Cosmos

Welcome back to the show, my fellow extraordinary Americans. For today’s guest, we have Brian Harriet. Brian is an author, speaker, financial advisor, and entrepreneurship coach. He has founded several businesses, including Harriet Financial, where he empowers budding entrepreneurs to find time, freedom, and live extraordinary lives. 

His frameworks for personal growth and financial success support his mission of helping others achieve their goals, on their terms, for as long as they desire. With a master’s degree in finance and investment and backed by the University of Wisconsin, Brian established his consulting firm seven years ago. 

He also has a rich background as a management consultant at Accenture and Point B. In 2023, after unlocking the formula for time freedom, he took a six-month sabbatical, which inspired his passion for teaching others. Interested in living the same rich, free, full life, full of choice, flexibility, and ease? Brian now spends months at a time away from work. He and his family enjoy summers at the lakeside cabin in Northern Wisconsin. 

He has completed two bike rides across the state of Iowa, taking a baby step towards his goal of someday riding across the entire country. He’s an extraordinary American, and I’m glad to have him on the show. Brian, are you there?

Brian

I am. Thanks for having me.

Cosmos

Brian, thank you so much for taking the time to come on this podcast.

Could you tell us a little more about yourself, your background, and how you got started?

Brian

I’m a financial advisor for entrepreneurs, and I became interested in this business about three years ago, when I achieved personal time freedom, which I’ll discuss in more detail later. And so started sharing my story with others who became quite interested in this concept of a free, inflexible lifestyle where you’re working, when you want to work, with whom you want to work and for how long you want to work and balancing that against some money and investments that they’ve saved up until that point. 

I initially began by providing financial coaching, which then transitioned into full-fledged financial advising, investment management, and entrepreneurial coaching, specifically aligning our businesses with our lifestyle. 

So kind of changing the format and the structure of the work we do, the teams that we manage, so that our businesses don’t control us anymore, but that we’re actually at the helm, and you know, working when we choose to.

Cosmos

So, Brian, what was the catalyst that led you to help others achieve time and financial freedom? I know you’ve started many businesses, but at some point, you were inspired to help others achieve the same level of success. 

What was that catalyst or turning point where you realized this is what you wanted to do?

Brian

I had a series of misses. So let me put it this way. I was on the path to early financial freedom. Since I was young, I’ve always wanted to save a lot of money and retire early. And so I tried different paths. I tried just investing early. I fully maxed out my 401 (k) from the moment I got my first job at 21 years old. 

But as I learned, even though compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world, it still does take time, right? That’s why they encourage you to invest early: the biggest returns often occur much later. I found that to be particularly slow. Then, I tried the FIRE process, which focuses on achieving financial independence. Retire early by significantly reducing your spending. And I did that.

But then I had a kid, and then I moved to California. And before you know it, you need to spend money to live your life, unfortunately, or fortunately. So that method didn’t work either. Then I tried to strike it rich by starting a business. I currently own three businesses, but none of them are venture capital-backed unicorns that will make me independently wealthy. 

So, after struggling, I suppose I haven’t, but after trying to achieve early financial freedom, I was disheartened one day in 2020. This is also after the COVID crash depleted some of my investment portfolio. I kind of confided in my wife, you know, ‘Hey, this early financial freedom thing probably isn’t going to happen for another 20 years.’ I was 45 at the time, so that would have been 65 years old. And it was the exact opposite of what I had been trying to do for my entire life: get that freedom early. When she wasn’t disappointed, she said to me instead, ‘What would you do if you retired early?’ And I didn’t have a good answer because I like working. 

And so I said, well, I’d probably just do the same, but maybe a little bit less of it. And that’s when she said to me, so you’re not retiring? And I’m like. And it seems so obvious now, but it’s kind of like a wake-up call for me, which was, what am I pushing so hard for so that I can become, you know, 100% financially free when I’ll probably just go back and do some part-time work anyway. So, that moment flipped my thinking, and I started to think, well, if I’m going to do this kind of stuff anyway, when can I start doing it? For example, I could take nine months off a year and use my summers for rest? And it wasn’t 20 years, it was three years. 

