After years and years of working in licensing, Diania Merriam opened up her credit report and saw that she was (collectively) $30,000 in debt. This forced her to ask the question, “what am I working for?” It made sense at the moment: you get your paycheck, you can go out to a fancy dinner, you get another paycheck, you can buy yourself something nice. But Diania wasn’t happy, or at least as happy as she thought she’d be.She realized that she didn’t want to be stuck in a job she had to go to every day. She wanted autonomy, freedom, and financial independence that would allow her to rule over her schedule and pursue her passions and interests. So, she went to work and started saving whatever she could. She stopped eating out, started cooking all her meals, moved to a more inexpensive city, bought a house and house hacked, heavily invested in retirement, and did everything right.Now, she’s self-employed, hosting the Optimal Finance Daily podcast and the EconoMe Conference in Cincinnati. She was able to create her dream roles because she came from a position of financial strength, she also had a plan in mind and knew what her “worst-case scenario” looked like.In This Episode We CoverGetting out of consumer and student debt as quickly as possibleMinimizing expenses and maximizing income to increase savings ratesBuilding a strong financial runway so you can start your own businessBuying a house and house hacking by renting per roomUnderstanding your “worst-case scenario” before you take the leap into entrepreneurialismFinding your passions and cementing what you want to do when you reach FIAnd So Much More!Links from the ShowBiggerPockets Money Facebook GroupBiggerPockets ForumsFinance Review Guest OnboardingScott's InstagramMindy's TwitterGet Tickets to BPCon 2021The Shockingly Simple Math Behind Early RetirementGet Tickets to the EconoMe Conference and USE CODE BIGGERPOCKETS for a DiscountBiggerPockets Money Podcast 01 with Mr. Money MustacheBiggerPockets Money Podcast 120 with Michael KitcesBiggerPockets Money Podcast 153 with Bill BengenGrab the House Hacking StrategyCheck the full show notes here: https://www.biggerpockets.com/moneyshow215See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.