I hate it when people don’t feel like they have a choice. So many people want to quit their jobs or start their own company but don’t feel that they can. In fact, 90% of people want to be entrepreneurs at some point in their career, but only 10% ever will be. In our professional lives, it’s called “The Golden Handcuffs.” I’m getting gold, but ironically, the gold is adding weight to my life and limiting me.

I recently offered a free ecourse on how to be paid and get gold outside of the context of a job so that people can create the financial freedom and time freedom they need be who they want to be, do what they want to do when they want to do it, and earn what they want to earn. I believe in the Creator in each and every one of us, but I noticed some common challenges that prevent people from creating and living a more joyous, purpose-filled, and abundant life.

The goal of this list isn’t for you to quit your job, unless that’s what you want. The goal of this list is to help those who feel stuck and trapped get back to a place of power in their life and career where they feel that they have choice. I hope you find it helpful as you think about your lifestyle and career design going forward.

1. Your Job Is Your Only Source of Income

We were taught that salary maximization is the key to financial security. Wrong. Who has more financial security? The person who makes $150,000 from one job or the person who makes $120,000 from 10 different clients? We are all already entrepreneurs whether we accept it or not. An employee is simply an entrepreneur with one big client—their employer. But your employer doesn’t have to be your only client and source of income. That’s why I teach people how to grow their side hustles. People who know their value outside of the context of a job feel more empowered and free at work and beyond because they know they have options, even if it initially means less money at first.

2. You Stopped Networking After College

In college, social networks were real before Facebook came along. It was an environment where it was easier to make friends because of dorm life, the amount of free time, and all of the social activities. Once you graduate, everything changes. College friends move away. Everyone is working a full-time job. People start families and have kids. And the weekends are for recovery from the work week. As a result, many people find that their only friends are at work. It’s important to always keep old relationships fresh and be building new relationships in your industry, in your community, and in general. You never know who your next opportunity will come through. When you’re looking for a job, you’re not looking for a position—you’re looking for a person (who definitely doesn’t work at your current company). In fact, social capital is more important that financial capital when it comes to career change.

3. You’ve Been Performing Low For Awhile

When do college basketball players enter the draft to go pro? At the height of their game. Why? Because that’s when their value is at its highest. Most people want to quit their jobs with their middle finger up after a long period of low performance. That hurts you more than your employer because now, when you go to an interview, you don’t have a recent success story to speak about. All you can talk about it your responsibilities (i.e. I managed 100 people) instead of your results (i.e. I increased revenues by 20% last year).

4. You’ve Been Trying To Keep Up With The Jones (or The Kardashians)

When you start earning a more income, it doesn’t just go to savings. What tends to happen is that our cost of living increases with our income. But here is the deal. Financial freedom increases when the gap between our salary (earned revenue) and our cost of living increases. The moment we get a higher paying job, we find a nicer apartment, buy a bigger house, or a better car to keep up with the Jones and look the part. But a person who makes $70,000 but lives off of $50,000 is more free than a person who makes $150,000 and lives off of $130,000. It’s harder to scale down our cost of living when it increases, so the person who lives at $50,000 has more flexibility even though the person who makes $150,000 earns more.

5. You Stopped Learning (After College???)

I can’t really say that a lot of learning happened in college. I’m guilty of cramming for exams. Most of us couldn’t teach on our major, at graduation, for one hour, if our life depended on it. LOL. Oftentimes, our first jobs out of college train us in what we need to know to be successful on that job—and that’s it. That leaves it on us to invest in our intellectual capital outside of work to learn transferable skills that make us marketable through trainings, classes, conferences, and reading.

I hope this list helps you look at your life and free yourself of constraints that you have control over. I didn’t add things that you don’t have control over such as unexpected shifts in the economy, an unexpected illness, or an unexpected addition to the family. Each item above is within your power to change and improve.

Hustle smarter!