So, if I worked and saved for another three years, that would have put us in 2023. I could earn enough in nine months and leverage the savings and investments I had, which were inconsistent. I could take three months off, and I wasn’t going to spend all my money because I was still working in the meantime, and the money was still growing, so that I could eventually become financially free. However, I could achieve this time freedom much sooner. And so, in June of 2023, that was the first month that I took off on this sabbatical. 

And sure enough, I didn’t know how long I would be off at the time, but three, four months in, and five months in, as I had kind of expected, I was ready to get back to work again. And so I did. And now we’ve transitioned into a lifestyle where we work during the school year, essentially. And then, in California, where I live, we pack up the minivan and drive to Wisconsin, where we water ski, fish, eat ice cream, and attend the Independence Day parade during the summer. 

And you know, I still do creative work and some kind of fun stuff, like our conversation here. But, yeah, but I’m here at our cabin and enjoying the summer.

Cosmos

Right. That is amazing. And a lot of people want to live that lifestyle, but just for the sake of the audience, you know, like a lot of people talk about financial freedom, but not enough people talk about time freedom. 

But ultimately, time freedom is like, you can get your finances back, but you can’t get your time back. So, for the sake of the audience, like, what does time freedom mean to you versus financial freedom?

Right. That is amazing. And a lot of people want to live that lifestyle, but just for the sake of the audience, you know, a lot of people talk about financial freedom, but not enough people talk about time freedom. 

However, ultimately, time freedom means that you can regain control over your finances, but you can’t get your time back. So, for the sake of the audience, what does time freedom mean to you versus financial freedom?

Brian

Financial freedom to me means absolute, absolute, absolute. It’s absolute total freedom, which means that your savings and investments, you know, you can live off of 4% per year to run, you know, so that they never run out and you never have to do anything again. The problem is to reach that number, that savings mountain; it can take a long time unless you strike it rich, luckily. Right. 

What I realized is I didn’t want absolute freedom. I wanted meaningful freedom. Freedom. That doesn’t mean I’m 100% off the hook; I still have to do some work, even if it’s not as much as before. It doesn’t mean that at all. I have to work, but I have to work in the way that I want to work, whatever that is for me and whatever it is for anybody. That could mean three months off in the summer, like me, or it could be 30-hour weeks year-round, or it could be full-time. But three of the months in Europe, three of the months in South America, and six months in the States. 

It’s whatever is important to you, but it’s about achieving that kind of financial freedom, which is focused on savings and investments. Time freedom focuses on that, but also includes flexible work. Right.

So it’s kind of a, it adds that other feature. And I mean, how I came about it, too, is I’ve been looking for somebody to help me for years when I was younger, who could give me a full, comprehensive look at my money, right? You could either find an investment manager or a financial planner, who would review your current investments in stocks and bonds. The insurance professional would then handle the insurance aspect of the matter. 

And then, if you wanted to learn about how to start a business, you would go to an entrepreneurial consultant, but nobody was looking at the whole thing. And so that’s, that was a real kind of mindset shift for me, where I’m like, I need them all to work together. And that’s what I provide at my company here at Financial: we can look at all those things. I also have a free calculator that I’ll provide you with the link to, available at timefreedomcalculator.com. Anyone can use it. And you can go out there; it’s part retirement calculator, but it also allows you to add in flexible work after that kind of freedom date. 

And so you can project out, you know, through to the end of your life to make sure you don’t run out of money. But you can kind of see when you can start working half-time or three-quarters time or whatever it happens to be. However, in short, time freedom is a path in life that offers meaningful freedom, albeit not absolute freedom.

 And just one other thing, sometimes when people hear ‘time freedom,’ they think of achieving a better work-life balance. And it’s not that either. My experience with work-life balance has shown me that it doesn’t work. And it’s kind of narrowly focused. Right. Work-life balance is focused on a day and a week, and how do you, like, take off for three hours in the middle of the day and then make it up overnight? And time freedom is like, how do you spend your months, years, and decades? Right. 

So it’s broader, much broader, and much more achievable, and it can be achieved more quickly than financial freedom.

Cosmos

So, Brian, I know that you mentioned there’s something called a time freedom formula. For the sake of the audience, what is a time freedom formula? How would they go about using it if they want to?

