Financial Independence & Freedom with Eddie Thomason

Eddie Thomason, bestselling author, speaker, consultant, and creator of the Simply Secure podcast, comes to Hacker Valley Studio to discuss financial independence, the freedom of a healthy work-life balance, and habits that have helped him succeed. As a father of two with a full-time job and a thriving content creation career, Eddie explains not only how he does it all, but also how much he cares about helping other security professionals achieve the same level of success.   Timecoded Guide: [00:00] Eddie’s background & his current cyber role with Data Locker [06:07] Growing up in Baltimore City & finding his podcasting inspiration [13:10] Balancing work & life with calendar planning  [19:13] 4 essential habits: reading, listening, association, & work [28:20] Advice for digital content creators & security professionals    Sponsor Links: Thank you to our sponsors Axonius and AttackIQ for bringing this episode to life!  Want to learn more about how Mindbody enhanced their asset visibility and increased their cybersecurity maturity rating with Axonius? Check out axonius.com/mindbody  AttackIQ - better insights, better decisions, and real security outcomes. That's why we partnered with them to create free cybersecurity trainings! Check it out at academy.attackiq.com   What is the connection between cybersecurity and this financial independence and freedom mindset you have? In his book, on his podcast, and throughout his career, Eddie has emphasized the importance of financial independence, especially when it comes to diversifying his income. Instead of calling his projects and revenue streams “side hustles,” Eddie prefers to think of them as baby businesses; small businesses in the infant stage that have massive professional potential. With COVID severely changing Eddie’s economic perspective, he firmly believes in having multiple sources of income and in fostering the growth of each project until he’s seeing revenue to rival the full-time income he already makes in his day job. “If you look at it as a side hustle, that's all it's ever going to be, it's just something that creates a little bit of extra income, but if you look at it as a baby business, that could really replace the income that you currently make.”    How do you balance content creation, day-to-day job responsibilities, and fatherhood?  Being an author and a cybersecurity consultant can both already be demanding jobs, but throwing 2 young children and an entire podcast into the mix makes Eddie’s success borderline hard to believe. However, Eddie credits his success to understanding his priorities and heavily managing his calendar. Entrepreneurs need to think of their schedules down to the minute, maybe even the second. Eddie is not afraid to set aside time for his children, even if it means he has to work in the evenings on his own entrepreneurial goals. Eddie knows that when he puts his calendar together, he is giving himself the time he needs and deserves to work and spend time on what’s important to him, even alongside all his other responsibilities as an employee. “If you're going to work for 8 hours a day for somebody else's dream, then why can't you come home on a daily basis and give yourself at least 2 hours? We're not talking about a whole nother 8, but give yourself at least two hours. From the hours of 5 to 7, what can you do to invest in yourself?”   What are some successful habits you’ve picked up throughout your life and that you mention in your book, Unlock Yourself? Four successful habits guide Eddie through his busy life as an entrepreneur and full-time worker, the first of which is reading. Reading is a source of knowledge and connection with others, and Eddie has learned amazing lessons from reading books and articles. The second is listening, which, just like reading, offers Eddie the ability to learn and to connect with the world. Coming in third is association. Surrounding himself with people who inspire him and are dedicated to his