8 Ways On How To Live Without A Job And Still Live A Good Life

Written by Jason Michaels Last Updated: May 8, 2024

Do you dream of avoiding regular jobs so you can learn how to live without a job and still live a good life?

The truth is, you need money to live.

There will always be bills that exist, whether it’s your rent for your house or your food and travel costs as a digital nomad.

Things cost money and you need things to survive (food, water, shelter, etc.).

What if you learned that you could work part-time or work a non-job and still live a good life?

Would you be interested?

Keep reading to learn how you can accomplish just that and don’t forget to bookmark this post to come back to it later!

8 Ways to Achieve a Job-Free Life

How do you actually achieve a job-free life?

Well, this takes multiple things in order to take place.

A little bit of income diversification, some expense controlling, mixed in with changing your money mindset, putting good habits into play and more.

Check out these 8 ideas to get you started.

1. Change Your Money Mindset

This is huge.

Changing mindset takes some real work and it involves reshaping the way you think about money.

Money is fuel, it helps you survive and it will come and go.

Know that it will be in your life always and you’ll need to treat it well for it to work for you well.

More on this down below.

The bottom line is to keep an open mind about money and be flexible.

This is the key to start and continue to live well without a job.

2. Diversify Your Income

Income diversification is all about having multiple streams of income.

This is great and something you should strive for because it’s a good way to secure that you’ll have consistent income coming in.

And, a well kept secret among the wealthy.

People diversify their income with and without 9-to-5 jobs so there is a ton of flexibility with this.

What You’ll Need for Income Diversification to Work

• A good attitude
• Patience
• Internet access

Having a good attitude and being patient really goes hand in hand.

When you start this journey, the money won’t start pouring in by the thousands immediately.

You have to be patient and see the course through.

Some Ways I Diversify My Income

When I began teaching digital marketing and blogging courses a few years ago, I never dreamed that I could be completely hands off and still make money.

Today, I enjoy income from those courses month after month with absolutely no work, no promotion, and no effort.

I still receive income from Udemy courses I created years ago that I haven’t touched in a long time.

I make this money passively.

This is an example of income diversification.

Other examples include:

• Creating digital products like ebooks, printables, etc.
• Investing
• Real estate
• Passive income apps
• Other ways

Here are 10 opportunities to diversify your income that you probably haven’t thought of:

1. AirBNB

Whether you own or rent your house, AirBNB is a great option to help you make money passively.

How it works?

You welcome guests into your home for short-term renting.

You can rent out a room, your garage, or your entire place, your choice.

Charging $90 to $400/night or more will mean you can earn hundreds to thousands to your monthly income passively.

It’s free to join AirBNB and the only cost you might incur is in toiletries/decor for your space, like linens, towels, furniture as needed, etc.

This is one of my favorite forms of passive income.

Could you imagine your home paying for itself?

Well, this is totally within reach with AirBNB.

Other short-term rental marketplaces include HomeAway and Roomster.

Click here to read more on AirBNB.

3. Freelancing

Freelancing is a way for you to monetize your skills to make extra money.

You can even turn freelancing into your full-time gig.

Many people are making more money freelancing than working for an employer in a 9 to 5 job.

For example, if you are a computer programmer for a living, then you can spend your off time doing freelance computer programming work for clients.

It’s relatively easy to transition most skills to freelance for an opportunity to create a new income stream.

Here are some examples of freelance businesses you can start for yourself:

• Graphic design
• Copywriting
• Editing
• Translation
• Transcription
• Voiceover
• Animation
• Illustration

Advantages of Freelancing

Like most things, there are pros and cons.

Take a look at some of the benefits and drawbacks of freelancing.

• Freedom
• Flexibility
• Unlimited income potential
• Be your own boss
• Create your own schedule

Disadvantages of Freelancing

• Instability
• No benefits
• You are responsible for your own taxes

More on the Perks of Freelancing

You will get the opportunity to enjoy benefits common to being self employed, like freedom and independence.

How amazing would it feel to wake up at 9 am to start your day instead of 5 am?

Or, work from home in your home office rather than commuting an hour or longer to get to your workplace?

And then, there’s the flexibility of picking who you want to work with.

Choosing your clients is a big perk that many freelancers love.

If you don’t mesh well with a particular client and it’s draining you or making you unhappy, you have the power to not take on that project.

If you crave being your own boss and no longer be micromanaged, then freelancing may be just what you’re looking for.

