The 3 Simple Steps to Location Independence

“I am convinced that the biggest obstacle to financial freedom in America today is the job you’re holding.” ~ Ron LaGrande

More and more people are coming to the realization that working for someone else doesn’t offer the solution when it comes to living life the way they want to live. But considering the fact that most have a mortgage, a car payment and other obligations, they can’t walk away from the job either. It’s a classic case of Catch 22.

But don’t lose heart, because there is a solution to this madness. Thousands of people around the globe are finding ways to reclaim their lives without succumbing to living a life of mediocrity or selling their souls.

All you need to know are the three simple steps to solving any problem, and then defining what each step means in your particular case. I will use myself as a case study to explain what I mean.

1. Acknowledge the problem. As simple as it may sound, many people fail to take this step into consideration or cannot define it correctly. Until you acknowledge the problem, you can’t begin to define it, and unless and until you define it, you can’t find the solution.

My problem was that I couldn’t hang on to a job long enough to earn “brownie points” that would enable me to negotiate a deal that would allow me to live life on my terms. The reason I couldn’t hold on to a job too long was that I insisted on doing things my own way. I was often penalized and occasionally terminated for “not following the procedures, or the company policies” even when it was clearly more profitable for the company.

In a nutshell, I wasn’t able to forge out a win-win situation because I was too hard headed. Once I recognized that, I knew I had two choices. Either become less hard headed, or use that as my strength to my own advantage. Obviously, I chose Door #2.

So what is your problem?

2. Begin with the end in mind. The most effective way to solve a problem is to start out with the desired end in mind. But, for most people, knowing what they want is more difficult than to define the problem itself. The reason why most people can’t define what they want is that, as a society, we are more focused on what we don’t want as opposed to what we do want.

I know that was the case for me. I knew I didn’t want to work for incompetent, mindless androids who called themselves supervisors. I translated that to mean I want to work for myself. So I tried doing the things I was doing for others on my own. I gained experience that told me I didn’t want to do that either. So I looked for other things I could do on my own, gaining more and more experience and creating more and more financial challenges for myself.

Then I came across Michael losier and his book Law of Attraction: The Science of Attracting More of What You Want and Less of What You Don’t. Michael teaches a method called “Clarity through Contrast”.

The premise is simple: most people know what they don’t want instead of what they do want. So, he says, every time you find yourself saying, “That’s not what I want”, simply ask yourself, “then what is it that I do want.”

‘No’, ‘not’ and ‘don’t’ are the giveaways that tell you to rephrase the thought.

Following this exercise, I realized that what I really want is to make as much as possible, doing as little as possible.

Stop and spend some time to find out what is it that you really want.

3. Probability never equals zero. It is a mathematical axiom;  a principle of  Statistics, which translated into plain English means; There is always a solution. I was a Math Major in college, so I focused all my thoughts and energy on the idea that, there’s got to be  a way.

I was fortunate enough to have met Ian Crossley aka Croz from Oz online several years ago. Croz is a successful business man who spends his time helping others become successful. He took me under his wings. He taught me three things.

1. You must get absolutely clear on what you want.
2. You must accept success as an achievable reality.
3. “How” is not your department.

Well, he taught me a lot more than that, but that’s another post. With Croz’s help and some soul searching, I came to realize that I really want to Roam the Earth, and I want to climb Mount Everest on my 75th birthday. I accepted it as an achievable reality in my mind, and commited to not worrying about how it will happen.

Within a month, I was working part time doing something I never thought I would be doingand making the same kind of money that I was making working 65 hours per week at my previous job. Needless to say, I love what I am doing, and more so, the fact that what I am doing and how I am doing it is so unconventional. I twist balloons to create animals and other shapes, and for the most part, I allow my customers to determine what they want to pay for it. I have learned that in most cases, they value my work more than I do. This motivates me to produce my finest possible work, which increases it’s value even more, and I am compensated for it more generously.

When you open yoursel to the possibilities, with a clear cut end in mind, the solution will present itself one step at a time.

Once I was able to take care of my ongoing obligations with my new and fun career, I turned my focus towards my ultimate goal to Roam the Earth and found use for my other passions, writing, teaching and photography. In addition to blogging, I am writing a book titled Twisting Balloons for Profit and Fun, while teaching a class under the same title at a lifelong learning institute. I am also working on producing DVD’s showing how to create various balloons designs. All of this is going to generate various streams of active and passive income for me while I Roam the Earth.

Use this 3 step formula to create your ultimate lifestyle and share your success and challenges in the comments below. If you want have any questins you want me to answer, include that in the comments or email me, and I’ll do my best to answer them.

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