A Remote Job Is Not Freedom

Himzo had the life half the internet is chasing.

A remote corporate job. Living in Thailand with his wife. Laptop open, beach nearby, salary landing every month.

And he still wasn't free.

Because his company was in Melbourne, and remote work meant he had to live on Melbourne's clock. He spent over a month in Saudi Arabia and couldn't stay because the time zones didn't allow it. Living in Europe was off the table for the same reason.

He could work from anywhere, as long as "anywhere" fit inside his employer's working hours.

That's the part nobody tells you about remote work.

It's not freedom. It's a longer leash.

The Life That Looked Good on Paper

Himzo is Bosnian, raised in Melbourne. His parents moved to Australia after the war to give their children a better life.

And he did everything with that life you're supposed to do.

He built a career in IT. Business analyst, then transformation manager, running software projects. The promotions came. The job titles came.

He was also no stranger to business. On the side of his full-time job, he built a supplement brand and scaled it to 40 to 50k a month at its peak. Two to three years of full-time work plus a business …. the man knows how to grind.

But here's what all of it actually added up to.

Him and his wife both working full-time in Australia, just to keep up with the cost of living. In his words: "You're just working to pay the bills."

And when he was asked what his life would look like if nothing changed, his answer was one sentence.

"It's a hamster wheel. Same thing day in, day out. Nothing's changing. It's not a life that I want to live."

You can have the titles, the promotions, even a business doing serious numbers and still be on the wheel.

He Walked Away From a Working Business

This is the part of Himzo's story I respect most.

His supplement brand worked. The marketing engine behind it was influencer marketing, he was the brand, reaching out to influencers, doing cold email outreach, building lists. Years before IMA existed in his life, he was already doing the core skill.

But there was a problem.

The market shifted against his product. And more importantly, the influencers and customers in his niche were almost entirely women and working closely with women, day in and day out, was something he no longer wanted in his life.

So he shut it down.

Read that again. He walked away from a revenue-generating business because of where it was taking him.

He told us his priorities had changed completely: "It used to be about trying to make as much money as I can. I wanted a lot of the worldly things. Now it's my time, my family, quality of life."

So he and his wife sold up in Australia and moved to Thailand. She stopped working after six years of marriage where she'd worked full time the entire time, he finally carried the income alone.

One problem left. The job paying for that life still owned his hours.

The Model He Already Knew

When Himzo came across our videos, something clicked immediately.

He'd lived influencer marketing from the brand side. He knew it worked, because it's what built his own business. But as a brand, he'd carried everything, product, suppliers, logistics, customers, ads, and the influencer outreach was just one piece of the machine.

IMA was that one piece, on its own.

His words: "I can make money just focusing on that one thing. No product, no logistics, no customers."

The skill he already had, without the 90% of e-commerce that had consumed his life for three years.

He talked it through properly with his wife. The savings were theirs together, built through years of both of them working and then he committed. October 2025, working his 5am to 1pm shift, locking in the hours every evening after work.

The Real Goal

When our team asked Himzo what he was actually building toward, he didn't talk about cars.

He talked about his mother.

She's 55. She still works full-time. So does his father. They've worked their whole lives, and the Australian cost of living never let them stop.

And everyone they love is in Bosnia. That's where their hearts are. They only left because of the war, to give their kids a chance.

Himzo's goal, in plain numbers: enough monthly profit to cover his own family, plus enough to retire both his parents and move them home to Bosnia where a modest amount a month would let them finally rest.

"My family is the biggest thing to me. If I can provide them with a better life, that would be the world."

The parents left Bosnia so the son could have a future.

The son is building a business so the parents can have their homeland back.

Seven Months Later

Here's where Himzo stands, roughly seven months in.

Between 15 and 20 deals closed.

Over $50,000 in revenue, with around $25,000 of that as profit — close to a 50% margin.

A group of clients he now works with on a monthly basis, with his sights moving from the smaller deals to bigger brands.

And the milestone he'd wanted "for a very, very long time": he quit the corporate job.

He described it as a massive weight lifted off his shoulders. Not having to answer to anyone. Doing what you want, when you want. "An unreal feeling."

And because there was no longer a Melbourne clock attached to his income, he did what the leash never allowed.

He left the West completely.

As I write this, Himzo is in Sarajevo. The plan is to live between Bosnia and Malaysia. Winters in the warmth, the rest at home. A brother walked past him in the street the other week and recognised him by his mother's name.

The son made it back first. Now he's scaling the business to bring his parents home behind him, in shaa Allah.

He's also now one of the coaches inside IMA, guiding students through the same road he walked.

What I Want You to Take From This

The first lesson is the one his whole story proves: a remote job is not the finish line. If someone else controls your hours, they control your location, your energy, and your ceiling no matter which beach your laptop is on. Himzo had remote work, big titles, and business experience, and he was still on the wheel.

The second lesson is about skills and vehicles. Himzo had the exact skill. Influencer outreach for years. Attached to a product business, it bought him a second full-time job. Attached to the right model, the same skill produced 50% margins and a life he designs himself. Hard work matters, but where you point it matters more.

The third is what he walked away from. A working business, because it compromised his deen. Most men can't close the door on money that's already flowing. Allah replaced it with something cleaner and freer.

And his advice to you, in his own words:

"Work hard, stay consistent, and have trust in Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala. Make dua. It's unreal, with dua and hard work, where you can get to in life."

May Allah reunite his parents with their homeland, put barakah in his business, and bless his family with what they're hoping for.

Barakallahufik,

Abu Lahya