We live in a society that was built on freedom, but that freedom is under siege. Many of us work 40 or more hours a week for someone else, live on land that is not our own, and get maybe two weeks a year when we actually get to live the way we want. I'm not going to propose an easier life here, but rather one where we get to choose our own struggle. If we are going to grind our entire lives, we ought to do so while doing something we love, something we were born to do.
If someone wants to work for a employer, that's great. I'm not trying to criticize that work choice. But there are many people who work for an employer just because they feel they have to. They want to work for themselves and start their own business, but they have too many other obligations and they just can't make it work. So they wind up doing someone else's work, working for someone else and not themselves.
Winning Back Our Work
The gig economy has helped entrepreneurs make a living for themselves. For example, I work as a freelance editor, writer, and driver with Doordash, Roadie, Lyft, Uber, and Grubhub (DR LUG), and I'm a real estate investor and agent. It may be hard to see the connection between all of these enterprises, but to me it's simple: I do what I need to do to live free. My goal is to help more people establish a more sustainable self-employed lifestyle like my own, if they want. This is what I mean by winning back our work.
To win back work, we have to get rid of the mindset that bigger is better. We often think working for a big, well-established company or conglomerate will provide the stability and security we need to make a living. But security and stability are overrated. Animals in a zoo have all the security and stability they need, but they weren't made to live in an exhibit. The problem with security and stability is they have ceilings. The human spirit is made to thrive and prosper in an environment where not even the sky limits the possibilities of what we can achieve.
We also need to get rid of the progressive mindset that tells us new is always better and the old ways are worse than what we have now. Old-fashioned marketplaces, where multiple merchants still sell their products, aren't much different than your average chain department or grocery store. Target and Walmart aren't much different from the individually-owned businesses, entrepreneurs and private vendors that gather at the average flea market, farmer's market or auction. They each provide a wide variety of products in one location.The only difference is that the big companies provide a more branded experience that can make the shopper feel smaller and more powerless. A shopper at a flea market can still haggle. Try doing that at Costco.
I know from experience the benefits of buying local. Cutting out the middleman and traveling a shorter distance can reduce the time and money I spend shopping. I've often bought meals at local diners that were cheaper, and tastier, than the same meal at their chain restaurant counterparts.
You may say having a middle man creates more jobs. In fact, we may even be a middle man (or woman) of some sort in our own job. Many hands make for lighter work, for sure, but nothing can replace the dignity of doing your own work even if it means providing everything from the field to the checkout line.
Since we only get one life, I believe we have the right to spend it the way we really want to spend it. I'm not saying we should pursue every fickle desire that arises in us, but we shouldn't have to choose between the life we want to live and the life we have to live to pay the bills. Sounds like I'm dreaming, right? Indeed, I am. But it is the American dream upon which our country was built.
I receive inspiration from my brother's YouTube channel, who simply shares his life, fishing stories and songs. He shows how our work doesn't have to be anything more than that. If we do what comes natural to us, other people will benefit from that lifestyle. Some people, for instance, were just born to fish. Our economy should be able to support that activity as work by providing easier ways for fishermen to sell what they catch on their own.
A person's naturally-given talents should be enough to sustain them, if they work hard enough at developing those talents. We should not have to live to serve our economy. We shouldn't have to be business-savvy to sell the services and products we are good at providing and producing. The economy should serve us by financially supporting what we love to do. We shouldn't have to choose a job simply because it's the most practical way to make money. We should choose it because it is something we're good at and enjoy doing.
I know, I know. I'm listing a lot of "shoulds". What about what is, and how do we make more shoulds into realities? I'm writing to lay out my thoughts on how we can. Part of the solution is working toward owning more of the country where we work. A country is the people in it, but it's also the land upon which they live and make a living.
Winning Back Our Land
The wider the distribution of ownership in a society, the better. Wide distribution of ownership leads to wider distribution of wealth and power. Unfortunately, most of our land is owned by big developers, hedge funds, banks, the government, or some confusing mix of all those. It's hard to build up an economy, and a society, when the people who make it run don't even own the land. Wider distribution of property ownership fosters growth for all the owners involved. The more owners the better. The more people who own land, the richer and more diverse our economy can become.
Also, when we own the land we live on, we gain a deeper sense of responsibility for not just our own property but the community around us. When we own land, it's natural for us to want to protect our investment, and that entails working to make our neighborhoods and communities attractive and vibrant.
I also want to talk about owning the land where we work, not just where we live. This can mean a workshop, a farm, a ranch, a retail shop, or any kind of small business. We naturally acquire the same sense of responsibility and inclusivity when we own our business as we do when we own our home. In addition though, we help the local economy not only by providing goods, services, and jobs, but also by simply being another local who has invested in the community. A local business owner cares about the town or city he or she is in just as much as a homeowner in that town or city.