Lastly, the income potential is a big draw for people.

Consider if you earned $80,000/year as a website developer, working for a company.

Working for yourself, you could set a rate of $10,000 per website project and if you did 2 projects per month, your salary would be $240,000!

That’s 3X your employee salary in this example.

It doesn’t always work this way but the potential is there.

Looking at The Drawbacks of Freelancing Life

Then, we have the drawbacks of freelancing.

First, there’s instability.

You are in charge of finding work.

There might be slow months and fast months.

It can be scary, especially in the beginning while you’re building your network.

You could be working with a long-term client and they suddenly decide to quit.

You’re out that income and you have to find a replacement client.

These are all obstacles that freelancers face.

Not to mention there are zero benefits.

Working a traditional job through an employer, you get to enjoy health benefits, dental, 401(k), paid vacation, and more.

This just doesn’t exist as a freelancer.

And on top of that, you manage your own taxes.

All things to consider when deciding on if you want to venture into freelancing.

Is it worth it?

You decide.

As a source of additional income though, it might be a great fit!

4. Starting a Side Business

Starting a business means you will be building your own business on the side.

This will be like a second job, outside your primary employment.

Starting a side business can be very rewarding, creating something from scratch.

You’ll want to start by creating a business plan.

It doesn’t have to be formal at all, just a way for you to get your ideas, plans, and goals on paper.

Then, as you move forward in your business, you can look back on your plan to see if your current course is in line with your goals.

Examples of businesses you can start:

• Mobile notary
• Digital marketer
• Ecommerce store owner
• Accountant
• Bookkeeper
• Pet sitter
• House sitter
• Babysitter
• Landscaping
• Flooring Installation
• Furniture assembly
• Resume writing

The list goes on!

Think about your passions and expertise to hone in on what kind of business you can operate.

5. Thrift Store Flipping

With thrift store flipping, you source products from thrift stores and then you resell in places like:

• Ebay
• Amazon 
• Other online marketplaces
• Garage sales
• Facebook Marketplace

For example, you can find a vintage t-shirt for $2 at a thrift store and resell on Ebay for $20.

Your profit is $18 (before fees)!

You can also source products from other places too like Walmart, your local pharmacy, etc.

Like buying a cell phone case from Facebook Marketplace for $5 and reselling for $15.

Your profit is $10 (before fees)!

There are tons of opportunities here and people making a full-time living flipping.

How to Do Flipping?

You can flip products.

Flipping can also be done for websites, domains, services like digital marketing and others, etc.

If you’re curious to kick this off, just get started.

Flipping can be done with just about anything of value.

Check out these additional examples:

• House flipping
• Car flipping
• Sneaker flipping

The main takeaway with flipping things is that you want to buy low and sell high.

This couple made $133,000 flipping products!

6. Selling on Amazon FBA

Amazon FBA is the service Amazon provides their sellers where they fulfill orders for them.

FBA stands for “fulfilled by Amazon”.

This means if you are an Amazon seller, instead of shipping products to customers directly, you will ship your goods to Amazon.

Then Amazon will be in charge of fulfilling and delivering the order to the customer.

If you are looking for less stress and a more hands-off approach to Amazon selling, this is for you!

Becoming an FBA seller is a low barrier to entry kind of job that anybody can get started with.

You can pick a niche, sourcing one category of product or you can sell a mix of different items.

There is a lot of flexibility with this and it’s an excellent opportunity to make more income for yourself.

7. Dropshipping

Dropshipping is an ecommerce model where you pass on the fulfillment to your supplier.

Instead of shipping products to customers, your supplier will!

It’s kind of like Amazon FBA but for your private online storefront.

For example, if you sell baby shoes and your customer orders 3 pairs of shoes, instead of you shipping the order from your warehouse, you’ll place an order with your supplier and they will direct ship to the customer.

Ecommerce store owners love this because it requires much less capital for operation.

It also takes a big responsibility off their hands so they can focus on other parts of the business.

8. Dropservicing

Dropservicing is basically dropshipping but for services.

With dropshipping, your product supplier ship goods to your customers.

And then with dropservicing, it’s the same scenario, where your services supplier (your freelancer) provides services for your clients.

Some niches you can explore with dropservicing can include:

• Graphic design
• Video editing
• Proofreading
• Copy editing
• Transcription
• Translation
• Animation
• Illustration
• Bookkeeping
• And, other services!

This is a great business to pursue because you don’t need any skills to do it!

