I talk to a lot of people who want to become property developers. One of the big questions I ask them is WHY. Becoming a property developer takes work, and I know they need to have  a strong WHY to keep them going through the tough bits.

And what's the most common answer I get? That's easy - financial freedom. It's a good answer, up to a point, but beyond that point it's not good enough. It's too vague. I can't recall a single person who's actually been able to define it in terms of money or circumstances.

Which is why I'm going to break it down for you now.

Before I do that, though, I have one thing to ask of you. When you've finished reading this article, go and work out some numbers. You need to know exactly how much money you need to earn each month to keep the home fires burning.

Include the big things like your mortgage or rent, bills, groceries etc. I'm not talking about things like holidays. Just the things you need to pay each month for life to continue on as normal.

Financial Independence

Financial independence is the first level of financial freedom. Essentially, you swap your day job for your property development job.

This is the start of your journey. You complete a couple of small projects while you're still working your job, and use the profits to build up your cash reserves. It's good to complete at least two projects successfully to prove the first time wasn't a fluke.

Once you're on the way, gradually transition from your job to property developing. You might be able to negotiate working less hours at your current job, or find a different job that's part-time.

As your journey continues, there will come a point where you have strong enough financial reserves to completely move from your job to development.

Let me be clear - at this point you are not financially free. What you've done, though, is reach a point where you're able to replace your work income with development income. This gives you a whole lot more life options.

Financial Freedom

Now that you have your time back and can focus solely on your property development business, chances are you're near the end of my Property Development FORMULA (check out the free course here!) and are Accelerating the process.

The reality is, property development projects tend to have busy periods and slow periods. Which means that once you are doing development full time, you can run 2 or more projects simultaneously. With any luck the busy period on one will line up with a slow period on the second project.

Okay, let's get real here - it's rare that multiple projects will dovetail quite so neatly! But being full-time means you're better able to deal with the busy spots.

And as you do more projects, gradually growing the size of your developments, you'll reach a point where you're able to retain a dwelling from each development, mortgage-free.

That's when financial freedom kicks in. Remember those numbers I asked you to work out at the start of the article? The amount of income you need to have each month to put food on the table, fuel in your car and everything else you need to pay - that's your financial freedom number.

When the passive income you earn from rent is higher than your financial freedom number, then you've arrived. Woohoo!

Hang on a minute, I can hear you thinking with a frown. You said there were three levels of financial freedom, and yet I've arrived after only two! Explain!

Okay, you got me. The thing is, while financial freedom might mean having enough passive income to live on, there's one more level to aspire to...

Lifestyle

Yep, it's that thing so many property course spruikers love to splash all over their ads - lifestyle. The fancy car, the big house, the amazing holidays.

Now, I'm the last person to suggest you shouldn't pursue those things (even if I refuse to use them as click bait in my ads!). For many people they're a huge motivator to do what they need to do.

Lifestyle is the third level of financial freedom. This is when you're earning enough money from your property development business, both through passive income and profit, that you have the money do whatever the heck you can dream up for yourself and your family.

I only have one word for you when you reach that point - enjoy! You deserve every bit of your success.

And if you're not there yet - go out there and make it happen!