If I reflect back to my journey when we migrated from the UK to Australia, I was nine years old and had already experienced what I would call mild racism for various reasons. The colour of my skin was different. I had an extreme Pommy accent, so the kids would tell me that I talked weird, for example.
During my school years, particularly high school, I remember just always having this feeling that maybe I was a little different to everybody else.
And back in high school, there’s no question that we would do anything just to fit in and be the same as everyone else. So, I remember feeling quite challenged by that.
But, ultimately, as I’ve grown older and wise, I recognise that the thing that makes you different and defines who you are is part of the magic and flavour of life. So, I’ve come to embrace this idea to see and think differently to other people. And having these different expectations is what essentially defines my world.
Having said all of that, I want to unpack what it is I’m trying to achieve, why I am here and why I believe that what I’m doing inside the Freedom Warrior programme is so exciting.
Having a Good Relationship With Money
I know for sure that becoming an account was always a square peg in a round hole. It’s not so much that I didn’t like accountancy as a profession; it just wasn’t the right expression of my skills.
But, no question, being an accountant gave me the foundation for how I utilise my skills now. I genuinely believe that I was put on this earth to help people understand how to have a great relationship with money.
And the reason why I believe having a good relationship with money is important is that we often go into business with the idea of it being a great vehicle to get us to the level of freedom that we want. But then what often happens is we end up building a bit of a rod on our back.
Whether the business is successful or not, many people, in their bid to build a great business, forget to invest the time, energy and effort into creating wealth that will ultimately give them that freedom.
So, I’m super passionate about helping business owners create freedom to have the impact that they want in the world.
Financial Freedom
If I’m really honest, I don’t believe in the word retirement. I believe in having the freedom to choose when you work and when you stop working for a living.
Unfortunately, however, what I see often is that business owners manage to build a super successful and lucrative business, but they don’t necessarily have the freedom to live life on their own terms.
I believe that building wealth should be simple, not complex and that we should be allowed to stay in control of our own financial decision-making.
For those of you who know me well, I’m not a fan of abdicating decision-making to others. I definitely feel that when that happens, you end up in a situation where you get average returns and essentially dilute the wealth that you could be creating. It’s not that there’s anything inherently wrong with that, but it’s definitely the less impactful path to hitting the financial goals that you want.
Learning To Say No
I also believe that it’s super important for you to learn how to say no to all the wrong investments so that you can focus your attention on honing in on the ones that move the needle and make the biggest difference.
I say this often to many of my clients, but as soon as you start focusing your energy and awareness on growing wealth outside of your business, you open up the doors to so much opportunity. Once you’re able to do that, the next challenge is discerning which investments are fit for you and which ones will take you in the direction of reaching your goals.
As investors, we constantly need to be refining our judgements about the investments that you will and won’t get involved in. But, unfortunately, too often, people get swept up in the emotion of investing or distracted by someone else’s opinion of investing.
To be a great investor, you need to recognise that learning to say no is just as important as finding great opportunities.
Building Deep Relationships With the Right People
Another one of my beliefs is building deep relationships with amazing people who can support me with wisdom, guidance and opportunities to grow. This is what allows me to create results that the average investor can’t.
If I look back over the last 20 plus years that I’ve been investing, one thing I know for sure is that when I started to invest in relationships with professional investors rather than being the one lone wolf or the do-it-yourself investor, that’s when my results started to massively catapult.
If you’re going to try to do it yourself, or if you’re abdicating to somebody else, those two pathways might get you to where you want to go by, say, age 65.
But if you want to have an impact in the world that maybe exists beyond your business, then you have to put some energy into finding those people who are going to help you fast track your journey.
So, building deep relationships with amazing investors is one of the greatest endeavours that you can undertake as an investor.
Being Fierce About Wanting Financial Freedom
The final thing that I want to emphasise in terms of my beliefs is the idea of being fierce about wanting financial freedom.
But, it’s important not to confuse fierceness with greed.
Being fierce means being single-minded and passionate about reaching a particular financial outcome. If you are apathetic, you’re going to overlook the opportunities that give a very small percentage of the population access to the alpha.
Being apathetic and apologetic isn’t what will move the needle and get you to the results you want. You need to take the same mindset you have with your business and want it to succeed in your journey to build wealth.
Final Word
I’ve reviewed the different concepts I believe in because I want to share with you just how important it is to focus on building wealth and having an impact.
Whether you’re influencing the lives of people you care about, or the community or even the causes you care about most; if you don’t get really fierce and really direct about what you are doing and how you are doing it, then it’s going to be really hard to do that.
So if I go full circle here, it’s okay that some of these worldviews are different to what everybody else thinks. The majority of people are happy and complacent to just work for 45 years and hopefully have enough to create a little nest egg at age 65.
That’s not me.
I’m trying to create a movement that focuses on thinking about things outside of the norm – it’s okay to want to retire while you’re still young enough to enjoy it.
And remember, your choice to build wealth can influence lives by making an impact on the world and changing the trajectory of your path and the path your descendants can take.
If you’re interested in understanding how to create wealth through alternative strategies, please check out my programs, where I help you catapult your investment income and blend strategies to shave decades off your timeline to financial freedom.
Or, you’re welcome to get in touch today, book a call with me, and I would be happy to talk you through it – no obligation!
