So what does it take to become financially free?

那麼，怎樣才能實現財務自由呢？

Well, in this video, we're gonna learn how you can turn your income from this, all the way to this, and then maybe even to this.

在本視頻中，我們將學習如何把你的收入從這個變成這個，甚至變成這個。

And to answer this question, we're gonna be using a framework called the Ladders of Wealth Creation.

為了回答這個問題，我們將使用一個名為 "創富階梯 "的框架。

This is a concept that my friend Nathan Barry came up with in his 2019 blog post that went absolutely mega viral on the internet and really changed the way that I also consider wealth building, making money, financial freedom, all that fun stuff.

這是我的朋友內森-巴里（Nathan Barry）在他 2019 年的博文中提出的一個概念，這個概念在互聯網上引起了極大的反響，並真正改變了我對財富積累、賺錢、財務自由等所有有趣事物的看法。

Now, here is what the four ladders of wealth creation look like.

現在，我們來看看創造財富的四個階梯是什麼樣的。

Ladder one is where you make the least money.

第一階梯是賺錢最少的地方。

Ladder four is where you make the most money.

第四階梯是你賺錢最多的地方。

And you can climb as high as you want on any of these ladders, but some of these ladders are ultimately just a lot taller than the others.

在這些梯子上，你想爬多高就爬多高，但有些梯子最終還是比其他梯子高出很多。

So when trying to build wealth, a lot of people try to jump from ladder one, where you are trading your time for money, straight to ladder four, where you are building and selling products.

是以，在努力積累財富時，很多人都試圖從第一階梯--用時間換金錢--直接跳到第四階梯--建立和銷售產品。

But this can often be a mistake because the skills you need to climb ladder one are a fraction of what you need to climb ladder four.

但這往往是個錯誤，因為攀登階梯一所需的技能只是攀登階梯四所需技能的一小部分。

And the thing I love about Nathan's article here is that he shows you all of the skills you need to develop at each step of the ladder to eventually make your way to ladder number four.

我喜歡內森這篇文章的一點是，他向你展示了你在階梯的每一步都需要發展的所有技能，最終讓你邁向第四階梯。

Ladder number one, time for money.

階梯一，時間換金錢。

This is Sarah Blakely.

這位是莎拉-布萊克利

Now, Sarah started her first business in 1990 when she was just out of high school.

1990 年，莎拉剛剛高中畢業，就開始了她的第一份工作。

She charged $8 to babysit kids for a few hours at a local Hilton hotel while their mums and dads tanned.

她在當地一家希爾頓酒店照看孩子幾個小時，而孩子的爸爸媽媽則晒黑皮膚，收費 8 美元。

Fast forward to 2021 and Sarah's company Spanx, which is a clothing company that makes underwear and leggings was valued at $1.2 billion.

時至 2021 年，Sarah 的公司 Spanx（一家生產內衣和緊身褲的服裝公司）估值達到 12 億美元。

And what I love about this story alongside literally thousands of others is that most people who become financially free started off in ladder number one with some kind of hourly job.

我喜歡這個故事以及其他成千上萬個故事的原因在於，大多數實現財務自由的人都是從第一階梯開始的，開始時他們從事的都是一些小時工的工作。

Now, the bottom rung of ladder number one is doing hourly work for someone.

現在，第一階梯的最底層是為別人做小時工。

And this is where you think in terms of how much money you're making per hour, otherwise known as a wage.

這就是你每小時能掙多少錢，也就是所謂的工資。

Now, I was at this rung when I was 14 years old and started working at a maths and English study centre called Kumon.

14 歲那年，我在一家名為 "公文 "的數學和英語學習中心工作。

I'd be paid $5 an hour to work for four hours a week, teaching kids maths and English and helping them with their coursework and that sort of thing.

我的報酬是每小時 5 美元，每週工作 4 小時，教孩子們數學和英語，幫助他們完成課業之類的事情。

Now, generally the next step up ladder one is some form of salaried work.

現在，一級階梯的下一步一般是某種形式的受薪工作。

And this is where you work for a company and you get told what your annual salary is.

這就是你在一家公司工作，你會被告知你的年薪是多少。

This is for example, what I was doing aged 24 to 26 when I worked as a junior doctor in the UK's National Health Service.

