Reasons to Survive Without A Salary

Since we were kids we have been taught the process for running our lives: “Get a degree. Go to work. Trade your time for money. Buy all the cool stuff your friends have — plus a bit more.” And we have learned to be rather good at it.

Times are changing.

We are starting to realize that we don’t need all that stuff, and that it is not going to bring us the happiness that marketers want us to believe. We notice that there is more to life than filling our own material needs. We see that life is what happens when you get out of your comfort zone and start to take some risks.

As safe as a steady salary feels, together with a habit of consumption, it can be a road block that keeps you from focusing on the things you love in life. If that’s the case, you may want to think about surviving without one. Here are some reasons to get you started on the idea:

1. Use your time for something important: For me, what makes me think about surviving without a salary is that I want to stay at home with my two boys and get a glimpse into their worlds. For you, it could be something different: maybe you have a book to complete, a non-profit cause you want to devote your time to, or a crazy idea you just have to get out of your head and implemented.
2. Be free to set your own rules: If you can survive without a salary, you are free: Free to set your own hours, free to say what you do or won’t do, free to choose where in the world you call your home. Freedom can be scary, as then it’s all up to you to be significant, but that’s what makes it exciting.
3. Focus your spending: Surviving without a salary starts by cutting your spending. Guided by your big goal of surviving three, six — as many as you need — months without a safe stream of money, you will be forced to make smart choices and learn to appreciate what you have. This will make your lifestyle more sustainable, and even if you decide to go back to having a salary, it doesn’t have to be the main criterion for choosing your job.
4. Be ready for a down-turn: If it happens that the global markets go down again, you never know when is your turn to walk the plank. By learning to survive with less, you won’t even care: you will be ready.
5. It’s an adventure: As children, we couldn’t wait to grow up so we could embark on all the big adventures life had in store for us. Then we finally did, but what happened to all those adventures? It’s all about the journey.
6. Thrive: Surviving without a salary, you can build a meaningful business that leaves you time to do the important things you care about. That way, in the end, surviving will turn into thriving, and you may never want your salary back again.

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Tagged as: business, living, meaning, minimalism, stay-at-home