Be A Free Range Human Summary

1-Sentence-Summary: Be A Free Range Human inspires you to finally quit that 9-5 job that is sucking the life out of you and begin working for yourself by explaining why the “job security” doesn’t exist anymore, helping you discover your passions, and identifying the steps you need to follow if you want to start a life of freedom and happiness.

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Be A Free Range Human Summary

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One day an executive in my company told me that they were letting me go. The day before, work was normal. I didn’t expect that in just 24 hours I’d be afraid about putting food on the table for my young family.

My experience isn’t uncommon. The steady job we once thought was the norm isn’t as stable as you’d think. But you can also leave the caged life of the 9-5 and be free. That’s what I did after losing my job!

If this idea excites you but also scares you, then you’re going to love Marianne Cantwell‘s Be A Free Range Human: Escape the 9-5, Create a Life You Love and Still Pay the Bills. It will calm all your fears about escaping the prison of your day job and inspire you to live the life you’ve always dreamed of.

Here are the 3 most exciting lessons about flying the coop of your day job:

  1. You will be successful if you do work you love, but first, you’ve got to ask yourself the right questions to find your passion.
  2. Forget about your weaknesses, focus on, and utilize your strengths.
  3. If you want to start working for yourself but aren’t sure what type of business to have, consider one of four kinds.

Are you excited to figure out how to finally become happy and free? Let’s get right to it!

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Lesson 1: Doing work you love is a prerequisite to success, and you’ll discover your passion by asking yourself the right questions.

Sadly, we focus more on paying the bills than living our dreams. The idea that doing what you love and making a living with it isn’t popular, but it’s 100% possible.

In my old job, I wasn’t loving what I was doing. It was really difficult to begin working.

But then a lightbulb went off when I was working on building a side hustle. I discovered writing, web design, and SEO. Suddenly, I didn’t have to try as hard to work. It’s not always easy still, but I have found work that inspires me and doesn’t actually feel like work!

The amazing thing here is that I work 10x harder, longer, and happier than I did at my old job. This is why finding your passions and working within them is so important. Once you do, you’ll finally be happy, productive, and successful. 

But getting there is another thing. Your mind tries to get you to think logically anytime you want to dream, and it’s hard to break free of that. To fix that, try journaling about two ideas:

  1. What were you doing the last time you felt full of energy?
  2. If you found a magic lamp and a genie told you that you had a year without work but with full pay, what would you do with it?

Just write freely without editing or thinking limiting thoughts and you’ll be well on your way to a successful life that you love!

Lesson 2: Focus on your strengths, not your weaknesses, but look to what you’re bad at to help you find what you’re best at.

This is one of my favorite parts of this book and of venturing out on your own. You’ve been sold a lie your whole life that you should improve in all areas to be well-rounded. But guess what? 

That’s completely wrong! And once you figure this out, you’re going to feel freer than ever before. 

You’ll also set yourself up for success because nobody is going to have the life they want by believing they’re just average. Which is exactly what this mentality does to people.

When you got your grades in school, your parents and teachers were only talking about what you did worst in. But they should have been telling you to double down on the ones you were getting A’s in!

You’ve got to find your superpower, but how do you do it? Ironically, what people say are your weaknesses is a good place to start. 

The author had a job once where she was always being reprimanded for trying to improve how the company did things. What was a weakness in that job was actually a strength when she became a consultant. Helping clients required her to look at what wasn’t going well and finding ways to improve them!

Lesson 3: You don’t have to have a complicated business proposal and a lot of money to begin, try something within these four categories.

You’ve got to have money to make money, right? Actually, this old saying is usually what makes businesses fail. You don’t need startup capital or a business plan to begin. But you do need to pick the right model.

Don’t go for a brick-and-mortar store like a cafe or bookshop. They take too much time and money. Instead, focus on building around these four models to succeed:

  • Services
  • Virtual Products
  • Physical Products
  • Advertising

Services, like writing and web design, are great because you can start right away. The downside is that they are time-bound, so you only earn based on the hours you work.

That’s where virtual products, such as ebooks and courses, are nice because there’s no limit to earnings. But you do need to know a lot about your market and advertise well to get it right. 

Physical products are another option that might be good if that’s your passion. These can be heavily time and resource-dependent, however.

Finally, we have advertising, which just means putting ads on a YouTube channel or blog. This is a good way to supplement your income easily.

Be A Free Range Human Review

Be A Free Range Human is awesome!! I loved reading it and partway through realizing that I am a Free Range Human. These tips are just what you need to get there, which is why I highly recommend this book!

Who would I recommend the Be A Free Range Human summary to?

The 32-year-old who just got let go from his job and is sick of working hard to make somebody else rich, the 51-year-old that wants to become an entrepreneur but isn’t sure where to begin, and anyone that wants the facts about working for yourself and the inspiration to finally pull the trigger and do it.

Last Updated on July 23, 2023

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Luke Rowley

With over 450 summaries that he contributed to Four Minute Books, first as a part-time writer, then as our full-time Managing Editor until late 2021, Luke is our second-most prolific writer. He's also a professional, licensed engineer, working in the solar industry. Next to his day job, he also runs Goal Engineering, a website dedicated to achieving your goals with a unique, 4-4-4 system. Luke is also a husband, father, 75 Hard finisher, and lover of the outdoors. He lives in Utah with his wife and 3 kids.