When I first started understanding financial freedom, I thought it was all about making more money—working harder, getting better jobs, and saving aggressively.

But that mindset only keeps you trapped.

True financial freedom isn’t about working harder. It’s about working smarter.

And that means learning how to leverage.

What is Leverage?

Most people think leverage means using other people’s time, money, or resources. Bu

t what I’ve learned is that real leverage starts with YOU.

The biggest question you need to ask yourself is:

“Who is giving me permission to do this?”

If you’re waiting for someone else to approve, promote, hire, or allow you to take action—you don’t have leverage.

I learned this concept from The Almanack of Naval Ravikant, where he explains that the most powerful people create their own leverage—they don’t ask for it.

And that was a huge shift in my mindset. I realized that the less permission I need to make money, the more financially free I become.

Leverage is about:

Owning your skills and talents instead of waiting for someone else to recognize them.
Building your own platform, business, or product instead of working within someone else’s structure.
Creating something that scales on its own so you’re not constantly trading time for money.

The more independent your leverage is, the wealthier you become.

And that’s why it’s crucial to understand the three forms of leverage.

Labor: The Most Limited Form of Leverage

When I first started looking at leverage, I assumed hiring a team was the best way to scale.

And yeah, labor leverage has its place—you can’t do everything alone. But relying on human labor comes with major limitations. I learned this first hand as the head of the district at my previous job and while in the military leading hundreds of Marines. My current business owner clients struggled to realize this.

You can’t control human fallacies. No matter how well you train a team, people make mistakes.
Employees don’t value time like entrepreneurs do. You care about efficiency and results—most workers just want a paycheck.
You’re still dependent on effort. Even though it’s not your time being traded for money, it’s still someone’s time.

If your entire wealth strategy is based on managing people, you’re playing a game that will always require effort.

I still use labor leverage in my businesses—I have teams in my finance agency, content creation, and training systems. But I knew I needed something better.

Capital: Making Money Work for You

Once I saw the flaws of labor leverage, I started focusing on capital leverage—using money to make money.

Naval Ravikant explains that money is the easiest form of leverage because it lets you multiply wealth without spending time.

And I realized that there are three ways to leverage capital:

Borrowing Capital (Loans & Credit) – Using debt strategically to scale a business or investment.
Raising Capital (Investors & Fundraising) – Getting others to invest in your vision.
Investing Capital (Markets & Assets) – Growing wealth through smart investments.

For example, in my finance agency, I learned how to invest in my own business.

I reinvested profits into systems and automation.
I used capital to train and scale my team efficiently.
I leveraged networking and partnerships to expand my opportunities.

But even though capital is powerful, it’s still dependent on outside forces—banks, investors, market conditions.

So I wanted something even stronger.

And that’s when I discovered the highest form of leverage.

Permissionless Leverage: The Most Powerful Wealth Multiplier

This is the ultimate game-changer.

The biggest breakthrough I had was realizing that the wealthiest people in the world don’t ask for permission.

Naval Ravikant says:

“You want to create things that don’t require someone else to say yes. The best forms of leverage—media and code—allow you to scale infinitely with zero marginal cost.”

That means:

Books, courses, and digital products – Create once, sell forever.
YouTube & content creation – One video earns revenue for years.
Software & automation – Code works 24/7, scaling your income.

And once I understood this, I completely changed my approach.

I built a finance agency that runs with automated training systems.
I created YouTube content that attracts income without my direct involvement.
I launched Skool communities where people pay for access to valuable resources.
I wrote blogs and articles that generate revenue indefinitely.

The best part?

I don’t need permission from anyone to do this.

I don’t have to hire a team, take out loans, or convince investors. I create once, and the results compound forever.

This is true financial freedom.

I think of it this way. Permissionless Leverage is like planting an apple seed. You plant it now, dedicating time, effort, and energy to nurturing it. At first, you won’t see the fruits of your labor—it takes time for the tree to grow strong. But once it’s fully developed, that tree will continue producing apples for the rest of your life from a single initial effort.

That’s exactly how permissionless leverage works. The upfront sacrifice is significant. You’re putting in hours of work without immediate pay—whether that’s writing a book, building a course, coding software, or editing content. But once it’s created, it can generate income over and over again without requiring additional effort.

I love that I can create a YouTube video today, and that single video will keep paying me for years. And when I upload a new video, it not only generates fresh revenue but also drives more views to my older content, increasing my overall earnings. This is leverage at its finest—building something once and letting it work for you indefinitely.

How to Start Using Leverage Today

If you’re serious about building wealth, you need to stop thinking about making money through effort and start thinking about making money through systems.

Here’s where to start:

Go back to Part 1 and define your specified knowledge. This is the foundation of all leverage.
Stop trading time for money. Start looking for ways to scale beyond effort.
Use capital wisely. Whether it’s borrowing, raising, or investing—make your money work for you.
Build permissionless systems. Create content, automation, or scalable products.
Own your time. Leverage exists to give you freedom, not to trap you in a new job.

If you’re serious about permissionless leverage, start by asking yourself: What are you naturally good at? Throughout this entire series, we’ve talked about specific knowledge and how it plays a crucial role in financial freedom. And that’s exactly where this begins.

If you haven’t read Part 1 on specific knowledge, go back and do that first. You need to fully understand what you bring to the table—your unique combination of skills, experiences, and passions that set you apart. Once you’ve identified that, the next step is finding ways to turn it into something scalable—something you can monetize without constantly trading your time for money.

That’s how I’ve built everything I do. My specific knowledge allowed me to create a finance agency, but I didn’t stop there. It gave me the confidence to start my YouTube channel, to write blogs and articles for my community, and to build a Skool platform where I teach gamers, creators, artists, musicians, and developers how to achieve financial, mental, and creative freedom.

Once you know your specific knowledge, the next step is turning it into something that works for you repeatedly. Maybe it’s a digital product, a book, a course, or a platform that provides continuous value. Maybe your skillset allows you to create systems that others can use and benefit from. Whatever it is, you need to start thinking about how to get paid not just once—but over and over again.

For example, if you’re great with numbers, maybe you can build financial models or code automation tools that businesses need. If you’re a storyteller, you can create content that keeps attracting new audiences long after you’ve published it.

Final Thoughts: The Secret to True Financial Freedom

Most people stay stuck in low-leverage games because they never learn how to scale beyond effort.

Labor is limited. Capital is powerful, but dependent. But permissionless leverage? That’s where real wealth is created.

I used to trade time for money. Now, I build systems that scale, products that sell themselves, and businesses that run without me.

This is the fastest way to financial freedom.

And in the final part of this series, we’ll talk about the one thing more important than any of these factors—Time.

Because none of this works without understanding how time works within this blueprint, which doesn't work the way you think!

For more insights, visit ReforgedHQ.com and start taking control of your wealth today.

The 5 Essential Factors for Financial Freedom – Part 4: Leverage