例如，我 24 歲至 26 歲在英國國民健康服務機構擔任初級醫生時就是這樣做的。

My annual salary was around 36,000 pounds GBP and I was working on average 48 hours a week.

我的年薪約為 36,000 英鎊，平均每週工作 48 小時。

And I had around 28 days off per year in terms of like paid annual leave.

我每年有 28 天左右的帶薪年假。

Now, you might've noticed something a little depressing, which is that ladder one is the shortest ladder when it comes to wealth creation.

現在，你可能已經注意到一些令人沮喪的事情，那就是在創造財富方面，第一階梯是最短的階梯。

But ladder one is how most people make their living.

但第一梯是大多數人的謀生之道。

And ladder one is the shortest ladder because it's really, really, really hard to become financially free by trading your time for money.

而第一階梯是最短的階梯，因為用時間換金錢，真的真的很難實現財務自由。

Yes, there are a handful of professions where you can become financially free if you do trade your time for money.

是的，有一些職業，如果你真的用時間換金錢，你就可以實現財務自由。

If for example, you're a very well-paid software engineer or you're a very well-paid doctor in the US or you work in finance and like hedge funds or private equity or investment banking, then yeah, sure, you're still trading your time for money but your salary is in the millions.

舉例來說，如果你是一名高薪軟件工程師，或者你是美國一名高薪醫生，或者你從事金融工作，比如對沖基金、私募股權投資或投資銀行，那麼是的，當然，你仍然在用時間換取金錢，但你的薪水是數百萬美元。

And therefore, if you save a huge proportion of your salary and then you put it aside into investments and you think about things like the 4% rule and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, this is basically the method that most people who are following the FIRE community, financial independence, retire early.

是以，如果你把工資的一大部分存起來，然後拿出來投資，再考慮一下 4% 原則之類的東西，基本上這就是大多數追隨 FIRE 社區（財務獨立、提前退休）的人所採用的方法。

This is what they're doing.

這就是他們正在做的。

They're trying to earn loads of money in their 20s and 30s so that they can retire by age like 35 and then that to them is financial freedom.

他們想在二三十歲時賺很多錢，以便在 35 歲左右退休，這樣對他們來說就是財務自由了。

But unfortunately, if you're not in one of those high-paying jobs, it is very difficult to become financially free.

但不幸的是，如果你沒有從事這些高薪工作，就很難實現財務自由。

And even if you are in some of these high-paying jobs, you might find that like the trade-off of working in an investment bank for 15 years from age 21 to age 36, the amount of damage that does to your life and your health and relationships, from what I hear from people who are in that position, might not even be worth it when you do get to age 36 and suddenly you can retire.

即使你從事的是一些高薪工作，你也可能會發現，就像在投資銀行工作 15 年，從 21 歲到 36 歲，這對你的生活、健康和人際關係造成的損害，從我聽到的處於這種境地的人的說法來看，當你真的到了 36 歲，突然可以退休的時候，可能根本不值得。

But anyway, when you're on ladder one and you're trading time for money, your growth in income will look something like this.

但無論如何，當你在第一階梯上用時間換取金錢時，你的收入增長會是這樣的。

You start off working for a company and if you stay at the company long enough and do relatively well, then you'll get a raise.

你剛開始為一家公司工作，如果你在這家公司工作的時間夠長，表現相對較好，那麼你就會得到加薪。

Then maybe at some point you'll get a promotion and then you'll get another raise.

也許到了某個時候，你會升職，然後再加薪。

And these little raises create these sort of small step changes in your income graph.

這些微小的加薪會在你的收入曲線圖上產生微小的變化。

For example, if I continued in my medical career, this is what my income graph would have looked like.

例如，如果我繼續從醫，我的收入圖表會是這樣的。

In my foundation year one, I'd be making about $40,000.

在我創立的第一年，我的收入約為 4 萬美元。

In foundation year two, maybe about 48,000.

在基礎二年級，可能約有 48 000 人。

Then during core training, maybe I'm making like 50, 4K.

然後在核心訓練中，我可能會做出 50 或 4K 的成績。

And then I become a registrar and maybe I'm making like 58 to 60K.

