7-STEP GUIDEESCAPE THE 9-5

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AND LIVE THE LIFE YOU WANT

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IS THIS HOW YOU IMAGINED LIFE?

Remember when you were a kid and life seemed simple? What did you imagine your lifewould be like when you grew up?

Did it involve spending over 8 hours inside a grey office, filling meaningless spreadsheets andconstantly having to sit through inconsequential meetings?

Did you see yourself getting stuck in traffic on your commute to work and experiencing thesoul-crushing, monotonous morning rush?

Some people can endure decades of this, and then get to retire when they get to 65 or more.Others can't.

And that's OK.

There are other ways to get through life, to be successful and to lead the life you want, whereyou get to decide what you do, when you do it, and how you do it.

The Problem

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HOW MUCH LONGER WILLYOU HAVE TO WORK?

The Solution

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My name is Ricard Torres, this here is a picture of meso that you can put a face to the name and see thatI'm just a regular person - just like you.

Not long ago, I was working a 9-5 job that didn't makeme happy (you can read more about me by clickinghere), so I decided to find a way out.

I wanted to do something I truly loved, and gainthe freedom to work on my own terms - to makethe decisions myself rather than follow what my bossordered.

THERE IS ANOTHER WAY

THE 7-STEP ESCAPE PLAN

What you'll find in the coming pages is the plan that I created and followed to escape my 9-5 career and start my own passion-fuelled business.

Before you get started, it's important to note that there are two main elements that thisplan is built upon:

The main reason you go to work is to earn a paycheck. The goal here is toreplace that income as soon as possible by getting paid to do something you love.

You'll need to take control of your finances and lower your expenses somewhat.This will have two awesome effects:

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2You'll be able to save money each month and create an "escape fund".

By lowering your expenses you'll actually have to save less money beforeyou can quit your job!

Alright, let's get into it! Grab pen and paper and follow through the plan. Thiscan literally change your life. It changed mine!

HOW MUCH LONGER WILLYOU HAVE TO WORK?

Money Rules Everything

What does your ideal life look like?

Do you still wake up early or do you wake up a little later? Do you want to start the day bytaking a leisurely walk? Do you want to be able to meet your friends for lunch mid-week?Do you want to have the freedom to spend more time with your loved ones?

Literally, close your eyes and visualise it. See yourself living this life and notice every smalldetail. This is what's going to fuel your plan over the next few months!

Whatever it is that you want, write it down. Describe at least 10 aspects of your dreamlife, and answer this question:

At the end of my life, what do I want to feel proud about?

What does yourideal life look like?1

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WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM LIFE?

HOW MUCH LONGER WILLYOU HAVE TO WORK?

What are your passions?2

What are you passionate about? What would bet you out of bed every morning?

If this isn't easy to answer, here's a little trick to find out what it is:

What can you talk about for hours?

By starting your own business around your passion you'll be able to earn money fromdoing something you love. This will also make it easier for the best side of you to comeout. You'll find it much easier to give it your all if you're doing something you love!

For example, my passion is using money to create the life I want - I can talk for hoursabout investments, financial independence and everything money. I love it! That's why Istarted Escaping to Freedom: I want to help people who are in the position I was in, whodon't know that there's a way out.

WHAT CAN'T YOU STOP TALKING ABOUT?

WHO DO YOU ADMIRE?Another great way to pinpoint what you want to focus your new life on is to identifysomeone you know (either in "real life" or online!) who leads the kind of life you want foryourself.

What do they do? Are they happy? What does their working life look like, Monday - Friday?

Imagine yourself in their position, doing what they do and enjoying the benefits that theirlife gifts them.

Make a list of 3 people and identify what makes their lives great.

If they run businesses, what are they based on? This could give you some great ideas foryour new business!

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HOW MUCH LONGER WILLYOU HAVE TO WORK?

Research the market& make a plan3

DOES SOMETHING SIMILAR ALREADY EXIST?

Once you figure out how you want your life to be like, and what it is that you love to do ortalk about, it's time to make a plan and carry out some market research!

The very first task here is to go out there and look for something similar to what you wantto do. Browse the internet, google the terms that you think people would search for ifthey wanted to find you. This is important for two reasons:

If something already exists and looks like it's working, it's a good sign that there is amarket for you. You need people who are looking for what you have to offer them andare willing to pay for it. Competition is good!

If you can't find anything at all, this is bad news. While you may think your businesswould be innovating and a pioneer in the field, a lack of competition can mean thatthere isn't a market for it and people just won't be interested. I'd find something else.

WRITE A QUICK BUSINESS PLAN

Once you know that what you're thinking of starting seems viable, it's time to write abusiness plan so everything is clear - don't worry, it doesn't have to be longer than a page.You can use this great template.

Think about the following:

Who is your ideal customer or client? Describe them.What are you going to sell? Is it a product or a service?How much will you charge for it? What is the competition charging?How many customers do you need to gain to make your business viable?

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HOW MUCH LONGER WILLYOU HAVE TO WORK?

Start a website4

AN ONLINE BUSINESS IS PROBABLY YOUR BEST OPTION You want a business that is up quickly and can start generating income within a fewmonths. You also want it to allow you to work wherever and whenever you want. There isno better way to put yourself in from of millions of people than an online business.

Naturally, the foundation of an online business is a website - without one you'll have ahard time being found by your customers!

You'll also want to have a blog to go alongside your website (you can have a websitewithout a blog, but not the other way around). This will let you connect with your readersand increase your reach massively.

