You’re about to read a long-ass post. But before you grab a cup of coco and put on your reading glasses . . .

Here’s What I Want You to Do

If you support the spirit of this blog and have gained anything from The Growing Life, then I’d really appreciate your completing this “Finance Your Freedom” questionnaire. If you wax the survey then the gods of good luck will shower benevolence upon you for all eternity. I promise.

Also, if you have any questions about funding your freedom, please email them to me at claycollins [at] gmail [dot] com; I’ll be answering as many questions as I can on the Finance Your Freedom mailing list: you can sign up for it here:

Ok, now to the part about me almost shutting down The Growing Life. It all begins with . . .

A Series of AWESOME Conversations

About a month ago I started having daily conversations with readers of this blog. What I discovered OVER and OVER again was that most everyone reading The Growing Life “gets” all this liberation stuff I’ve been talking about. I’ve heard over and over again that I validate your alternative lifestyle aspirations. And I’m happy to have done this. Really.

So you may be thinking . . .

“So Why Shut Down The Growing Life?”

As I said earlier, I talk to a reader of this blog nearly every day. And nearly everyone I’ve spoken to has the exact same reason why they can’t quit their 9-5 job and live the life they want. Want to take a guess what that reason is?

You’re right: it’s money.

But it’s really more complex than that. You see, quitting your 9-5 job and recreating your life takes a LOT of time. Creating alternative sources of income takes time. And building a lifestyle from scratch takes time. And the list goes on.

And most people can’t afford their own time. This bears repeating . . .

If You’re Like Most People, then Large Corporations Can Afford Your Time But You Cannot

If you’re like most people, then you can’t survive without selling your time to someone else.

How fucked up is that?

So the real problem really isn’t money, it’s our inability to buy our own time. (Most people could liberate themselves if they could just buy enough of their own time).

So I Almost Shut Down The Growing Life Because . . .

So yeah, I almost shut down The Growing Life forever.  And this isn’t where the story ends: the plot thickens and reaches a climax when someone offers $12,000 for this blog and I turn them down.

Long story short: instead of selling The Growing Life or shutting it down, I ended up taking a vacation.  I’m on it now.  Look for the full scoop on Tuesday  Wednesday (or just stop by for more of the same ‘ol armchair nonsense).

For more riveting blog drama, pick up a free subscription to The Growing Life.

 
photo by Leo London

About two months ago I wrote about how I’d quit my job and was going for broke. I’m happy to report that since then, things are going better than ever. I’m making more than I ever have before, I have unprecedented levels of free time and flexibility, and I’m the happiest I’ve ever been.

But I’ve talked to enough people going through similar situations to know that I’ve had some really lucky breaks, and that some of my circumstances aren’t easily repeatable. So I’ve written this post to address some of the most frequent problems people face when trying to fund their freedom and liberate themselves from traditional work environments.

Let’s get started.

One of the most damaging myths perpetuated by our society is . . .

The Myth that if You Do What You Love, the Money Will Follow

There is this insane myth in our culture that if you do what you love, the money will naturally follow. It’s one of those deceptive half truths that often leads to humiliation.