© Elliot Essman 2005. All rights reserved.

These pages contain the complete 2005 revised text of Building Yourself, public speaking trainer Elliot Essman's guide to living the successful life.

Elliot Essman Public Speaking Training
Building Yourself Table of Contents
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• And I must borrow every changing shape/To find expression. T.S. Eliot (1888–1965)

• It pays a good rate per unit of time

• You can work at it most anywhere, preferably on a freelance basis

• You can start work quickly without a great many complications

• You can fit it into the schedule of your education or a less flexible job

The earlier in life you establish skills that pay you a relatively high rate per hour, the higher the base from which you will work in building your own success. If you're not stuck in a menial nine-to-five grind, you'll keep the flexibility to develop your ideas. Many people use a base of freelance skills to start their own businesses when the time is right.

Being flexible doesn't mean that you shift constantly, or that you fail to concentrate on any one thing. At some point in your life you will stick with something and see it through to a successful level of accomplishment. But you won't find an opportunity worth concentrating on if you remain inflexible.

We've seen in a previous chapter how important it is to recognize opportunity, and to vector toward it. When we create strong, flexible sources of income, it's like working in a rich soup, filled with nutrients. It gives us room to move, to think, plus security money to reject income sources others are forced into accepting. I call this genuine financial freedom.