be humble enough to listen to as many people as possible who had been down this road before. I kept investing.

Eventually a funny thing happened.

I had enough.

Enough.

I realized my journey of wealth accumulation had actually arrived at its destination.

It was certainly a far cry from mansions and private jets like I had imagined. It was a new me.

In the process of learning all that I did about money, finance and wealth, I figured out not only how to make money, passive income and build a business, I learned what is truly valuable.

The rich people I had learned from spoke about this concept a lot but it didn’t register with me until I had experienced it myself. The most valuable thing you have is..TIME.

TIME FREEDOM

Time - to live your life on your own terms

Time - to spend with family & friends

Time - to contribute to the world

Time - to push yourself to become the best you can be

Time - to relax

Time - to think

Time - to grow

Yes, financial abundance buys you time. It is the most important asset you can have. Ask a 98 year old if they would rather have a billion dollars or 80 more years. They will choose the time almost always.

Once you obtain time freedom, the other trappings of wealth and success become silly status symbols that probably won’t have the desired effect anyways. Things do not make us happy, as much as the world of advertising would have you believe. Freedom makes us happy. Purpose makes us happy. Belonging to something bigger than ourselves makes us happy.

This is not my opinion. This is science. Multiple studies have proven that we value “things” less as time passes, but value “experiences” more over time. We are chasing a broken dream if we think mansions and sports cars are the ultimate end. They are great toys if you can afford them, but they are not going to make you happy, at least not for very long.

I read in a great book called “The Psychology of Money” that if you pull up to the grocery store in your Lamborghini, expecting people to look at you with respect you would be mistaken. They want your car. They do not want to “be you” or “be like you”. They are thinking about themselves in that car. You are not impressing anyone, unfortunately. Do not pursue riches to impress people or try to feel important. That is a fools errand. People will remember how you made them feel. That is all.

I always ask my wife,

“Would we do different things in our day to day life if we lived in a giant mansion vs. our current home?”

“Would we spend our TIME differently?”

Probably not.

We enjoy our lives because we spend our TIME as we please with the people we care about.

So I didn’t achieve my original “dream” - partially because I am not that rich, but mostly because I realized it was a flawed dream. I wanted riches to impress people and feel important. I wanted respect and to feel like I was “somebody”. In becoming the person I needed to be to achieve financial freedom, I learned that I only needed “ENOUGH”.

I didn’t win the lottery. I didn’t steal. I didn’t compromise my integrity. I worked hard. But most importantly I LEARNED. I learned what I needed to know to achieve my dreams. I did it by reading books. I learned and changed myself. I didn’t expect the “world” to serendipitously hand me anything. I went out and got it. It didn’t happen fast. It wasn’t easy, and is sure wasn’t smooth sailing. It happened because I found a way.

So you can do what I did. You can learn what you need to know. You do not have to be a genius. I am definitely not a genius (just ask my wife). You don’t have to be lucky. I failed a lot. You just have to be tenacious and willing to change.

Reading is Cheap

Read books. They are cheap. For under $10 you can gain an insight that will change your whole life. I find it hard to believe that you can find a better deal than that. You can take courses, attend seminars, and find a mentor. You only have to put the right information into your brain and then you become the person you need to be to live your “Dream”. There is no magic formula. You just need the right information.

I encourage you to make a small step forward. That is all it takes. moving. If you don’t have options, move. Options will open up. If you stay the same, things will stay the same. You have to change in order to live a different life. Be willing to change.

Just like most people, I had a busy life (still do), I had kids to run around to activities, a full time job, a mortgage, bills, and an endless string of apparent crisis that I had to deal with. The beautiful thing about change is it doesn’t have to happen all at once. You can read a book in the gaps between “emergencies” and the information is still intact. You can find a way to fit the “new” you into your already crazy life if you are willing to be patient and persistent. Overnight success is a myth. Don't buy into it. But don’t believe success is impossible, either. It is actually something that happens when you move towards it deliberately. It just might be slow and/or messy.

You may want to take the time to spend a couple bucks and pick up one of my books. They offer you a plan to become wealthy. Or my training course. You may just change your life. If not I have many book suggestions in my blog that I highly recommend. I just want you to believe that it is possible to change your circumstances. Sometimes it feels like you are trapped, but I am here to tell you that there is a way out. It just may take courage. It just might require you to change. It just may take time. I just really want you to know that it is possible.

Financial freedom is possible because it is not some crazy billionaire lifestyle. It is attainable because it just requires you to know how much is ENOUGH, and what steps you are going to take to get there.

I wish you the best in your journey.