Episode 615 – Independence Day
[00:00:08] Welcome to Screw the Commute. The entrepreneurial podcast dedicated to getting you out of the car and into the money, with your host, lifelong entrepreneur and multimillionaire, Tom Antion.

[00:00:24] Hey everybody, it's Tom here with Episode 615 of Screw the Commute podcast? Going to talk about Independence Day. Happy 4th of July, folks. And this is not the movie. We're going to talk about your independence and a little bit of history of the craziness that went on the Revolutionary War. Every 4th of July, I reflect on two things. One, the brave soldiers who gave their lives so we could have independence today. And two, more personally, how I've lived an independent business life pretty much my entire adult life. Now before I get into my very short commentary about today, because I know you want to get back to grilling your burgers and watching parades. Right. Let me remind you of our last episode, 614. That was on pretty links. And of course, when you want to get to a back episode as you go screwthecommute.com, slash and then the episode number that was 614. Pretty links is a free WordPress plugin that takes weird looking links that are typically aren't accepted in places that you want them to be accepted and makes them look well pretty so that they get accepted and you can use them and and on radio, TV, podcast interviews, all that stuff. So check that out. Episode 614 All right, let's talk about Independence Day. For me, Independence Day occurred in 1975 when I was still in college, but I purchased my first triplex apartment building. I went on to purchase four more apartment buildings and a hotel before I graduated. And all this was starting with nothing. No money down stuff. Now you might say that I was pretty independent prior to buying that first triplex because I was in college on a football scholarship.

[00:02:24] I played first team starting guard for a couple of years and I played five years in all. And quite honestly, I loved playing football. But at the top 20 school level. I mean, those of us that were bright enough to notice. All right. And I might add, there were not that many of us bright enough to even pair Sox up correctly. All right. So that was kind of the way it was. Anyway. I noticed. And I really couldn't stand the politics of major college sports. See if a major donor's kid was on the team, regardless of their ability, that kid got pushed in front of others that are much better players. And and I also saw the needles being shot just before the game time into shaky knees that should have been rested for maybe another eight weeks or so or til the next year. And I saw players that had no business being in college. Many of them were functionally illiterate. But anyway, I made college football days the best experience I could, but I had to put up with the arrogant coaches. All right. I think many of them would have been better politicians. They were basically full of it, but you had to listen to them. But by the time I graduated, I was making more on my apartments in hotel than all but the head coach, all the coaches. And and that was my Independence Day. I didn't have to listen to them anymore.

[00:04:02] Now, now, that doesn't mean I turned into some smart aleck back talker. No. Just in my mind, I knew I was on a great upward trajectory. And those pitiful drone coaches were going pretty much nowhere. Now, when you're truly independent, you don't have to be arrogant. You don't have to try to show your power. You're powerful in your own right. You'll notice that some of the most powerful people are the nicest to the waiters and waitresses of the world and the cab drivers and landscapers and anybody else who's in a service job. So today I'm challenging you to declare your independence. Now, declaring independence doesn't mean you are automatically fully independent. Many of you are working jobs and you want to get out of it, but you're not there yet, so you have to work it. And some of you are working your own business from home but want to get more independent and get more income so you can do the things you love. And like I said, you're not automatically independent just because you declare it. And you can ask anybody who knows anything about the Revolutionary War. See, even though just down the street from me was the Battle of Yorktown. And that was thought to be the effective triumph of the American forces in their quest for independence. But guess what? They had to keep fighting the colonist. Fought for eight years to gain their independence. It was a and it was a full seven years after actually declaring independence on July four, 1776, that Britain finally gave up and recognised our independence. So, so just declaring it's not enough, you have to keep working towards it and actually gain it.

[00:05:59] Now, one thing to keep in mind when you do declare and work toward your independence is that people in your life may change. Now here's a piece of trivia you may not be aware of. The name Benedict Arnold. Well, that name is pretty much synonymous with one of the most treasonous scumbags of all time. Right. But he started out as a decorated and highly trusted officer in the American Army. He was in charge of West Point no less, and was going to give it to the British until his plan was uncovered. So people who may support you now may feel threatened and jealous of you when you move towards your independence. I can assure you they were not your true friends or truly supportive of you. They were supportive only when it met their needs, not yours. So say goodbye to them and tell them to take a hike. All right. If you're stuck with them in a family, well, that's a whole different can of worms there. So this podcast and my trainings over the years have helped thousands of people become independent financially. And that fact is one of my best trophies. Yeah, I have him for football, baseball and wrestling. And I actually have one for track to have some for track. But none of those trophies did much to do good in the world. Making people independent did do some good in the world, and that's what I'm proud of. So work towards your independence. And happy 4th of July.