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When people hear the word wealth, they see shiny things.
Houses, cars, clothes, watches, stuff…
Wealth, for most, is a thing you buy. And it was (still is in some sense) for me. But that’s been changing a lot.
My wealth is time now. Specifically, time off.
I’ve spent years building this little digital business that was aimed at making money while I’m away. And it does.
No, there’s no Lamborghini in my garage. There’s not even a garage.
Just a desk, a laptop, and a coffee mug.
Over the past few years, I set up multiple income streams. And the truth is: I haven’t really been working too much lately. Not consistently. Not nearly as much as I used to a couple of years ago.
I’ve been enjoying the perks of these income streams a bit more.
A few of Medium stories here and there. A few newsletter issues. That’s about it. No 12-hour hustle days, no jam-packed Notion databases screaming at me to do more.
Just me, doing what I feel like it.
And yet, thankfully, money keeps showing up. Every day, every week, every month.
This is as close to passive income as I’ve ever gotten.
I sell digital products that people still buy while I’m playing outside with my kids. My old Medium stories still get read, some of them surprise me every month when they send a payout.
My paid subscribers stick around because I do show up regularly. SparkLoop* sends me a nice referral bonus here and there. Even Google deposits a small but steady AdSense check every month.
Is it a fortune? No. But it’s enough. Enough to cover my basic costs. Enough to buy back my days.
Of course, none of this happened overnight.
It took years. Years of sitting down to write when I didn’t feel like it. Years of publishing content five days a week, on top of my 9-to-5 job. Years of throwing ideas out there, watching some of them sink like stones.
And I did feel like quitting more than a few times.
Those days were exhausting. Those days were the opposite of luxurious. But they built my wealth: the freedom to stop, to pause, to step away.
Now, when I wake up, I don’t panic about a boss tapping their watch at me. My boss is me. And this version of me says, “Take the day off.”
Wealth means different things to different people.
For some, it’s the car that costs more than my entire yearly expenses. For others, it’s first-class flights to somewhere warm.
For me, wealth is the fact that I just spent an entire day doing basically nothing else than waiting for me kids to get home.
Wealth is finishing my coffee while it’s still hot. Wealth is saying no to things I don’t want to do, because I don’t need to do them.
One day I’ll probably get bored of this.
Maybe I’ll crave more shiny things, more noise, more growth.
But right now, this is it.
“Not working”. Rich in hours instead of dollars. I’s a pretty good currency. Not gonna lie.
*this is an affiliate or SparkLoop* partner link. I’ll get a commission if you decide to sign up.