然後我成了註冊商，也許我的收入是 58 到 60 萬。

And then once I become a consultant, age like 35 or above, then I'm on around about 100,000 to 150,000 depending on how I play my cards.

一旦我成為顧問，年齡在 35 歲或以上，我的收入就會達到 10 萬到 15 萬左右，這取決於我如何出牌。

That is the annual salary that I'm basically gonna be at for the rest of my life, unless I decide to, for example, do private practice, which could involve working for a private healthcare company or starting my own thing, but that would take us to a different ladder.

這就是我餘生的年薪，除非我決定做私人醫生，比如為私人醫療保健公司工作，或者自己創業，但那會讓我們進入另一個階梯。

Now, interestingly, in the UK, if you wanna be in the top 1% of earners, that is an annual salary of 160,000 pounds, which is about $200,000.

有趣的是，在英國，如果你想成為收入最高的 1%，年薪就要達到 16 萬英鎊，約合 20 萬美元。

So if I continued working in medicine,

所以，如果我繼續從醫、

I'd have been around about at that salary

我當時的工資大概是這個水準

I would have joined the 1%, maybe in my 40s or my 50s.

也許在我 40 多歲或 50 多歲的時候，我就會加入那 1% 的行列。

But however much money you're making in a job, there is inevitably some kind of cap to how much you can make when you are trading your time for money.

但是，無論你在一份工作中掙多少錢，當你用時間換取金錢時，你能掙多少錢都不可避免地有某種上限。

It kind of begs the question, why do most people stay on ladder one?

這就引出了一個問題：為什麼大多數人都留在第一階梯？

Depending on your circumstances, you might not be able to actually physically go into ladders two or three or four.

根據你的情況，你可能無法實際進入第二、第三或第四層梯子。

And honestly, I think for most people who are sufficiently privileged, with all of the caveats aside, who are sufficiently privileged to have the option of moving to different ladders, but who seem to stay in ladder one,

老實說，我認為對於大多數有足夠特權的人來說，撇開所有的注意事項不談，他們有足夠的特權可以選擇向不同的階梯發展，但他們似乎停留在第一階梯、

I think a big part of it is that we just don't consider that you actually can move to these different ladders.

我認為其中很大一部分原因是我們沒有考慮到你實際上可以向這些不同的階梯發展。

I went through med school.

我上過醫學院。

It did not even remotely occur to me when I was applying to medicine that there were ways to make money other than to just get a job and earn a salary.

在申請醫學專業時，我根本沒有想過，除了找一份工作賺取薪水之外，還有其他賺錢的途徑。

And what it took was for me to read Tim Ferriss' amazing book, The 4-Hour Workweek at the age of 18 to be like, oh my God, my whole world has opened up to the fact that you can in fact make money using a vehicle other than a salary job.

18歲那年，我讀了蒂姆-費里斯（Tim Ferriss）的奇書《每週工作4小時》（The 4-Hour Workweek）後，我才意識到，天哪，我的整個世界都豁然開朗了，原來除了薪水工作，你還可以用其他方式賺錢。

And there's that fun story from David Foster Wallace that I think really captures this.

大衛-福斯特-華萊士（David Foster Wallace）有一個有趣的故事，我認為它很好地詮釋了這一點。

You might've heard it before, but two fish are happily swimming along and they meet an older fish swimming the other way.

你可能聽過這樣的故事：兩條魚在快樂地游來游去時，遇到了一條從另一個方向游來的老魚。

The older fish nods and says, morning boys, how's the water?

大魚點點頭說："早上好，孩子們，水怎麼樣？

And then the two young fish swim on a bit and then they look at each other and they say, what the hell is water?

兩條小魚遊了一會兒，然後互相看了一眼，說："水是什麼鬼東西？

And for most of us, the water that we are swimming in when it comes to making money is ladder one of the wealth creation ladder, the idea of trading our time for money.

而對我們大多數人來說，在賺錢的時候，我們所處的水域是創富階梯的第一階，即用時間換金錢的想法。

By the way, if you were wondering about the absolutely sick background music that we've been using in this video, and in fact, every other video on my channel since 2017, that is from Epidemic Sound who are very kindly sponsoring this video.

