The Remote CEO Life Podcast

S313: How To Escape The Matrix and Create Your Own Freedom Life

• Sophie Biggerstaff • Season 3 • Episode 13

Share episode

Ever feel like you're stuck in a life that doesn’t feel like yours? It might be time to escape the matrix and start building your freedom life.

In this solo episode, I’m diving into what it actually takes to create more freedom in your life - especially if you’re feeling stuck, uninspired, or like your current circumstances just aren’t working for you anymore.

I’m sharing the truth about comfort zones, why we get trapped in them, and how you can start moving out of yours. Plus, I’ll walk you through the four types of freedom - emotional, time, financial, and location.

You’ll also hear a sneak peek from my free masterclass, where I break down my Freedom Model Method - a framework I created after going through this journey myself. It's the exact method I used to leave my old life behind and build a business (and lifestyle) that actually works for me.

You'll Learn:

- The four key types of freedom and how they’re all connected
- Why emotional freedom needs to come before financial or time freedom
- How to escape the matrix - the system, the job, the expectations keeping you stuck
- My Freedom Model Method: Clarity + Alignment + Action = Freedom
- Why online business is one of the best paths to designing your freedom life
- The four traits I believe every freedom-seeking entrepreneur needs

You can watch the full masterclass and learn more here: 


If you’re ready to escape the matrix and build a business that supports the life you want - not traps you in another version of burnout, check out The Freedom Model Method here:

#EscapeTheMatrxi #Freedom #FreedomLife #FinancialFreedom #MakeMoneyOnline #LivingAuthentically #BreakingFree #LifeDesign #HowToEscapeTheMatrxi

About The Remote CEO Podcast:

This podcast is for freedom-seeking online entrepreneurs, offering practical, actionable advice to help you step up into your new role as CEO by building an online business that works for you - not one you work for.

Hosted by Sophie Biggerstaff, an online business mentor, e-commerce founder, mental health advocate, and full-time digital nomad. 🙋‍♀️

👆Want to start an online business? Take my quiz to help you get started

👆 Want to achieve more freedom in your life? Find out how you can make it happen in my free masterclass.

👆Need online business advice? Get my best business tips directly in your inbox by signing up to my newsletter

👍 Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share to hear more conversations about starting and growing an online business.

🔗 Stay Connected:

📸 Follow me on Instagram

🎥 Follow me on TikTok

🗣️ Connect on LinkedIn

...

Sophie Biggerstaff (00:00)
welcome back to the Remote CEO Life podcast. Today I'm doing another little solo episode with you and I want to talk to you a little bit about freedom and how to change your current circumstances if you are not feeling free. If you're feeling a little bit stuck where you're at, maybe that's in your job, in your life, feeling things a little bit stagnant and you feel like there is more out there meant for you but you haven't just quite figured out what that looks like yet, how to achieve it.

because you haven't quite got that clarity piece. But you know that you want more. You know that you want more freedom. You know that you want to go and achieve something different to the current circumstances that you're currently in. Now, a lot of people get stuck where they are because it's like a comfort bubble. And we are quite often more comfortable in the discomfort of staying put somewhere, than we would be if we were moving into the discomfort of trying something new because we know

the comfort bubble that we're in, it's safe, it's secure, even though it might not be ideal of what we want, we know it, it's familiar. And familiarity gets comfortable. Whereas if we were moving into something new, there is a level of discomfort that comes with that because we don't know the outcome. We are gonna try something new.

but we don't know what's actually gonna come of that until we've tried it. So there is a whole new level of discomfort that comes with changing our circumstances, even if our circumstances right now are not ideal. Now there is so much mindset work that could go on behind the scenes based on this conversation around this level of like changing our circumstances to create more freedom in our life. But essentially we all have a choice. We all have the choice to stay in this discomfort.

and just carry on with our current circumstances that make we feel really stuck or stagnant in, or we have the choice to move into a different level of discomfort and try something new and see what the outcome could be. And the great and amazing thing about that is that that outcome could be a million times better than the circumstance that we are in right now. If you've got a feeling that something needs to change, is because something does actually need to change. And if nothing changes,

nothing changes. So if you're in your circumstance right now, whatever that looks like, maybe it's a job that you really hate waking up for every day. Maybe you're riddled with anxiety and you're not really sure why. Maybe you are in a relationship that you hate. Maybe that you are in a house that you don't like living in. The thing is, if you've got those feelings, particularly around your job, there is...

possibility for you to change that. Now there's obviously a whole load of emotional things that come alongside all of those changes with life circumstances but essentially the thing that you are looking for is to feel free, to feel like there is something else out there for you that is going to make you feel more content and waking up feeling content and happy and at peace with your circumstances is a level of freedom and I want to talk to you today about how you can gain that freedom.

