Guest Post: By Michael Manville:

Here are five pointers to get you off the treadmill and ditch your 9-5 job once and for all:

Learn to be a professional communicator. Some things can be done from anywhere, some things can’t.  Communication can be done from anywhere, home building can’t.  If you are a home builder, you’ll need to show up at the job site to get the job done. 

The lesson?

Don’t choose home building as a profession if you want to live or travel anywhere you want.   To free yourself from 9-5, focus on developing your communication skills.  Rather than focusing on creating an “Internet Business”, focus on becoming a “Professional Communicator”. 

[ Barry’s Note: Goes right along with what Heather and I have been yelling from the rooftops for years:  Being a so-called “internet marketer” isn’t something to strive for.  But, creating an in-house product-centric, brand-based business (which emcompasses a lot more than marketing) is. More here… ]

Communication is what the Information Age is all about.  In the Industrial Age it was important to know how to build things, but in today’s age, the most important skill is communication.

Learn to outsource. In today’s world, there are businesses offering every type of product or service you can imagine.  You don’t have to “do” anything to be in business, there are plenty of other people willing to do just about anything, any time. 

To be in the outsourcing business, you simply have to know people who want something, and then know who can deliver what those people want at a better price (or with better service, or with more convenience, etc.). 

Wal-Mart doesn’t make anything, they sell stuff other people make.  Outsourcing is not cheating, it’s a legitimate business strategy. 

[ Heather’s Note:  And if you want one of the most coveted, no-fluff guides to automating your life and “creating” more time through outsourcing, check out SourceControl. It’s wildly different from other products of its kind. We’re now using many of the techniques and resources in the guide ourselves. We like uncommon and unique, and  SourceControl fits the bill. ]

Do you want to be the person who has to make something for a living, or do you want to be the middleperson who connects the consumer with the producer?  Outsourcing frees your efforts from both physical and time constraints.

Look outside your borders. While our “advanced” economies stagnate and decline, the rest of the so-called “emerging” world is booming.  Economic growth in nations like China, India and Brazil are just the tip of the iceberg… not just because there are jobs there, but because their economic growth represents a few billion new consumers entering the world economy. 

These “emerging consumers” all want the same things we do, but it’s only recently that they can actually afford them.  By traveling and living outside your borders, you can increase your exposure to new money-making opportunities. 

Freedom works like the snowball effect — once you learn to free yourself from a 9-5 desk job, you have more options and more potential to seize international opportunities when they arise.

Take risks. Yep.  It’s risky to pursue a new style of work, start a new business, or “go freelance”.  It’s much easier to stay on the treadmill and hope your company doesn’t fire you because they are downsizing or that your employer doesn’t go bankrupt and leave you on welfare. 

But to me, relying on a big corporate structure for my livelihood is far riskier than taking work and business into my own hands.  

Of course you should always limit your risks unless there is a potentially large reward.  For many people, myself included, living your life free from a 9-5 desk job is well worth the risk of losing a few months or even a year of income at some dead-end job you hate.

Don’t get an MBA, get an MBP (Mobile Business Platform). A Mobile Business Platform is simply a collection of tools that enable you to do business or “work” from anywhere. 

If you want to build a mobile lifestyle, your Mobile Business Platform is your foundation.  Instead of a storefront, a warehouse, or an office, a mobile professional uses a Mobile Business Platform.  More than a just an iPhone or a web site, a Mobile Business Platform combines technology and business management to ensure you are maximizing your free time with a minimum amount of effort. 

[ Barry’s Note: David MacGregor’s guide to sovereign living, and all the resources you’ll learn about through his e-course, is a good first step toward developing your mobile lifestyle. Get access here… ]

Heather’s Note: We hope you’ve enjoyed this guest post and found the ideas and resources useful. If you’re a longtime reader, you know that we very rarely include guest posts here. But we’ll be talking more and more about various aspects of lifestyle design, including not just spirituality and personal development, but also entrepreneurship, sovereignty, family, relationships, health and wealth.

Since this article covers a few of those areas, we felt it was a perfect one to share with you. Go ahead and leave your comments below…

Filed under: Entrepreneurship, Financial Freedom, Prosperity Mind / Wealth Creation