Many people spend their lives slogging away at a 9-5 job. While this is a viable way to earn a living, the people stuck in this cycle never truly achieve financial freedom. But is financial freedom just a pipe dream, not actually attainable in the real world? According to entrepreneur and world traveler Allan Hu, the ability to live your best life without financial constraints is completely possible. You just need to commit to working hard and never wavering in your focus.
These days, Hu is able to live his life and travel freely without having to worry about money. But it wasn’t always that way. “I didn’t come from money, but I always had an entrepreneurial spirit,” said Hu. “As a teenager I would fill out surveys or write SEO content to make a handful of cash here or there. Even that early, I knew I wanted complete financial freedom. I just didn’t know how to make it happen.” Hu says that as a teenager, he started his first real business selling cell phone accessories online in the early days of Amazon. It did well, but he dropped the business when he entered college. “I didn’t realize at that time that for a business to succeed, you don’t just need a good idea. You need to really grind and invest your time,” said Hu.
So Hu then pursued the same path as many of his peers: higher education. “I made good grades, but I didn’t feel properly challenged in school,” said Hu. “I stuck with it because society told me I had to.” According to Hu, the idea that you need degrees in order to achieve a high income is a myth. While it works for some people, what you really need is to be a self-starter. He says that rather than focusing on getting grades, young entrepreneurs should decide what they want and then work hard to get it.
And that is what he did. By networking with other young entrepreneurs, Hu was able to learn the ropes of digital marketing on the ground. “There were months that I made no money. There were months I lost money,” said Hu. “But I stayed focused, and I became a millionaire by age 22.” Now, Hu is semi-retired, traveling, and enjoying life without financial constraints. According to Hu, he couldn’t have done it without hustling during his early twenties. “The mistake that a lot of people make is they sideline their goals,” said Hu. “You think you’ll ‘get to them when you have time,’ but you won’t. Make your goals with a schedule so that you don’t fall behind.”
Many people feel as though financial freedom is an unachievable pipe dream. Allan Hu shows us that it is possible, as long as you have the determination and grit to get there.