順便說一下，如果你想知道我們在這段視頻中使用的絕對變態的背景音樂，事實上，自 2017 年以來，我頻道中的其他視頻都使用了這種音樂，它來自 Epidemic Sound，他們非常友好地贊助了這段視頻。

Epidemic Sound, incidentally, is a cross between a sort of marketplace and a SaaS product, Software as a Service, which we're gonna talk about in ladder four of the ladders of wealth creation.

順便提一下，Epidemic Sound 是一種介於市場和 SaaS 產品（軟件即服務）之間的交叉產品。

But sound design is an incredibly important part of making great videos and we get literally all of our tracks and sound effects from Epidemic.

但音效設計是製作優秀視頻的一個非常重要的部分，我們的所有音軌和音效都來自 Epidemic。

They've got a huge library of over 40,000 songs and 90,000 sound effects that are restriction free.

他們擁有一個龐大的音樂庫，其中包含 40,000 多首歌曲和 90,000 多種音效，而且不受限制。

So you can use them in pretty much whatever way you want in your videos.

是以，您可以在視頻中隨意使用它們。

And it genuinely just makes it so easy to build the perfect sound design for your content.

它能讓您輕鬆地為內容設計出完美的音效。

For example, you might search inspiring soaring piano music, and then you can find stuff and then you can click find similar and that will make it easy to find stuff that sounds similar to that.

例如，你可以搜索鼓舞人心的高亢鋼琴曲，然後就能找到相關內容，再點擊查找相似內容，這樣就能輕鬆找到與之相似的內容。

That's how I personally find a lot of the music that I use in my videos.

我在視頻中使用的很多音樂都是通過這種方式找到的。

The music is also professionally produced and it's all original music and they own 100% of it as well.

音樂也是專業製作的，都是原創音樂，他們也擁有 100% 的所有權。

So there's never a chance that your videos are gonna get a claim or a takedown in the future.

這樣，您的視頻就不會在未來遭到索賠或刪除。

Epidemic Sound gives you so much freedom as a creator and it helps me avoid claims against my content and it all remains licensed even after you end your subscription.

Epidemic Sound 為創作者提供了極大的自由度，可以幫助我避免對我的內容提出索賠，而且即使在您結束訂閱後，所有內容仍然獲得許可。

And like I said, I've been using it for literally the last seven years.

就像我說的，在過去的七年裡，我一直在使用它。

So if you wanna bring your videos and stories to life with sound, then click the link in the video description and that will give you a seven day completely free trial where you can start creating amazing soundtracks for your content.

是以，如果你想讓你的視頻和故事有聲有色，那麼點擊視頻描述中的鏈接，你就可以獲得為期七天的完全免費試用，開始為你的內容製作精彩的配樂。

So thank you so much to Epidemic Sound for sponsoring this video.

非常感謝 Epidemic Sound 贊助本視頻。

So now we come to ladder number two, which is a traditional service business.

現在，我們來到第二梯隊，這是一個傳統的服務企業。

Now, when I was around 12 years old,

現在，在我 12 歲左右的時候、

I discovered something absolutely magical, which is that I had the ability to make money on the internet by offering services to people online.

我發現了一件絕對神奇的事情，那就是我有能力通過在網上為人們提供服務來賺錢。

And through that realisation,

通過這種認識

I learned how to make websites.

我學會了如何製作網站。

I learned the basics of online coding skills and stuff.

我學到了在線編碼技能等基礎知識。

And I advertised my services on freelance platforms where I was charging like $10 an hour to make websites for people.

我在自由職業者平臺上做廣告，為人們製作網站，每小時收費 10 美元。

And that was like a major unlock because I'd now gone from trading time for money to doing more of a service business.

這就像是一個重大的解鎖，因為我現在已經從用時間換金錢變成了做更多的服務生意。

And this is ladder two of the ladders of wealth creation, which is some form of freelance service business.

這就是創富階梯的第二階梯，也就是某種形式的自由服務業。

And it's very possible to make money like this.

這樣賺錢是很有可能的。

There are platforms like Fiverr and Upwork and People Per Hour where anyone in the world can post themselves as a freelancer with a particular skill.

