I`ve been thinking of selling my life. Maybe through e-commerce. Then
anyone can own my life and I`ll make a few bucks from it. Perhaps then
I`ll be able to afford someone else`s life. I`ve started writing a business
plan for this idea... or is it a life plan? I forget.

I would keep the receipt for MYSELF. This way I could return MYSELF just before MY return policy ends (usually every 30-60 days). Then I would get another one (like a Shiny New Nickel).

 PS. Don`t go for the "Extended Warranty Scams". Simply return YOURSELF regularly.

I`ve owned my life the majority of my life, except when I got behind on a few payments, then i was threatened with personal repossession. Kind of like in `Poltergist`, I guess.

Anyone else see this silly little poll as BLATANT ADVERTISING for yet another `Life Coach`?

Oh yes. Brion was trying the hard sale in another thread for a bit.

Brion, these forums aren`t the kind of place for that. The community
doesn`t take well to it.

This poll is rather silly. I mean, does anyone here believe they actually
don`t own their life? Sure you can sometimes have struggles, be unsure
of things and have fears, but we all know we are in charge of ourselves.

I didn`t see anything there to continue doing what I`m doing---writing.

That`s okay, though. I don`t own my own life, never have. I was purchased by a nice couple in New York, who sold me to various other people over the years. My current owners are a Mr. & Mrs. Sloth, of Bilgewater, IL, and they leave me alone for the most part. They keep saying they just need a paperweight, so I sit around a lot.

You know, maybe a better question might be


For instance today I have to: pickup my dry cleaning, clean up my office, do four hours of creative work on a project, write two proposals, smoke a few fine cigars, brew some excellent Peet`s coffee (ok, I already did  that, actually), follow up on a dozen phone calls/emails, make reservations for a trip next week, read two books, lay out my schedule for next week, draft a NDA, balance my business accounts, etc., etc.

If I owned someone else`s life, I could really make a dent in that list.

Life coach? Hell, I need a Free Labor Coach. Now that I would be interested in...

Why not just buy an android?

I only buy American cars.

I think GE has a good, general-labor android. It`s got an IQ of a 12-yearold human, with built-in mapping and GPS. You can download your own area maps into its brain, and it`ll know how to get to and from all shopping and errand locations.

The only downside is that androids aren`t allowed to drive yet. I`ve found that if you give it a skateboard, though, it can get an awful lot done during any given day. Just not if there`s snow.

Craig,

Thanks for the GE lead, but since Jack Welch ran off with Suzy Wetlaufer (real name!) who was interviewing him for Harvard Business Review, I don`t do much business with them anymore.

She is quite attractive, however. If we could just make her into an andriod, however...

Interesting threads.  This is the first time I`ve visited in a few days.  I disagree with Steve because this isn`t a hard sale.  I never mentioned any product and I certainly didn`t ask you to do anything except respond to the poll.  This is about your dreams and what you would do if time and money weren`t an issue.  For me, my wife already retired from corporate (financially free = owning your life).  The next part of the plan is to break me free of cube-land.    Then, we want to help others break free.  Don`t you love free speech?!  Great discussion and exactly what I hoped would happen if I posed the question.  Have a great day everyone! 

What if we change the question to, "What will you do when you retire?"

Seems to me that one reason so many old folks act and look old is that they really had no clue what they`d do when they stopped working. They`ve been an employee for so long it never occurred to them that someday they`d stop working.

I started thinking about this as my dad got close to retiring, and we`d talk about it. Even though he started his own business later in life, he intended to retire from that as well. He had enough money that the bills would be paid, so I asked him what he figured he`d do.

That led to many discussions, and got me thinking about the whole point of life. Why do we work, what`s the idea behind living, and what would we do if we didn`t have to pay bills.

This thread veered off into space, I think, because of the corporate jargon. "Owning your own life" isn`t a very nice term and deserved the humor. Too many corporate types think the whole world uses jargon, but that`s another issue. Instead, without the jargon, there`s that question of what would you do if you didn`t have to worry about paying bills.

Another part of the same question relates to a different thread. What`s your passion, and what would you do for the rest of your life if you didn`t have to struggle with everyday expenses?

I think you are on to something, Craig. Or on something in general. Either way.

The question, `what would you do if money was no object` is similar and gets to our true life purpose, intent, and passion. Because, in a startup situation, money isn`t an object - it`s a result of the hard work of the venture. Does this make any sense?

