Practical Steps to Financial Freedom and Independence by Usiere Uko (reading in the dark .TXT) 📖

DEFINING MOMENT

The commitment to go for it is the force that will propel you through the steps, decisions, and processes that will transition you from the old to the new. Life is about making decisions, and some decisions change the course of your life for good. These are called defining moments. Life is made of many of them. Deciding to go for your financial freedom is one. The journey changes your life for good. As you proceed, you gain clarity of your purpose, grow as a person, become richer, and become free to live your dreams.

MY STORY

I still remember Christmas 2001 as if it were yesterday. A member of our charity group, Haringey Peace Alliance, had invited my wife and me to dinner to celebrate a successful rally we’d just held in Northern London against drugs, crime, and gangs wars. As the evening wore on, the conversation shifted to the Oprah Winfrey show and one interesting guest: Robert Kiyosaki, author of the book Rich Dad, Poor Dad. I had missed the episode because I was at work and couldn’t contribute to the conversation—and I seemed to be the only one. But I was intrigued by what I heard. Poor Dad sounded very much like my real dad.

Something inside told me I needed to read that book. I ordered it from Amazon the moment I got home. When it arrived and I turned to the first page, I couldn’t put it down until I got to the last chapter. I had last read a book in 1989, when I’d left the university. Now I was possessed.

Because of this book, I became aware for the first time that I was heading nowhere and history was about to repeat itself. I was a Poor Dad waiting to happen. I was walking the path of my father. I knew deep down this was not where I wanted to end up. Like Robert I have a huge respect for my father—who, incidentally, was a teacher like Robert’s dad. I had thought that studying engineering would give me the clean break from the past I desperately needed. I was dismayed to find I was still stuck in the rat race, armed with an engineering degree and working for an oil company.

What did I have to do to escape?

Desperate for answers I ordered the second book in the Rich Dad series—Cashflow Quadrant. It increased my awareness and made me see things in a whole new light. It awakened my desire for learning. I laid my hands on any book I could find on financial freedom and personal finance. I became a reader. By the time my employers ordered me to pack my bags and return to Lagos, I already had a plan and turned the anger into a propelling force to execute it. I would start an Internet business and use the cash flow as a buffer while I returned to my first love: writing. This time, though, rather than write fiction I would reach out to those who were still trapped like me and let them know they had a choice. I would write about freedom.

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Usiere Uko is not your regular personal finance expert. He is a man on a mission - to inspire everyday folks to rise above their circumstances/excuses and live their dreams. He calls himself a dreamer who lives next door to reality, and believes everyone has a God given right to live his or her dreams.

Usiere is an author, speaker, entrepreneur, mentor and engineer. He started his career as a Mechanical Engineer spanning 23 years with Delta Steel, NETCO and Chevron all in Nigeria. Along the line, he rediscovered his true passion - writing - which led to the commencement of his journey to financial freedom Christmas 2001 while living in the UK.

He is the editor of www.financialfreedominspiration.com, a motivational blog on personal finance and investing. He was on the board of P2P Media Partners, publishers of Moneywise Newspaper and is chairman of board of Galleria Media Limited, publishers of NigeriaGalleria.com.

Usiere is a rookie marathoner, wannabe sky diver and believes in living life without limits. Usiere lives in Lagos Nigeria and is happily married with a lovely son and daughter.

Learn more at www.financialfreedominspiration.com

Publication Date: 06-06-2013

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