Now, if we're talking about freedom, there's actually four levels of freedom that we could achieve. We could achieve financial freedom, time freedom, location freedom, and then happiness or mental, emotional freedom, which is the one I just mentioned and spoke to more in depth because I feel like that's the one that we should all be actually aiming to achieve. We sometimes go to the fact of like, I need the financial freedom to get that mental and emotional freedom or, I need my time back to be able to achieve that emotional freedom. But actually,

we need the emotional freedom to be able to get all of the others. So that's the one that I want to focus on today is like, how can we find something that is going to really help you wake up and feel that emotional mental freedom every single day? Now there's so many layers to try to figure out what you want to do, what you can do. But in my personal experience, the best way

for you to figure out what that looks like is to really deep dive into the things that you are passionate about, the skills that you've got, and the things that you love to do. Because if you can build your life around all the things that you're great at and the things that you love, your life is gonna be 10 times easier. So today, I actually want to share with you a little snippet from my free masterclass, Find Your Freedom Model, because in that,

I talk you through my freedom model method, Now, freedom is going to look very different for every single person, but I want to share with you a little snippet from that masterclass because in that I explain to you how you can implement that freedom model method.

in your life and why it's so important. Now I talk about this in the context of finding freedom by starting an online business because in an ideal world, yeah, we do want all four of those freedoms. We do want financial time, location, happiness, freedom, but actually to achieve all of that, we really do still need to work through and get really clear on what it is that we want, bring our life into alignment and then take action to keep it going and find the momentum in our life to keep us in the right.

going in the right direction. So I'm just going to drop in now a little snippet, a little clip from that free masterclass. If you want to sign up to the whole free masterclass, it is available for you. I will drop the link into the show notes so that you can get access to that. And it will talk you through this in way more detail. But I just wanted to share with you today this little snippet to see if there is something that you can start.

thinking about in your own life to identify the circumstances that you're in that you don't really want to be in anymore and start making changes. So I am dropping that little clip in for you right now.

Sophie Biggerstaff (05:49)
freedom and online business are buzzwords but this masterclass is not about chasing the next trend. I am not here to teach you how to make 10K months in your business. I am not here to teach you overnight success. I am here to teach you how to intentionally design a life you love to live so you can wake up every single day feeling good about the way that you live, you work, and the way that you're showing up. And we're doing that through my Freedom Model Method.

and then also talking about how you achieve that freedom model method through starting an online business. So the incredible world that we live in today is one where anybody can be anything and build anything they want. So we all have the power, in my opinion, to build freedom if we choose to build freedom. And that freedom, is achieved through starting your own online business. Now, obviously, when you have the internet all over the world now, you can create a business from literally

anywhere in the world. All you need is an internet connection and the idea of what you want to build. So by the end of this session, you're going to know if building your own online business is the right step for you and how to make it happen based on the life that you want to live.

So if I break down the freedom model method for you, let's look at what this looks like. So essentially it is clarity and alignment plus actions equals freedom.

So if we look at that deeper, let's look at the clarity part. So clarity basically means getting really clear and knowing what you're aiming for. You're not just aiming for financial freedom. You're not just aiming for time freedom. You're not just aiming to go and work remotely from somewhere. We're to get really frigging specific on exactly what that looks like and feels like for you and why you want it because that why is really important. And I'll come back onto that in a second. Now,

Once you've got that clarity, you need to understand what that looks like in terms of actually bringing it into alignment for you. And this is where so many people go wrong. They build a business that actually contradicts the lifestyle that they want. So for example, when I was first starting out, I built this business that was very much one-on-one. I had to be showing up for other people all the time, jumping on calls, doing so many different things for other people.

