If you have been in my space for any amount of time you would have heard some version of this story but probably not in the detail I'm about to share over the next few posts.

In case you are wondering why I choose to share this now, there is a very good reason. I recognise that in the current economic climate, there are a lot of concerns about the cost of living and people are wondering how they are going to survive further fuel increases with inflation outpacing any salary increases.

If you are self-employed you are probably wondering if people would be able to afford your services any longer.

I am hoping my story will help you gain some perspective on a potential way to re-imagine your future while learning from my mistakes. I will also be sign-posting you to an opportunity to benefit from a new partnership of mine (more of that in another email).

In the late 1990s, I was introduced to a book called Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. Someone from the church I was attending had come back from America and was raving about it, so I got a copy and started to read it.

Some of the things covered in the book transformed how I related to money. I began to realise that our education system was designed to teach us to work for money and remain under the control of those who have learned to make money work for them.

Key takeaways from the book include:

An asset puts money in your pocket, and a liability takes money out of your pocket. Buying the latest car on hire purchase to impress the neighbours is a liability purchase as it depreciates in value once driven off the showroom forecourt. If you however were to find a way to put it to use and it made more money than it costs to own then it becomes an asset.

Your mortgaged home is your liability and your mortgage lender's asset until you pay off the loan and the title deeds are transferred to you.

Exchanging time for money is not a sustainable or scalable strategy for financial freedom. There is only one of you and there is a limit to how much time you have. If you stretch your time too much; you will compromise your relationships and your quality of life.

The path to financial freedom is to stop acquiring liabilities and invest in creating assets that make money while you sleep.

I decided to embark on the path to financial freedom by acquiring enough assets that generated sufficient income to afford me the lifestyle I wanted so that I no longer have to exchange my time for money.

In the next post, I'll share which vehicles I chose to focus on as part of my financial freedom journey and why...

In my last post, I mentioned my decision to embark on a journey toward financial freedom.

The plan was to acquire assets that generated enough regular positive cash flow to replace my then salary. It was important that they could generate income without it being an exchange of time for money.

At the time I did not have much capital to start with so I needed to find opportunities that allowed me to leverage other people's money to acquire the assets.

From all the asset classes I explored, I was particularly drawn to the following:

Buy-to-let Property (Real Estate) - Bricks and mortar have always been considered one of the most secure and stable asset bases. Property prices always trend upwards because demand outways supply especially in the right location. My only concern with the hassle of finding and managing tenants. I visualised myself having a huge portfolio of properties.

Trading in Stocks, shares, and foreign exchange - Share trading platforms would loan you money to trade shares because they made money off every trade through commissions. The aim was to buy and sell shares for a profit by using knowledge of the markets and reading financial charts to predict the direction of the prices and then decide when to buy and sell to make profits. If you get it right you can make a lot of money but the downside is that you can lose more than you put in. Not for the faint-hearted.

I quickly realised that I had a lot to learn and started reading books and attending free seminars. The seminars led to expensive courses.

I had managed to start building up a line of credit by remortgaging my home and applying for some credit cards for my property acquisition strategy. I also opened some trading accounts and was practicing trading with a practice account with £10K pretend money.

I was caught up in analysis paralysis, going from course to course and taking no significant action taken toward my goals. Some people were getting rich and it wasn't me.

In the next post, I'll share what happened finally dipped my toe into the real world and started taking action and a crucial segway that opened the door to financial troubles...

PS: In case you are wondering why I choose to share this now, there is an excellent reason. I am hoping my story will help you gain some perspective on a potential way to re-imagine your future while learning from my mistakes. I will also be sign-posting you to an opportunity to benefit from a new partnership with Lisa Johnson who has supported me in my journey

In my previous post, I decided to focus on property and trading stocks, shares, and foreign exchange as my means of achieving financial freedom.

I was practicing trading with dummy accounts and had invested in many courses without much to show for it apart from opening lines of credit that I was now steadily burning through.

After attending some motivational events, including one by Tony Robbin, I got the kick up the backside to take some significant action.

Here is what I did:

Buy-to-let Property (Real Estate) - We had developed a fascination with Florida due to its warm weather and proximity to the Caribbean. We found a new development catering to the holiday market that we were going to buy off-plan. We were going to use it as a holiday home and then let it out when we are not there. The US developer came over to the UK to give a presentation, I worked with a UK agent to process the paperwork. Once we signed the required paperwork and I handed over around £20K deposit, the agents eloped and the developer did not see any of the money. It was a bitter pill to swallow and I experienced a deep sense of shame to have fallen victim to such a fraud.

Trading in Stocks, shares, and foreign exchange - The results from my practice trading was disappointing, I failed to establish a winning rhythm and I soon lost enthusiasm for it. I did buy some shares in a "promising" company that according to my sources would soon "blow up". The shares prices eventually nose-dived to insignificance as I missed the opportunity to cut my losses and stop the bleeding in the false hope that things would turn around.

Sports Bet Trading - I then discovered that you could trade the outcomes of sporting events just like shares in the stock market. I figured I understood sports much better than the economy. I attended the course and listened to the well-intended advice to practice trading on paper first, start small and avoid trading in volatile markets, etc. All that went out the window under the pressure of wanting to make some real money to recover my losses and make enough to replace my current income so I could escape the rat race.