I think the key is to find that thing you would do for free for the shear love of doing it, then find out how to make money with it. I think all of us in successful ventures are doing that - embracing our passions while learning how to make a living from them.

Let`s be honest: minimal living expenses aren`t hard to come by. And, putting money first is a really bad idea, also. But when you jump off the cliff and have to make it, your inner drive and ingenuity kick in.

Assuming you`ve found the right cliff, I say jump off, trust yourself, and go for it.

Which by no means implies that I`m telling Craig to go jump off a cliff. He`s a likeable guy.

Mother Theresa `owned her own life` and wasn`t financially free. How does that work, Brion?

Also, how can you call yourself a Life Coach or whatever if you haven`t figured out how to do it yourself yet?

Plus, isn`t your site part of a MLM scheme? How original is that? Sounds like someone else`s life.

BrandAlechemy: Valid question.  As I mentioned in my previous post, my wife is financially free but cannot enjoy retirement because I`m still in cube-land.  We`re working on our cash flow machine to get me out later this year.  If you`d like to keep in touch I would be happy to share my progress with you.  Ask me in 6 months and then 12 months. 

The lifestyle training is just one of our businesses.  It`s not the only one.  In my opinion, this is really the only way to plan for and secure your retirement.

You still haven`t defined what lifestyle training is other than relating it to
becoming financially free. Your website talks of building home-based
businesses but has no specifics about business whatsoever. You just said
in what I quoted above that "this is really the only way". What is the only
way? Believe me, nobody here is questioning the ideas of home-based
business or being financially free.

The reason I believe you are being shot at here is that you and your site
are very ambiguous about A) what "lifestyle training" is and B) how you
reach any of your goals, financial, business, personal and otherwise. You
keep repeating that what you are doing is your way to success. Great!
But we still don`t get it. One major aspect of these forums (if not the
most prominent) is the sharing of information to help others on their
success paths.

Why don`t you share with us what your home-based business is? What
are some of your other businesses? What has helped you in reaching your
goals? How did your wife become financially free? Don`t be so
mysterious. Open up and I guarantee the community will open to you as
well.

I have a pretty good idea why Brion is so vague about the details: There aren`t any.  This is a Multi-Level Marketing Pyramid Scheme, just like Amway or any other `business`, that basically doesn`t sell anything except more dreams to more people, who go out and do the same thing. The idea is to increase the number of people chasing the dream, sell them books/cds/seminars (where the real revenue comes from), and get them to go out and do likewise.

His website is so vague because he bought the package from someone who sold him on the dream - there are only 3 templates for this concept. I guess he picked `C`. Sounds so entrepreneurial...

The buzzwords are so obvious: `home-based business, financial freedom, more time with family`, and my personal favorite, `our cashflow machine`. Please. Where do you run that, your basement? Is the Secret Service aware of this machine? Counterfeiting is a federal offense.

Brion, we aren`t biting. When you have a successful life, get back with us. Don`t just do the `just wait 6 months and I`ll show you` routine. In six months, you will probably have moved on to water filters, but getting rich quick with minimal effort is not the focus of SuN.

Sell that crap somewhere else.

One of the things that`s been on my mind lately, is this idea of "security," and saving for retirement.

Not so long ago I was on top of everything. I had savings, redunancies, and more redundancies after that. I had extra accounts, and even cash in a box in case things went so badly, I couldn`t access a bank.

What I found leans almost into the rarely discussed aspects of spiritual destiny, "The Secret," and all this other talk about a higher organization in life. It`s that when you`re "supposed to" do something different, you`ll lose all that you`ve so carefully planned.

Not many people like to discuss the idea that if your "spirit" is managing your life, what "you" want doesn`t matter all that much. The "you" in this case is the physical or rational self that walks around behind your eyes each day. You may think you can plan and manage everything, developing a great and secure retirement package.

Can you? Think of those poor people at Polaroid, working all their lives and assuming they had an ongoing pension plan. Then one day, poof...all gone.

Is it worth it to put off until retirement, that which you want to actually accomplish? Imagine all those retired folks who worked instead of skiing, planning to go out there and enjoy the snow someday...after they retired. Then, at 60 or 65, when their osteoporosis and arthritis was in full development, they finally had the time and money to "enjoy" life.

I think people who say they`re not doing what they want because they have a "higher purpose" relative to saving for retirement are probably making an excuse.