One of the fundamental quests of life is the pursuit of happiness. Yet modern day life does not accord us with the time we need to find what makes us happy, and then achieve it. Rather, we are constantly tied down, scrambling for money, security, and life. By the time we find the baseline of security we seek, many of us have grown old and have forgotten our ideals, or simply feel that it is now too late to pursue the dreams we once held as children. I hear these sentiments all the time: from my co-workers in the office, talking about some opportunity or other they didn’t grab when they had the chance, to the young grocery baggers at the checkout counter discussing how all they want is the freedom to do what interests them. Our culture is filled with references to the good life, the rich life, the independent life, and those who got there almost effortlessly. There is not a lot of talk about what you should do once you get there, but perhaps that’s alright; most of us are stuck trying to escape the everyday, to become our own masters, and to live life however we wish to live it, unbound by the rules and restrictions our bodies and society have yoked us with. Worrying about what to do if we manage the escape seems like just more wishful thinking.
Hence, I have started this project. To become independent, free, able to pursue whatever it is that interests me at the time. I will do it while managing every other aspect of a generally normal American life. If you follow me on this journey, I hope my experience will help you to achieve the same goals in your life, even if only by leveraging my failures to avoid the same mistakes.
So, here is the project which I will be fulfilling on these pages in the days, months, and probably years to come…
The Goal: The goal is simple: To replace my entire income with projects, business, and efforts of my own choosing. This amounts to making approximately $70,000 in profits yearly which would be roughly equal to my salary today, plus income which can pay all benefits (health, life, etc) I would normally receive in the workplace. Ongoing time to maintain the income generation should be 20 hours a week or less. This achieves dual goals of reducing the time/money ratio by about 60% and putting me entirely in control of my own income and time.
The Rules: What fun is a goal without rules? My goal won’t be complete unless it is achieved by or results in adhering to all the following rules:
- I must receive no outside investment from anyone. The only money I can spend must come by reducing spending elsewhere in my personal budget, so the family budget it not impacted. (This is an extreme form of bootstrapping, or the process of building something from nothing. In recent years, some businesses have been able to start by pulling themselves up by their own bootstraps. I will do the same).
- Family time should not significantly suffer. Generally, time which would have been spent doing unproductive things like watching television, browsing the web, playing video games, or other pursuits which could be classified as time wasters will be used to work on this. This means that a week or weeks could go by with no major progress being made due to family time constraints. However, relationships are what make life worth living, so losing relationships to gain financial freedom and personal independence seems backwards.
- Everything I do must adhere to the highest ethical standards. This should go without saying, but in the world today, there are many shady characters…
- I must generate enough money to replace my current income & benefits prior to declaring success. This does include covering all ongoing operating expenses on top of the living wages.
There you have it: The project and rules. Follow me as I embark on a journey to independence, freedom, and solace.
About the Author
I currently work full time in a technical field for a major corporation usually in the forbes top 10, and have changed jobs frequently. I went to college for Computer Science and Finance, two skills which help me when planning business strategies and implementing them. My love of technology has led me down this path to independence, since technology has come to a place where many of the best tools are free (Open Source) and all my business ideas require is time, knowledge, and effort.
I work somewhere between the basic professional and middle management, and lead a team of several people. My days revolve around managing projects, fixing or improving technical issues, and dealing with managing the people who work for me and contractor pools. Overall, the job is good, and I am not terribly unhappy there. If I am unable to bootstrap anything, I would consider staying with my employer until retirement, though I don’t ever see myself not striving for something more.
I currently run a website security scanning business online, which generates a small amount of income which I am working to grow. In the past, I have started a couple of other web ventures, but none very successfully. The experience I got from starting web businesses in the past has been invaluable. This blog is both a way of staying on track with my plans, and communicating with others who can help along the way.
I am around 30 years old, male, and have no kids (yet). If you really want to know more about me, then ask 
May I get to know you more?
are you worried about your current employer (and perhaps any future employers) discovering this escape plan?
Hi James,
I have certainly thought about it! I used to use a pseudonym, but the truth is, I work hard for my company and am very successful. I produce a lot, get promoted regularly, and use the skills I learn working on entrepreneurship for the job as well. So I think my employer is actually getting a fair amount out of this as well
For instance, there are two times I remember when I hit a problem working on a startup which took me several weeks to solve. I later hit the exact same problem a few months later in my day job, and could solve it on the spot.