Today we have a guest post courtesy of Gregory Elfrink of “Greg in Motion” (Facebook). Here he talks about a subject that’s near and dear to my heart – Living the lifestyle YOU deserve. This article definitely gives a kick in the butt to get going on the dreams you want to achieve. So take it away Greg…
How much does it take to live the lifestyle of your dreams?
Not much.
In fact it takes hardly anything to really get going on it. Most people get stuck thinking “Oh I’ll do that once I am making 7g a month… 10g a month… 20g a month…” and they never really get to live their dreams out.
It’s sad.
As their money increases, so does their worry about that money. Or this idea that it just is not enough to go on a yacht around the world and see everything they could ever want to see under the sun.
The cold hard facts is… you’re lying to yourself.
In the game of lifestyle engineering, it’s not how much you make that counts… as much as how you make it.
If you’re making 20g a month but you’re working a 9-5 that you have to commute to everyday… yeah you’re never going to make it. The real riches in the game of lifestyle engineering is having what is known as geographically free-income. Or in other words, money that is not dependent on any one region for it to keep coming in.
At least not where you have to be in that location at the same time.
So how much does it take to live the lifestyle of your dreams?
About 2,000 to 3,000 dollars a month of geographically free income.
Think about it. If you made dollars, paid people in rupees and lived off of pesos… that money goes very far!
I have a friend in Costa Rica who paid less than 1,000 dollars a month in rent, his house was on the beach, he got a maid and a pool cleaner (Cause he also had a pool behind his house), he had coconuts growing on palm trees right outside and he had a protected estuary of land where he could go white-rafting through anytime he wanted.
That’s dirt cheap. Considering that same amount of money would give you a studio apartment if you’re lucky in my hometown back in Alaska.
You can live in famed cities such as Buenos Aires for pennies on the dollar. Visit exotic locales like Beijing or Thailand for little to nothing.
Or maybe you’re more of a home-body? Want to keep living in the states? Well the dream is just as real here.
The upkeep of a really nice motor-home month-in and month-out is not expensive at all. Now of course if you have a family you’ll need a little bit more money if you plan on staying inside the USA.
But it’s achievable. So how do you get there?
You want to constantly be on the lookout for ways that create cashflow to you, but all of these ways must have two things in common.
Leverage – No leverage means you’ll always have to be working. If you’re always working, that means you’ll never be able to engineer your own lifestyle. You’ll become a slave to your work even if there is no boss.
Geographically-Free-Income – The program or business that you’re part of or create, needs to be able to produce income no matter your location.
Here are some quick business models you can research that can give you this type of lifestyle:
- Internet marketing
- Affiliate marketing
- Network marketing
- Blogging (Which can include 1-3)
Those are the simplest models to start within to start pushing the envelope towards your freedom. Just remember… it does not take that much…
Also remember, that greatness is the sum of little efforts combined. Never forget the power of compound effects!
So do some research and start your journey to become your own lifestyle engineer.
To life,
Gregory Elfrink
Author of Greg in Motion (Like Greg on Facebook)
Take Action. Get Results.
Great insight into how simple it can be to design a lifestyle and travel the globe. I think many see things through the prism of American dollars and the associated high cost of living here, failing to consider the things you’ve point out.
The other great point of course is leverage. It’s clear to see that without that, it will be a tough run at true freedom.
I think that’s one of those things that’s the hardest to get over to all of us that grew up with a western mindset. We’re told to believe that we should strive for a high paying job, go after the “big” things like a house, grind the 9-5 and get our pension when we retire.
The shift that I think a lot of us are seeing now is a rejection of wanting “it all” in replace for experiencing it all. We’re begin to open our eyes to see that it’s the experiences that we have in life are truly what matters – it’s something we’ve lost along the way as childhood passed.
When we were children – we only cared about being around our friends. As adults, we want money so we can be around our friends. News flash – you don’t need it, you can be around your loved ones without any money at all.
Combine this mindset that it’s the experiences that matter with the thought of minimalism and you can easily find it acceptable to make just enough to get by without items in exchange for a wondrous, global adventure.