Brian

Yeah. So the time freedom formula is the key framework in my book. And it is an expansion of the financial freedom formula. So, financial freedom is, of course, about lifestyle expenses that you need to support. You take 4% of the money you’ve saved, and you need those to equal out, right? So that you can cover them in a year. The time freedom formula adds flexible work. The time freedom formula consists of three components: lifestyle expenses for the year plus investment income for the year. Excuse me, Lifestyle equals the investment income plus the flexible work. So, it’s just adding, as I mentioned, conceptually, it’s adding in that work.

And so if you look at one year in your life, you live on, just to keep the numbers simple, $100,000, right? And you have some investment income equal to, I don’t know, maybe you’ve saved, what, $500,000, right? 

So 4% of that is 20,000. And so, 100,000 equals 20,000, plus you need $80,000 of flexible work that year to make your formula balance. And then if you can figure out that across the year, that’s step one. Right? But then that’s a lot for me to say. Well, there you have it. Now you can be time-free. People will be like, ‘Wait a second, how does this look five years from now, ten years from now?’ The calculator does this by translating the one-year view into an infinite view. And it accounts for, you know, growth of investments and growth and income. And if you have to pay for college for your kid in the future, that’s what gives people the ultimate confidence. 

And then, once you have that, from the underlying financial confidence, you can see how all these pieces of your finances fit together: savings, investments, and work expenses. Once that all fits, then you can say, ‘Alright, now I want to do this flexible work.’ How do I work flexibly? You know, because that’s the neck. That’s the next question: now that I know the money will work, how do I make the actual work work?

Cosmos

So, Brian, what you’re doing is highly relevant because many people approach their finances without actually compartmentalizing or organizing them in ways that can bring long-term financial freedom. Discipline truly matters—when you consistently budget and manage your money over time, it does add up.

One question I wanted to ask you concerns inflation in today’s world. In 2022, for instance, we witnessed a significant increase in inflation, accompanied by banks printing large amounts of money. For the audience, how should we address the common concern that keeping money in a savings account leads to reduced purchasing power? In your view, what’s the best way to handle this challenge?

Brian

Yes, just a quick comment about inflation. Yes. I believe the Fed targets a 2% inflation rate. Traditionally, it’s been 3%. It could probably increase in the long term, even to 4%. The calculator takes inflation into account. So, there’s a key inflation number you enter into the calculator, and then you adjust your expenses accordingly, taking into account your income and related matters. However, regarding savings, this is an interesting question because I have some advice that I think differs slightly from most people’s. I’m a huge believer in a big savings account. 

Typically, I advise that when you want to live with time freedom, you should have between 10% and 30% of your savings in your portfolio, or between six months and two years’ worth of expenses. So if you do that math, you can kind of feel like you can see, from a percentage standpoint, and you also can see like, oh, if I couldn’t find work for two years, could I last before I’d have to pull money out? Now, I love cash and appreciate the value of cash savings. 

Still, people will typically say, as you had kind of alluded to in your question, that if you have money in cash. It’s not invested, it’s not earning interest, and it’s not keeping up with inflation, which is a valid point. However, I think there are other uses of cash that people often overlook. One reason I think cash is defensive is that it allows you to survive for up to two years if you can’t find work or if your investments are down, or in similar situations. 

So that’s hugely defensive. But it’s also very. You can take a very offensive, not offensive like in a bad way, but like an off, like an offense with cash where let’s say that you have $100,000 of cash in your overall account and you’re like, oh man, that feels like too much because it will feel that way. But what if an opportunity comes along to start a business, and you need $40,000? You’re confident in it, and you know you can turn that $40,000 into $80,000 by the end of the year. Well, that cash all of a sudden earned you 100%, you know, and it’s just different, like I think people, again, it’s because we keep those things separate. We think of cash only in the investing bucket. 

However, if you consider it and apply it to your entrepreneurial endeavors, that’s a significant advantage. And then if you didn’t have that cash or you had to sell your investments at a loss to make that investment in your business, well, that’s just not going to work out well. 

