Entrepreneurship and the pursuit of Financial Independence

Abstract: Financial independence (FI) and the FIRE Movement have gained a lot of traction in recent years. Despite the growing popularity of this alternative lifestyle, it is largely absent from the literature with only a few previous studies or investigations found. The goal of this thesis is to see if people use entrepreneurship to help them achieve financial independence. The thesis uses the critical case sampling method and semi-structured qualitative interviews with 11 individuals who are working toward or have already achieved financial independence. The findings show that most of the interviewees rely on waged work as their primary occupation, although most of them supplement their income by engaging in some form of income-generating activities alongside their main occupation, which is known as hybrid entrepreneurship. The interviewees were classified as engaging in full-time entrepreneurship, hybrid entrepreneurship, or no entrepreneurship. The findings showed that the majority of this sample pool was engaged in hybrid entrepreneurship, which implies that the pursuit of FI is either appealing to those already with entrepreneurial tendencies or the pursuit of FI encourages individuals to be more entrepreneurial. Additionally, there are indications that some individuals may use financial independence to reduce risk before embarking on an entrepreneurial journey which aligns with established theory regarding hybrid entrepreneurship.