Want to learn how to stop trading time for money? You’re in the right place. If you’re ready to get more of your time back so you can…

• Pursue interests outside of work
• Spend more time with your family 
• Have a better work/life balance

…keep reading. That’s what we’re going to talk about here. 

Why shouldn’t you trade time for money?

Before we talk about HOW to stop trading time for money, let’s talk about WHY it’s a bad idea in the first place.

For starters, your time is limited: 

If you’re spending eight hours per day working a salaried job and another eight hours sleeping, that doesn’t leave much time for other things. 

And because your time is limited, your income potential is ALSO limited when you work per hour – and so is the impact you can have. 

Ultimately, being dependent on an employer who gets to decide your working hours and salary isn’t the best way to be financially free. 

Ready to try something different? 

That’s what we’ll look at next. 

4 ways to stop trading time for money

Here are my top recommendations.

Starting a business 

If you’re looking for ultimate freedom in your work, starting a business is your best option. 

And the good thing is, you don’t have to quit your job or invest hundreds of thousands of dollars to get started.

For example:

I, if you choose a low-risk, service-based business model like coaching, the value you offer will come from your skillset, not a physical product. 

Which means? 

You’ll have very little overhead. Once you’ve identified a problem people have that you can solve, you’ll be able to hit the ground running.

In fact, you don’t even need a website or external funding to get started. 

I didn’t have either when I was a new entrepreneur. And now, I’ve scaled to eight-figures.

Creating digital products 

Depending on your niche, there are all kinds of digital products you could sell. For example, a few popular options include:

• Subscription services
• Courses
• eBooks
• Software

Wondering which option will get you the highest ROI?

Easy.

Courses will. And here’s why: You can charge hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars for a comprehensive course. I’ve done it. 

And the best part? Once you’ve created your course, you can resell it over and over again, which makes it incredibly scaleable. 

Offering group programs

Side note: If you’re not yet a business owner, save this strategy for later. 

But here’s an example to show how effective group programs can be… Let’s say you’re a health coach who works with clients one-on-one. 

By offering group coaching, you’d be able to increase the number of people you help – without increasing the number of hours you’d work to match. 

Your clients would get to network and learn together, and you’d get more control over your working hours and income. It’s a win-win.

I’ve used group programs myself, and I’ve also helped my clients scale by going this route, so I know it works:

Investing

As an investor, you can theoretically make good money – even when you’re not actively working. 

For example, the FIRE movement (Financial Independence, Retire Early) is all about extreme saving and investing so that you can leave the workforce earlier and spend your time as you see fit. 

But… FIRE isn’t for everyone. It requires years of sacrifice and cutting out anything that’s not strictly necessary, which can feel limiting. 

Another example? Investing in real estate, like my student Ryan does (in student housing). 

You can also invest in stocks or bonds. 

Here’s the thing, though… 

If you’re looking for fast results, investing isn’t your best bet. 

You’d need capital to get started, and it’s much riskier than a simple business model like coaching, for example. 

Ultimately, investing can offer passive income, which is nice. 

But the thing is, passive income isn’t completely “passive” (and I’ll talk about this more in a bit). 

If you don’t want to wait years to see serious investment returns, having a business you can scale with minimal risk is a better idea.

How to stop trading time for money in your business in 6 steps

So far, we’ve covered a few options for how to avoid trading your time for money, like starting a business or investing. Now let’s dig deeper and talk about specifics. 

Sell your expertise

If you’re currently working a 9-to-5 and excel at what you do, try to negotiate a higher salary as a first step. Chances are, you’re leaving money on the table and could get paid more just by asking. 

But ultimately, I recommend starting a freedom business: 

The kind of business that will help you leave your job and make more money doing what you’re already good at.

For example:

I, if you’re a copywriter for a company, you could start your own thing and use your skills to teach people how to write effective copy that converts. 

Not sure what you could offer as a coach? 

Think about your background and interests, and then do some research to see if there’s a demand for what you want to help people with.

To be successful, be sure to choose a niche (rather than trying to appeal to everyone):

Create products

Selling products can be an effective way to stop trading your time for money. 

With that said…

Remember how I mentioned that passive income isn’t really “passive”? 