So, yeah, I have a whole chapter dedicated to cash in my book, which isn’t out yet, but it’s coming out next year, to help people figure out what the appropriate cash allocation should be in their account. Because you’re going to keep up with inflation by coming up with a great business that you can do, that can make a lot of money, that you don’t have to spend all of your time on. That’s where I think the answer is. Personally.

Cosmos

No, I mean, what you’re saying is so relevant because a lot of people think about that, and they’re, oh, the purchasing power is being eaten away and everything. What do we do? However, one of the things I’ve noticed in our society is the ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ mentality, right? 

Even though it affects their financial decisions—even though they don’t have the money to buy something—they’ll buy the car, or they’ll take out a mortgage and everything, and then get into debt. So, from your perspective, for somebody who has that mentality, how would they go from there into a more productive type of thing where they’re saving income and getting to a place where they can attain freedom?

Brian

Yeah, great question. The three components of the financial freedom formula are: time freedom, which encompasses lifestyle expenses, investment income, and flexible work arrangements. Lifestyle expenses are the first one. Right. And the lower you can move it, the sooner you can achieve time freedom. And so, Chapter 7 in the book examines that. So it’s almost as if I’ve prepared you ahead of time to ask me these questions. But this is great.

And my approach to your spending is a concept I call the ‘no-budget budget’. And so, what I mean by that is, I’m not sure about you, but budgets never work for me. I mean, it usually takes me, like, ‘Oh my God, I’m spending too much.’ Then I pick some arbitrary numbers, set them, and track them for three months, and then I forget about them. And then I realize that I’m overspending again, and I’m like, oh my God, I better do that again. And so, it’s just this constant feeling of not doing well enough. 

So, what I do now is different from what I did last time, which was in early 2024, so I don’t do it every year. But what I do is I do the no budget where I pull all my expenses together and I categorize them, you know, by the top, by the group, the 10 sets of, you know, the 10 groups, the car and the home and you know, all the traditional things. And then I sort by the biggest numbers. 

So the biggest category or the biggest numbers within the category. And I say, is this spending in line with my values? Right? So, maybe I spend a whole lot on personal fitness trainers, but I value that because it helps me stay healthy. I’m going to keep spending that. However, if I spend a significant amount on Instacart, it’s because I became lazy during the COVID-19 pandemic; now, I can halve my grocery bill by going to Trader Joe’s. I’m going to do it right? And all of a sudden, I just saved 5,000 bucks right there. You know, each year, if you go through and you kind of find like those big numbers, and you kind of say, is this aligned with me? You can typically reduce your spending by around 20%. Instead of creating an arbitrary budget, establish some rules of thumb. 

And so like the one that I use to this day, which I, it’s hugely important to me is I used just to get gas anywhere whenever I needed it, but now I only get it at the grocery store, you know, the grocery gas lot, because that’s where it’s cheapest. I know it’s always been that way; I’ve checked a couple of times. It’s always the cheapest. So now I don’t have to go searching around. I just always kick ass there. And you know, you know you can carve money off that way. 

So, if you set, take a look at your budget, eliminate the things that aren’t aligned with your values, and then set behavior changes around some of the key areas to ensure it doesn’t start to creep back up. You can all of a sudden find yourself with additional money, which can then be put into savings or investing, as you suggested, without feeling bad because you’re not meeting your budget. It’s just that you’re being thoughtful, you know, you’re being thoughtful about your money. I think that’s a huge thing: being thoughtful about your money and aligning it with what you value, and then trying to change your behaviors to align with those values.

Cosmos

I mean, Brian, what you’re suggesting is so applicable, but it requires a lot of discipline. I would tell my audience that you must be disciplined with your budget and track it to reach your goal. It might require habit changes to achieve that goal, you know.

Brian

True. I think, though, that if you pull your credit card statements for two years, I will do it over the same period. You know, you pull your credit card statements for two years, you pull your bank account statements for two years, and you pull your like your venmo and your paypals for 2 years and then any other like large expenses that don’t flu flow through those accounts, like health insurance premiums or something like that. If you pull all those into a single spreadsheet, you’re going to have to spend some time cranking through it. Agree with you. 

