If you’re a freedom seeker like me, you’re gonna love today’s topic. Freedom is one of the things most people crave. It’s also one of the most common reasons why people get in business and stay in it long enough despite the challenges.
The 5 types of freedom I’ll share in this episode are my way to categorize this, but they are what I’ve experienced the most, what my goals usually consist of, and what other business owners say they love the most about their business.
Tune in or read the transcript below:
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Show Notes:
- The 2 types of freedom according to philosophy
- What’s a location independent lifestyle
- The type of location freedom I chose
- What it means to own your time
- The type of freedom most business owners lack
- The key difference between men and women in business
- What it really means to take a break from work
- What to do when something unpleasant happens and you’re emotional
- What problems does money solve
- A simple way to welcome more freedom right now
Transcript
Before I dive into them, I want to mention the types of freedom according to philosophy. There’s the negative one, freedom from something, and the positive one, the freedom to do sometihng or be someone. This is such a simple yet beautiful and powerful way to put it and it totally resonates with me.
Some of the strongest reasons why I started a business are to be free from my family, the country I was born in, its culture and just life back then as I knew it. I didn’t like the environment, I didn’t feel good or safe, and I knew it wasn’t for me.
I also experience the positive freedom every day. My business allows me do what I want, and to be exactly who I wanna be and to change as I please. These are deeply satisfying benefits and I don’t know many people who enjoy them and who are not in business.
If you want to be your own boss or are growing your business already, chances are you’re quite familiar with these things.
There are things you want to get away from and change, and other things you want to acquire. There’s also a specific way you want to feel, because after all, we’re all chasing feelings here. You don’t want the business and revenue, you want the way it will make you feel once you have it.
Now, let me share the 5 types of freedom a business gives us and talk about each.
1. Location freedom
The first one is location freedom.
I could only dream of that 10-12 years ago when I was back home, living with my parents, and reading about lifestyle designers like Tim Ferriss who were making the location independent lifestyle work for them.
But then, it happened. First I normalized the idea in my head, then I became obsessed with it. Even though no one in my surroundings had ever done that, I knew it was possible. That’s why I’m a fan of successful people and their business journeys. We are all capable of something similar, so someone else’s story is the proof we need that what we’re after is totally within reach.
Location freedom means you can move to another country and stay there, like I did 7 years ago. It could also mean you just travel all the time. Or you might stay in different countries for a few months and when you get bored or have seen enough, move to the next destination. This is slow travel and it’s for the entrepreneur who doesn’t wanna stay in one place, who wants to be challenged by their environment, get to know different cultures, not commit to one country, and just see where life takes them.
That doesn’t need to seem chaotic or irresponsible. Business owners are doing that with their family, like this couple. They travel the world with kids and work from their laptop and everyone’s happy. It’s about how bad you want it, because then you’ll definitely make it work.
I found out early on that my type of location freedom was simple. I wanted to get out of my country and I knew the one I wanted to relocate to – the Netherlands. Luckily, they are both in the European Union so this wasn’t complex, and I didn’t have much to worry about.
But often people choose South East Asia, or Americans move to Europe. Or you want to go to Brazil. That means moving to another continent and becoming part of a culture totally different than yours.
For some, that’s the dream. For others, it’s too much pressure and stress and they soon start missing how things are back home.
Luckily, you can test this and don’t need to make any final decisions. You can just get a tourist visa and stay somewhere for a few months, learn how things work there, and feel if it’s the right place for you.
Location freedom is amazing, and that’s what an online business can give you. What’s even better is when it’s combined with time freedom, which is usually the case.
Read also: Personal Development in a Cheap Country: How to Keep Improving When Others Around You Aren’t
2. Time freedom
That’s the second type of freedom I wanna talk about and you know what it is and that everyone wants it. One of the main disadvantages of a 9 to 5 job is the fact that you need to get there and leave at a specific time, and to stay in the office the whole day. Even if you work from home, the work hours can make you miss out on the good weather, prevent you from spending more time with your kids or taking a break whenever you want.
Most people have a few hours of the day when they’re most productive, and it’s smart to do your most important work for the day in that window. it’s also nice to sleep in when you want, to take regular breaks and to be able to fully focus when you actually get to work. Sadly, that’s rarely the case with a regular job.
What a business can give you, though, is the ability to stay up late at night and not set an alarm for the next day. This is one of my personal favourites. It also lets you say no to work on Monday or Tuesday and explore your city instead, or a whole new city if you’re traveling.
It also means you can always make it to any event you want to attend, see any friend you want to see, spend time with loves ones, and just be flexible with your time. Because work will always wait for you, you can get to it when you decide, not at a certain time every day.
3. Creative freedom
And what if I told you you can not just work whenever you want, but you can also make the most of the periods in your life when you’re full of energy, motivation, enthusiasm and creativity?
