1 terrifying reason I must make big money writing online in 2024

I’ll never forget it.

It was one of the saddest social media posts I’ve ever seen.

Where I’m from, Take Your Kids to Work Day occurs once a year early in the school calendar for all Grade 9 students.

The purpose is to introduce young high schoolers to the employment world and get them thinking about what they might want to do when they graduate.

The social media post in question featured a proud post from a parent of their kid being at the office (a cubicle), with a shot of them sitting in a chair next to a computer screen with some charts on it.

The kid looked like he’d rather die than be sitting in that cube.

And I don’t blame the kid … lots of grownups feel the same way about their own daily existence:

getting up to a blaring alarm before they’re ready
fighting soul-sucking traffic for an hour
sitting in a cubicle for eight hours
doing work that doesn’t excite or inspire them
fighting soul-sucking traffic for an hour (again)
arriving home exhausted with little energy to engage with the family, exercise, or do anything personally fulfilling

As I looked at this photo and this kid’s thousand-yard stare, I shuddered.

One thought crossed my mind immediately.

“I can’t let my kids see me like this.”

There is another way

It’s not that I hate or even dislike my job.

My job is actually fine.

The problem is that, while most people in society are so beaten down by some combination of life responsibilities and their own laziness that they surrender to “fine”, I feel like my kids deserve more.

Yes, they could take the traditional route.

They could go through the motions at school, go to university and take on a bunch of debt, get a job they hate to pay off said debt, and unknowingly slip into the safety and security of a boring career that doesn’t inspire them in any way.

… and then wake up one day in their mid-40s, look in the mirror, and ask: “Is this all there is?”

I’ve been there, and I don’t want that for them.

I want to show them there’s another way.

No.

I must show them.

The life for me — working online from anywhere for myself. (Licensed under the Unsplash+ License)

Peering into the future

My eldest is so much like me — in body and mind — it’s scary.

Which is why I can’t fail in my Publish Every Day project — a plan to leave commuter life within a year by publishing on various platforms every day and investing my earnings in passive income instruments.

I know he would be miserable with “fine”.

How don’t get me wrong — he’s an incredibly smart and resourceful kid.

It could well be that he’d figure all this stuff out on his own.

But in being his №1 role model and caring so deeply for him, I feel a deep obligation to give him a heads up that there can be more to life than the commuter non-existence.

I can’t trot him downtown and have him sit in a cubicle, staring off into space in some terrifying preview of his own future.

I’m burning the boats.

I must be in a position to quit by the time the next Take Your Kids to Work Day rolls around.

Real wealth

Kids today get really fixated on money.

They see all this bulls**t on social media featuring rich young people riding in hot cars and getting wasted on palm-lined beaches.

Setting aside the fact that a lot of that content is completely staged and features some of the worst human beings on the planet, it’s also completely warped.

I’ve had a cool career, I’ve had a safe career, and only recently, I’ve had some early entrepreneurial success.

And I can tell you from personal experience that only the third one delivers true happiness.

That’s because it gives you something far more valuable than a Lambo.

In fact, what it gives you is priceless: Autonomy.

Life without permission

Kids grow up answering to parents and teachers on everything.

I remember hating it.

Unless they find another path, and despite their belief to the contrary, they’ll do it throughout adulthood, too.

At work, they’ll take marching orders and be evaluated by people less talented than them and be forced to ask permission to take a vacation or a day off because they’re sick.

And for their precious, finite time, they’ll be paid just enough to keep them sedated.

Nah, forget the cubicle.

I want to give my kids a taste of real freedom.

But I need to deliver.

Take Your Kids to Work Day is less than 300 days away, so the countdown is on.

I’m more motivated than ever.

Publish Every Day project update: Day 117

I’m working to see if I can make enough money to leave commuter life behind within 1 year by publishing every day on various platforms and putting my earnings into passive income investments.

How much I need to retire: $250 CAD per day

What I earned on Day 117: $41.43 (writing) + $5.46 (subscriptions) + $1.61 (YouTube) = $48.50 total

Publish Every Day project update, Day 117 (total earnings)

Publish Every Day project update, Day 117 (earnings by day)

What I’ve published the last few days:

Hey friends, thanks so much for reading! If you love my work, you can support me and this project directly for less than a Starbucks a month (cancel any time)!

My top 5 trending stories:

Looking for something else to read? I really enjoyed this piece from Kim Downey contrasting the morning after New Year’s when drinking and not drinking.