A Hero's Journey

During Lesson 5, we were required to watch a video about "A Hero's Journey." One of the biggest takeaways for me was when Jeff Sandefer, in nearly a side comment, talked about the lesson he learned as he was 30 and divorced. He talked about how he did not spend enough time with his little ones and how that time goes away. I have five children and think constantly about this time that I'm "losing." It's a big internal struggle. I think on the one hand, "I need to do this to earn as much as possible to free up time with my kids." On the other hand, I think, "If I don't stop working so hard, I'm going to miss raising my kids!" It's a terrible dilemma because I have to gauge how I spend my precious 24 hours each day. Even as I type this, I'm considering the fact that I could be downstairs with my youngest two children watching the movie, "UP." I've seen it before, but to have that extra experience with my kids will only be around for so long.

Other takeaways from this lesson was the reminder that entrepreneurs are not guaranteed success, that we don't become entrepreneurs for a guarantee of riches. Instead, we become entrepreneurs so we can gain time freedom. My brother-in-law is self employed. He's able to come and go as he pleases, as long as he gains the right number of clients each month. It's very convenient for him to be able to do this. On the other hand, David Friedberg also pointed out that sometimes you make more money as a worker within a larger corporation. I give up my 40-50 hours per week to help them build their business so that I can have afternoon and weekend freedom with my children. Either way, there's a sacrifice. For the most part, I have a higher sense of financial security in exchange for time freedom. My brother-in-law has more time freedom, but gives up more of his sense of financial security. Of course, this isn't always the case. Should he "hit it big," he will accrue much more time freedom and will have maximized his sense of financial security.

My plan is to build my online "empire" of YouTube videos so that it will create a stream of income large enough to replace my W2 income. I'm also learning of new ways to pull in more income consistently. For instance, I just learned about Amazon's Fulfilled by Amazon service where you ship them your items and they take care of the rest, essentially. I have also learned about ACX's service to record books for Audible and other services. While these may take some of my time, too, they also provide for ways to consolidate what I would consider weeks of time into hours of time. I say this because the potential to earn increases dramatically, and money is just another representation of time.

Lastly, I had reinforced the idea of perseverance, of sticking to what I know is true. I have made many mistakes in real estate investing, but I know that if I don't repeat the same mistakes and push forward in my investing that something will succeed and my family will be blessed. I just have to push harder than the average guy and I think I'll come out ahead. I'll be able to answer who I loved and who loved me, because I won't be alone in a cubicle all year. I'll be with my family and friends.