You Might Not Need to Make More Money. You Might Need More Freedom.

One of my good friends and business partners, Andrew Tran, just gave himself what you could basically call a 400% raise. And here's the crazy part: He didn't make an extra penny.

Andrew has worked with me through Smart Success Healthcare for years. Our relationship actually started back in 2017 when he became one of my clients. Over time, he went from client to friend to somebody I consider family, and today he helps run our virtual assistant services. Recently, Andrew made a pretty big decision. He packed up his stuff and moved overseas. He's spending time in the Philippines, Vietnam, and potentially other parts of the world over the next eight months. And because the majority of what he does is online, he doesn't have to stop working to do it. Same work. Same income. Completely different lifestyle.

I think there's a HUGE lesson here for healthcare professionals and entrepreneurs who keep telling themselves they need to make more money.

You Want More Money... For What?

When Andrew first got into entrepreneurship, like a lot of people, he thought the goal was money. Make six figures. Then make seven. Then maybe eight. Keep going. But at some point, you have to ask yourself a very simple question: For what?

You want a million dollars. For what? You want a seven-figure business. For what? You want 50 employees. For what? You want to double your income. For what?

Because money by itself doesn't tell you anything about whether you're actually going to enjoy your life. I've been on both sides of this. I've had times in my life where I didn't have much money, and I've had times where I've done very well. You know what money has given me more than anything else? Options.

Money doesn't automatically make you happier. But it can give you more choices, and those choices can make certain parts of your life easier. That's why I've talked for years about financial freedom, time freedom, clinical freedom, and life freedom. The money is supposed to help create the life. The life isn't supposed to become a slave to making the money.

Andrew Figured Out What He Actually Wanted

I've known Andrew for nearly a decade, and one of the coolest things I've watched happen is that he's figured out who he is. He loves travel. He loves food. He loves experiencing different cultures. He wants flexibility, good relationships, good experiences, growth, and the ability to explore.

That's Andrew.

Once you understand those things about yourself, you can start making decisions that actually support the person you are instead of the person everybody else tells you you're supposed to become. Andrew had already tried entrepreneurship. He'd been an employee. He'd done travel physical therapy. He'd experienced different versions of work and life. Eventually, he figured out what mattered most to him: freedom.

Not freedom to sit around and do nothing. He works hard. He gets his stuff done. He just doesn't want his entire life controlled by a physical location. That's a very important distinction.

Last year, Andrew took his first international trip since the pandemic. He spent about three weeks overseas, including time in the Philippines. At one point, he was sitting in the water at Boracay with his girlfriend and had a thought: “I could live here.” His girlfriend agreed, and Andrew basically said, “No. I'm serious.”

That moment matters because sometimes you don't know what you want until you're exposed to what's possible. You can read about something, watch somebody else do it, or think it sounds cool. But then you experience it yourself and something clicks. For Andrew, that trip showed him another way his life could look. So he came home, made a decision, and about a year later he was getting on the plane.

He Didn't Need a Bigger Income. He Needed a Different Equation.

This is where the story gets really interesting. Andrew can earn U.S. dollars while living somewhere those dollars go significantly further. He was telling me about a place they booked in Da Nang, Vietnam. Two bedrooms, furnished, high-rise building, rooftop pool, gym, a couple blocks from the water. About $650 a month.

Then we started going through food, transportation, and some of the other basic expenses. Suddenly, you realize he can live a very comfortable lifestyle for a fraction of what that same lifestyle might cost him in the United States.

He didn't have to get another degree. He didn't have to ask for a raise. He didn't have to work another 20 hours a week. He changed the equation.

And THAT is why I think we need to broaden the way we think about making money.

I Call It Flexible Income

Most healthcare professionals are used to location-dependent income. You have to physically be somewhere to make money. You go to the clinic. You see the patient. You get paid. Want to make more? See another patient. Want to make even more? Add another shift.

But what happens when your ability to earn money isn't completely attached to your physical location? Now things get interesting.

Andrew has a laptop, internet access, skills that people need, and the ability to create value online. That's flexible income. And flexible income creates options.

Maybe your dream isn't moving to Vietnam. That's fine. Maybe your dream is spending summers with your kids. Maybe it's taking care of your parents. Maybe it's traveling for three months every year. Maybe it's living somewhere cheaper. Maybe it's working three days a week clinically because you still LOVE treating patients, but you don't want your entire income dependent on seeing patients all day.

The specific dream doesn't matter. The options do.

I Had to Catch Myself Doing the Same Thing

I'll give you a personal example. I had a long run where one of my businesses did over a million dollars a year. Then one year, I realized we weren't going to hit that number. Toward the end of the year, I could feel myself starting to panic. “Oh my God. We're not going to hit it.”

Then I had to ask myself: Why do I care?

Was my family suddenly going to be homeless? No. Was I unable to pay my bills? No. Was my life going to dramatically change because that particular business didn't cross a million dollars that year? No.

So why was I so concerned about it? Because I wanted to be able to say I did it again. That's it. I wanted to say I'd hit a million dollars however many years in a row.

Then I had another realization. Who cares?

Seriously. What does me being able to say I hit a million dollars 16 years in a row do for you? Does it put more money in your pocket? Does it improve my marriage? Does it give me more time with my kids? Does it make my life more meaningful?

No.

It was a scoreboard. And I was allowing a scoreboard to determine how I felt about my success.

Stop Chasing Other People's Scoreboards

I think a lot of us do this. We see somebody building a seven-figure company, so now we want a seven-figure company. They grow to 50 employees, so we think we need 50 employees. Somebody has 500,000 followers, so now that's our target.

But what if a $300,000 business with $150,000 in profit gives you the exact life you want? Is that worse than a million-dollar business that also leaves you with $150,000 in profit but requires significantly more people, expenses, management, and stress?

Not to me.

But that's the point. You have to know yourself.

Maybe building a massive company genuinely gives you joy. Maybe creating hundreds of jobs and opportunities for other people is exactly what you were put here to do. Great. Build it.

But maybe you want a small team, high profit, plenty of time, and the ability to work from wherever you want. Great. Build THAT.

Neither one has to be wrong. The problem is when you're building somebody else's version of success because you never stopped long enough to figure out your own.

Figure Out the Life First

This is why I'm such a big believer in reverse engineering your goals. Don't start with, “How can I make a million dollars?” Start with, “What do I actually want my life to look like?”

Where do you want to live? How many hours do you want to work? Who do you want to spend your time with? What experiences matter to you? How much flexibility do you want? What does your family need? What makes you feel alive?

Then figure out what financial number supports THAT life.

You might discover you need to make significantly more money. Cool. Now you know why you're doing it. But you might also discover that you don't need a million-dollar business. Maybe you need $150,000 and control of your calendar. Maybe you need an online income stream that isn't tied to your clinic. Maybe you need to change where you live. Maybe you need fewer expenses. Maybe you need a smaller company with better margins.

Maybe you simply need more options.

That's why Andrew's story is so interesting to me. On paper, you could say he gave himself a massive raise without making an extra penny. But I don't think that's actually the biggest win.

He figured out what he wanted his life to look like, and then he built his work around it.

So before you set your next income goal, business goal, or career goal, ask yourself the question most people skip: For what?

Because making more money isn't the goal. Making enough money, with enough freedom, to live the life you actually want?

That's a goal worth chasing.

Much Love,

Greg Todd

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