Dropservicing Examples

For example, you don’t have to be a writer to run a copywriting dropservicing business.

You don’t need to be an editor to run an editing dropservicing business.

Make sense?

Your job will be to manage the whole project.

So, you’ll do tasks like get new clients, charge your fee, find your freelance service supplier, communicate the job requirements to your freelancer, and other duties.

Dropservicing, like dropshipping is pretty flexible.

You can run this kind of business alongside your primary job or this can be your main source of income.

Either way, it’s a nice option for additional income that you should consider.

9. Forex Trading

Trading forex (short for foreign exchange) means you’ll be buying and selling currency for the purposes of making profit.

This won’t make you rich overnight, contrary to what you might have heard but it is a nice side stream of income.

You can do trading for an hour or a day or ten hours a day, your choice.

You’ll be your own boss and you can work independently or with a team.

If you are unfamiliar with trading foreign exchange, you should take a look at the courses on Skillshare.

There are a ton of classes on forex trading so you can have your pick, for a low monthly fee (under $12/month) plus, you can take classes on other passions you may have like knitting or learning a new language.

Skillshare has it all!

You can even take classes on broadening your skills for the purposes of adding more income streams, like learning copywriting or proofreading.

I have been on Skillshare for a while and absolutely love it!

There are tens of thousands of classes all at your fingertips and you’ll never get bored.

Check out Skillshare to learn more.

10. Day Trading

Day trading is about buying and selling stocks during a short time frame.

So, it’s kind of similar to forex trading except it doesn’t involve foreign exchange, it involves stocks.

Create your own schedule, work alone or with others, connect with a community of other traders on social media and make money trading stocks.

Check this out and if you don’t know how to day trade, look at learning this skill, as it’s a very valuable skill that you’ll be able to use forever.

3. Establishing a Budget

Controlling your spending and creating a budget are two smart things to do if you decide to avoid having a job.

Because expenses can add up quick and if you don’t have a plan in place for your budget and spending, you can eat up all your available money fast.

Look for ways to spend less and adopt a frugal lifestyle.

Here are some ideas to look into:

• Go minimalist
• Scale back spending
• Make lifestyle changes at home
• Avoid eating out
• Cut out luxuries

Adopting Minimalism

Being a minimalist means that you’ll be living a life with less material things.

You might have little furniture in your home, no clutter, a simple wardrobe, etc.

Being minimalist naturally saves money because you aren’t spending your income on the extras: clothes, home goods, and other shopping.

Scaling Back Your Spending

Changing your spending habits means more money in your pocket.

This could mean stopping your weekly runs to Starbucks or cutting out going to the movie theater altogether, in lieu of watching movies at home with your streaming provider.

Here are 10 other ideas to help you save:

• Make pet food at home
• Walk more places instead of driving
• Try carpooling
• Switch to non-name brands
• Meal prep
• Batch cook
• Cut your hair at home
• Time your water usage (showers and brushing teeth)
• Go to bed earlier
• Cut out snacking

This is a mix of different things you can do, some of which may even help you get healthier and lose weight (like walking and stopping snacks).

Lifestyle Changes at Home

Some of the above may include lifestyle changes you can adopt, in order to save the most.

Keep these in mind, along with being mindful of the bad habits you might have that are costing your money, like:

• Leaving the lights on when you leave a room
• Keeping appliances plugged in that you don’t use (like toaster, TV, etc.)
• Keeping the A/C running all day
• Running cable TV or multiple streaming providers
• Staying up late (consuming resources like electricity and food)
• Having an expensive major cell phone carrier
• And, other ideas

Some of these may take some real work but will definitely be worth it, to help you live a good life without a job.

Cutting Eating Out

Fast food and restaurant takeout is expensive.

Couple that with how easy it is to order delivery from Doordash or UberEATS and you’ve got sky high costs that can easily be avoided.

If you are used to eating out, this one will be tough but try to avoid eating out in favor of eating at home.

The whole idea with this to avoid these easy food options (fast food), which tend to be more expensive.

Have you ever noticed that in a grocery store, if you buy chicken thighs or chicken legs, it’s much more expensive than if you bought a whole chicken and broke it down yourself, at home?

Or why sliced bread and cheese and other ready-made foods are more pricey than the whole forms?

This kind of stuff is all around you.

Try to spot these budget busters and make changes.

Your wallet will thank you.

Cutting Out Luxuries

These luxuries include extras in your life like getting your hair done at the salon or barber shop, luxury vacations, or even house cleaning services.

