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If you're a corporate executive or senior leader in a large multinational, and you've been chasing this whole concept of financial freedom, let me ask you one simple question. Do you know down to the decimal point how much your current life costs? In this episode, I'm going to strip away all the cookie cutter solutions to map out, like, literally your exact predictable formula freedom, so that you can stop doing all the gambling in the Wall Street casinos and all that kind of stuff. And what you can actually do is you can begin to leverage your corporate skills, and you can pour those into tangible side businesses that are going to create predictable cash flow. So, let's go ahead, let's dive into today's episode, which is the Freedom Formula. How to calculate your corporate optionality number. Today's episode is sponsored by Billy Keels Advisory Services. If you want to learn more about how to make your 99 optional, just go to make it optional.com Once again, that's Make It optional.com

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Helping you build freedom without losing your edge. This is the Going Long Podcast with Billy Keels.

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One

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of the hardest things to ever be able to do

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is understand that you can't get to freedom unless you can define what it actually cost you to get there,

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and because this is one of the things that happens very frequently when I'm speaking to people, maybe we've had an interaction through LinkedIn on the direct messages, and eventually we get on a call with one another, and

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almost without doubt, without a doubt,

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as future clients come to me, and they're chasing this all-elusive concept of financial freedom. I ask one very simple question, and when I answer that one simple question, it lets me know the knowledge gap that already exists with the person, because it's really easy to say, I want to be financially free. Yes, you want to be financially free. The question is, what work have you truly done to understand what it takes for you to be financially free?

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Because at the end of the day, yes, of course, you want to make more money, just like when I was in corporate life, I wanted to make more money because I wanted to feel like I didn't need to depend on anybody else that I wanted to be quote unquote financially free. Well, the reality is, what that meant for me is I wanted to have more control over my time and be able to also have control over

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making and later understanding wanting to keep more of my money. I want to make more money, and I was really interested in keeping more of the money, and that may be your case, because as you're going out and you're looking for this all elusive financial freedom, I want to give you that one very simple question to ask yourself. You can ask yourself the question, and if you need help on figuring out exactly how to get there, well, then that's a whole different conversation. We can have that one too.

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But the question here today is, what is it going to take for you to be able to figure out what your freedom formula is? Because it's different for everybody, that's the key.

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When you attempt to have a cookie cutter solution for every single person, when it comes down to definitions, and that's the starting point for everything. What exactly?

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Well, I almost told you the one question. Hold on, I'm gonna get that question to you,

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but one of the other things that I start to realize is that yes, as I begin to speak to people, and yes, as I've had more and more of these conversations with senior leaders at large companies, and when I say senior leader, just to be very clear, like you can be a senior AE account executive, maybe you're one of those account executives who's closing eight and nine figures, so, so it's like 10 million up to hundreds of millions of dollars, euros, typically those are the places I'm speaking to people,

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maybe you're a director, maybe you're a VP, and or managing director, right, it's one of these types of roles, and the more and more of these conversations that I have, I recognize, yes, you have

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been punching the proverbial clock for over two decades, or probably just around two decades, and you're at a point where you're saying, okay, well, yes, you want to be financially free, but then part of one of the questions that I'm going to ask you that we're going to get back to, is I want to understand exactly, help you to understand, and help you to recognize, well, what do you actually own that's producing cash,

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and when I say producing cash, don't get stuck in the thought process of, yes, I own stock at the company, because that stock you were able to get it at an employee discount price, I'm not talking about that, I'm not talking about the stocks that you just bought because you had a great tip or some major company just went and had its amazing IPO. The reason for that is it's not possible for you or I to know what that is going to produce in terms of cash at the end of the month,

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right?

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In the stock market is not producing predictable cash, that is something that you're buying low and eventually selling high, or maybe you're playing the market just the opposite, you're buying high with the expectation that it's going to go low. This is not a stock

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or equities conversation, so if you want to learn more about that, go figure it out. All right, I've already done my homework, but this is not the place, because I don't like playing in the casino, just not my thing, no shade, but just not my thing.

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So, after putting in lots of lots of hours, hundreds of 1000s of hours over 20 years or so, and there's not anything that you actually own that is producing predictable cash,

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well, then you start to look around and you're saying, well, okay, well, there's other colleagues of mine. They, they're in the types of businesses they have businesses on the side, or they are working with somebody else, and they're in the type of business that they are able to reasonably predict the amount of cash that's going to come out of that business at the end of the month. And it doesn't mean every single month it's always profitable, especially when you're getting started.

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It has to be able to be producing cash, and you have to be able to say at the beginning or the middle of the month this is what you reasonably expect it to produce, and then at the end of the month there's a squeeze and there's actually a pop and there is money that is being produced showing up, right, that's the whole thing, and when you start to look around and you see that your colleagues are doing it, you start to realize, like, hey, this is not actually crazy talk. This is something that can be accomplished. This is something that other people around me are actually doing, because they're invested in different types of side businesses. Their side businesses could be anything from maybe it's a real estate, maybe it's a franchise, and maybe it is a business that they're building around their own brand, because it's something that they're passionate about, it's something that they care about, and they're able to provide a service that others are willing to pay for,

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you get my point. Technic, this is what I'm talking about. And so, of course, in the beginning, as you get started, well, you got to figure out where you're going.

