In our brand new interview series, we are interviewing various individuals from across the web. This interview series focuses on how they are living a better life. They can be living a better life by pursuing financial independence, minimalism, simplicity, and many more aspects. Are you interested in being interviewed? Continue reading!

Want to be interviewed?

If you want to be interviewed about how you are living a better life. Contact us at [email protected] and tell us why you’d be a great candidate!

Give us your best elevator speech!

Hey! I’m Cody — a 22-year-old entrepreneur and life optimization specialist on the road to financial independence. I am a side hustle junkie and currently run the blog Fly to FI, podcast at The FI Show, and co-founded disc golf company Arsenal Discs.

I thoroughly enjoy the challenge of building new businesses and my brain is always moving 100x faster than my actions can follow. My goal is to spread financial literacy and to live the best and most international life that I possibly can. I am a fitness fanatic, hate working for “the man”, and love to travel.

How are you living a better life than you were last year? 5 years ago? 10?

Since discovering financial independence at age 19, my life has changed drastically. At a young age, I realized that money was not our scarcest commodity… time and energy were.

Now, I’m on a mission to optimize my most valuable assets by creating a life filled with purpose and intentionality. Since my FI revelation, I have attempted countless income generation strategies and found success in a few.

I hope to achieve what I call Cash Flow FI — the point where my passive and side hustle income supports the cost of my lifestyle — by next year. From a nonmonetary standpoint, financial independence has truly taught me the value of relationships, time, hard work, and gratitude.

I hope that in 5 years and I can look back again and see how much I’ve grown and improved.

What would you tell your younger self?

Although I haven’t made any serious financial or lifestyle mistakes (I’m only 22), I probably would challenge my younger self to attempt more side hustles and unorthodox income generation strategies.

As many people in this community know, the power of compound interest is amazing! Imagine if I started maxing out my Roth at age 10?!

What made you want to change the way you were living?

The 4-Hour Workweek By Tim Ferriss was the major turning point for my outlook on life. After reading that book I realized that time and money don’t have to be linearly related.

Instead, I could front-load the work and build businesses that eventually grow and pay me outsized returns in perpetuity. I thought this was the coolest concept ever!

Since then, that’s exactly what I’ve done. I’ve been focusing on building scalable businesses doing the things that I enjoy. I couldn’t even imagine where my life would be if I didn’t discover these key concepts.

Does financial independence play a role? If so, how?

Like I’ve mentioned in the past four questions, financial independence plays a HUGE role! But, financial independence or “Cash Flow FI” more specifically is just the starting point.

This is the sprinter’s block that I’ll shoot off of in pursuit of changing the world. Once the need for money is eliminated from the equation, I can spend months volunteering in a third-world country, start a foundation to help a noble cause, or basically just do whatever the heck I want!

As you can probably tell though, I’m not the type of guy to just sit around and watch TV. Who knows what my post-FI life will look like… stay tuned!

What advice do you have for others in living a better life?

Stop trying to keep up with the Joneses. In my observation, this is one of the most financially crippling habits that you can adopt. You don’t “have” to buy the fancy house, drive the luxury car, or eat out frequently just because everybody else is doing it.

Have you ever noticed that a lot of people are miserable and constantly complaining about money…? It’s probably a sign that you shouldn’t follow in their footsteps!

Stop comparing yourself to others and your life will drastically improve.

What books/podcasts/blogs have you consumed that lead you to this point?

The 4-Hour Workweek By Tim Ferriss

The Power of Habit By Charles Duhigg

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k By Mark Manson

The Richest Man in Babylon By George Clason

Rich Dad Poor Dad By Robert Kiyosaki

The Laptop Millionaire By Mark Anastasi

Set For Life By Scott Trench

Podcasts: ChooseFI, Mad Fientist, Afford Anything, BiggerPockets, BiggerPockets Money, FIRE Drill, Pour not Poor

Blogs: Mr. Money Mustache, Mad Fientist, Early Retirement Extreme

One thing that I’ve noticed from being a content producer myself is how much I learn from talking and interacting with other people in this community.

At my blog, Fly to FI, I constantly have readers sharing insightful comments and sending me amazing emails. In our podcast, The FI Show, we get to talk to some of the most powerful influencers and life optimizers for an hour or more! There couldn’t be a better learning opportunity.

What’s one area in your life you still struggle with?

I am a perfectionist. This may not sound like a bad thing but I often spend waaaay too much time on something that’s insignificant.

For example, on my about page, I didn’t like the amount of space between the word “About” and the menu. So what did I do? Spent two hours watching YouTube videos and learning some code to finally fix it. I’m sure I could’ve done something much more productive like write a blog post or record a podcast, but my perfectionism got in the way. It’s definitely something I’m still working on!

If you had to give just 1 tip that you’ve learned along your journey, what would it be and why?

JUST DO IT! Nike doesn’t sponsor my blog or podcast but I mean it.

Nobody has to give you permission to do anything, just go out there and grab life! Want to start a side hustle? Do it. Need to find a better job? Do it. Want to learn how to invest? Do it.

Be your own gatekeeper and stop asking for permission. When I eliminated the “Who am I to ____” from my mind, I was magically able to accomplish so much more in my endeavors. Stop holding yourself back.

Where can readers get in touch with you?

You can reach out to me on the blog at Fly To Fi or check in with the podcast at The Fi Show. Thanks for reading my story!

Check out other interviews here!