Our boy Jay-Z says it better than I ever could: “You’re not a business man – you’re a business, man!” If you want to be a small player, make just enough money to “get by”, report to a boss and spend your whole life working entirely too hard – keep calling yourself a freelancer. Treating yourself as a mere individual and limiting your value to your specific range of skills is the surest way to get crushed by someone else that’s done nothing more than shift their mindset. (More after the video)
(Apologies for the audio quality on this one. Sometimes a mic just doesn’t behave. No worries… content is all that matters.)
All this talk about freelance work, consulting, creating companies – you might be wondering how it all relates back to lifestyle design and turning your income into an afterthought. Simply put: you’ll never do it if you don’t get your thoughts right. Freelance work is almost certainly what you’ll use to fuel your more serious ventures in their early stages. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, unless it consumes every waking hour that should be focused on actually eliminating it with something smarter. Treating yourself as a business gives you an extraordinary feeling of autonomy and control over your time and the opportunities you’re able to pursue. Quitting your 9-5 job to do freelance work is basically a decision to become an employee to as many bosses as you can find. Just because you call them clients doesn’t mean they won’t dominate your time.
To create a symphony that sends chills down spines, you need more than persistence and a little instrument. You need to become the conductor. Be the person that can say yes to any opportunity. Be the one setting the rules, not the one playing by them. Be the CEO or live at the whim of the person bold enough to claim that title for themselves. Your freedom and your time rests on these distinctions. The cost of changing your thinking and elevating yourself above your individual limitations: free. The cost of not doing it: don’t find out for yourself. It’s not pretty.
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