I've interviewed dozens of FIRE investors who focus on earning more, and learned the easiest side hustle is often the most time-consuming

After interviewing dozens of financially independent investors, the author has learned that the quickest path to financial independence is to focus on earning.Courtesy of Kathleen ElkinsI've interviewed dozens of financially independent individuals. Many of them focus on earning.

Inspired by the people I write about, I've experimented with a few side hustles.While the time-for-money hustles are reliable, they're not the most scalable.After interviewing dozens of financially independent investors over the past five years, I'm convinced that one of the fastest ways to buy yourself more freedom — whether that means retiring early or simply gaining the option to stop working — is not to skimp out on coffee while meticulously tracking every dollar.

It is to make more money.Laurie-Anne King, cofounder of the financial-literacy company Dow Janes, told me in 2022 that "earning money is one of the secret skills of people who are achieving financial freedom fast."Rather than thinking, "Spend less so you can save more," King and her cofounder, Britt Baker, challenge their audience to think: "Earn more so you can invest more."

Grant Sabatier, author of the bestselling book "Financial Freedom," offers similar advice: "If you want to reach financial independence as quickly as possible, you're going to need to up your side-hustle game."Between 2010 and 2015, when Sabatier grew his net worth from $3 to more than $1 million, he did everything from pet-sitting and selling concert tickets to flipping vintage mopeds."No job was too small," he writes in his book.

The math checks out: If you earn more without significantly increasing your spending, you'll have more money to save and invest — and that's how you accelerate your financial goals.Putting that idea into practice, however, is harder than it sounds.Inspired by the people I write about, I've experimented with a few side hustles of my own, from low-cost projects such as selling clothes from my closet to a far more ambitious (and expen