That’s the plan. Good job Greg – glad you said it when it came to this belief that we must make thousands upon thousands to live the way we want.
Great points Murray.
Even remaining in the States I think a person could get by making 70% of what they would at a 9-5. (of course hopefully they make more)
NO gas, eat most meals in the house rather than eating out. No suits/less cleaning costs. take “travel” time and add it to work time (work pays 8 hours PLUS at least 1 hour unpaid getting there and back)
Best thing, I can sit at my job in my underwear and write. Of course when I do that at Starbucks, people look at me weird.
Powerful stuff here Gregory.
One Word: Leveraging. You hit the nail on the head. Until you can leverage your acts don’t expect your income to increase all that much since you’ll always be trading time for money, and eventually you run out of time.
I used to work 80 hours a week at a shipping terminal. The money was OK, the life wasn’t because I had no life.
I worked hard to get my online business off the ground but now I’m free to enjoy its benefits.
Thanks for sharing!
Ryan
Thanks for an awesome post Gregory. Expenses seriously can be a lot less than people expect. I live in NJ, which has one of the highest cost of livings in the States.
I love it there and never want to leave the beautiful Garden State. (Go ahead and snicker people; if all you know about NJ is the Sopranos and the execrable “Jersey Shore” you really have no idea.) But I know I could get a much nicer place in some remote area of the States. Or a REALLY nice place abroad. Maybe some day I will too, it is always on my mind to travel and go to new places…
anyway awesome post and some really good information here.
Thanks for a great post, Greg!
You mentioned visiting Beijing on the cheap, and I can vouch for that. I lived there for 3 years!
Let me suggest that you don’t even need 3k a month. I currently live quite comfortable off of about $1000 a month here in the states (which you could also comfortable do in many countries in the world). I have a car, a room in a house with my buddies, have simple tastes, and am able to spend time doing whatever I want. People just need to cut back on their spending! It’s not that hard!!
Sure, I’d obviously PREFER to make more than this a month (so as not to be way, waaaay under the poverty line!), but I’m thoroughly enjoying my life!
NJ rocks! I’ve been a Jersey girl for the past 300 years or so and wouldn’t change a thing.
After all, what other place has the origins of Bell Labs?
Right on! NJ does rock! 🙂
What if you want to travel in style and want to fly first class and stay in 5 star hotels? Then you better be making 20K per month or more…
Hi Greg:
Very controvercial topic going on here. Feels like sitting around with some green tea and join a long chat with evrybody to pitch in.
Great post here, and the end result top performing Internet marketing as the perfect model. WOw! Love the writing style and post.
franA
Hey guys!
Thank you for such amazing comments. I was not expecting that! Truly awesome to wake up to. (Part of my lifestyle is that I wake up at 1pm haha.)
I want to publicly thank Steve for letting me post here, really cool. I am glad my information resonated with so many of you.
@Henway if you to fly first class and stay in 5 star hotels, you still can do that making 2-3g a month. You’d have to do it outside of the USA though. High-up hotels outside of the USA cost much less, as long as you go with the hotels that are not specifically advertised to Americans. You might need to be making 6-7g a month to do that, but definitely not 20g.
@Tristan Great lifestyle bro. I am currently in much the same situation and loving life completely, I am traveling around the world for the next 5 years or so with as little as possible haha.
Hi Greg,
Very nice topic here. This is a goal for many people and I believe if someone works hard, is patient, persistent, then we will be able to achieve our goals and live the life style we want. Thanks for sharing
Hi Greg,
I love how this article points out that you need geographically free income to live the life you want. You’re perfectly right. One can earn a whole lot of money but it means nothing if you do not have the time to spend it. It is also not effective to spend all your waking hours working just to make that money. What kind of life is that?
I also like your suggestions for getting geographically free income. These models are indeed the simplest. Thanks for reminding us that greatness is the sum of little efforts combined.
Great post!
It’s so true what you said about your dreams increasing with your worries about income.
I first told myself that all I needed was 2000USD a month. As I got closer to that I have changed it to 6000 dollars.