If common Americans can work toward owning more of the land in their hometowns, they can win back their communities so those communities serve the people. If we win back our land, we can plant and grow our own produce locally, build our own factories and warehouses to make and store goods, and even build our own schools.
The possibilities can go on, but I hope I make my point clear. The reality is we don't own most of the land in our very own hometowns. Even if we do own the land our home sits on, we still have to pay property taxes on it, reminding us that ultimately it belongs to our municipality, county and state. Odds are we also took out a loan to buy our home. So, if we have to pay a mortgage to live on our property, do we really own it? If we don't pay the mortgage the property goes to the bank that gave us the loan, so in essence the bank has a greater claim on our home than we do.
How do we win back the land that is rightfully ours, the land we call home? We have to buy it free and clear. I entered the real estate business to help homeowners work toward that kind of financial freedom. I acquired my real estate license because I believe as many Americans as possible should have one. If we want to win back our land, it behooves us to get involved in the business of buying and selling it. The more people who have their real estate licenses, the easier it will be to keep commissions and property transactions among family, friends, and neighbors who have similar invested interests as our own. These commissions and transactions can also bring in the funds we need to pay off our mortgage and maybe even invest in other properties, preferably in our local community.
I work with many investors who do not invest locally. I'm not saying we need to stop them from investing. Many of them are private business owners who just go where the deals are. It's tough enough to run a successful business without drastically limiting your market to local towns. However, I believe we all would benefit from investing more in our immediate area. Too often we look right past the opportunities in our own neighborhoods and towns. Whether or not we are investors, we should always at least start with our hometown in everything we do. We should support our local churches, schools, businesses, neighborhoods, and municipal departments to the best of our ability. Then, if we discover there's no opportunity in our area, that's the time to branch out. More often than not though, we will find opportunity right in our backyard.
There are many advantages to investing locally. First, your investment is nearby, so it's easier to check up on it and work on it. Second, when we invest locally we raise the property value and quality of life in our hometown. Thirdly, odds are we'll know many of the people involved in the deal. We may run into them at church, at the barber shop, in the grocery store, and so on. Our kids may go to school with their kids. This can help build stronger relationships, trust, and accountability, which can lead to more business in the future.
Lastly, investing locally builds more of a legacy. When people know the person who helped develop and revitalize their community, when they see him or her in their coffee shop or somewhere else in town, conversations start brewing. They can talk with the investor about how to develop the community further. Grassroots growth then happens. More local businesses open up as they imitate what the local investor did. Business conversations become more natural, more commonplace, more relaxed, because they're not just about making money. They're also about the locals' common love for their hometown.
Winning Back Our Lifestyles
The above painting depicts the end of an era when cowboys herded cattle across the open range. That era ended when barbed wire closed off the great plains and drastically limited the need for cowboys to move cattle from one railroad to another, so the story goes. It was not the end of the cowboy, though. It was just the end of the open range. Cowboys adapted and started to establish their own ranches where they raised their own cattle, and found other means to make a living. Their lifestyle simply changed. Sure, the cowboys fell, but they also got back in the saddle after falling.
They were able to do this because, as more and more settlers claimed land throughout the West, they also laid stakes on the land where they were already working. To this day there are ranchers who fight to keep their land. This is an American story that should never be forgotten. More importantly, the resilience of the cowboy is something all Americans can imitate by winning back our work and land like the cowboys did. When we win back our work and our land, we can then win back our lifestyles and truly be free again.
This is how the first Americans lived. We see how they owned their way of life when we visit the older towns and neighborhoods in our area. Even where I live in the Northeast, huge farmhouses, colonial manors, and Victorian mansions deck the streets of our historic districts and preserved farmland. When America was truly free, before big businesses and big governments strangled the little man, an entrepreneur with a thriving shop in the Northeast could in essence enjoy the same freedom as a cowboy who made a living off his land.
Owning our own businesses and land wasn't just a dream back then. It was a lifestyle. Our country looked different when we owned our lifestyles, when we were able to live the way we really wanted to live without the burdens of high taxes, without demanding jobs that took away from our chance to do our own work.
I'm not saying we should just go back to the way things were. Times have changed and we have to adapt. The goal is to find a way to live free, and freedom is going to look a little different in every age. When our country was young, it was a cowboy who herded cattle hundreds of miles across the open hills and plains. In the cities, it was a small shop owner who held his own on the street corner and was loved throughout town. Today, it may just have to be a gig worker who scrapes together whatever work he can find, so long as he doesn't have to do someone else's work. In the end, it's all about making America free again.
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