Beyond Bounds Blog

Living a jobless life does not mean living off of your parents and watching TV all day. It means breaking free of employment and taking charge of your own finances. This is not the same as becoming your own boss and just becoming an entrepreneur. A jobless life means that you do not create a job for yourself.

A jobless person’s income comes from various sources, but they all have one thing in common - they exchange value for income, not time for income. If I were to start my own design company and have clients, I would still in essence be charging clients for my time. If I go on vacation, then my finances will take a huge hit. This is not what I am after (however it would be a better outcome than going back to slaving away as an employee).

What a Jobless life will afford you:

1) Freedom from the clock: Since income is no longer divisible by time but instead determined by value, you can shift your focus from putting out more hours to putting out more value to the world. Before, the limit of your ability was restricted to 24 hours - sleep time; now there is no limit.

The implications of this are endless. Once you have a system built that delivers value without your presence, then you can focus on other things in your life. Your time no longer has a strangle hold on it, and you are free to do whatever you wish with it.

2) Freedom of location: Since your income does not require your presence anymore, you most likely could provide value from anywhere in the world. There may be some restrictions depending on the value that you are providing to the world, but you will at the very least not have to sit in a cubicle on the 8th floor of some skyscraper to receive a paycheck. Some jobs also offer this benefit, but most do not.

3) Security: Most people believe that the most secure financial decision they can make is to get a job. This is far from the truth. There is most likely a large line of bosses that could fire you on the spot, not to mention the other possibilities - such as the company going bankrupt etc. If you live a jobless life then there is no one to fire you. It is only you and the market. Only when what you offer no longer is valuable to others will you lose your income. But then you could just start offering something new.

4) Power over your income: You decide your income. If you start offering more value, you no longer have to beg your boss to give you a raise, but rather your income will raise instantaneously as a market response.

Example:

Musician #1 performs locally and sells his CDs whenever he is performing. He plays at cafes, clubs, bars, or wherever else he can find work. When he isn’t performing, he has no income. He spends most of his time worrying about finding gigs so he can pay the bills.

Musician #2 also performs locally and sells his CDs, but that’s because he finds it entertaining and good PR. He has an online site that people can purchase his CDs or single songs for a cheap price. He writes a blog that includes his upcoming performances, videos, and teasers for new upcoming singles. He spends most of his time creating new music.

The only difference between Musician #1 and #2 is their methods of creating income. #1 takes the traditional route of selling his time for money and so focuses on gigs. #2 focuses his time on value because he set up a system that would sell his music if he is present or not, and all he has to do is keep adding new music.

#1 is focused on the clock and if he takes a vacation he will take a huge dip in income. #2 gets paid in his sleep. If #1 leaves the town that he plays at, he will have to rebuild his contacts and find new gigs from scratch; he will lose all of his income. #2 gets paid no matter where he his, and actually traveling will give him more exposure and thus higher income. #1 could lose all of his income if the gigs he plays finds someone better. #2 would be happy that they found someone better - more inspiration for his own music. If #1 creates more songs, his income won’t increase, but will stay steady as his audience size won’t increase. #2 will see a huge increase in income for every new song and blog post, as his blog will gain ranking on search engines and his following will grow. Actually, he could increase his income through other means as well, simply by increasing traffic to his site, which can be done without touching a musical instrument. If #1 retires his instruments, his income will fall to 0, while #2 will keep making money years and years down the road.

A small difference in mindset makes a huge difference.

The Jobless Mindset

Being jobless, or “unemployed”, makes most people cringe. When people lose their jobs, the thing they think about first is looking for their next job. This kind of thinking is very restrictive and unempowering. When you are jobless and your streams of income are stripped from you, you consider how you can find new ways to deliver value.

One mindset says “Someone help me” while the other says “How can I help the world and thus myself.”

Conclusions:

This does not mean that every job is evil and that the entire world should stop working right now, but it would be wonderful if we could move in that direction and away from the employer/employee mindset (master/slave anyone?) and towards something more fit for human beings.

This is a challenge to the traditional way of thinking about income generation that hasn’t changed in a long time.

If you are tired of your shackles, then this may be for you. However, it is not for the weak willed. If you don’t have the courage just yet to quit your job, follow my jobless life experiment.

For reference check out these two amazing people who have been successful with this and have influenced my life:

Steve Pavlina: www.stevepavlina.com

Tim Ferriss: www.fourhourworkweek.com