Then you can ditch everything else and work on that new business idea. Or you can create a new income stream. Or you can write a book, do a rebrand, take a course, start a podcast, go to a retreat, redesign your website, or anything else.
That’s what I call creative freedom – the freedom to work on whatever you want, whenever you want. To follow inspiration and passion and to not sleep if you want to get something done right away.
You don’t need to do any of that, of course. But knowing it’s a possibility makes me feel liberated and makes me enjoy my days more.
Creativity doesn’t like constraint. Inspiration wants you to be spontaneous, to ditch everything else you’re doing right now and devote yourself to that sudden desire or idea and see where it will take you.
4. Emotional freedom
The next type of freedom is emotional. They don’t talk about it often in the online business space, but it’s a big one I think. It’s what most business owners lack, especially as their company grows.
They take up more responsibility, make more money, hire more people. Their brand grows, their products promise bigger results, they get more attention online and need to show up even when they don’t feel like it.
So it’s possible to create another job for yourself, even though you’re your own boss. That’s when your business runs you, when you gotta be in front of the laptop all the time. When you’re putting in long hours, late nights and early mornings. When you have to sacrifice spending time with family, or skip that vacation you’ve been thinking about, and when you simply can’t take time off because there’s so much happening in your business.
Then you aren’t happy, you haven’t created a business that can run without you constantly monitoring it and being there.
Emotional freedom is the ability to step away and take time for yourself, to be in your own energy, to manage your emotions. It’s especially true for women because we don’t run on the same clock as men. Our hormones fluctuate throughout the month. Some weeks we might be extra tired, while others we feel like we can take over the world.
To have freedom in your business means to take those days off. But not just step away from business activities. It’s about emptying your mind, not explaining yourself to others, not feeling guilty, not feeling like a failure.
Instead, taking time for yourself, taking yourself on a date, doing self-care routines all day, or just staying in bed and watching movies.
Emotional freedom means that whatever your soul needs, you provide it right then and there.
Others in your life probably won’t get it and might judge you. But you don’t owe them an explanation. You’re free and don’t need to control other people’s opinion, please them or in any way connect your self-worth to how others see you.
I’m working on emotional freedom all the time. Some days it’s extra hard. Even though you might be at home with nothing to do, you carry burden that’s not yours. You worry, overthink, plan, are upset or angry, carry shame in your body from the past or are in a state of constant anxiety about the future.
Emotional freedom means taking time off to process those emotions so they don’t get stuck in your body and later turn into something more serious.
That’s especially true when something unpleasant happens, such as the loss of a loved one, a breakup, betrayal, argument, or else. Take time for yourself then to feel your feelings and release them, before you get back to business.
5. Financial freedom
The final type of freedom of the 5 is financial freedom. It’s the one I don’t have, but knowing it’s a possibility makes everything so much better.
Keep in mind that the other 4 types of freedom are something you can have even with a tiny business. By earning just enough to live the life you want, you can feel free in so many ways and be happy as a result of it.
Financial freedom is something else, though. More money means you’ll be able to solve most of your problems and do it in less time. You’ll keep having money problems, of course. These can be bigger and heavier depending on where you are with your money mindset, but your other problems in life can be handled more easily.
You’ll also have more comfort, you’ll live in a better place, you won’t worry about paying the bills. You’ll travel often and won’t worry about anything going wrong, because paying for it to be fixed or replaced or upgraded usually does the job. You’ll also be able to help family and friends in need and to donate.
You can eat quality food, take better care of your body, get good medical care and hire professionals for anything. Over time, that can lead to better health and can make aging easier.
The bigger picture here is that you’ll save and invest, and you’ll create generational wealth. You’ll know everyone is provided for, your business brings in more than enough revenue, and you can have anything you want.
Go big, or not
The freedom to scale, outsource, cut income streams or stay a one-person business also falls into this category and I love this.
Not everyone wants to grow big, not everyone is okay with managing 6 or 7 figures, not everyone wants to make big financial decisions or transactions. So you don’t need to.
You can stay as small as you want by limiting the number of clients you work with, not growing your audience, not releasing new offers, or even retiring existing ones even if they are doing well.
Conclusion
So these are the 5 types of freedom, and of course, it’s best when you have them all at the same time. I truly wish you this. But don’t forget that most often, freedom is a matter of giving yourself permission to let go of something, to stop caring about something, to take bigger risk, or to make a decision.
So maybe one of these examples of freedom is available to you now, but you simply aren’t choosing it, aren’t allowing it in your life. Maybe you think you aren’t worthy of it, don’t want to disappoint others, don’t want anyone to feel uncomfortable around you in case you earn more, or else. Uncover that and work on it so you can welcome more freedom in your life and business.
Tell me which of the 5 types of freedom is your favorite. Which ones do you already have, and which one are you working on having next?