在 Fiverr、Upwork 和 People Per Hour 等平臺上，世界上任何人都可以發佈自己是擁有特定技能的自由職業者。

And then anyone in the world can hire you to do that particular skill.

然後，世界上任何人都可以僱用你來完成這項特殊技能。

It's pretty magical.

這是非常神奇的。

Now on ladder one, the core skill you need if you want a wage job or a salary job is essentially being reliable, performing well and showing up consistently.

現在，在第一階梯上，如果你想獲得一份工資工作或薪水工作，你需要的核心技能基本上就是可靠、表現出色和持續出現。

Yes, of course, there are more specialist skills.

當然，還有更多的專業技能。

Like if you're a doctor, then obviously you need the doctor skills.

比如你是一名醫生，那麼顯然你需要醫生的技能。

And if you're a banker, you need the banker skills and stuff.

如果你是銀行家，你就需要銀行家的技能和其他東西。

But when you jump to ladder two, you then need to learn a new set of skills.

但是，當你跳到第二階梯時，你就需要學習一套新的技能。

Now at the bottom of ladder two, you're most likely charging for some kind of hourly work.

現在，在第二階梯的最底層，你很可能按小時收費。

So for example, you might be charging $20 an hour as a freelance writer or $50 an hour as a video editor.

是以，舉例來說，作為自由撰稿人，您可能每小時收費 20 美元，作為視頻編輯，您可能每小時收費 50 美元。

But at the very least, you need the skill of finding clients who will actually buy your service.

但最起碼，你需要掌握找到真正願意購買你服務的客戶的技巧。

Secondly, potentially creating proposals for those clients and pitching for work.

其次，有可能為這些客戶制定建議書並爭取工作。

And thirdly, probably knowing how to price whatever your service is.

第三，無論你的服務是什麼，可能都知道如何定價。

And then you graduate to doing per project based work.

然後，你就可以按項目工作了。

So instead of me saying, hey, I will design you a website for $10 an hour and it will take me 10 hours, so I'm gonna charge you $100.

所以，我不會說，嘿，我給你設計一個網站，每小時 10 美元，要花 10 個小時，所以我收你 100 美元。

It's more like, hey, I'll charge you $200 to make your website.

這更像是，嘿，我收你 200 美元做網站。

And then in fact, the incentive is for me to take as little time as possible in actually delivering that service, because now I'm not being paid by the hour.

事實上，這樣做的動機是讓我在實際提供服務時儘量少花時間，因為現在我不是按小時付費。

And then if you decide to move one step up in that particular ladder, then you're not necessarily the one who's actually delivering the work.

如果你決定在這個階梯上更上一層樓，那麼你就不一定是真正完成工作的人。

Maybe you're selling the work, but you are hiring other people to do the work for you.

也許你是在出售作品，但你是在僱用其他人為你工作。

And so that is what a service based agency is.

這就是以服務為基礎的機構。

For example, if you hire a web design agency, it is very unlikely that the person who you talk on the phone to, who sells you the web design project is actually the one writing the code and making the website.

例如，如果你僱用了一家網頁設計公司，與你通電話、向你推銷網頁設計項目的人實際上不太可能是編寫代碼和製作網站的人。

Chances are they have employed other people, either as freelancers or as employees to do the service for them so that they can deliver the results and things can scale a lot better.

他們很有可能已經僱傭了其他人，無論是自由職業者還是員工，為他們提供服務，這樣他們就可以交付成果，事情也可以做得更好。

And if you get to that point where you're managing a team to do this sort of service work, then you're probably gonna need to learn the skills of setting up a company, figuring out things like accounting and finance and the business side of everything, and putting out job applications to hire employees to support you and what you need.

如果你到了要管理一個團隊來從事這種服務工作的地步，那麼你可能就需要學習成立公司的技能，弄清會計、財務和一切業務方面的問題，並提出工作申請，僱用員工來支持你和你所需要的工作。

These are generally different skills to what you have when you're trading time for money, because when you're trading time for money, usually you're a component in a grander system.

