Financial Freedom Was Not What I Wanted
Zack AllenMay 3, 20262:19
Money was the goal until I got some. Time and location freedom turned out to matter more.
When I was younger, I thought financial freedom was the only kind of freedom there was, and the only kind I wanted.
As I started to reach some level of financial freedom, I realized time freedom and location freedom mattered much more to me. Working when I want and being where I want in the world are things I value a lot now, and my business model makes both possible.
All three, not one
I have plenty of friends and family whose businesses can't be run from anywhere. They have to be in a specific place.
To me, success in business means getting all three freedoms. Sure, I could probably have great financial freedom in investment banking. But where's the time and location freedom in that?
How it led to recruiting
That's a big part of why I went into recruiting. It was a natural next step from location freedom.
Being free to live anywhere opened me up to hiring from any country. I was never stuck in the mindset that you have to hire from where you are. Now we get to extend that same freedom to the talent and the businesses we work with.
Sovereignty
I'm a big believer in sovereignty. Not the "change my license plate and stop paying taxes" kind. I mean being able to choose what I do, where I live and how I spend my time. Hiring is a big part of that for me.
It's also why I don't enjoy taking sales calls. They take that freedom away. I have to be on at an exact time, and it messes up my day leading up to it.
Anything that hints at those freedoms being taken away, I can't stand. Right now I'm in South Africa waiting on a visa approval, and while it's pending, I'm not supposed to leave. Just knowing I couldn't leave if I wanted to drives me crazy.
Naming it
I've structured my life so those freedoms are what I focus on keeping and growing. Once I put a name to it, I realized that's what I'd wanted all along.
Transcript
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When I was younger, I thought that financial freedom was the only kind of freedom that existed and that I wanted in life. And as I started to achieve some sort of financial freedom, I realized that the time and location freedom were so much more important to me. The ability to work when I want to and to be where I want to in the world were things I have grown to value very much with the business model I have chosen.
That is very easy to do. But I have plenty of friends and family that are in a business where it cannot be done from anywhere. They have to be in that location that they have defined. And to me, success in the business is getting all three of those out of the way. Like sure, I could have some great financial freedom if I went into investment banking, but where does the location and the time freedom come in there?
I think that's been a core part of why I went into the recruitment business as well because it was kind just it was just a natural progression of this location freedom thing. Location freedom opened me up to the ability of hiring from any other country. It's like I wasn't never been stuck in the mindset of having to hire from the same place you are. And so it opened me up to hiring from other countries.
And now we've been able to open that same freedom to the talent and the businesses. Like I think I'm a big believer in sovereignty. Not in like a changing my license plate, like not paying income tax kind of thing, but just like being able to pick what I want to do, where I want to live, how I want to spend my time. And interestingly enough, hiring is a big part of that for me.
I think that's part of the reason why I don't enjoy taking sales calls either is because it strips that freedom away from me. I have to be on call at this exact time and it just messes up my day before that. It's funny, anything that hints at those freedoms being taken away, I despise. A great example of that is right now I'm like in South Africa and I'm in between waiting for visa approval and during that I'm not supposed to leave and that pains me.
It's like just the fact that I can't even leave if I wanted to kills me. So I've just been able to structure my life so that those freedoms are what I focus on maintaining and achieving to greater extents. Yeah, I think once I was able to put a name to it, it helped me realize that's what I truly desired.