And actually, I just wanted to go and travel. I wanted to go and enjoy my life. I wanted to look after myself and go and have more time freedom. But I built this business that required me to show up daily, creating the content, showing up for my clients. So I did not get that freedom that I wanted, in which case it contradicted the lifestyle I wanted. And I ended up resenting that. So this getting into alignment is getting really clear.

on what lights you up, what suits your energy, what suits your values, what suits your capacity and your current season of life and the way that you want to live and making sure that the business that you're setting up or the job that you've got is really allowing you to stay in that alignment because the minute that you venture off and you start doing things you don't want to do, that's when you start resenting the business and then you're way more likely to give it up and go back to a job which you're probably also going to hate. So once we've got that clarity, once we've got that

alignment, we then need to obviously take action. Without the action, none of this really works. So freedom is built through motion. Freedom is built through action. And even if it's imperfect action, that is still action. Actually, we probably need to take quite a lot of imperfect, messy action before we make it perfect and know exactly what we're doing with our actions. Because once it's rooted in alignment and clarity, your steps are actually going to lead somewhere. And when you take action, it's going to mean something to you.

Now, the path is not gonna be linear. You're not just gonna take an action and get straight to where you wanna be. I don't believe in overnight success. Rome was not built in a day. We're not here to achieve overnight success. We are here to achieve your goal, but on a slow and steady pace that gets you to that freedom level. So this path is not gonna be a straight line for you. It's probably gonna do a few topsy-turvy loops, the loops, and you're gonna keep evolving and revisiting your plan, but you do need to be taking that action towards that.

that clarified goal that you've got, that is all in alignment, the actions need to be aligned with you. So when you build from this level of foundation, what that means is you're not gonna burn out along the way, you're not gonna end up resenting your business, and you are gonna build something that actually works for you, not a business that you work for. And this is a mistake that so many new business entrepreneurs make, they build themselves a job.

Now, if we're wanting all of this freedom in our life, particularly if you want all four levels of that freedom that I spoke about earlier, you don't want to build yourself a job. You want to build yourself a business that works for you, that's scalable, that potentially one day you could sell it and make loads of money and off you go. So we don't want to build you something that you are becoming a slave to. So before we go a bit deeper into what that actually looks like, I want to share with you the four key traits that I believe every entrepreneur needs in order to find

true success through their business. Now, the first one is passion. I really feel like you have to love what you do because if you are not lit up by what you're doing every day, you are going to lose interest the moment things get hard. As soon as it feels hard for you or boring, you're going to be like, actually, I don't want to do this anymore. This isn't lighting me up every day. And this is where lot of businesses fail because they're not doing something that they're particularly passionate about. They're just in it for the money. And then it gets to six months a year, two years down the line and they're like, this is boring. I don't want to do this anymore.

The other thing you need is purpose. And the purpose is that deeper reason to make you keep going forward. If your goal is just to make money, you are going to struggle to really motivate yourself if you come against challenges that aren't allowing you to make that money. So you need a deeper, deeper reason for being. So mine, for example, my purpose is that I never

want to go back to a nine to five job. So I will do everything in my power to make my businesses work so that I can continue to live an aligned freedom focused life because I know that freedom is a core value for me. Freedom is one of my highest values. Like if I don't have that freedom, then I'm not living in alignment with my truest self. So I have this really deep, deep goal, this deep, deep why, this deep, deep purpose that is pursuing me through every single challenge. And you need to have that as well because business is hard.

This entrepreneurial life is not easy. I'm not going to sugarcoat it for you. It comes with a lot of challenge and you have to be really motivated to make sure you achieve those goals. So having that deep why and that purpose is really what is going to be driving you forward. Now, in addition to that, you also need to have perseverance because like I say, you're going to go through rough patches. You're going to need that resilience and the ability to zoom out.

look at what was happening and then keep going and learn from the mistakes. The biggest thing that you can do in entrepreneurship is take failures as lessons, not get stuck on the small stuff, not think, I'm a failure because X, Y, Z went wrong. You need to know that all of the things that go wrong are actually teaching you what you can do better next time.

And when you go through all of those failures, you also need to have quite a strong level of self-belief because if you don't believe in yourself, you are going to second guess every single decision, every single action you take. And when those challenges come up, which they will, I don't know any business that's been like Smooth Sailing, your confidence is going to take a hit, especially if you don't have this inner level of trust to keep you going. So it is really important to have the passion, the perseverance, the purpose.

and the self-belief that to keep you going through this entire journey.

If you feel like you've got all four of those key traits that I think you need in entrepreneurship, I really want to help you move your life into this freedom model because I know how good it is.

And I really want to encourage you that I believe anybody can do this. It might not happen really quickly. It might take years. It might take months, however quickly you work, but there is a route for you. If you have this deep passion and this purpose for the lifestyle that you want to live, you are going to achieve it. If you can see it already, you are able to achieve it. You just need to take the aligned action, in which case we're going to come onto that, how you do that in a second.

