The concept of “financial freedom” and people teaching ways to “make money online” is everywhere right now. There are countless books on the subject and a zillion-and-one online programs teaching you how to achieve it. It may even be one of your own most cherished goals this coming year.

But there is a problem with how “financial freedom” is being promised. A lot of it is a big lie. A get-rich-quick fad. Little more than a ponzi scheme.

You’ve wondered about it yourself, haven’t you?

During my deep dive into letting go of my own quest for financial freedom, I found something beyond our traditional notions of saving enough for retirement, paying off debt and the dream of passive income — I call it “financial liberation” and I believe it’s the key concept we can understand in the New Economy.

The promises of the Financial Freedom Myth and the promises of the New Economy are similar — never work another day (or work just 4 hours a week), earn lots of money fast, make passive income while you sleep…

It can be so easy to get confused. But the overly promised get-rich-quick style approach and the New Economy are two totally different animals.

I’m writing this article to debunk the myths about the ways to make money online that are being marketed to you, so you can find your true path to financial liberation in the New Economy and not get sucked in by the false promise of get-rich-quick “financial freedom.”

Money for Nothing vs. Living a Life You Love

The make-money-online-fast Financial Freedom Myth is about making money as quickly as possible and working as little as possible to do it.

The New Economy, on the other hand, is about delivering tremendous value in the world in ways that don’t feel like work at all, yet still earn you plenty of money to have a great life. It’s not about only working a 4-hour work week, it’s about doing work you enjoy so much, it rarely feels like work.

In the New Economy, you can’t tell the difference between when you’re doing things to earn money and when you’re not, because life and income-earning merge so that it becomes one and the same.

You’re doing what you love, and you’re attracting the money you need because you know exactly what it is that you need, how to ask for it and how to package your awesomeness in a way that makes it so easy for people to say yes and receive what you have to offer.

The real promise of the New Economy is what I call Financial Liberation — knowing you can earn what you need, when you need it, on demand. Oh, yes, and doing it from wherever you are with little more than your laptop and a desire to serve.

What I Learned From My Dad (Who Was a True Con Artist, By the Way)

Before I tell you the story of my dad, I want you to know this — I loved my dad more than just about any human in the world.  And, part of the reason I do the work I do in the world today is to make up for the harm he inflicted on the world because he just didn’t know any better.

My dad was confused. He died at the young age of only 58, and I strongly believe it’s because some part of him knew that what he was doing wasn’t right.  If you had asked him though, he never would have acknowledged it.

He sold the promise of financial freedom.  He did it using many of the same strategies and tactics you see being used in the online world today by some of the most famous online gurus.  It tears my heart open when I see it.

My dad really had things backwards. Instead of providing value in the world, he was sucking resources out. It ate him up inside. Created the cancer that killed him.

So, what can we all learn from my dad’s confusion?

Your purpose on this planet is not to suck as much as possible out of the economy and into your own pocket, it’s to create more value than you consume, daily.

Doing so requires you to get into deep, abiding truth about the following:

Most of us almost completely overestimate or underestimate each of these three things. The result is that we can’t seem to get ahead, feel lost, stuck and trapped in our own feelings of frustration and wishing it was different.

Draining Resources vs. Creating Value

To see the real difference between the Financial Freedom Myth and the New Economy, look at where the value is.

The New Economy promise is all about providing value for others. The get-rich-quick financial freedom approach is about how much money or resources you can suck out or drain from others.

“New Economy” → Finding ways to provide as much value as possible to others and to communicate that value in a way that allows people to understand what you have to offer.

“Get Rich Quick” → Finding ways to get as much as possible into your bank account.

So. Are your intentions more in-line with the world of Get Rick Quick or the New Economy? Here’s the question to ask yourself:

“Will what I’m considering doing create more value and resources for others?
Or will it just pull and consume more resources?”

Post your answers below, and let’s help each other enter into the New Economy.