I hope that I have the courage to not bump that figure up as I approach the 6000 a month mark, if I ever do get that far….
Greg,
LOL, I just wrote a post on embracing minimalist lifestyle and I can certainly relate to all the insights and thoughts discussed here.
You know I have traveled to quite a few countries around the world and there is no doubt that you are going to have a blast if you are making money in dollars, especially US dollars and paying people in rupees or living off pesos.
I so agree with Murray. We as a human always want more so it is not about wanting it all. It is all about experiencing it all.
Thanks Greg and Steve. You both have an awesome weekend..
Later..
That’s an awesome point you have there, people end up thinking that they will do things in the future but never follow the attitude to get on and do it. I think the best thing to do is to stick by following that you have to get on and do everything Now! Who knows, we might not be alive tomorrow to pull of the tasks we said we would do.
I love the simplicity of this article. Greg cuts right to the chase. And, of course, he is right. A great plus to it is more information to write about in your blog, depending on the niche.
Nice one Gregory! People don’t always understand the meaning of leverage and 9-5 definitely isn’t it.
Greg:
This is an excellent post on how simple it can be to design a dream lifestyle.
I find this idea to be a little harder when kids are involved. I am not saying that it can’t work but I do beleive it is a bit harder to accomplish.
I am working torwards this now. The way I see it is I will work during the school months and travel with the family during the summer months.
Have fun!
– Rick
It’s much harder when kids are involved as was/is my case. But I made it with persistence. Keep it up and you will get it too!
All your guys comments rock, so glad you all commented.
I see there is a lot of agreement with my words, which is awesome, hopefully it will help some people out from “deluding” themselves of the things they have always wanted.
To life,
-Gregory
Many people get lost in the making money business and forget the purpose of making money in the first place: To be free of any constraint and live your life much fuller then with a day to day job that not only keeps you locked up in your cubical.
I think they start by breaking from a smaller cage (their 9-5) into a bigger self built cage (build by themselves).
I must say that I admire those people who first live their life (like Moon) and then worry about making money. They practically realized that they can make money by living and not live to make money!
Alex
Very important points. I would rather make a lot less and be really happy. IMO it may take some real hard work and effort to make it but the end results are truly worth it!
Hi Steve, this was a nice guest post by Greg, I agree with him 100% on the fact that people tend to get carried away, having more and more but wanting even more and they became a slave of their work habit and their desires. that can happen to everyone if our plans and passions don’t take over in time.
Each one of us has a different approach, but in the end, the goals should be the same. I tried a few times and failed, still trying I guess, I’m far from being free in the sense Greg describes, but that is the ultimate goal, and I have a deadline for achieving that, after which I change my game plan whether I succeed or not!
I agree the desires will change from person to person and even vary over the course of a lifetime. The important thing is that you do have goals. That they are specific and that you work at reaching them. One of my goals is traveling Europe for an extended period. Check. On the last week of a 7 month adventure.
20 years from now, if I had a family, that might not have been a goal, but I am sure future me will appreciate having done it while I can.
Well hello, future me…nice ta meetcha….
Nice one, Greg!
It’s true that money is never enough. The more you have, the more you want. Well, I’m totally into the challenge that I am running for this month, so I’ll just say that if one has his attitude of gratitude in place, he can be happy even with very little money.
As for living the life of one’s dreams, again it depends on what the dreams are. Then again, dreams are just like money… you achieve one, and another one (or a whole load of them) crops up.
Changing dreams = Changing lifestyle = Variable monetary needs 🙂
Cheers,
Mark
Hi Greg, I haven’t quite pulled off the geographically free income but I’m working on it. 🙂 I’m still trying to come up with the perfect combo of newsletter/blogging/writing that will give me the maximum income in the minimum time. However, my husband is still working a desk job, so I think we’ll be here in Dallas a while longer. He has some ideas for remote businesses however.
You can take steps to cut your expenses even in the US. We rent now, and we moved to a cheaper city several years ago. Now if we lived in Bangkok, we’d need a lot less.