By Hey it’s Gabe, here’s my take on this financial independence thing…
Where to begin
It was the Summer of 2018 and I realized that my current career path left me desiring more. I was unfulfilled, felt stagnant, and strongly craved the ability to grow in a meaningful way. Having worked as a Police Officer for the last 3 years, I had never imagined that I would come to this level of burnout so quickly. Couple this with the fact that I had been involved in some type of athletic endeavor since the age of 10, the fitness industry was calling out to me. Up until that point in my life I had dabbled in everything from organized sports like football, baseball, and basketball, to running, weight-lifting, and even had a slight urge to give cross-fit a chance. Not my thing but more power to you cross fitters out there, you guys are some hard workers!
While sitting in my squad car on a slow midnight shift at work, I took the plunge and decided to get myself certified to become a personal trainer.
After doing extensive research, I chose my certifying body, and paid for the course. Soon thereafter, I was studying all things muscle and body. I allocated an hour every day, when I would sit down, put some music on, and knockout a chapter of this 20 something chapter textbook. While this course and the certification exam were somewhat more challenging than I had anticipated, I was able pass and became a Certified Personal Trainer. Now came the fun part, I had to get hired and start working. Long story short, I got hired by a private personal training studio in September and within two weeks was promoted to a facility manager position.
Wait a second, that sounds like it was too easy…
But it wasn’t. I found that the most challenging part was putting myself out there. Taking the leaps. Trusting in myself enough to realize that I had something valuable to offer. Mix in some luck and a dash of great timing and it all worked out for me. I eventually left this job after juggling between my early morning shifts with clients, managing the studio, my own training, and being the police in the evening.
But this was the most valuable experience I could have ever had. It reinforced the belief that good things come to those who DON’T wait… Well, that cliché statement is true as well but only in the macro. My point is to go out there and do things. Take chances. Invest in yourself and it’s almost inevitable that good things will find their way to you.
Geez, what does this have to do with F.I.R.E.?!
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’m getting there. After refocusing and leaving the personal training world, I began to speak with Matt more and more while at work. His thoughts on financial freedom resonated with me and with his advice, I began paying off my debts. I started to knockout big chunks of debt, eventually eliminating my credit card debt completely and at the time of this article, I’ll be paying off my car loan with my next paycheck!
The entire experience of trying to switch careers and making drastic changes was just an underlying symptom of my unhappiness. I wasn’t going to be happy in any career, with any job, or title. Sure, the salary, benefits, and the roof over my head were big motivators to keep playing the game. But now my mindset had switched.
My game would now be played by utilizing the money I was currently making to eventually not need that money anymore.
What I really was craving was freedom. The freedom to wake up and decide how my day was going to play out. The more and more I payed off my debts, I realized that for me, this was the closest I felt to freedom in my life. There was finally a light at the end of the tunnel and I was completely in control of how I got there.
Enter the thought to start this blog and all its associated pages and social media accounts. Money On F.I.R.E. became my idea of a creative outlet and form of communication to those that wanted to listen. Sharing all of mine and Matt’s thoughts, from fitness to finance, to anyone that is willing to listen and has an open mind about how they want to live their life.
So, now what?
Now, we talk. We learn and we stretch ourselves to be just a tiny bit better than we were yesterday. I’ll be here with fitness and health articles and Matt will be providing all the juicy financial independence material. We believe that physical fitness, health, and managing your personal finances are all inseparable from a person’s overall happiness. Who knows what happens from this point out but we couldn’t be happier to have you here with us and hopefully you stick along for the ride. Its going to be fun.
– Gabe 🙂
Money on F.I.R.E. 