853: Freedom isn't free.

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Hey, what is up?

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Welcome to this episode of the Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur podcast.

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As always, I'm your host, brian Lofermento, and here on this Solo Sunday episode during Memorial Day weekend, I just wanna talk about freedom and what it takes for freedom, because obviously it's something that we are all in pursuit of in all of its various meanings and methods that we can achieve freedom.

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I'm excited about this one.

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Let's dive in, all right.

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So this is honestly going to be a pretty quick episode because I will tell you this about myself personally I am very much a thinker, I love thinking, I love learning, I love just going down different explorations in my mind and with other people's minds.

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I love learning from them.

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But here on Memorial Day weekend, here in the United States and I know a lot of other countries around the world, whether it's now or a similar time period throughout the year have some sort of remembrance day for their military who have lost lives and for all the people who have come before us and sacrificed for so many of the different freedoms that a lot of us get to enjoy, and here in the United States we certainly have so many freedoms that I'm very grateful for.

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And so this weekend, despite the fact that I love thinking and I love growing and I love personal development and I love thought experiments and I love all the things that we get to do every single Sunday here on this podcast.

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What I really think it's important for is remembrance and reflection.

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I think that that is an equally important part of life.

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I think it's an equally important part of us moving in the right direction.

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It's an equally important part of our growth journeys to stop, to pause, to reflect, to give gratitude, to acknowledge everything that has come before where we are today, whether that's our own actions, whether it's the actions of other people who have been a part of our journey, whether it's people who we never had the opportunity to meet or thank, but have really laid the groundwork for us in so many different ways, whether it's through inventions or through military sacrifice of their lives, for example, which obviously we honor here on Memorial Day weekend here in the US, or maybe even if it's someone who, culturally, has helped us to really have the mindset and the upbringing that we have.

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You all know from listening to the show how important my family's lineage is in us coming to the United States and even just talking about the United States on a more macro level, our founding fathers and all the things that they went through to fight for our independence.

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So, at the end of the day, it's all of these examples, but they all really come back to freedom, which is obviously such an important motivator for every single one of us.

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This is something that unites all of us entrepreneurs entrepreneurs across the entire spectrum, no matter where you are in your business journey.

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We all are on that pursuit of freedom, and freedom can be measured in so many different ways Time freedom, financial freedom, geographical freedom.

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Obviously, we could turn this political we're certainly not going to in today's episode but there's so many different forms of freedom, and so it really reminds me.

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Ever since I was a little kid, I remember so my dad's father, so my grandfather on my dad's side, who is no longer with us.

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He served in the military and lived a very long, happy life.

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It was such a joy growing up and having a grandfather that was, you know, a few hours away in a car ride.

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He lived in New York that we could go visit and he was always so happy to see us.

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Family meant so much to him.

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But one thing always stuck out to me every time we went to see my grandpa and that was a sticker that, as long as I can remember, he always had on his car, always literally since I knew how to read.

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And that sticker said quite simply freedom isn't free, freedom isn't free.

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And here on Memorial Day weekend, when we do think about you know the military, when we do think about people who have fought for our freedoms and my grandfather was one of you know the military when we do think about people who have fought for our freedoms and my grandfather was one of those who served in the military and, very fortunately, did not lose his life in battle.

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But it is just a moment for us to reflect on what people sign up for.

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And to see my grandfather so adamantly keep that phrase on his car at all times freedom isn't free really shows to me and this is something that we can learn from our elders is he knew what goes into freedom.

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He knew that freedom isn't free.

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It's easy for us to take all of these things for granted because it's the way of life that we know, but really at the root of freedom is fight, is sacrifice, is so much hard times, tears, blood, sweat, everything that makes freedom possible.

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It's why I love that Kerry Jones quote.

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I was Googling earlier today for some Memorial Day quotes and Kerry Jones once said the secret of happiness is freedom.

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The secret of freedom is courage, and it's something that I think is such an important reminder for us today, as we show gratitude towards those who have fought literally for our freedoms.

