Earning a six-figure salary as a doctor in Australia was supposed to be Tony Pennells’ ticket to Financial Freedom. But after joining the medical profession in his mid-20s, Tony found that most of his colleagues faced overwhelming financial stress, despite their high salaries.
Tony had sought freedom since childhood, when family money stress left him homeless for a period. He decided right then that this type of stress would never dominate his life again. But his career path—getting good grades and entering a high-paying field—was missing something. In early 1995, a friend introduced him to Kim Broemer, an Australian entrepreneur and business coach who achieved Financial Freedom before age 40. It was Kim who taught Tony the concept of buying your time back.
“The first thing he said when I met with him was ‘do you actually understand what the game is? The game of money is separating your time from your money,’” Tony said.
Kim had built a direct selling distributorship marketing health and nutrition products. Joining the distributorship on the side represented a way for Tony to start generating cash flow. And Kim started putting the busy doctor’s commitment to the test.
He soon requested that Tony fill a room with at least 15 people in 72 hours, for a discussion on Financial Freedom. “His goal was to see if I had any interest and seriousness in actually creating a business,” Tony recalled.
It turned out Tony was more than serious. And he has not forgotten the lessons Kim taught him about commitment.
When it comes to goals like Financial Freedom, making anything less than a full commitment means resigning to failure. By helping him set SMART goals—Specific, Measurable, Attainable Realistic and Tangible—Kim helped Tony turn his commitment into a viable plan.
Tony learned direct selling skills from the relationship, but perhaps more importantly, he learned the importance of striking a balance between family, health and personal life.
“He forced me to get a journal out and actually start writing down goals in all the different balanced areas,” Tony said. “The aim was designing an intentional life.”
Ultimately, Financial Freedom comes down to a number. For Tony, the monthly amount needed to buy his time back was $7,000.
By age 27, Tony had bought his time back and left his job in medicine. Since then, he has focused more on family and his passions.
Tony could have easily abandoned his relationship with Kim after its first big test. As someone who had already achieved Freedom, Kim had almost nothing to gain by mentoring a busy doctor.
But Tony’s commitment and willingness to learn proved sufficient—and the doctor’s life has permanently changed for the better.
“He just took me under his wing to mentor me, which is part of the character of the guy. He invested life into life with me, and that’s something I’m immensely grateful for,” Tony said.
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