Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.

— Jean‐Jacques Rousseau

If you ask anyone in your life what it means to have a stable job, they will tell you it's working at a 9‐to‐5 with a boss. We have been told this since we were in kindergarten when textbooks started to imply to us that success comes from an office job. We've all seen the illustrations that depict the person in the business suit with the briefcase, wearing the same three monochrome colors as they trudge their way into work. And from that moment on, it's that very concept of success that is pushed on us until we embody it ourselves. If we dare to veer off that path and do something different, we risk being ostracized from the people in our lives who believe that kind of risk is irresponsible.

As social creatures who thrive in communities, we're impacted by our peers. What they say and think about us matters. That's why philosopher Jean‐Jacques Rousseau in The Social Contract explored why natural man who was free and happy living in the forest gave up autonomy for the modern condition of unhappiness, inequality, and dependency. He recognized that some benefits, like amenities and technology, come from leaving the forest, yet this trade‐off makes people unhappier and more unequal than ever.

We are all born free, yet we line up for those invisible chains because we believe we must. That's where your journey into making the most of the remote work economy begins: the belief. The belief that you must work at the job, in the office building, with the boss, or else you are letting yourself and your family down. The belief that being a responsible adult means sacrificing part of yourself along the way. The belief that the only way to build real wealth is through giving up forty years of your life in a work space far away from your family.

These invisible chains are created inside our minds, which means they can be destroyed in the exact same place. You can—and deserve—to be financially free just as much as the next person. You don't need to prove yourself any more than you already have. You were born free, and to freedom you shall return through the basis of your own personal financial freedom.

Defining What Financial Freedom Means for You

Financial freedom is the status of being able to make decisions for the rest of your life without worrying about money. For some people, this can look like having $5 million in their bank account; for other people, it can be having a few hundred thousand dollars saved with no debt and 12 different side hustles that are expected to earn at least $500,000 each between now and that person's death.

Financial freedom can be tailored to everyone on the level of specifics. But one thing remains universal: it's the state in which you can do whatever you want with your life without worrying about money.

You must be thinking to yourself: “Yeah right, sounds too good to be true.” That's because for 95% of people, it is too good to be true. And it's only too good because they continue to allow the invisible chains to keep them in one place, at one job, with one boss who doesn't respect them or their time. They perceive freedom to be too good to be true, so it remains too good. But for you, it's not too good at all—it's merely the bare minimum. Financial freedom is how you unlock the potential for the rest of your life and give yourself the opportunity to see what's out there, waiting for you.

We try to plan for our lives to the best of our ability, but we can't possibly plan for the abounding opportunities that can only come our way when we start to believe we are deserving of them. That's why the Law of Attraction could not be truer—we attract what we believe we deserve. We put out the energy into the world that we want to bounce right back to us. The most successful and wealthy people of our time today were not special or lucky; they were merely masters of their mindset and accepted the reality of financial freedom for themselves early on in their lives. They dropped their chains in pursuit of the unknown. And what they found is exactly what will be detailed in this book: accountability is the only sacrifice that must be made in the achievement of personal and financial independence.

Financial Freedom Is an Equal Opportunity Employer

Rousseau argued that when we left the forest to move into society, we created inequalities that never used to be there. Barriers to entry popped up in the form of status, education, skin color, and sex. In the forest, we could access any resources we needed to and there was no system to stop us. Yet, in society, we accept inequalities in the name of stability.

That's what makes the concept of financial freedom so incredible and surely something Rousseau would be praising if he were alive today. The pursuit of financial freedom is equally available to every single person in the world—hear me out. In the past, societal jobs in offices, government buildings, medical facilities, and law firms required individuals to obtain degrees. In order to obtain these degrees, people needed to receive primary education in a supportive setting that encouraged them to go to college. They would then need financial aid in order to go to higher education, where they were destined to graduate with insurmountable debt that made the idea of venturing into the unknown world of remote work too risky. This kind of system ostracizes individuals from lower socioeconomic communities and favors those with the money needed to access education and study materials.

In the world of financial independence, you don't need a college degree, a resume, or even a forward‐facing photo of yourself. It doesn't matter what you look like or how old you are. Nothing about your past matters. You can get on anonymous freelancing marketplaces and learn skills for free on YouTube or TikTok. You can build a portfolio of free work you offer to do for friends and family when first starting out. You can set up affiliate marketing funnels and ecommerce landing pages that have nothing to do with you and your identity. You are truly, in every sense of the word, free.

Chapter 1 Key Points

• Any single person can make the choice to become financially free.
• Financial freedom does not have one blueprint definition; it is tailored per person.
• You must make the choice to take off your invisible chains.
• We attract what we believe we deserve.