The course encouraged keeping a trading journal to track your trading decisions; noting your reasons for entering a trade, your intended exit plan as well as how well you followed that plan.

I soon realised that once the possibility of losing money was on the table all the best-made plans went out the window.

Caught between the forces of fear and greed, my inner psyche was being laid bare and I navigated an emotional rollercoaster that had more lows than highs. I was well and truly hooked and not in a good way. My financial hole just kept getting deeper.

In the next post, I'll share how I hit rock bottom, the lessons I learned, and how things started to turn around...

PS: In case you are wondering why I choose to share this now, there is an excellent reason. I am hoping my story will help you gain some perspective on a potential way to re-imagine your future while learning from my mistakes. I will also be sign-posting you to an opportunity to benefit from a new partnership with Lisa Johnson who has supported me in my journey

In the previous instalment, I revealed my property deal and shares purchase fails on my path to financial freedom and how I took a detour from trading shares to sports bets trading, and the emotional rollercoaster that resulted from that.

Despite nearly reaching the end of my financial rope I was still looking for the holy grail trading system that would save the day.

Finally, I thought I had created such a system. I carried out some testing and everything went well. I felt like I was turning a corner.

I then weighed in with some significant investment only for it to result in a heavy loss. It transpired I had misread the market and was only fortunate to have profited during testing.

I felt like the universe had set me up!

Reflecting on my trading journal entries provided me the opportunity to take a journey inside. It exposed a sense of desperation without much in the way of a disciplined consistent approach.

I realised that I was being driven by a need to be seen as financially successful for external validation. A hangover from cultural conditioning.

I began working on cultivating an inner reference for success and making a real difference in the world beyond my four walls.

I had run out of funds, another financial misstep would result in bankruptcy. This was my wake-up call.

I closed all my trading accounts. I completed the purchase of one buy-to-let property which had a small amount of positive cash flow and decided against expanding the portfolio any further.

Here is what I learned from this trying period of my life:

1. Financial freedom is a worthwhile goal but it is more important to understand why you want it

2. Link your desire for financial freedom to how it can help you make a difference in the wider world

3. A poor mindset will undermine even the very best cash flow system

4. Not every cashflow system that promises success will work for you, understand what plays to your strengths

5. Seek a supportive community where you can bounce ideas off each other and learn from other's experiences

6. Create a transition plan from your current role/job to financial freedom that does not put a lot of emotional strain on you

I devoted time and money to helping those less fortunate than I was; which gave me a lot of fulfilment.

I refocused on my day job which allowed me to dig myself out of the huge financial hole I had created.

I decided to serve my fellow colleagues with all the knowledge I had acquired about personal development and financial literacy.

I finally decided to retrain as a coach to support others on their inward journey. It was on this path that I came across Lisa Johnson.

More on that in my next post, where I will also share how I put some of these lessons to use…

PS: In case you are wondering why I choose to share this now, there is an excellent reason. I am hoping my story will help you gain some perspective on a potential way to re-imagine your future while learning from my mistakes. I will also be sign-posting you to an opportunity to benefit from a new partnership with Lisa Johnson who has supported me in my journey

This is the final part of a blog series exploring my experience of how I nearly went bankrupt while seeking financial freedom.

In the previous post, I described how I reached rock bottom and the lessons I learned from the things I went through.

After doing the inner work to understand where I went wrong. I created a new financial freedom plan that incorporated my learnings from the past.

Here are some of the steps I took:

1. Decided to leverage my love of human psychology neuroscience and mindfulness to support people in embracing life fully through coaching

2. Used my gift of poetry to publish DREAM; a Transformational self-coaching book to help others achieve their aspirations with less suffering

3. Dedicated the proceeds of the DREAM book to support wonderful causes

4. Created a phased transition plan from my work in Tech into coaching by going part-time first

5. Reduced the financial pressure by paying off all my debts and creating a financial war chest

I was aware that traditional 1:1 coaching was time-consuming and not an easy path to financial freedom and I needed a way to leverage my time better as well as create assets that generated income while I slept.

This is where my journey with Lisa Johnson started.

As a mentor, Lisa Johnson knows all about adding passive income to your business. In just 5 years she went from being £30k in debt to earning over £4m a year and she spends less than 40 hours a month in her business because 90% of her income is passive or semi-passive.

This piqued my interest and I attended her free 4-day challenge and was immediately impressed with how much value she gave. I'll share more about how she supported my journey in my next series of posts

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In this tricky economy with the cost of living crisis, there is no better time to explore how you can take what you love and convert it to recurring income while making a real difference in the world.

Lisa’s hosting a free 4-day challenge starting on the 20th of March to show you how you can add a passive income stream into your business too and it will even help you make money if you don’t have a business!

I have partnered with her for this year's challenge, To claim your free spot, just register by clicking the button below

Lisa’s known for having some epic prizes for her challenge winners too and I’d love you to win one!

PS - hey scroller who goes straight to the bottom of the email! My mentor Lisa is hosting a 4-day challenge to help you add a passive income stream into your life or business. Want in? Click the button below