I recently had the pleasure of interviewing a friend of mine whom you’ve probably heard me talk about here before: Dr. David Phelps from Freedom Founders. Freedom Founders helps professionals — mostly from the dentistry fields, but not exclusively — build wealth through alternative investments. I’ve been a Trusted Advisor for Freedom Founders for some time now and recently attended their event in Texas, so it’s fair to say that David and I always have plenty to talk about. We recently recorded a two-part podcast and video chat that I’m sharing with you today (part 1) and next weekend (part 2).
Much of our discussion centered on David’s new book: What’s Your Next? The Blueprint for Creating Your Freedom Lifestyle, which you can order now on Amazon. You know the book is good because David wrote it, but it also has a foreword written by another one of my favorite writers and thinkers, Dan Kennedy.
Watch the Video
Listen to the Episode
To start, David and I define and discuss what he calls the “top five freedom assets”:
1. Your learning. David says “Investing in yourself” is a core tenet. This means dedicating yourself to continuous learning, whether that be books, educational programs, and more. Anything that helps you grow as a person and develop your skillset — skills that you’ve already been working on, and skills that you’ve never touched before — is a worthy pursuit.
2. Your business. Building up your own business, which David says doesn’t have to be a “traditional business”. It can simply be anything that offers you multiple streams of income and gives you the freedom and energy you want to cultivate from your life and your work. For some, that means you might have to go a little off-script to enjoy the perks you can’t find when working for someone else. Whatever path you chose, you always have something to which you can apply your learning and skills.
3. Relationships. The communities we foster are one of the most important things in our lives. For most, this means family, but can also include colleagues and those who share our values. Surround yourself with people who have complementary, but not necessarily the same, traits and skills as you. In fact, it’s always a benefit to find people who thrive in tasks and skills that you would consider your weaknesses.
4. Capital freedom assets. David is certainly speaking my language here when it comes to finding capital freedom through smart alternative investments. It’s not enough to just work hard and make money; you can achieve real freedom by putting that money to work for you.
5. Legacy. I actually wrote recently about what it means to leave behind a legacy, both financially and emotionally. This is something important to keep in mind as you build up other aspects of your life. Our legacy keeps us grounded and focused on our goals, and you can begin to do this at any age, and any time. Whether you have built up wealth for future generations, or you are just getting started and don’t have much to give in the form of assets, we all have ways to positively impact others and build our legacies.
Another impactful topic we discuss is self-awareness: what provides us with energy and what saps that from us. As an example, David uses his own career as a dentist. Although he enjoyed the work, it was all-consuming and detracted him from his entrepreneurial side. After much searching, David was able to find a happy medium, creating Freedom Founders specifically for fellow medical professionals, so he can maintain that connection to the dentistry field without “sapping” his energy from what he loves (exploring alternative investments and building the Freedom Founders community). He says that more and more people are doing this today, and more and more people are not stopping at degrees (or maybe not even starting at degrees) or certifications — they are taking the time to grow and learn, so they can become aware of where they thrive. Once that spot is found, or even just neared, that is really when you can focus on the five points he discusses.
These are just a few nuggets of wisdom Dave offers in this episode, but be sure to watch or listen to the podcast (or download the transcript) to hear more of Dave’s lessons. I think you’ll really enjoy the insight David has had throughout his own experiences. Like many people, he started out following a path he felt obligated to take, even though it was filled with things he had to “tolerate.” He learned that when you give yourself the permission to work toward something that brings you energy, it feels a lot less like “tolerating,” and a lot more like accomplishing.
Part 2 will be available next weekend. I hope you can learn as much as I have from David!
New to podcasts? We’ve included two tutorials below — one for Android devices and one for Apple devices.
Apple Podcast Instructions
Step 1: Open the Podcasts app. It is a purple icon and is the default podcast player for Apple devices.
Step 2: In the search bar at the top, type in The Edge with Greg Hughes. This will pull up that podcast.
Step 3: Click the + sign to the right of the episode. This will download the episode to your device. Depending on your settings, you can also stream the episode, which means you can listen to it without having to download it.
Android Podcast Instructions
Step 1: In the Google Play app store, download Google Podcasts.
Step 2: Once the app installs, you’ll be taken directly to the Google Podcasts homepage. Use the top search bar to search for The Edge with Greg Hughes podcast.
Step 3: To listen to the episode, click the play button.