Here’s why: 

To build income streams that don’t require your time on an ongoing basis, you have to work beforehand to get the momentum going.

In other words? You can’t just create a digital product, post about it on your social media, and expect the passive income to roll in indefinitely. 

But that doesn’t mean you have to work 24/7 and burn out, either. With the right strategies, you absolutely CAN use products to help you take more time off.

As I mentioned earlier, digital products include all kinds of things, from courses to subscriptions to eBooks.

There’s no right or wrong way to go here.

But again, if you’re looking to maximize your impact and profit, courses are your best bet. 

Wondering why that is?

Here’s an example:

Ebooks typically cost a few dollars. That means you have to sell a lot of books to make a decent income.

On the other hand, if you sell a course for three or four figures, you’ll just need a few sales to make the same amount. 

Master one sales system 

Once you’ve decided what you want to sell, it’s time to create a system that will help people find you.

Remember: You can have the best offer in the world, but… if no one knows about it, what’s the point?

That’s where mastering one system for driving traffic and sales comes in. 

Why just one? 

Because focus is really important. If you try to go in too many directions simultaneously, you won’t be nearly as effective as if you choose one strategy and stick to it until you get serious results.

So, here are the top ways to drive traffic that you can choose from:

• Paid ads
• Affiliates
• Social media
• SEO

My take? Social media is the hardest option of the three: The algorithm can change unexpectedly, and you have to get good at growing organically. 

What I’ve used successfully in my own business are paid ads and SEO. To reach my first seven figures, I focused specifically on Facebook ads, then expanded to include YouTube ads.

After that, I switched over to search traffic (SEO), which helped me build a sustainable and highly profitable business.

So, bottom line here: Go deep, not wide. Focus on one strategy rather than trying to do too much, too soon. 

Scale up your traffic  

If your ultimate goal is being able to work less without earning less, scaling your traffic will help you get there.

Okay, but how? 

As we covered earlier, there are several different ways you can go here, including SEO, affiliates, and social media. 

Once you’ve chosen a traffic source to master, it’s also important to know your numbers. For example, what’s your sales conversion rate? 

In other words, out of all the people who go through your sales system, what percentage actually buys from you? 

Knowing your metrics will help you know how many people you’ll need to make X in sales – without the guesswork. 

I cover all the details in this video: 

And remember: Potential clients will be attracted to what you offer if you can show them that you’re an authority in your niche.

Because at the end of the day, people want results. You’ll know you’re on the right track when you’re able to scale your traffic while maintaining high conversion rates and satisfied clients. 

Automate as much as you can  

Once you have a strategy for driving traffic to your offer, it’s time to automate your funnel. 

Let’s look at an example to see what this looks like: 

Imagine someone finds your content through search traffic, paid ads, social media, or some other source and takes action, like signing up to get your emails. 

With automation, you can plan out an entire email sequence so that your leads will get your emails as soon as they enter your funnel. And that’s just one example.

These days, there are plenty of tools that can help you automate tasks and free up your time. 

Outsource 

Outsourcing is incredibly useful, and I do it myself. 

But… if you’re a new business owner (or want to become one), I don’t recommend outsourcing right away.

Let me explain…

Before looking for outside help, you want to be able to manage on your own so that you know how things work. This will make it a lot easier for you to delegate later. 

For example, if you learn how to set up a sales funnel yourself first, you won’t be in the dark when the time comes to choose someone who can take over, like a VA. 

But early on, your primary focus should be on bringing in revenue. 

Think: Could this business-related task lead to a sale? 

If not, skip it for now. 

Once you have consistent revenue, then you can think about outsourcing, but it’s important to do things in order. 

That’s how you’ll maximize your results. 

Next steps 

There you have it! Now you know how to stop trading time for money so you can make a living on your terms. 

Need more guidance on exactly how to get there?

I’ve used everything I’ve learned from building an eight-figure business from scratch to show you how to create and sell courses and group programs.

And I share the top mistakes course creators make in my FREE PDF. 

Read more:

How to Start a True Freedom Business

What is an Online Course? Definition, Examples & Benefits

How to Build an Evergreen Sales Funnel