But you’re doing it just once, so it might take you a Saturday. Think of it like doing your taxes – you’ll have to spend time on it once a year. But if you just do it, and then you kind of identify those runaway costs that you’re like, oh my God, I didn’t even know I spilled, and I still spent money on two gym memberships. I don’t even go there anymore. 

For instance, then you have to do those things once, and then you’re done. You know, you don’t have to think about it again, then. Until you realize, ‘Oh boy, my spending has crept back up again.’

Cosmos

So, Brian, is that connected to this, right?

For those listening, many want to achieve time and financial freedom, but they have accumulated debt in various areas over the years. Credit card debt, mortgages, and student debt, among others. Right. 

But they want to, but they’re doing a job, and they want to get rid of the debt, and then start doing that. How would you advise them to approach the process of eliminating debt and then achieving financial freedom?

Brian

Yeah, debt is like the opposite of freedom. Right. And so. Right. However, unfortunately, many of us have it. And a lot of us have it because, you know, student debt was pushed on us and we didn’t realize, you know, the impact of it or I don’t know if you were like me, but, you know, when you go to college and then all of a sudden all those people are pushing credit cards on you and you don’t even know what you’re doing yet. 

And so I feel that the first thing I advise people is not to feel bad about it. Right? Try not to feel bad about it, or just accept it. I don’t want to tell you not to feel bad about it, but try not to. It’s just a situation that we find ourselves in. However, I also realize that debt can make it extremely difficult for people to think about achieving time freedom when they have debt hanging over their heads. Right. And so, when I first started this, I would say, ‘All right, let’s talk about your flexible work and your investment income, and we’ll map it out for freedom.’ And they’re like, I can’t even think about that because I’ve got, you know, $20,000 in debt that I have to pay off. 

I’m like, ‘ Okay, good point. ‘ We have to deal with that. First, before we, like you, can use the calculator. What I tell them to do is think ahead two years, set every number ahead of time for the next two years, assuming you’re starting without debt. And then you can get excited about it, so that you can refocus on the single thing that is debt. And I’m talking, of course, the bad debt, you know, the consumer debt and things like that, but also the good debt. You know, like any debt is a claim on future income. 

And so it is the opposite of freedom. Many people use good debt to accelerate wealth growth, which is beneficial. Suppose that’s your point, if that’s the, if that’s your goal. I mean mine, I’m not trying to be the wealthiest person. I’m trying to have as much freedom as possible. Right. And so I am much less likely to take on debt. I mean, I do have a mortgage on this cabin, and we have a mortgage on our home in California, but that’s about it. 

So then, anyway, back to your original question. What do you do? Well, it’s your sole focus. Seriously, it’s a number; you’re not saving and paying down debt. You just have to pay off all your debt. So, step one: put it all on a 0% credit card if you can. You must immediately roll it over to the account with the lowest interest rate. And then, step number two is to figure out all the different ways that you can find money to pay that off. And that includes asking for a raise, such as creating a no-budget budget to cut or trying to find additional funds. In my book, I have listed around 20 different ways to find money. 

Perhaps it’s temporarily stopping your retirement savings to pay off the debt. Still, it seems like there are 50 different places you can look to either increase your income or reduce your expenses, taking all that extra money and putting it toward that debt because it has to be paid off. That’s probably the best answer I could give you at this point.

Cosmos

So I know you mentioned that there’s consumer debt and there’s good debt. Right? So, when you’re talking about good debt, are you referring to debt that can be used to acquire assets, or just any debt?

Brian

Yeah, yeah. For example, let’s use the scenario I mentioned earlier, where you had an opportunity to invest in a business. What did I say for $20,000, whatever the number was? If you have cash, you know, in your portfolio, you can use cash to buy that opportunity and turn it into a business. Or if you didn’t have cash, you could take out a loan, you know, maybe from a bank or a friend or whatever. 

But you could take out a loan, a loan for that money to invest in that business, to turn it into something that I would call good debt because it’s money that you’re putting toward an income-producing asset. 

Many people would say to do it because you can build your business without using your own money. That’s a valid argument. It’s not just about time freedom. Because I don’t want to end up like this, what if it doesn’t work? 

