Some friends around me have achieved financial freedom and personal freedom by trading stocks, but I think that is not suitable for me, and I am afraid of the risks of investment. Some people also rely on shooting short videos or selling goods online to achieve freedom, and I don’t seem to have the ability to do this. In recent years, I have been exploring ways that suit me to achieve freedom.
I am 43 years old this year and am a very ordinary middle-aged woman. I have only a technical secondary school degree and have become a semi-retired free person. Although I don’t have much money, it’s definitely okay to support myself. My life is fulfilling and free, and I have become the object of envy for many friends around me.
39 years old, I was working in a decoration company, doing interior design work, working overtime almost every day, drawing pictures, modifying pictures, making budgets, going to construction sites, materials markets, etc. I repeat the work mechanically every day, physically and mentally exhausted, and it is difficult to take care of my family. Some people may say that design is a very creative job and should be a little passionate when working. But the cruel fact of life is that customers are always the party who pays money. In order to earn some design fees, many times, beautiful design creativity is compromised with the customer's personal decoration taste.
I remember one day that year, a 50-year-old construction worker in our company was complained by a customer because of some problems in the management of the decoration site. I saw our 45-year-old boss scolding the construction worker. Afterwards, the construction worker told me in grievance that it was obvious that it was a customer and that it was too much to blame the construction worker if there was any controversy over the construction process. He said that if he was a few years younger, he would have changed jobs. It feels really uncomfortable to be scolded so badly by a boss who is younger than me.
At that moment, I deeply felt the sorrow of the older workers. We must endure the harsh criticism from customers and bosses, and dare not change jobs because we are old and have a bad job.
I don’t have the ability to be my own boss, but in order to stop working for others after I was forty, and have financial freedom and personal freedom, I began to change my cultivation path.
Step 1: Resign and test. I am old and have a bad memory. I spent half a year reading books and reading courseware videos. I saw that it was one or two o'clock at night almost every day. My hard work pays off and finally got my professional related construction engineer certificate.
Step 2: Buy a small house to collect rent. Although this approach seems a bit stupid, the house is a fixed asset after all, and it is more secure. I used my family’s savings over the years to buy this small house and also used my husband’s housing provident fund. It is also worthwhile to spend all your savings and finally realize your dream of becoming a landlady.
Step 3: Learn to write and learn to be self-media. Currently, the income from manuscript fees is very small, and an article often only earns a few dozen yuan. But this is my personal hobby. If you have inspiration, write it, and if you don’t have inspiration, don’t force yourself.
Step 4: Choose a small number of high-quality customers, take orders in a small number, design interior drawings in your own home, and only make money. If annoying customers ask me to draw pictures, I will ignore them.
has these four sources of income. Although the income of each share is very small, the sum can be barely passed. It's almost the same salary as the previous salary I earned at work. Now, I live a relatively comfortable and free life, and I exercise with a few sisters almost every morning. Sometimes I walk by the river, sometimes climb mountains, sometimes dance, etc.
After the exercise, I usually excerpt or read beautiful articles at home and practice my writing skills. When I need to draw pictures, I will sit quietly in the study and use my computer to draw pictures. Of course, sometimes I will help the boss of a decoration company or construction company to do trivial things in design or construction in the form of a part-time job.
I also often go out to travel around with my friends. When writing articles in self-media, you can write on your mobile phone or computer anytime, anywhere. You can use a laptop to process drawings. Basically, I can reach the level of both playing and making money from work.
The benefits of freedom are: I can sleep until I wake up naturally, take care of my family, and make appointments with friends at any time. When I want to work, I can work from home, and communicate with customers on my phone or computer about work.
I don’t have a strong sense of career and look at everything in a plain way. For the rest of my life, I just want to be kind to myself and do what I like to do.
