Replace a hated six-figure job with a life you love: How to switch

Have you ever dreamed of living the life you want? To live without the constraints of two weeks of vacation a year, to do what you want, when you want and with whom you want?

Most people are faced with the challenge of choosing between an already good job and the opportunity to get something great. And that's exactly what Brian Lubben did, leaving his high-paying sales job to create his own business and travel the world.

What would motivate a man to suddenly quit a lucrative job where promotion after promotion awaits him? After all, that's the American dream, right?

It turns out that Brian Lubben had a much better plan - an opportunity to restructure the very concept of 'work' and not mess with''the corporate world.

Traveling and building a business

In the last eighteen months, Brian has traveled to 33 countries while growing his business around his life, not the other way around. I conducted an in-depth interview with Brian to learn about his successes, failures, and lessons along the way.

Brian Lubben grew up in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in a middle-class family that was "hesitant to talk about money." His first job out of college involved selling uniforms for businesses, where he worked for four and a half years. During that time he became one of the top eight salesmen in his company, which then had thousands of employees in the same position. Winning the contest associated with this achievement guaranteed him''promotion and rapid rise up the corporate ladder.

When he reached the 'corporate pinnacle', Lubben found himself in a state of confusion. Instead of being happy with the results of more than four years of work, he realized he couldn't imagine himself continuing on that path.

He recounts: "Our current vice president was in town for a week, and I was assigned to be by his side for two days. When I walked into the conference room, I saw that he had already had his seventh buzzer call of the morning. His schedule was minute-by-minute, with no breaks. I walked out of that room thinking, "Oh my gosh. If I work even harder and get ahead, will I have even less freedom?".

A higher position, yes, more money, sure. But the price will be loss''maximum performance of the compensation plan in the previous quarter. He had already tentatively planned to invest that amount in additional rental properties that he had already analyzed.

But then something shocking happened that many of us are unfortunately familiar with. It came in the form of a mandatory company-wide call center that Brian joined during the drive home.

The call began, "It is with regret that we have to decline additional quarter bonuses. The impact of the COVID pandemic on our financial results has made it impossible to issue these bonuses in the current environment. We sincerely regret this. "

Salary, promises, investment plans disappeared in 60 seconds. This check amounted to twice my annual salary''change by an event, a change in management or a company-wide decision'.

Realizing it was time to leave, Brian Lubben left his job in March 2022. Over the next eight months, he traveled the world planning his next move.

The bonus check may have been canceled, but Lubben's plan to invest in real estate wasn't lost. Fortunately, he had already started buying rental properties a few years before he left his job.

His main strategy was to replace his six-figure income from his corporate job with cash flow from rental properties.

As Lubben warns, "Many people lose motivation when they realize how far they are from fully replacing existing income, especially when it''makes six figures'." His strategy is to use three levels of cash flow to keep things simple:

• Survival - cash flow from rental properties, passive income that covers basic expenses
• Comfort - additional sources of income such as affiliate marketing, audiobook reading and other projects
• Passionate income - creating a business around your passions and hobbies that generates high income and satisfaction

For Brian, this translates into the following dollars:

• Survival: $3,600 a month from rental properties
• Comfort: an extra $400 a month from renting a car
• Strong income: income from The Action Academy podcast, which amounted to $12,000 - $19,000 in''month

He reached the Survival level through the house hack strategy.

"I bought the main house on credit with a 5% down payment," Lubben recalls. - "I lived in one room and rented out the other rooms. I was buying five-bedroom homes in North Atlanta. I bought one in 2019 and the next one in 2020, for a total of two properties with six tenants (including me living in one room). As a result, after deducting expenses, capital expenditures, vacancies and repairs, this brings in $3,600 per month of net cash flow. "

To reach the Survival level, Lubben would completely rent out his car full-time (with a friend driving it for 50% of the profits) immediately after leaving work. This brought him another $400 a month, and the total cash flow reached'the $4,000 mark. Equally, that $4,000 represented true passive income.

With basic survival expenses covered, Brian Lubben was ready to move on to new adventures and a whole new way of life.

The business of the podcast and continued success

In 2020, Lubben created what he calls his "Vivid Vision." He envisioned what his dream would look like in three years, as well as how much it would cost.

