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🎶What 30,000 Voices in Harmony Taught Me About Freedom

  • Writer: Tony Ouyang
    Tony Ouyang
  • Jul 22
  • 2 min read

Updated: Oct 9

Clip from Laulupidu 2025 where the Children's Choir sang "Sind vaid kiidan" or "I Praise Thee"

Learn more about Estonia's Laulupidu here.


🎶What 30,000 Voices in Harmony Taught Me About Freedom


Our family just returned from 17 days in Estonia and Finland, where our older daughter sang with Piedmont East Bay Children's Choir as invited guests to #Laulupidu, the Estonian Song Festival.


Every five years, over 30,000 singers young and old perform together in a massed choir for an audience of more than 100,000. 🇪🇪 The tradition commemorates Estonia’s “Singing Revolution,” when the country peacefully won back its independence from Soviet rule.


It was moving. Epic in scale. Emotionally unforgettable. And five years ago, I wouldn’t have been able to go.


Back then, I was deep in startup life—fintech startup #4 to be exact. Even if I technically “took time off,” I’d still be checking Slack, answering emails, and feeling "ghost" 👻 notifications when my phone was in my pocket.


The mental load inevitably followed me, and I struggled to be fully present with my family.


But today, things are different.


In 2011, we made an intentional decision to work toward Financial Independence (FI). That decision—and the actions that followed—freed us.


Now we travel on our schedule. We work on our terms. And we live with a level of presence and freedom that would’ve once felt like a far-off dream.


💡 And no—reaching FI doesn’t mean you have to stop working or earning an income. In fact, Fei Ouyang and I love running our #solopreneur businesses together, Doppeltree and Empower Wealth Counseling. The difference is, we choose *how we work* and *why*.


Financial independence isn’t about early retirement (or at least doesn't *have* to be).


It’s about reclaiming your time.

It’s about reclaiming your choices.

It’s about reclaiming your life.


Bonus: we were able to connect with old University of Michigan - Stephen M. Ross School of Business classmates Stephen Brown and Simone Heron in Talinn who have started their own Craft Beer Cafe (brewklyn.ee/) and Jing Liang in Helsinki!


***


Ready to Start Your Journey to Freedom?


At Empower Wealth Counseling, I help early- and mid-career professionals move toward Financial Independence—the point at which your assets can fully cover your living expenses for 30+ years.


📌 Two ways to work with me:

🎯 Focus Sessions – Four weeks of one-on-one guidance around a specific topic

🧭 Empower Complete Plan – A six-month partnership to build your full financial roadmap


📅 Schedule a free, no-obligation intro call at https://lnkd.in/g2CZsQ_N


Let’s chat about what freedom could look like for you.



 
 
 

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