Adjusting this part of your life to eliminate these things will make it a lot easier for your money to last.

4. Keep An Eye Out for New Income Sources

The key to living a job-free life is having multiple diversified income streams so, it’s important to always be on the hunt for new income opportunities, preferably ones that can earn you money passively.

Two passive income sources you should definitely keep in your arsenal if possible is real estate and investments.

Exploring Real Estate

Through real estate, you’ll have a year-round stream of income.

You can go with short term renting (like AirBNB) or long-term rentals like getting a tenant to sign a 12-month or longer lease.

A smart way to do this while living rent free is to invest in a multiplex.

If you bought a 4-plex apartment building, for example, you could live in one unit and rent out the other three units.

A friend of mine did just this and made enough money from the other 3 tenants to pay for the mortgage, live rent-free and make a profit above that!

Looking at Investing

Investments are great because your money will grow (hopefully) over time.

There are many different types of investment vehicles you can pursue.

5. Be Open to Change

Being flexible and being open to change will help you go far.

Because change can and will most likely happen.

Your freelance income could evaporate overnight.

Or, your investment could tank unexpectedly.

Roll with the punches and keep a positive attitude if life throws a wrench in your plans.

6. Saving on Housing

Your housing cost is probably your largest expense.

If you want to live a job-free life, you will want to keep all your expenses as low as possible, including housing.

This might mean sacrificing some of your wants, at least in the beginning.

Here are some ways to save on housing:

• Living with other people
• Renting a room instead of an entire house
• Living in an area with less amenities
• Living away from a large city

This may not have to be your way of life forever but as you build up your multiple income streams, it’s one of the easiest ways to save every month.

Living with Other People

This could mean rooming up with your college roommates or moving back home with your parents.

The main benefit of living with others is splitting the expenses:

• Cost of rent/mortgage
• Utilities
• Other potential household costs (groceries, laundry, etc.)

Imagine if you lived on your own, in a $1,000/month 2-bedroom apartment.

Then, imagine if you lived with one person in that same apartment.

Your cost would instantly be cut in half, to $500/month, assuming you split costs 50/50 with the other person.

Consider this an option to lower your costs.

Renting a Room

Next, you can look at renting a room which can be even more cost effective.

You can rent a room in a house for a few hundred dollars per month and oftentimes that will be your only expense.

That means you get the benefit of living in a space with electricity, internet, etc. and you won’t have to financially contribute to those costs!

The drawback of renting a room though, is, you may not have free range of the entire place, like you would if you had an apartment or house with roommates.

In a roommate situation, usually each roommate gets a room and shares common areas.

With renting a room, this is not always the case.

Sometimes the room may come with a microwave or mini fridge and you’re expected to live out of that room, not sharing the other parts of the house, excluding bathroom.

It can be a much cheaper alternative but you will have to weigh in on the pros and cons of each scenario.

Living in an Area with Less Amenities

If you move to an area of town with less amenities, it will likely be cheaper.

I had a family member recently move to a big area.

He lives in a metropolitan with access to shops, dining, tons of places to visit and enjoy entertainment.

It’s a great side of town even though it comes with a price tag.

By moving just 20 minutes outside that area could lower his rent by at least $400/month!

You see how amenities come into play with your living expenses.

By keeping it cheap and picking a less desirable area with less amenities, you can save money.

You can always travel to the areas you want to “play” and partake in the amenities.

Living Away from a Large City

This plays off the previous point.

Moving outside a large city will usually get you a lower housing cost.

7. Saving on Transportation

Your transportation is pretty important.

And, probably the second highest expense you have, after your housing cost.

Here are some ways you can lower your transportation cost:

• Carpool
• Share a vehicle with a roommate or family member
• Walk
• Bicycle
• Take public transportation (train, bus, etc.)

8. Make Your Income Work for You

This means making your multiple money sources create more money for yourself.

You can achieve this through investing:

• Real estate
• Stocks and bonds
• Foreign exchange

Final Thoughts

The bottom line is in order to live without a job and still live a good life, it takes work.

And, a mix of good habit forming ideas in making money and saving money.

Can it be done?

Absolutely!

Is it worth it?

We think so.

The freedom, flexibility and independence of living job-free is something a lot of people don’t get to experience.

You get to live your life and be tied to a 9 to 5, working through most of it.

If you have any other tips on how to live without a job and live a good life, let us know in the comments below!