Sophie Biggerstaff (13:57)
I hope you enjoyed that little clip from the master class that you can get full access to right now if you would like. But essentially I came up with that method, if I came up with the freedom model method, because I have lived through this myself. I have set up myself a business.

After being in circumstances that I really didn't enjoy, I used to work in fashion industry as a luxury fashion buyer. I was managing a 380 million pound business. I was traveling to New York, Italy, all around Europe. On paper, I had the dream job, but I really was waking up feeling anxious, overwhelmed, exhausted to go to work every single day because it was not in alignment with what I wanted for my life. I wasn't utilizing my core skills. I wasn't passionate about what I was doing.

I found it really difficult to show up and go to work every single day because it was not something that was helping me feel content, happiness, giving me that emotional freedom. So what did I do? I took action. I changed my circumstances. I started an online business and that online business has gone through so many different variations. And honestly, I found myself back in that starting point a few times where I thought this circumstance isn't right. Even though I've created this freedom for myself by starting this online business.

it wasn't always the right online business that I was working on. So many times along the way I've had to pivot my online business and get back into that alignment, gain the clarity to figure out exactly what it is that I want for my lifestyle and then make the changes, take the actions to make that happen. So I have packaged up everything that I have done and I've created this freedom model method and now I want to teach it to other people. I want to show more people that they can actually achieve.

a model in their life that allows them to have freedom, that allows them to make money, that allows them to have more time back, that allows them to work from wherever they want, if that is something that you desire. Now we all have different levels of freedom that we want to achieve. We all have different goals and none of our goals are better or worse than the other. So it's completely personal to you what it is that you want to achieve. But I have basically put together a whole format.

to help you get there, particularly if you want to get there through online business. So my freedom was found by starting my own online business. Now I am an online business mentor. I obviously wanted to teach more people how to get into the world of online business. So I have created the Freedom Model Method, which is a group course and hybrid coaching program where I will talk you through how to build your online business that is going to work for the lifestyle that you want to live.

Now this is perfect if you are stuck in this like overthinking stage where you're like in this circumstance you don't really want to be in and instead of taking action you're just staying there but you know that you want to get out of it. Maybe you already know that you want to start an online business and you're just really not sure of the exact steps you want to take or maybe you've like absorbed as much free information that you can possibly absorb over on Instagram or other social media platforms.

and it's left you feeling more and more overwhelmed and second guessing everything that you are doing. Maybe you've even launched a business before and you want to restart, you want to pivot, you've kind of got to start from scratch sometimes when you pivot, but you're not starting from baseline because you already have that experience, that knowledge, those lessons learned. So if you are stuck in your head, if you're overthinking your next action and you're wondering is online business right for you, first step would be go and watch the free...

the free masterclass that I've just shared a little snippet from. But secondly, if you do actually decide at the end of that, that you want to start your own online business and you've got an idea in your head exactly what you want to start, the Freedom Model Method course and group mentoring programme is really going to be perfect for you. So if you're stuck in your nine to five, dreaming of breaking free or like me, you're a nomadic soul and you just want that freedom and you want to go and explore the world and work and make money whilst you're doing that.

this course, this Freedom Model Method was absolutely built with you in mind. And I know this because I was that person. I have gone through this. I have lived this. I am speaking from a direct experience. if this time next year you want to be working from anywhere in the world, earning money on your own terms and spending more time doing the things that you love, plus actually waking up feeling content and happy with everything that you are doing on a daily basis,

I really would love you to go and check out the Freedom Model Method. It is a brand new program that I have built. is a 12 to 16 week, depending on how fast you work, step-by-step online business foundational course where I will literally teach you from start to finish, give you every single action that you need to take to set up your own online business. Now, within that, there is a big focus on mindset because I know how important mindset is. So get your mindset into a really solid position to help you overcome

all of the things that you are going to experience in your online business. So there's a massive focus on mindset in there. There is also a massive focus on actually building this business with your dream lifestyle in mind, because there is absolutely no point in building a business that you hate, one that you're not passionate about, that you wake up feeling resentful for every single day, because in that case, you might as well go back to your nine to five, right? So this course is really focused around getting you set up.

to be an amazing online business owner, someone that feels really confident in the decisions that they're making, somebody that is just ready to take action. It's really for those go-getters that really want to achieve something different in their life. If you're fine in your current circumstance and you wanna stay in that discomfort of feeling stuck and unsure, this course isn't for you. I really want to work with people in this course that are go-getters, that want to make change, that want to create that freedom, that they have a strong enough why and a strong enough purpose.

