Hello World!
This is my first post on Flexibility is Freedom.
Here I share my experience building passive income businesses and designing my dream lifestyle.
This blog serves two purposes:
I'm excited to look back at this post in a year or two and see where it all began! 🙂
On a beautiful Friday afternoon, I left my office for the last time.
I had started my career in the investment industry. I was well-paid and enjoyed the work.
But somewhere along the way, I asked myself questions like:
These questions led to sleepless nights of self-reflection and "soul searching".
I’ve written a full article of my thought process if you're interested:
5 Reasons I Quit My Job to Build Passive Income Businesses
So what's the plan?
For the next few years, I'll be building passive income businesses.
If you haven't heard of passive income before, I recommend this introduction.
Essentially, it's a venture that requires significant upfront investment, but once built, provides a recurring source of income with minimal maintainance.
I think of it like planting an apple orchard. It takes many years for seedlings to grow into trees, but once they do, you'll literally taste the "fruits of your labor".
For my first venture, I’ve decided to build a niche website focused on acne scars.
I chose this topic because:
(a) I have personal experience in this area. This means I can better relate with my target audience.
(b) My research suggests there is high demand for this topic. However, I believe readers are underserved by the content available today (lack of high quality information).
(c) Readers in the skincare space are willing to pay for solutions to their problems. For example, you'll find hundreds of products and ebooks when you look up "acne treatment".
I plan to monetize through:
(i) An ebook: a summary of my research on acne scars with references to medical studies, not the "it worked for me so it should work for you" approach that is so common in this industry.
(ii) Affiliate marketing: earning commissions on scar treatment products that I recommend, primarily through Amazon Associates.
IMPORTANT NOTE: I will only recommend products that I believe in and ideally have personal experience with, and I will always disclose when I am an affiliate.
My highest principle is integrity. There's way too many websites focused solely on making money off the reader without genuinely helping them with their problems.
So why am I doing all this? What was wrong with my old job?
Let me be clear - I don’t think there’s anything wrong with a traditional career.
It's the bedrock of many important things in life - buying a home, raising kids, saving for retirement, etc.
My parents worked their butts off to raise me and put me through school (and now they're doing it again for my sister), so I appreciate the importance of a stable and well-paying job.
What finally convinced me to make this jump was the combination of 5 key reasons:
For the next few years, I'll be consciously working to redesign my life and build passive income businesses around it. Join me on my journey to Flexibility and Freedom!
Cheers,
Tom