I’m paying interest on something of value, or I’m paying back a loan on something of zero value. That doesn’t work for me, if I did the investment and it didn’t work, that’s okay, you know, I, I don’t have any less freedom because of it. I can just kind of move on and try again. But yeah, that’s what I mean by that. 

And you know, I would never advocate buying stocks on leverage, whether it’s leveraged stocks or any other type of stock. I mean, there are cases, such as having a low-interest home mortgage, but you generally need to have that. That makes total sense to me. However, I look at everyone very carefully, though.

Cosmos

No, I mean, this is relevant because a lot of people, when they think of debt, think it’s a negative term. Right, but consumer debt is negative, where you’re getting liabilities. However, if you’re using debt to, say, start a business that will generate income, then it becomes an asset in a way because it’s a strategic investment. Therefore, I would want the audience to understand the distinction between good debt and bad debt.

Brian

I’ve heard that some people have maxed out their credit cards to start a business that has become massively successful. And you know, you pay that, pay that off, and it’s great and it’s, it’s a great story and it’s great for them. It’s just that I’m more conservative in how I look at that stuff, and I wouldn’t want to take the risk because of the possible consequences. Here’s a different perspective on the matter. I have time and freedom right now. I don’t want to lose it. 

So in a way, some people could say, like, you’ve won, right? As if you’re in this situation, and I think you are. Your perspective on the future is different. Like you still want to grow and do some great things in life, and I do. But you’re also very aware of risks that you’re taking that could take it all away, you know, and I feel like debt, good or bad, is certainly something that could take it all away.

Cosmos

No, I mean. Brian and Brian, continue this, but on a national level, right? You know, America’s identity is about freedom. However, when it comes to time freedom and financial freedom, we notice that most people lack this freedom. 

So, do you think there’s a hypocrisy right now between our ideals of freedom and the reality that the masses face when it comes to their finances and time?

Brian

I think it’s very unfortunate. I don’t think people are to blame or at fault, though. I think, you know, there are a lot of forces working against us. You know, credit cards being pushed on us, and you know, giant boxes of cereal at the grocery store. Like, there’s, you know, like, I mean it’s, it’s capitalism and it’s important and it’s all good. 

But like, it’s hard, you know, like we’re, you know, for example, we’re trying to get our son to eat well, but boy, bad food is so easy and cheap, you know, like, and it’s found everywhere. Like, you know, how does he keep getting this stuff? I don’t know. We’re doing our best, but it’s so hard to turn it for the better. I think some of that has to do with the way people get indebted. And it does take a lot of hard work to get out of it, but I think it’s possible. You know, like, it’s so rewarding when you, when I work with someone and you see them kind of like, I’m thinking of this one woman in particular and she’s like, you know what? It’s time. I am committed. 

And she transferred all the money and all the debt to a low-interest-bearing credit card. And we figured out all these different ways, and it’s going to take a year and a half. But in a year and a half, she’s going to figure it out and be out of that. And that, boy, when you get rid of your debt, that’s the first feeling of freedom, you know. Now maybe it’s not like I can work, you know, six months of the year and be fine, but, boy, you don’t have that debt hanging over your head. That feels great. It feels, really, really good.

Cosmos

However, I appreciate everything you’re doing regarding this, because what you’re doing is something that should have been taught in the education system, including traditional settings such as universities. But unfortunately, that’s not taught. We’re taught to be workers, but we’re not taught how to manage basic finances. They don’t teach you that in school or at university. 

So I think something you’re doing should be there on a national level, in my opinion

Brian

Thank you. And I. I completely agree with you, and I’ve tried my best. I’ve been working on this book for 18 months already, and it’s still nine months away from release. And the reason it takes so long is that it takes a considerable amount of time to write a truly good book. One of the things that makes a good book good is that it is clear and accessible. And, you know, we’re talking. I mean, some. Some of these concepts can be complicated. 

And so to be able to explain them clearly so that as many people as possible can understand them and act on them, that’s on the author, right? That’s on the author to make it that way. And I hope, I hope, hope, hope that I will have achieved that by the time that it, you know, is published in April 2026. so that people can use it and improve, improving themselves.

