What does freedom look like for you?

I don't want my freedom to be when I 'retire'

Not waiting for summer holidays to do a road trip with my kids would count as freedom <3

It’s only after having kids have I thought so much about my time. Because I always feel like I have none of it.

I started working on side projects about 2 years ago to see what I can do to give me some of my time back in the long-term. The deal was to find something that fills my cup, gives me time to live my life and be a mum, and still be making money.

How can I make money without spending all my waking hours working for it?

I love working. And I want to work. But I also want to choose what I work on, and when I work. And, I want to make enough money to not have to worry about it.

I want true time and financial freedom so that I can be there for my family and for myself, and truly enjoy this journey of the one life we have to live.

Whilst my kids are small, this is really the most important thing. Although, I hear as they grow up they may not want us as much, but they need us more - especially in their adolescent years as they go into their teens. (Bring it on!)

Since I quit my job to go solo and work on my projects, I have gained time freedom. In other words, I am choosing when to work. I still have deadlines, but as long as I hit them, I can work whenever I want.

However, I still want to make enough money as a freelancer and solopreneur. So at the moment, I feel like I need to hustle pretty hard to get my systems in place, and keep the income coming in.

I need to:

1. Prioritise work that pays (i.e. my freelance work), which has been great, but at the moment it’s not scalable. Perhaps AI can help me here moving forward.

2. Also prioritise building work and systems that are scalable that can be automated over time, so I can get closer to the time and financial freedom I am seeking.

Easier said than done. The goal is to be able to make US$10,000 per month within a year. I want to be able to generate this as a minimum, without having to burn the midnight oil.

I am proud to say that in first 2 months of me going solo, I have been working on projects that will collectively bill about US$8,000, so that’s US$4000 / month working from home. However, I will confess I am working too much for them, which defeats the purpose.

This also means that I need to consciously allocate time for my kids as I am around them at home. Otherwise, what is the point? Obviously I cannot wait till I have hit my US$10K per month to spend time with my kids.

The most important 9 minutes of a child’s day

I recently read that these are the most important times in a child’s day:

• The first 3 minutes when they wake up

• The first 3 minutes when you see them after a long separation, ie when they come home from school or when you come home from work

• The last 3 minutes before they go to bed

Makes total sense right? So in the past few weeks I have consciously started paying attention to these 3 parts of the day when I am interacting with my kids.

So as I structure this new solopreneur life of mine, I am forced to think hard about what freedom means for me now and what I want it to mean in the future.

How much am I willing to give up in the beginning for long-term gain? What is the long-term gain I am looking for? What are my non-negotiables?

All I know for the moment is:

• I want to work doing things I enjoy

• I want to add value to people when I can

• I don’t want to compromise on time with my kids

• I want to make a consistent income that is equivalent to what my full time salary would be

• I want to design my work around my life, rather than the other way round

If I can achieve the above, I will never have to ‘retire’ 🙂 

My biggest fear is getting too old to do the things I’ve always wanted to. They need to happen before ‘retirement’ age.

Do you think about stuff like this? What is your idea of freedom? I’d love to know how you think about these things. Do leave a comment or hit reply <3

---

A few small wins I’d like to share with you:

This newsletter now has 528 amazing parents subscribe to it. There was a flurry of new subscribers over summer via referrals. I must be doing something right!

Thank you for making this community what it is.

Shall I plan a celebration? A meet up?

I’m doing an AI workshop!

After really wanting to do an online workshop for ages, I have finally got one in order.

The goal was to teach something that would give you an instant win, and it needed to be something where I had skills to share, and I would enjoy putting together.

And voila! I’m doing one where you can accelerate your AI skills by writing, illustrating, designing and publishing a children’s book in just 60 minutes, using AI.

I have no skills and I designed the above using AI in 5 minutes. If I can do this, anyone can.

If you are looking to accelerate your AI skills, join me for 1-hour and I’ll show you exactly how to write, illustrate, design and publish a children’s book using AI.

In the workshop you will:

• Use Chat GPT to write a great story in seconds

• Generate AI images using Midjourney and design a book in Canva

• Publish your children’s book on Kindle Direct Publishing

No prior skills required.

In case this interests you, save your seat here. Workshop will be on September 30.

Thats all for now. Any questions hit reply anytime, or leave a comment. I reply to every single email comment / email I get.

Have a great weekend,

Love

Abha x