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I think it's an important reminder for all of us that freedom isn't free and freedom is truly the secret of happiness, but it comes at a cost, and that cost is courage, that cost is bravery, that cost is sacrifice.

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There's so many costs that go into freedom, and by no means in today's episode do I ever want to draw a comparison between the freedom that we seek and the sacrifices that we make in business and in our professional lives as entrepreneurs, with the ultimate sacrifice that people who have literally fought for our freedoms have laid down for us.

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I do not want to draw that parallel.

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I do not want to make that comparison because not all sacrifices are equal, but I do want to bring it to the forefront of our minds as a reminder to us that freedom isn't free.

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There must be, there will be sacrifices along the way in any pursuit of freedom, and so today is a great reminder for us.

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It's not a day about barbecues and sunshine and going to the beach, which you may do all of those things on your day off from work.

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However, the most important thing is to give it that time and reflection and that heavy dose of gratitude, to say thank you to all the sacrifices that have made everything in all of our lives, on a macro and micro levels, possible for all of us, and to let that be a reminder in our own lives that freedom isn't free.

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There must be, there will be sacrifices along the way, and so for each of us, we get to make those choices.

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It's a luxury that we have here in the United States I can speak as someone who has lived my entire life in the United States that it's a luxury that we get to choose in many ways which sacrifices we personally want to or don't want to make.

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That luxury is something that we reflect on today, but most importantly or, I guess, secondarily it's a reminder that we do get to look inward and we do get to make those choices thanks to the sacrifices that people have made before us.

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So it's a little bit of a more serious episode, but I do think it's directly relevant to the world of all of us as entrepreneurs, as entrepreneurs as Americans, but really just as people all around the world.

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I know that we've got listeners from over 150 countries, and I'm so grateful for every single one of you who tunes in, whether it's five days a week or one day a week, or you just tune in when an episode title catches your eye.

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I'm so grateful for you.

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But I think that today's topic really is something that impacts every single one of us.

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If we give it that time to reflect, if we give it that time to be grateful for, if we give it that time to make these conscious choices and realize the luxuries that we have, and also realize that freedom isn't free, and if we want to do something extraordinary, if we want to achieve that freedom, in whatever definition it means for us, it's going to take courage, it's going to take sacrifice, it's going to take courage, it's going to take sacrifice, it's going to take bravery, it's going to take some defeats and it's going to take a heck of a lot of persistence along the way.

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That's it for me in today's episode.

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I hope that you are all enjoying, if you're in the United States, your incredible holiday weekend.

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I hope that this episode hits you where it needs to, because today's holiday should also have significance for all of us.

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It's not just a day off from work, and I will say, with all of that said, this is the last week of the month.

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May has absolutely flown by and we've got all new episodes coming your way this week Monday, wednesday, friday interviews, all new action, saturday episode coming your way on Saturday and, of course, I'm going to be here every Sunday to kick things off with a solo Sunday episode ahead of a brand new week.

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But this week you're in for a real treat with this week's guests.

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Honestly, all of them.

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You get four guests in today's or this week's episodes, because Friday's episode features an incredible power couple who are building a business together in the New York City area, but they're expanding.

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But you're going to learn so much.

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Honestly, this is an action-packed week, so I'm not going to say anything else.

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Make sure you pound that subscribe button because we'll see you, as always, every Monday, wednesday, friday, saturday and Sunday here on the Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur podcast.

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Hey, it's Brian here, and thanks for tuning in to yet another episode of the Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur podcast.

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If you haven't checked us out online.

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There's so much good stuff there.

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Check out the show's website and all the show notes that we talked about in today's episode at thewantrepreneurshowcom, and I just wanna give a shout out to our amazing guests.

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So thank you to not only today's guests, but all of our guests in general, and I just want to invite you check out our website because you can send us a voicemail there.

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Initiate a live chat.

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It's for real me, and I'm excited because I'll see you, as always every Monday, wednesday, friday, saturday and Sunday here on the Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur podcast.