Find out how to use four currencies to plan for a fulfilling career
Whether you run your own online business or work for someone else, there are four currencies that will really help you review and assess your life:
- Money
- Freedom of time
- Freedom of location
- Satisfaction/Impact
You might want to add one more of your own here, depending on what you derive value from.
But when you look at any job opportunity, business potential or lifestyle choice, using those four currencies helps you make a much clearer decision about whether it will fulfil you.
It also frees you from living according to other people’s expectations/ideals.
What do you value most?
Yusef went straight from uni into a job in investment banking, then into Medicine, before going into Propane full-time. Investment banking was very high on money, but it was very low on:
- freedom of time
- freedom of location
- satisfaction
Medicine was very high on satisfaction and impact, but it was lower on:
- money
- freedom of time
- freedom of location
Johnny was working flat-out in his previous role in Accountancy, but hadn’t ever given much thought to whether he was moving in the right direction.
He’d assumed that online coaching would be really high on satisfaction, impact, freedom of time and freedom of location, but too low on money for it to be a viable career path.
It was only seeing how successful other online personal trainers could be, that he decided to take the leap.
But there’s no one-size-fits-all approach here. It all comes down to what you value the most, and what will give you the most happiness day-to-day.
Consider what your life would look like if you turned the dials up (or down) in the four currencies.
Which of these do you prioritise, and which can you deal with having less of?
Think about how your values will change over time
You might be happy to work in an area that scores very high on money, and lower in the other areas, if it means that you can retire far sooner.
But remember that if you work in a field that is very high on the money dial, it usually comes at a price: less freedom, or less time to spend with friends and family.
Other factors will play a part, too. Your energy, flexibility and willingness to take risk will be different at the age of 30 and at the age of 60. This will mean that you how much you value certain things will also change over time.
Plan a mini-retirement
Most people will map out their career to retire at the age of 65 or 70 and have an idea of how they want to spend their retirement.
But what if you finally got to retirement age and realised the retirement you’d been dreaming of wasn’t actually what you wanted?
Some people will plan out their careers to factor in “mini-retirements” of a few weeks at different stages, to make sure they are working towards the right thing.
And some people find retirement isn’t for them at all.
They find it challenging not to have a project to work towards, so the idea of sacrificing their youth to retire at 70 just isn’t appealing.
Having meaningful work with more freedom (and enough money to support that) might be more appealing.
The benefits of online coaching vs. personal training
The only reason most people don’t move online is this:
The don’t think they can make it work.
But think about all of those people who are great at jobs they’re not fully sold on.
If you’re really successful at something you’re not fully behind, imagine doing something you’re passionate about, as well as having more time and flexibility.
If you’re coaching clients face-to-face on the gym floor, you’ll be limited by time and location.
But the great thing about having an online fitness business is that you can set up automation to keep selling it. If it’s done well, you don’t need to be there in-person for it to keep selling.
This also incentivises you to create the best gold standard of your work.
Because you know you’re creating an asset that will keep generating income.
Find out more about how to grow your online business
You can hear more from Yusef about why he left the NHS to go full-time with Propane in this Podcast from Fergus Crawley.
There’s also more business advice on the Propane podcast, which you can find here.
You can access our free online training about how to build and deliver a profitable online programme to your clients, or if you’d like to have a chat with us about business mentoring, you can book in a time here.