Freelance Your Way to Freedom

1You Can Be Financially Free

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. ...