5 Way To Build Financial Independence In The Next 12 Months

Do you believe that it's possible to build financial independence in the next 12 months? If you are a citizen of the United

States you are celebrating Independence Day. But how independent are you in terms of money? You are not independent if you:

• Work for someone else full time or part time
• Don’t make enough money in your business to meet your financial obligations and have income left over to live life as you wish
• Depend on others to help you make it each month.

Working for yourself means creating a business that gives you freedom and independence. If you’re a business owner but you’re not yet free and independent financially here are 5 ways to build financial independence in the next 12 months.

1. Track your income and expenses every single week, to the penny, without fail. If you do not currently know your operating costs or how much you have coming in after expenses you are not serious about your business. You don’t need a fancy bookkeeping system. You can start out on a spreadsheet.
2. Twice a year, review what you are spending money on and see what you can cut. If you operate online I can tell you that the cost of doing business increases almost without your realizing it as your backend operating systems get more complex. You might find that a system you bought is no longer useful or has increased in cost and is no longer worth it to you.
3. Understand what your systems will do for you. I frequently see duplicate systems when I review a business owner’s operations. Sometimes two or more systems will overlap and handle the same job, but if you don’t know what you bought you don’t realize you’re paying for two things on a monthly basis when one will do. That’s money down the drain.
4. Don’t buy a course, professional development, online training, or workshop unless you can carve out time to study it thoroughly and implement what you learn. It’s very easy to buy a solution you need, it’s even easier to let it sit on the shelf. Open your calendar and block out the time to actually learn what you bought. If you can’t do that then don’t hit the buy button.
5. Figure out what top 2 or 3 activities you do that consistently lead to sales and make sure those activities are half or more of the time you spend in your business. More than likely you aren’t making money by sitting in front of your computer and making cute graphics to post on social media. Schedule your marketing activities FIRST and everything else around that. Three to six months down the road this will make a huge difference to your bottom line.

BONUS TIP: Quit hanging around people who tell you that you can't achieve financial independence. I don't care if it's your best friend, your spouse, or your mama. Just because that person hasn't become financially free doesn't mean you can't. But if you are sucked into their belief system you are dead in the water. Walk away. Get to work. Track how you spend your time. As Chuck and Joanna Gaines from Fixer Upper say, “Get after it.” You will be stunned how much you can change your financial outlook in 12 months if that's your priority and what you spend time working on every single day.

The United States (and other countries) was founded by people who wanted freedom and independence. It’s a deeply held desire, a core value of this country. Yet I meet people almost every single day who are not free. They are bound to a job they don’t like, for too little pay. Or they own a business but they are half-committed to making it work and thus can’t pay their bills from what they make. There is so much opportunity to find a niche and serve clients or customers in a way that gives you financial independence and helps people. It’s possible for the majority of us but it takes commitment and stepping up to be responsible for yourself. Once you do that, miracles happen!

If you want to know more about how to make more money and help more people, I wrote a best-selling e-book about that which you can get from Amazon’s Kindle store. (You don’t need a Kindle to read it, you can read it on your tablet or computer or phone.) Just click on this link or the book’s picture to buy a copy – but don’t buy it if you aren’t going to read it!