Starting a website can seem daunting, but it's actually quite a quick process nowadays:

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Click here to start your blog with my free guide!

START THE RIGHT WAY

Once your blog is live, you'll want to write articles that lead your potential customers toyour products. For example, if your business is selling hair products that are pink (whynot?!) then your customers will be searching stuff like "pink hair products" or "how to takecare of my hair".

Use Google's free Keyword Planner to find out how many people are searching for eachphrase, and write informative articles based on that.

Blogging can be hard at the beginning and it takes time to get off the ground. There is somuch to learn, but I promise it gets easier after a little while! ;) Here are some resourcesthat I found super useful when I was starting out:

TAKE ACTION:

Revealed: 19 Things to Know Before You Start a Blog

7 Lessons From 50 Blog Posts That Send Me The Most Traffic

10 Steps to Start a Freelance Business While Working Full-Time(and Why You Should)

HOW MUCH LONGER WILLYOU HAVE TO WORK?

Get your finances in order5

IT STARTS AND ENDS WITH MONEY

Whether you like it or not, our world runs on money. You need money to do just aboutanything, and your job makes money. Would you go to work if you didn't get paid?

It makes sense that, in order to escape the 9-5, you're gonna need to find a different wayto make money. Not only that, but you'll need to figure out where you are financially - thiswill tell you how far away you are from escaping your 9-5 job!

If you already track your money then you can go to step 6. If you do not track your moneyand you're just getting by month after month, then you have some financial springcleaning to do! :)

Don't worry, you're not alone - a poll conducted by Gallup found that 68% of Americansdo not budget or track their money...

HOW TO GET TO GRIPS WITH YOUR MONEY

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Here is what you'll need to do to get acquainted with your current expense habits:

Get budgeting software. I use and recommend You Need a Budget, but you can findmany free excel spreadsheets that can do this for you.

Also check out this article by Forbes: 12 Free Apps To Track Your Spending And HowTo Pick The Best One For You

Grab bank statements for the last 6 months or so (unless your app does it for you)and study your expenses. Look at where your money is going - what's essential and whatcan you reduce?

HOW MUCH LONGER WILLYOU HAVE TO WORK?

Save enough to lastyou several months6

As simple as it sounds, you need to spend less money than you're earning. That's it.You're going to have to cut some of your bigger expenses to be able to save as much aspossible, so here is a very useful article to give you some ideas:

HOW TO SAVE

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Don't forget about debt! Anything that's not your mortgage should be dealt with because ofthe stupidly high-interest rates that you're being charged. Make sure you tackle these assoon as possible. Here is an article by Dave Ramsey that'll give you some pointers:

How to Save Money: 100 Great Tips to Get You Started

Get Out of Debt With the Debt Snowball Plan

HOW MUCH DO YOU NEED TO SAVE?

Before you take the big leap and quit your job, you're going to need a pretty big pile ofsavings to serve as a safety net! That's what I did before taking the leap, and it's a must!

Who knows what might happen - your business might take longer to be as profitable asyou'd like, and you may need money for an emergency, so I'd recommend saving 10-12month's worth of expenses.

Now before you think "this is ridiculous, Ricard!!" remember that your expenses will soondecrease by quite a lot. Say you currently earn $2,000 a month after taxes and yourexpenses have averaged $1,800 over the last 6 months. By trying some ninja savingtactics you've managed to get those down to $1,200. That means two things:

You can save $800 every month to build your "escape stash".You only need $1,200 x 10 = $12,000 - it should take 15 months to get there.

HOW MUCH LONGER WILLYOU HAVE TO WORK?Escape!7

WHEN SHOULD YOU ESCAPE?

Ok, so you've made it through all the steps and you're like "when should I do this?". This is atough question because it's very subjective. If you've got all the requirements that I've laidout, then I'd say you're in a pretty good position to quit your job.

However, don't take my word for it! Do your research, get a feel for how your business ifgoing to progress, and have enough money saved to feel fairly sure that you won't end upon the street in 3 months!

Before I took the leap and quit my career, I was pretty nervous, even though I had done allthe work I needed. Just to be sure, I had 3 contingency plans:

I could do some freelance work for clients - like blogging, marketing services,or freelance writing. The skills you're going to learn by blogging are actuallyvery sought after, so you could always earn more money this way.

I could drastically reduce my expenses. I could move out of my not-so-cheapflat into a cheaper one and sell my car - this is pretty extreme, but it's a smallprice if it gets me the life I dream of!

Lastly, I could always go back into full-time employment. Just because I tooka hiatus doesn't mean my skills and career are worthless.

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These are my 3 options, but you should also have a Plan B in place. As much as planninghelps, things sometimes just don't go the way we want them to!

Ultimately, a big part of this is your gut feel. Do you feel that you're ready? Does it feelright? If it does, it's probably because it's time to escape!

HOW MUCH LONGER WILLYOU HAVE TO WORK?Final Words

GOOD LUCK!

I believe in you.

I probably don't know you personally, but I know you have it in you to change your life forthe best. It's scary to be different, and it's difficult to go against the norm. It's alsoexhilarating and empowering!

I've never felt as happy as I am now - working on my business from home, with thefreedom to do as I please - and no boss to shout at me! It's awesome.

I want the same for you, so I'm happy to help you in anything you're stuck with.

Seriously, if you have any questions, just send me an e-mailat ricard@escapingtofreedom.com.

I'll do my best to help you along the way.

Your new friend,

Ricard Torres

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