How To Get Real Freedom of Choice

July 21, 2014

More Freedom of Choice in The New Economy

The freedom of choice we have in the new economy, thanks to the internet, extends far beyond basic choices like how we buy goods and services. It also refers to the actual ways we can choose to live our lives. What seemed fanciful, unrealistic or “pie in the sky”, in terms of lifestyle choices just a few years ago is now probably possible.

I woke up thinking about this today and was originally thinking about the term “mid life crisis”. I know this can be a very bad scene and wouldn’t want to make light of it but I’m talking really about the less serious side of things: The sudden impulse to buy a sports car or motorbike at 40+ or the desire to sell everything and start again. These things might seem sudden to your circle of acquaintance but its; often just the case that you needed to reach middle age – whatever that is – before they became remotely doable.

I’d say these are all based around an increase in freedom of choice. Traditionally It’s often not till later in life where these things are even possible – In the old economy at least. All going well, the finances are better; maybe the kids have flown the nest. With fewer commitments and expenses, ambitions and dreams that had to be shelved can be dusted off.

Until fairly recently though you would realistically need to have had a substantial pot of cash built up to make this possible. You would have needed a pension or traditional business to provide income. That would have been the case whether or not a “mid life crisis was the impetus or just plain old early retirement.

We Have Almost Limitless Freedom of Choice Now

In terms of freedom choice things are very different now. Unless you really want to follow a dated, old world design for life you really don’t have to. We have this whole new virtual world we can work in. It doesn’t need us to be physically present or to adhere to set hours. It can based around whatever we are interested in or passionate about. We can carry it around with us on a laptop, ipad or phone. All we need is a connection to the web and that’s easy to find. Almost anywhere.

For a long time my partner and I have daydreamed about the idea of selling everything – house, contents – apart from a few essentials, buying a camper van and pointing it at the sun. Apart from the pure addiction to travel we both have, I would be writing a book about our travels and filling it with loads of photo’s. We would pick up casual work as required or just for the experience.

This would have been a terrifying idea 5 years ago. The considerations then would have been – how to finance it, what happens if it all goes wrong, when the money runs out. That though is all from a dated point of view – a traditional mindset that keeps you rooted to the spot. It severely limits your freedom of choice.

In the digital world it’s entirely possible to replace and in fact vastly increase your standard of living at the same time as your freedom of choice. If you are tapped into online business systems that cater to a worldwide marketplace that never shuts the world genuinely is your oyster. Doesn’t matter where you are or what hours you work.

What People Are Doing With All This Freedom Of Choice

Do We like The New Economy?

Another of the possibilities we are looking at is relocating permanently. We were looking at properties in Spain last night and doing some general research on what living there would be like. One of the blogs we came across was from a guy who moved there 15 years ago.

He was able to find work as a carpenter and actually started a carpentry business. When the recession kicked in however he found himself with no work coming in a big mortgage to pay.

He turned to the Internet and built up several affiliate income streams to the point where that’s all he does now. He has a far better income than ever before and is finally able to actually enjoy Spain for the reasons that made him go there in the first place.

There are lots of examples of how people are finding ways to make an online income and the life changing freedom of choice that offers. I’ve written about the guy who bought a tiny island in the Bahamas (featured on a BBC documentary) I also covered the Modern Nomad, an ex IT professional who now travels the world with no agenda whatsoever except to keep travelling.

These are extreme examples of what’s possible (both make a good living online to finance their lifestyles) There are plenty of people transitioning to this way of life in less extreme ways and for different ideas of freedom – but then again, what was extreme a few years back in terms of freedom of choice is commonplace now.

If you’d like to learn more about how you can transition to the digital economy, get more freedom of choice and potentially start building an entirely new design for life – yours ! – You can get a series of complimentary video presentations on the link below.