that they are going to go all in to achieve those goals. So the freedom model method, like I say, your primary foundations of it is the course, the 12 to 16 week course, which is going to talk you through all of the actions that you need to take to actually set up your online business. Now there's three options you can either go for just by purchasing the course only, which is one time payment or a monthly payment plan over a course of six months.

or you can also upgrade and get the group mentoring programme at the same time, which you get everything in the course and you can work through that at your own pace, but then you also get access to me in our group mentoring session. So you're going to get six months of group Q &As, mini masterminds and hot seat mentoring in a group format to help get clarity, alignment and accountability in your new online business.

Then the third option you've got is also working with me on a one-on-one basis. You'd get everything in the course, everything in the group mentoring programme, but then you also have that one-on-one support where I will really help you create your exact freedom model that is going to be perfect for you and help you plan that out specifically step-by-step every step of the way. You're going to have access to me over on Telegram as well in a lifetime community support channel. And if you're working with me one-on-one, you're to get my one-on-one direct feedback.

constantly in your business, we're gonna be checking in all the time with each other. So I'm really excited to bring this to the world. It's been in the making for a while. And it's been in the making for a while because I've been really thinking about like what was the steps that I had to take to achieve this level of freedom that I now have in my life. I currently live in Southeast Asia. I've been traveling for the past four years.

I've been making money the whole time. I've had clients pretty much the whole time. Yes, obviously there has been challenges along the way. It hasn't been smooth sailing. There has been periods where I've had so much self doubt, so much insecurity around money, but actually it's worked. I've made money online. I have definitely achieved the time freedom. I have definitely achieved the location freedom, the financial freedom I am definitely still working on, but I can clearly say that I have achieved that mental, emotional clarity and freedom.

And that, like I say, is the top priority for me. So I for sure want to share this with the world. I have so much experience working with over a hundred online business founders, setting up and growing their online business. I have seen this not just from my own journey, but from other people's as well. So I have combined everything that I have learned about online business and finding freedom in your life into this Freedom Model Method program. And I would love to share it with you.

So the first step for you if you're interested in that would be to jump on the free masterclass. The free masterclass is essentially gonna help you map out, you've just had a little snippet from it, but it's gonna help you map out on a deeper level the exact freedom model method and online business route that might be right for you based on your skills, your passions, your desires, your goals, your why, the lifestyle that you wanna achieve. So really recommend going and taking that free masterclass.

If you do take that free masterclass, anybody that is on my email list after that free masterclass actually gets a free 25 minute map one-on-one freedom mapping call with me where we can explore your exact freedom goals in a little bit more detail. And then from there, you can actually decide whether the freedom model method is going to be the right fit for you. There's no obligation on that call. is just very much.

to figure out what does your freedom strategy look like. Let's create you something, an action plan that you can start taking step by step actions towards in order to create more freedom in your life. And then from there, you can decide what your next steps are. Like I say, I really want to work with go-getting action takers, somebody that really, really wants to achieve this in their life. For me, my purpose is so strong. I never want to go back to my nine to five. I really, really have a strong enough why to make sure that I never have to go back.

to those circumstances that I was in before. And I've set myself up now to believe that I don't actually, will never need to go back to those circumstances. And I want to encourage and expand and show more people that that is possible for them as well, because I really, really wholeheartedly and truly believe that if you want something deeply enough and you take the right actions to get it.

you are just going to get 1 % closer every single day. If you take a little mini action every single day, you are getting on that route. You will get that eventually. So I'm really excited to hopefully guide you through that process if freedom is something you want to create, if an online business is something that you want to create in your world, definitely check out that free masterclass. I also have a free quiz that if you already have an idea that yes, you want to start an online business, but you're not sure what it is.

This free quiz will actually guide you through all of the different options based on the skills that you've got, the passions that you've got and the lifestyle goals that you want to achieve. So I'm going to drop all of those links in the show notes below. So make sure you go and check them out. And if you have any questions, you can always drop into my DMs or email me at hello at [itssophiebiggerstaff.com](http://itssophiebiggerstaff.com/) anytime. So thank you for joining me. I hope this has sparked some inspiration in you to go and change your circumstances if you're feeling a bit stuck.

or stagnant in your life and it gives you bit more inspiration and expansion into what could possibly be possible for you. So thank you so much for listening and I will catch you next time.