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Visit Samsung.com slash business to learn more. Basically, I don't have terrible news like that again. Just that I'm sick, which, to be fair, is probably deserved. I've been sleep cycling this week, which probably messed up my immune system.
And by the way, if you don't know what sleep cycling is, that's because I think I invented it. It's basically when I go to bed later and later, and later, so I'll be going to bed at like 2 a.m. and then 5 a.m., then eventually 8 a.m., 1 p.m., and so on until I cycle back to a normal schedule. So I've been doing that this week and then got sick.
And I've said it before, and I'll say it again, if I'm physically able to put down an episode, then I will. So this is me recording for my bed, literally, and recording this five hours before it goes live. My original plan was to read you some previously recorded material from the minimalist, but Dan of Optimal Finance Daily had a special episode today, where he read his own content for once. It's the first time since launching his show, 150 episodes ago.
So I thought that was really cool, and figured I'd share it on here, too. So if you subscribe to Optimal Finance Daily also, first, thank you. I really appreciate that. But unfortunately, this will be duplicate content for you, since I'm pretty much playing that episode to you.
But most people don't listen to all the podcasts and the OLD family, so I wanted to give Dan's story a little more exposure. And it was really cool how it came up. He read a post from Kristen Wong of thewildlong.com and he related to it so much that, after recording the episode, he emailed me, since I produced the show, and he told me that he has a lot to say about it and asked if he should just append it to the end of that episode. And I said that if he has enough content, we can make that a special 150th episode, so that's how all this came to be.
And if you enjoyed today's reading, come subscribe to Optimal Finance Daily, too. Like I said, I produce it, which pretty much means that I do everything for the show, except the actual recording of it. So I'm heavily involved in it, and it'd be awesome if you listen to that one, too. And I don't imagine I'll be feeling well enough to read tomorrow, but the content will be new, most likely some content from the minimalist that I haven't yet shared with you, so yeah, you can listen to the episodes this weekend, they should be new to you.
Okay, this is getting way too long for an intro, and I need to lie down, so here's Dan with his story. Shaking the scarcity mindset, and shaking things up by me, Dan, of oldpodcast.com. In episode 137, Kristen Wong talks about the scarcity mindset. She wrote, quote, out of college, I started an entry-level job that didn't pay much.
A year later, I found a job that paid double, and I almost didn't take it. Why would anyone not take a better job that paid twice as much? Because I was scared. I was terrified, actually, that the job wouldn't work out and I'd have nothing.
You're lucky you even have a job, I told myself. Don't press that luck. That probably seems stupid to you as it does to me now. I almost neglected to move forward in my career because I was afraid of losing the little I already had.
That's not exactly the mindset you need to move mountains. End quote. Well, after I read that to all of you here on Optimal Finance Daily, I thought, this is something that I'm pretty familiar with. I spent almost 17 years working as a news reporter and anchor at a radio station, the same radio station.
At first, I had a lot of fun, despite the bad pay, the weird hours, and difficult bosses. I even had some pretty thrilling experiences that are hard to find outside the world of journalism, like meeting a few presidents or watching NFL games from right down in the field with the rest of the media. But then I never left the job. I could have pursued jobs at bigger radio stations and bigger cities with higher pay, and I just didn't.
I even had a couple of offers over the years, but I always found a way to discount them. Part of it was that mindset that Kristen mentioned the idea that you should feel lucky to have a job where that another offer wouldn't work out and I'd be left with nothing. Part of it was my natural aversion to change and wanting to stay in your family and friends and not bounce around the country. So, after 17 years, I found myself at the top of a paltry pay scale, bored and burnt out.
Lucky for me, my wife had been reading Ramit's blog and have recently discovered Mr. Money Mustache as well. After pretty much binge reading all the posts on Mr. Money Mustache's blog, she was convinced that we needed to make some kind of a radical change in our life.
We weren't quite ready for early retirement, but we thought we could get some of the same benefits if I quit my job, so I did. I left my job to be a stay-at-home dad, to think about my next move and to let my wife put in more hours at her lucrative freelancing gig. I should mention though that we had no debt and we had a healthy emergency fund, so we weren't completely diving off the deep end here. Even so, it was definitely scary at first.
And also, even though it's 2016, you'd be surprised at the number of people who look at you a little funny if you say you're gonna be a stay-at-home dad. But with Emily freed up to work more and me picking up the slack with our daughter, we continued to make enough money to live a great life, cover our expenses, and even grow our savings and retirement accounts. With a 40-hour work week gone and my mind clearer, I decided to pursue something that I thought about for a long time, being a voice-over talent. I took lessons with a coach who helped me to craft a demo and have been auditioning for jobs for about a year now.
I host a local radio show, I've done a couple of regional commercials and narration jobs, and I'm slowly building a business while being in complete control of how much I work. Plus, I hooked up with Justin and the great optimal living daily team. I love my new work, what I'm learning and the challenges it brings. And one of the best parts is that now both my wife and I are working from home and have really flexible schedules.
Neither of us work anything close to full time, so we're able to spend a ton of time with our kids. And no longer are we tied to one geographic location, we're able to take longer trips to visit friends and family since we can work while we're there, just like we do at home. We are now two years into this experiment, and so far it is a success. It isn't always easy, it can be tough being with your kids all the time, it's also hard not to know exactly how much you'll be able to work or earn each year.
But we've tried to keep an attitude of abundance instead of scarcity, and so far the universe has provided for us. We've always found new work and new opportunities when something falls away. So I just wanted to encourage all of you that the things that I'm reading to you day in and day out of the better life and breaking out of the norm can really work. You just listened to the post titled Shaking the Scarcity Mindset and Shaking Things Up by me, Dan, of oldpodcast.com.
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And that's gonna wrap up this week's episodes. If you like hearing us read our own content, Justin from Optimal Living Daily wrote his own financial post talking about some takeaways from tracking all of his expenses for something like six years. And you can check out his reading of it on the Optimal Living Daily Podcast, check out episodes 255 and 256. It's a financial post, but since he wrote it, it made more sense to read it on his own podcast.
So definitely check that out too. Today would actually be a perfect day to do that because Justin is sick, get well, Justin. And actually he's playing you this episode on his podcast today since reading to you when sick is not fun. I've done it before, as some of you might remember.
So instead of listening to this episode from me twice, you can check out one of his older episodes and get your fix of that show too. And that's 150 episodes of Optimal Finance Daily in the books, 30 full weeks of doing this podcast. Thank you all so much for continuing to listen to the show. Here's to another 150.
And I'll be back with more next week where your Optimal Life awaits. You've been listening to Optimal Living Daily. Be sure to hit the subscribe button to stay up to date on each new episode and head to oldpodcast.com. That's OLDpodcast.com for a free gift as well as more actionable tips and resources to help you maximize your potential.
Thanks for joining us. And remember your Optimal Life awaits.