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That's the whole point of understanding the freedom formula. That's what the optionality number is all about. The one question, remember that one question I said I was gonna, that I was gonna share with you. Let me not hold back, I'm gonna share that with you,

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because the thing is, is you have to be able to answer one question in terms of freedom formula, because going into your role, going into your job every single day is something that you like. Some of you even love it. Good for you. I'm happy. I really liked my roles. I really, really liked my roles. Gave me a chance to work and travel at the time throughout some 80 different countries, and meeting different people from all over the place,

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providing lots of benefits. But the one question that I had to ask myself is, How much does my life cost? So I will ask you, How much does your life cost?

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Because at the end of the day, if that's where you're looking for is the is the freedom formula to figure out. Okay, well, what is financial freedom? It's being able to answer that one question, that one very simple question,

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and being able to do it with high levels of specificity, not generally speaking, I think it's going to be around x, no, how much

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is it? I don't know how much your life cost.

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It's going through the exercise, it's understanding it, it's getting into the detail of it. That's the key question, because once you do that, that is the foundation of you being able to figure out what your number optionality, making your role optional, which means that you are truly free. That is the freedom formula.

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That's it. Now you know exactly

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down to the decimal where you have to be, so that you can be free. Then you will have reached your freedom formula. That's what it's about.

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And don't think just because you have the number that everything that you've been doing for those previous two decades, it's going to go by the wayside. You're just going to forget about it. Remember, there is a process, there is a part of your DNA now that is is a multinational corporate DNA, because that's what you've been doing, that's what you have excelled at, that's what you are going to continue to excel at, so don't think just because you get the number that it's going to go all the way.

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Now, there are ways to be able to get around that and not feel the weight

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of that navigation. Don't do it by yourself. I wouldn't suggest that. I didn't do it by myself,

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probably sounds self-serving, but I'm also helping other people, so that they don't take the full weight

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of understanding now, having this really clear path to your financial freedom, to getting to your optionality number, to having your freedom formula, to being able to do that

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when you can have somebody who's already been there that helps navigate others going through the exact same thing, understanding your specific situation, so that you don't have to wait in line with a whole bunch of other people understanding you and how you can get to your freedom formula, to your optionality number, that's

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it. You excelled in corporate because you surrounded yourself with the right people,

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that was a winning formula. Now, just extend that.

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Winning formula outside of the enterprise,

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I think I think you're picking up what I'm putting down, right? Because once you do that and you work through and you navigate, you will get to the point where you know exactly how much you need to get to your freedom formula, and that's going to allow you to make very clear

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decisions, and then once you make the decision, it gives you power, and that power allows you to act,

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and you're going from zero to one.

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I see it happening every day.

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Every day,

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a client just sent me a message this morning,

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got their first deal makes me happy,

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that can be you

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think about it,

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and the thing is,

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this is really important, because as you understand clearly where you want to go, now you have your North Star,

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and the thing that will happen is, as you know where you're going to go, and as you have that guided action, now you're able to take in the input that's coming along the way, because nothing happens perfectly. Nothing happens perfectly. Let me just repeat that the third time, nothing happens perfectly. So, as long as you have clarity on the North Star that you're going towards every single moment that you get new input, you are able to adjust along the way as you're heading to your North Star. That's what having clarity around your freedom formula, around your optionality number, that's what it does.

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It gives you a clear target, a clear goal, and anything that takes you off course, all you need to do is readjust, or just adjust, right? That's what's going to take you there. And when you have an outside-in perspective, or somebody else that's with you, that they're along for the ride with you, guess what, you're going to get to that North Star so much faster.

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Absolutely, so much faster,

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and so that's the whole point, and that's how you get to your freedom formula. This is what you need to be able to do to sit down to answer that one question. That one question is, How much does your life cost? Because once you know that number, that is your formula to freedom.

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That's what's going to allow you to continue to excel in your corporate role in your senior leader position, and have the clarity and the fortitude to be able to begin

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or adjust

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your journey to making your

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corporate role optional. That's it. Figure out the freedom formula, take the necessary steps and adjust along the way.

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That's what figuring out the freedom formula is all about. That's what's going to help you get to making your role optional, so that you can continue to enjoy your corporate role and know that you're building your own dream on the side,

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right? And if this is not you, if this is somebody that you know is going through a very similar type of thought process or feeling. Take today's episode, share it with them,

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because then that shows that you care about the way that they advance, the way that they move towards their goals. And then you know what you can do after that. After you share it, show them that you care, give them a call, meet up for coffee,

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talk about today's conversation, and figure out how can you take the next step, and guess what, if you need help,

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I'm not hard to find.

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This is something I love doing.

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So,

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while you're

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taking today's

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episode, going from the theory, putting it into action, guess where I'll be? I'll be right here preparing for the next episode, so until then, go ahead and make it a great day, and thank you

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very, very

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much.

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