Attaining Financial Freedom

What is Financial Freedom?

Financial freedom is the combination of all the activities that will make an individual or a group of people be financially self-sustaining. These activities are aggregated with the sole aim of making the individuals or groups earn income or extra income if they are already gainfully employed. These activities can be grouped into three broad categories, namely:

1. Production of goods and services;
2. Marketing of goods and services;
3. Rendering of services.

In venturing into any of these activities, the first bold step is to have a strong conviction that the business you are venturing into will succeed. As the economy bites harder, with the sweet name of Economic Meltdown or Economic Recession, there is need for people to start something from the comfort of their homes, offices and any conducive place to bring in more money. Depending on only one source of income in today economic will not help matters at all.

The opportunity to be one's own boss and the potential for high income are enough to encourage one to venture into private business. For one to progress, one has to venture into intensive business in consonance with the popular notion "Nothing ventured, nothing gained". Anyone that does not venture will only be a by-stander, counting the fortunes of others.

The road to financial freedom is to first convince yourself of possible success without an iota of doubt. After this stage, you will be faced with the economic questions such as:

• What can I do or what kind of business would be suitable for me to start. Everybody that does business pass through this stage. As a matter of fact, a lot of people find it very difficult to come up with a business idea to embark upon. To help you in this stage, here is a checklist of different business ideas worth your consideration.
• What resources/prospects do I have to start a business venture.
• What competitors are in the market
• What is my own strategy to run an enduring business in the face of keen competition.

To help you answer some of these questions, this article, simple ways to start and run your business  may be of help.

Considering the phobia that people have toward starting business, it is recommended that they start business with little capital as they would be comfortable with. And to help you in your quest of raising capital for your business, this article on how to raise start up capital for your business.

A lot of people always think the investments are mainly for the rich and people who have huge financial muscles. This is not so, investment is the little financial tree we plant today, nurture it over time and it becomes a mighty tree tomorrow. The holy book says we should not despise the days of little beginning. This means one should not wait until he has all the money in the world before venturing into a worthwhile economic activity.

To achieve your dream of financial freedom, you must first do away with pride and the Nigerian mentality, "What will people say?" A whole lot of university graduates are still roaming the streets today because of this mentality. They consider themselves too important to take up some jobs they considered too low for their personality.

They fail to realize that God has hidden every precious thing in such a way that it is a reward to the diligent but a disappointment to the slothful and the proud. Take a look at it, ...the nut is hidden in its thorny case; the pearl is buried beneath the ocean waves; the gold is imprisoned in the rocky bosom of the mountains; the gem is found only after you crush the rock which encloses it; and the very soil gives its harvest as a reward to the laboring farmer. That is it! No precious thing in life can be found by the lazy and indolent type.

History has it that the owner of McDonald foods in the United States of America started by going from house to house looking for who he could bake cake for their children's birthdays or prepare food for their visitors. He also started the idea of "fast foods" by preparing food for factory workers that do not have the time during break periods but can rush their food and very fast too, before rushing back to work. Today, McDonald foods are the largest "fast food" producer in the world today. That is someone that understands the principle of success.

We also learned that McDonald started during the depression of 1945 - 1950, a period that is similar to the present economic situation we find ourselves today. Where others saw economic recession, he saw an opportunity to build a lasting company.

To attain financial freedom, you may have to do away with your pride, you may have to throw away your Nigerian mentality of "What will people say", you may have to forget about the fact that you are a graduate and therefore you cannot do some certain businesses.