這些技能通常不同於你用時間換金錢時的技能，因為當你用時間換金錢時，你通常是更大系統中的一個組成部分。

And so you're unlikely to learn those skills, but you learn those skills as you progress up ladder number two.

是以，你不太可能學會這些技能，但你在向第二階梯邁進的過程中會學到這些技能。

Now, you can absolutely climb higher on ladder number two than ladder number one, especially if you hire a team to help you provide your services, but there is also a limit to how far you can climb on ladder two.

現在，你絕對可以在二號階梯上爬得比一號階梯更高，尤其是如果你僱用了一個團隊來幫助你提供服務，但你在二號階梯上爬得多遠也是有限度的。

Because most people who are freelancing or offering kind of agency-based services to clients, most of these people begin by customizing the service for each client.

因為大多數自由職業者或為客戶提供代理服務的人，一開始都會為每個客戶定製服務。

And this is great for the client, but before you know it, you have multiple different customers with like a dozen different requests each, maybe more, and you end up going back and forth, and it's very difficult to scale up a business that is providing such bespoke services for every client they're working with.

這對客戶來說是件好事，但不知不覺中，你就有了多個不同的客戶，每個客戶都有十幾個不同的要求，甚至更多，最後你只能來回奔波，很難擴大為每個客戶提供定製服務的業務規模。

And that's where we get onto ladder number three, which is productized services.

這就是我們的第三階梯，即產品化服務。

On ladder number two, we have the mindset of selling a service.

在第二個階梯上，我們有銷售服務的心態。

But to move up to the next ladder, instead of thinking that we are selling a service, we are thinking of selling our service as a product instead, hence the phrase productized services.

但是，要想更上一層樓，我們就不能再認為自己是在銷售服務，而是要把服務當作產品來銷售，這就是產品化服務的由來。

So let's imagine that you're a video editor, for example.

舉個例子，假設你是一名視頻編輯。

Even if you have no experience editing videos, you are watching this video on YouTube, and you probably know a little something about like the fact that these videos are edited, for example.

即使你沒有剪輯視頻的經驗，但你在 YouTube 上觀看這段視頻時，你可能會了解一些相關知識，比如這些視頻是經過剪輯的。

So what would this look like if we thought about video editing as a productized service instead of just a normal service?

那麼，如果我們將視頻剪輯視為一種產品化的服務，而不僅僅是一種普通的服務，情況會是怎樣呢？

So you might, for example, develop a package called the YouTube Short Starter Kit, and you'd then define the scope of this YouTube Short Starter Kit.

例如，您可以開發一個名為 "YouTube 短片入門套件 "的套裝軟體，然後定義這個 "YouTube 短片入門套件 "的範圍。

You could say this package, this product, involves one Zoom call per month for one hour with the client, 10 hours of video editing work, five completed videos per month, one revision per video max, and all videos are 60 seconds or less.

可以說，這個套餐，這個產品，包括每月與客戶進行一次 1 小時的 Zoom 通話，10 小時的視頻剪輯工作，每月完成 5 個視頻，每個視頻最多修改一次，所有視頻都在 60 秒以內。

Then you'd put a price tag on this, for example,

比如說，你可以給它貼上價格標籤、

I don't know, $2,000 a month, and this is your productized service.

我不知道，一個月 2000 美元，這就是你的產品化服務。

It is essentially a systematic service that you can deliver for multiple clients, and you are selling it as a whole bundle, as a whole product.

它本質上是一種系統服務，你可以為多個客戶提供這種服務，並將其作為一個整體捆綁銷售，作為一個整體產品銷售。

And if some of your clients are like, oh, but can you do long form instead, or this or that, or can you do funkier edits and stuff?

如果有些客戶說，哦，那你能不能做長篇小說，或者這個那個，或者你能不能做更有趣的剪輯之類的？

You're like, nope, I have one product, and I just do this thing repeatedly, and I get really good at doing this thing, which means you can then start creating systems and processes around the thing.

你會想，不，我只有一個產品，我只是反覆做這件事，而且我非常擅長做這件事，這意味著你可以開始圍繞這件事創建系統和流程。

You can now start hiring people to help you do the thing, and because all you're doing is selling one thing, that has a very defined scope with a very defined product price on it, it means it's a lot easier to scale a productized service.