 And not have to wait for retirement or, you know, unless they want to, you know, that’s fine too. But if people. Many people I talk to say, ‘Boy, I’d love to have.’ I’d love to be in control and have my freedom now, you know, and I’m like, well, there’s a way you can do it. It. You know, you’re still gonna have to work, but let’s figure out how to have that great work, you know, that you wouldn’t mind doing probably till you’re 90. 

I mean, if the work was so good and it had just the good stuff, like the, you know, the impact and the social connections, and you could get rid of all the corporate politics and all the, I don’t know, the infighting and administrative stuff. Like, if you could just carve out just the good stuff, why wouldn’t you want to do it forever? You know, like, it feels good like when you do just the good stuff. So I mean, it’s not easy, but there’s ways to figure out kind of how to, how to do that.

Cosmos

Brian. I now believe that having time and financial freedom, and knowing how to achieve that at an early age, is important because the old systems of security we had—where you keep a job for 40 years, receive benefits, and retire properly—no longer exist. We live in a time of financial uncertainty where you can lose your job in an instant. The only sure path to lasting security is to start a business, invest wisely, or find the right approach to achieving time and financial freedom. We truly live in an era very different from the one in the 1950s.

Brian

Agree. I mean, and that’s literally how I start. My book is like, people think it’s too risky to start a business. I’m like, well, I don’t know, maybe it’s more risky to have everything tied to a single job that you could lose in a second, you know? Yeah, I agree with you. And there’s just, there’s, there’s, there are lower-risk ways to start a business. 

For example, you know, don’t come up with a unique idea. That’s my advice. Like, let’s say you worked in, I don’t know, you worked, you worked in marketing, you know, for 15 years in a company. Well, what you should start is a marketing consultancy or, you know, be a fractional marketing CMO for small businesses. You know, that’s what you should do. You shouldn’t be like, ‘ Oh, I want to start a chip company where we only boil the chips in. ‘ The best thing, like, you don’t know anything about that. The chances of that succeeding are extremely low. I think people, because that’s the story that, you know, we get told about entrepreneurship, is that you have this cool new idea and then you become a billionaire. No, no, no.

Cosmos

I was going to say that people looked at the movie The Social Network about Mark Zuckerberg or Steve Jobs, and then they’re told you need to have this crazy idea that’ll change the world. But for the most part, no, it’s very—the reality is very different from the movies.

Brian

Yeah. Before I became a financial advisor and entrepreneurship coach, I was an independent consultant for large companies. I have worked as both an employee and a consultant, employed by a consulting firm. And then I started my consulting firm, and it was just me for like three years. And I have, like, two employees that still work for me. Tiny, tiny little business. However, it was 100% in the same area where I worked. 

As a result, I was able to leverage all my existing network and skills, doubling the amount of money I made and becoming 100% more flexible. So, like, it. It, like entrepreneurship, can be way easier than you think it is. It doesn’t, it doesn’t have to be unique and crazy. You know, it could just be an evolution of what you currently do, but in a higher-paid, more flexible way.

Cosmos

Brian.

And Brian, can you tell me a little bit more about your company, Harriet Financial, and what its premise is for how you started it?

Brian

Yeah, I mean, so it came about from, during that summer when I was off, when I was thinking, boy, everyone seems to love this lifestyle. Let’s see if I can figure out a way to help people. So it evolved from purely financial coaching, where I would help people figure out, for example, how to structure their finances and where to invest the rest of their money. 

And then it evolved into true financial advising, which is now my profession as a registered investment advisor. However, I also offer entrepreneurial coaching, specifically on how to transition your business from being run by you to being run more flexibly. And so that, I mean, that’s evolved over a couple of years. However, the best advice I can offer is that if you want to run a business that allows you to be somewhat free, you should do so. What you’re looking for is what’s called a lifestyle business. 

And where I live out in California, a lifestyle business is perceived as a failed business because it’s not scalable and not huge. However, I view a lifestyle business as the perfect business because it allows you to design around your lifestyle. And if you want to do that, there’s, you know, certain tricks that you can do, you know, and I got a whole bunch of them. But like, one of the key things is that you chunk your work, which it sounds like, it’s not a technical term where you take instead of just working with people constantly, you say, what is the thing I provide and how do I make it into a small little chunk of work? 

