Ready to break free from the 9-to-5 grind? If you’ve ever wondered how to make the leap, this guide is your roadmap to financial freedom.
Many people dream of ditching the 9-to-5 grind to pursue the freedom of entrepreneurship. They imagine a life with nobody to answer to, no one dictating when we start or end our day. They picture limitless earning potential and the ultimate prize: financial freedom.
Many dream of it, but not all take the leap. For me, that dream of financial freedom started in college. I’d spend hours in design class sketching logos and brainstorming company names, imagining what life would be like if I were in charge.
At 26 years old, with a toddler at home, barely enough money to make ends meet, and more fear than confidence, I made the leap. I quit my job as creative director for a small advertising agency in upstate New York and set up shop in an upstairs bedroom of the farmhouse we were renting, chasing financial freedom.
Entrepreneurship starts with a spark; sometimes, it’s the dream of independence, and sometimes it’s a necessity. For me, it was both. The early days were brutal. My wife and I struggled to pay rent and keep the lights on, and there were moments when I questioned if I’d made a mistake. But those struggles lit a fire in me that I didn’t know I had.
Within months, I was so busy managing clients that I had to stop making sales calls. Just over a year into it, I hired my first part-time designer. We grew quickly, too quickly at times (more on that later), but I refused to let the daily challenges and many roadblocks stop our progress. Within a few short years, we went from helping mom-and-pop shops to running national campaigns for Fortune 500 companies.