The Whole Scoop: Why I Almost Shut Down The Growing Life

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 . . .

I honestly believe that The Growing Life provides validation and beneficial perspectives. I doubt, however, that this blog – if it stays on its current path – will provide you with real, concrete, tangible, and lasting results that stand to significantly improve your life. (This realization had me discouraged and moved me to attempt to sell my blog. An offer for $10k fell through and I turned down a second offer for $12k).

The blogosphere is a very supportive place, but I’m not looking for validation, support, or encouragement here. I’m not looking for reassurances that I’ve done a good job with this blog.

Just hear me out.

I almost sold The Growing Life because I’m done writing about (or railing against) productivity; I really don’t give a shit about my productivity or yours (the most amazing, value-giving, and even wealthy people I know don’t give a rats ass about productivity because they’re too busy marching to the beat of their own drummer and changing the world).

I know this blog provides validation to people already pursuing alternative lifestyles, but that’s not what I’m trying to do.

I’m not writing to provide validation. I’m not writing to give you a nifty new idea that you can have an intellectual debate over with your friends. I’m not blogging for Digg. I’m not trying to give interesting bullet point tips that people skim. I’m not writing for productivity hobbyists, personal development hobbyists, etc. I’m not writing in the hopes of getting 1000 more subscribers.

I am, however, writing for YOU. Because I sincerely seek to provide information that will be helpful in a real way that will actually make your life better a week from now, a month from now, and a year from now.

So . . .

The Growing Life Won’t Go Away

I’m recreating this blog from the ground up to help people purchase their own time. I’m recreating this blog around the sole mission of helping people finance their freedom.

The next incarnation of The Growing Life won’t be a blog for dabblers (note: and it will be called “Finance Your Freedom” instead of “Project Liberation”).

Finance Your Freedom will be for people with a serious commitment to quitting their jobs, building alternative income streams, buying back their time, and escaping the rat race.

In the NYTimes Bestseller entitled “The Four Hour Work Week,” Timothy Ferriss provides 64-pages on how to fund your Four-Hour Work Week.  Timothy Ferriss provided a great introduction to the logistics of liberation, but Funding Your Freedom will have a laser beam, long-term, and sustained focus on the financial and logistical aspects of liberation.  Finance Your Freedom will show you how to work around 30 hours per week FOR YOURSELF and doing WORK YOU LOVE (and still have time for a min-retirement here and there).

So the new incarnation of The Growing Life (i.e. Finance Your Freedom) will be practical, and it will have a laser beam focus. If this narrow focus means that I’ll lose readers (who are looking for more general content) then so be it. That’s just the cost of providing practical solutions.

Why I Can Help With the Money Thing (i.e. My Story)

I’ve never really told my story. Here goes . . .

I am, in one sense, a highly unmotivated person. The part of my brain that forces me to work on things I don’t care about stopped working – for the most part – when I was 15 years old (that’s when I left high school to start a software company with my friend Sean).

By some miracle, I managed to (1) graduate from college, and (2) get good grades. But that’s where the traditional success ends. From there it’s a series of jobs I don’t like and general frustration.

I tried liberating myself from dead-end jobs by creating companies (on the side) and dabbling in various business ventures. But none of these ventures ever got me over the “hump.” My ventures would make enough money keep me going, but not enough money to allow me to quit my job.

It was frustrating.

Over time and with a lot of persistence, however, I started to accumulate a group of friends who were self-employed and living life on THEIR terms. Some of these people were internet marketers, some of them were small business owners, and some of them were vagabonders travelling across the world.

I made a conscious effort to meet and befriend liberated people, and I found myself asking all of them about their “liberation story” (i.e. the process by which they freed themselves from their 9-5 job).

The liberation stories were varied and fascinating. The bizarre thing is that many of my friends found their success by doing counterintuitive things that actually worked. Things I would have never tried.

What I noticed that the liberation paths of the people I interviewed all shared many of the same steps and phases.

I also noticed that these liberated people shared very similar ideas and philosophies about making money.

What I learned from these “liberation stories” compelled me to rethink my approach to self-employment. And I promptly quit my job AND graduate school.

Remember when I wrote that I was going for broke, quitting my job, and might end up eating rice and beans forever? Well, it took me two weeks to get to the point where I was making more than I was making before I quit my job. Just two weeks.

I also started spending 4+ hours each day learning everything I could about internet marketing and making money online. I’m a little embarrassed to admit this, because internet marketing and the whole “making money online” thing has a bad rap. But oh well — I’m just happy about about not having to go into work every day.

Anyway, I now have this income thing handled (I’ve actually have had it handled for a while now).

You could drop me naked and penniless in the 3^rd world country and I’d probably be able to make a living from an internet cafe in about 2 days.

Ok, so that’s the extent of the bragging.

So I’ve documented the common stages and phases that nearly every “liberated” person I’ve talked to has undergone. And I’ve organized these phases into a set of principles. Furthermore, I’ve taught these principals to a handful of friends (and coaching clients) and many of them are starting to have the same results that I’ve had.

Something about this information seems to get people crystal clear on what they need to do and motivate them to act in effective ways.

I don’t have a magic bullet, but I’ve found some shit that works.

So Finance your Freedom (i.e. my upcoming project/blog/black-hole of time) will be a very honest and sobering attempt to help people quit their job and develop alternative income streams.  It will focus on both the “inner game” of liberation and on some of my favorite tactics. 

So given these developments . . .

Here’s What I Think You Should Do With Your Subscription to The Growing Life

I hope you hold onto you TGL subscription and never let go. When Finance your Freedom launches, your subscription will automatically be moved over.

Of course the best way to get the latest updates on Finance Your Freedom will by signing up here for the email notifications and opportunities to join mastermind groups with like-minded people.

Stay tuned . . . Finance Your Freedom will launch in . . .

See you then!

For more hucksterism, pick up a free subscription to The Growing Life.