And then I can schedule those chunks of work for the months I want to work, and I don’t have to schedule them for the months I don’t want to work. 

So, everyone that I work with, I always do a time freedom forecast. That’s a two-hour session that’s highly valuable, where I create the calculator scenarios for them and we discuss what time freedom looks like for them. When could they get it? What kind of changes are needed? And I can do that in two hours, and I can do three of them a day, and I could do them for two weeks, and then I’m done, you know, but I’ve helped all those people in that kind of short chunk of, you know, short bit of time. 

And then, after that, you can decide whether you want me to manage your investments for you or if you’d like a longer entrepreneurial consultation or coaching session; we can accommodate that as well. 

I always figure that I’m thinking, ‘ How does my work align with my life, not the other way around? ‘ That’s kind of the trick. I think. You just need to flip that. Everything, it seems like I’m thinking about, is flipped. It’s time for freedom before financial freedom, not the other way around. It’s your life before your work, not the other way around. Just whatever you’re thinking naturally, because conventional wisdom tells you, just flip it. That’s how you, that’s how you do it.

Cosmos

No, I mean, that’s awesome. And Brian connected to this. I know your book is scheduled for release next year. Right.

But, for the sake of the audience, can you tell them a little bit more about this book and what you have in it?

Brian

Yes, it’s called Time Freedom, and the subtitle is’ Rethink Your Work and Your Money to Create a Life You Love Now. ‘ And that subtitle is important because we’ve talked about the three main components. It’s the life you’re creating. The first part of the time freedom formula is your money, which encompasses savings and investments, and your work, which includes the flexible work aspect. 

And really, what I lay out is, I mean, it’s full of personal stories and stories of others, of things that I’ve learned. It’s. Writing a book is truly transformative for the author because it crystallizes for you why you believe what you believe. It’s pretty cool. However, based on the kind of storytelling and the framework of the Time Freedom Formula, I guide people through creating their own Time Freedom Formula and revising it through techniques like the no-budget budget, as we discussed. And then, at the end, I have a case study guide to using the calculator, so that you can take your Time Freedom Formula and project it out. 

And then, we get specific about how to think seasonally about a year in your life.

That’s another key component to the entire book, which I refer to as seasonal schedules. 

So, how do you, if you choose to set up your work, working life so that you’re working in seasons and then you’re off in seasons and doing, you know, creative or restful things, and then how can that lead? It’s just a very different way of living from the traditional, like all out, 40 hours a week, all year long. It’s more in line with how things used to work in agriculture and living in harmony with the seasons. 

And so it’s a unique throwback that’s now more possible due to the way we can work. You know, we don’t just have to go down to the office; some do, but most of us don’t. So, we should take advantage of it.

Cosmos

The audience and I will be on the lookout for your book because time freedom is so relevant in today’s world. We have to do everything we can to have freedom in both financial and time terms, because you never know what the future holds, you know?

Brian

Yeah. Yeah. Thank you.

Cosmos

And Brian, how can the audience connect with you and learn more about you and your work? If they want to have you coach them on time freedom, how would they go about doing so?

Brian

The best thing I would recommend is to visit timefreedomcalculator.com. It’s free so that you can experiment with your numbers. You don’t even have to log in if you don’t want to. If you want to save them and explore various scenarios, you can log in, but it’s all free of charge. And then, usually, people become enamored with it. 

But, I’d love to bounce some ideas off Brian. There’s a little button that you can click to schedule. Ah, a time freedom forecast with me. There’s also a little button to add your name to my book wait list. So, everything is right there on the Time Freedom Calculator. So that’s what I do. Timefreedomcalculator.com is amazing, Brian.

Cosmos

 And Brian, I’m so happy and grateful that you took the time to come on this podcast and share your knowledge about attaining time freedom, because this is a very relevant topic.

Brian

Thank you. It’s been a pleasure.

Cosmos

No, thank you. And I hope you’ll join us on this podcast at a later time.

Brian

All right, thanks.

Cosmos

And I want to conclude this episode by letting my fellow extraordinary Americans know that, hey, look, there’s an extraordinary within every one of us. We must awaken it and unleash it. Until next time, goodbye for now.