"I knew exactly where I was headed," Lubben notes. - "I knew I wanted to wake up in Greece, in Spain, in Brazil and all over the world, no need to take a paid vacation. "

Factually, it was two years before Lubben left his job. Every decision he made during that time was aimed at achieving''this clear goal.

By the time he quit his job, Lubben had already saved up six months of living expenses in cash, had cash flow from real estate, and had developed a podcast business generating $12,000 to $19,000 in monthly revenue from "affiliates" on his show The Action Academy.

The podcast created by Brian is called The Action Academy. It features "millionaire mentoring for your life and business" and is designed to help you transition from a job you hate to a life you love. The business was launched in 2021, a year before Lubben left his corporate job. He jokes that he documented his entire story publicly "live on air. "

The Action Academy is a series of podcasts, in''To read more information, you need to take action. Present your message to your audience and adjust as needed.

This advice resonates elsewhere. "Don't just '\'read the book'\' and put it back on the shelf," adds Ayanna Jackson, founder of AEJ Consulting LLC. "Follow the actions and suggestions your coach offers you. It will be unconventional, but that's where your career and business development lies so you can thrive. "

For the past two years, Lubben has produced 489 podcast episodes, two every day, in 33 countries. He has used podcasts to get to know his audience better and understand the special challenges they face.

Brian tells me, "The best''The business strategy is to give your best information absolutely free at first. You can pay for it on the back end for implementation.'"

Brian made an offer on a podcast in which he offered a free 15-minute counseling session for those looking to leave corporate America. After one hundred free calls and detailed notes, he gathered the information he needed to create his new business. He then created a 52-hour online course that detailed solutions to the problems that arose from the many calls. He sent each person he did free consultations with his first offer with payment. He smiled as he told me, "I sent one email offering the course for $1,500 and''questioned whether it was needed. I made $100,000 in revenue within 48 hours of launch. From a single email!"

What happened a month later was an even more startling twist of fate - he closed the course.

He quickly realized that the greatest value to customers was in belonging to the Facebook group he had created. They were becoming friends, supporting each other and collaborating on deals. He realized that people didn't want more courses, they wanted more community. This is where he completely changed his business model to what we see today - a thriving community where an initial 52-hour course serves as a free 30-day training.

Brian tells us that after he had a steady monthly cash''flow of $17,000, as well as six months of cash in his account, he still experienced panic attacks while trying to leave his job.

He recalls, "I almost went to the hospital three times. The only thing that kept me going were my friends and mentors who had already left their jobs and told me it would all work out. "

Lubben jokes, "Cash flow takes you out of work. Community keeps you in. "

This prompted Brian to focus on the three rules of business success, "Clarity, Community, and Cash Flow. "

"As high-performing employees, most people are terrible at answering the question '\''What do I want?'\' Most people don't even think about this question. They continue to work without a specific''goals until they start experiencing stress, burnout, illness, depression, anxiety, divorce and chronic fatigue. And we call that the American dream!"

Brian Lubben aims to use his business to rid people of this mindset. "The most important thing people can do is choose their own direction," he recommends. "What does freedom look like to you? What does winning mean to you? The answers to these questions will give you the ultimate edge in happiness and success. We all keep moving without once considering where we're really going.".

This is a message Lubben echoes himself, as well as his listeners and clients. He also points out that "a win for me is traveling the world, a win for you may be being able to take your'"kids from school every day. We all have our own ideas about the '\''good life'\''\''\'''.

In that spirit, Lubben has designed his business from the ground up so that it can be run anywhere he has access to Wi-Fi, a Mac and a microphone. He has also hired "rockstar team members" who can handle the day-to-day operations of his business so that the business can continue, no matter where in the world Lubben himself is.

His mission is to help millennials replace corporate income with cash flow by building their own businesses around their passions - what he calls "passionate income." Lubben talks about how he spent more than 1,137 hours last year writing a book on the topic called From Passive''til passionate - how to quit your job, develop your wealth and turn your passions into profits. "

"Our mission is to unlock entrepreneurs," states Lubben. - "We believe that entrepreneurs are not created, they are unlocked. They've been square plugs trying to fit into round holes their whole lives until they finally hit their limit and go off to do their own thing." If you've read Brian Lubben's story up to this point, chances are you've already considered leaving corporate America. If that's the case, it's good to remember Lubben's realization that information is not the answer, implementation is what's needed. And if you make the decision, it's good to know that there are communities of other people who are in the same boat and ready''support you.