Going solo and becoming your own boss is a dream of many Americans. According to the latest FreshBooks Annual Self-Employment Report, “an unprecedented number of traditionally employed Americans are now contemplating self-employment. Overall, 40% say it’s at least somewhat likely they’ll work for themselves within the next two years. The numbers are even higher among those under 35 and the highly educated (>50%).”

Even though this high-reward path attracts people from all wakes of life as the entry barrier is relatively low (you need an idea, and you have to be prepared to work to bring it to life), not many succeed in achieving their dreams. As Travis Hanson, a self-made multi- millionaire points out, it’s no secret that entrepreneurship can be risky. Still, with the right strategy, that risk can be mitigated to a minimum.

Travis Hanson is a former cop who became a lawyer and then turned to entrepreneurship as a way to achieve the financial freedom and happiness he always dreamed of. While Hanson was still a cop, he was tired of walking the same beat every day, watching the same faces repeatedly. He believed that there was more to life than that, and with that in mind, he first turned to higher education.

Hanson left the police department and went on to pursue a law degree. After successfully graduating from the University of Utah with a bachelor’s degree, he enrolled in law school at Texas Tech University. But during his time at Texas Tech, he had a eureka moment.

“I was thinking that I’m gonna go to law school, and I’m going to be a city prosecutor,” he says. “But then I realized I would return to work in the same office where I was a police officer and earn only a little more money. I dreamed bigger things, so I made a new plan.”

For the next eight years, Hanson worked as an attorney and decided to invest heavily in real estate. Every single extra penny went into his growing portfolio. “I hit the gas and started buying real estate. And I just kept buying and buying and buying and buying,” he explains.

Years later, Travis Hanson is a fully retired multi-millionaire living off of passive real estate income and from several companies he now owns. For Hanson, this was the only way to go through life, as his mindset always pushed him to chase bigger and greater things despite the associated risk.

“I see aspiring entrepreneurs always talking about risk. And that’s the problem. They need to learn that risk is not to be feared and debt is not the enemy,” he says. As Hanson adds, those who want to be successful in life have to be able to take on and stomach the risk.

“If you can do those two things, only the sky is the limit. I’m proof of that because I came from a place called Rose Park, Utah, which is Salt Lake’s ghetto,” he explains. “A place where dreams drown in sorrow. And it’s all because I had the mindset. That’s why anybody can do this, make it big. It’s just the mindset.”

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