📚 Book Review: From Passive To Passionate

Author: Brian Luebben
Read if you’re into: Freedom, side hustles, mindset shifts, escaping the 9-to-5

The dream isn’t just financial freedom — it’s freedom of time, energy, and meaning. That’s the central message in From Passive to Passionate, a playbook-meets-pep-talk for anyone ready to reconsider the “default path” and design a life on their own terms.

This isn’t just another FIRE book (financial independence, retire early). It’s what comes after. After the passive income, after betting on yourself, after the one-way ticket to wherever-you-want... What now?

Brian Luebben took the red pill. He left a $250,000 job in 2022 and started a podcast and built businesses from all over the world. Now he’s on a mission to help others “escape average,” not just financially, but emotionally and mentally too.

Here’s what stood out to me.

🔥 Big Ideas I Took Away

1. Freedom Has Levels

Financial freedom is just the first rung. Emotional freedom, calendar freedom, and creative freedom are harder to buy — but far more fulfilling.

“No person is free who is not a master of themselves.” – Epictetus

Luebben challenges the reader to ask why they want freedom in the first place. What will you do with it? Who will you be without the identity your job gave you?

2. The Power of Better Questions

One of the book’s recurring themes is the importance of asking better questions — the kind that force you to evolve just to answer them.

• “What would I do with my time when my job was finally gone?”
• “What would I do for free?”
• “What are people already asking me for help with?”

It’s not about solving for $10K/month. While that's great, it's just a number that can change. It’s about who you become in the process, which is a far more impactful change in your life.

3. The Freedom Flywheel

Cash-flow gets you out of your job.
Community keeps you out.
Clarity propels you forward.

Most people only focus on the first part: money. But without a peer group, a vision, and habits to support that lifestyle, you’ll be bored, anxious, or back in a full-time W-2 job within a year.

4. Implementation > Information

You don’t need more podcasts, books, or newsletters. You need movement. Even messy movement (see here for creating momentum if you feel stuck in this loop).

“Information alone is never the answer. Implementation of information is.”

The book reads like a bootcamp for doing. There's a big emphasis on action — planning your "escape" timeline, launching a side hustle, making your first investment property offer. Less theory, more action.

📌 Memorable Quotes

• “Simple scales. Fancy fails.”
• “Outwork your self-doubt.”
• “You don’t want to stop working. You want to choose what to work on.”
• “Your self-worth will always set the ceiling for your net worth.”

🧠 Final Thoughts

This isn’t a book about retiring early. It’s a book about waking up. It’s about being able to provide for yourself outside of relying on someone else’s vision. Everything worth building — from wealth to wellness — is done by leaning into hard things on purpose.

If you’ve already discovered the concept of passive income, or you’re in the early innings of starting your own thing, From Passive to Passionate will meet you where you are — and nudge you a little further. It can be uncomfortable at times to consider a reality where you bet entirely on yourself, but it's necessary to break out of prior programming.

It's equal parts tactical and mindset-driven, sprinkled with stories from Brian’s own journey of turning ambition into adventure. One point of clarification from my view: you don’t need to hate your job or want to immediately leave your job to see how important it is to create additional income sources. It depends on your risk tolerance, confidence in your abilities, and overall fulfillment. Timelines may vary.

Having listened to a few of his podcast episodes and Instagram stories prior to this, I was already in the right mindset to absorb these lessons. I’m obsessed with the fact that he was able to build all that he has while traveling the world and having incredible life experiences. The underlying message is solid: freedom isn't given, it’s built. And the only way out is through (for more on this concept, check out this post of mine too).

Would I recommend it?
Yes — especially to anyone asking: “What now?” after they’ve started their financial freedom journey.