9 Truths about the Unifying Experiences of Entrepreneurialism and the (Com)Passionate Pursuit of Professional and Personal Freedom
Apr 24, 2024
- Owning your own voice isn’t enough; you must also have the courage to use it.
My heart goes out to people who are afraid to really own their own voice. I’ve been there. As a creative copywriter, I’ve made a career out of being the world’s most delightful Gen-X, high-masking Autistic Cyrano de Bergerac this side of the internet. And yet, the less I let my own voice out of the box, the less rewarding work comes my way.
Despite being quite comfortable on the sidelines, thankyouverymuch, knowing who you are and why anyone should care can’t just be between you and your God—you must be brave enough to say it out loud, often, and without apology. - Creative > Reactive. Period.
One of the most powerful things I have learned in my journey to DIY myself into sweet, sweet sovereignty and a bossless existence is that human development is within our control. Jennifer Thornton taught me that in a Human Development model, 60% of the entire population lives in Reactive Mode, triggered, scared, and unstable in the face of growth and conflict, whilst 30% of people live in Creative Mode, curious, collaborative, and endlessly effective in the face of chaos and change.
If you’re gonna do it anyway (i.e., be alive and try to exist in this kookie, messed-up world), you might as well be creative about it.
- Stepping into success isn’t destiny, it’s a decision. (Or, absolutely nothing that looks or feels like success will happen without Self-Belief.)
Careful what you wish for; you just might get it. If you’ve been 🤞hoping for a business that you can survive on, you’re sure to get it. The problem is, you’re just surviving. Let’s try that again. Tell me who you are and why you’re the best in the world (it’s just that not enough people know about it…yet). Starting today, act like it.
Decide what kind success looks and feels like by defining it for your own damn self. And now, you’re gonna have to choose to believe it. This is me now? Hell yeah. Now do what someone like that does, relentlessly, until you don’t even have to think about it anymore, you can just be about it. - Even Riot Grrrls need routine.
I’ve learned that I am the most creative between the hours of 5am and 2pm, and anytime after that I suffer a sharp decline in hilarious and accessible chutzpah. Furthermore, if I’m not too careful, I can overwork myself into dissociating on the couch, completely drained of proverbial ‘spoons,’ glassy-eyed and binge-watching TikTok, waiting out bedtime where I can reset.
I’ve also found out the hard way that riding the razor’s edge of deadlines and deliverables is a lot less fun than it looks. No matter how many times I thumb my nose at regularity and routine, planning and doing things ‘on purpose,’ it holds true that the sooner we accept that only those with structure can scale, the better it is for everybody. - Find your naysayers and put ‘em in their place…and it’s not where you think it is.
It’s my opinion that surrounding yourself with “yes” (wo)men is just about the most toxic thing you can ever do to yourself. If you’re a charismatic leader with great people power, it’s tempting to form an inner circle lousy with non-stop affirmations and positive feedback loops. Sadly, that house of mirrors eventually prevents you from truly authentic and considered decisionmaking.
Make sure that your inner circle isn’t afraid to dole out the just right amount of tough love, applied liberally when needed, and willing to offer the pushback that either makes a case for business and defends your decision or gives you the perspective you’re craving to keep you grounded in your goals. - Stand up and stand out in a Collaboration Nation. Team up with the tenacious, the underestimated, and the hyperfocused; that’ll be fun.
Your special sauce is a real gift. Once you’ve proven it to yourself and the world that your zones of genius and core competencies are worth paying for, it’s time to fly the nest and find your flock.
Because even the most extraordinary and masterful amongst us who have made a business out of our time, tenacity, and talent, we will reach the limits of our own capacity sooner than later. And when that happens, you’ll find yourself swimming amongst all of the other extraordinary and masterful amongst us out there doing the same dang thing we are. Adopt a more-the-merrier mindset, becoming known for playing well with others and you’ll outpace anything you could do solo. Look for other scrappy go-getters hellbent on co-creation and leverage the power of the collective.
- Form an avoidant attachment to Plan B.
Wise, peaceful and patient people tell us to always be running towards something good, not running from something bad. Fuck that, y’all. I’m all for the carrot on the stick, but I’ve learned that I’m far more motivated keeping a h-e-a-l-t-h-y distance between me and the velvet coffin of my “if not this, then that” escape route if <gestures vaguely> ‘all this’ simply does not bear enough fruit to live on.
Nothing motivates a dyed-in-the-wall entrepreneur to get their ass in gear like the threat of a 9-to-5, soul-sucking gig work, or taking ten steps backwards in the name of making money. Use that avoidant attachment to fuel your ability to make a living. Personally, I do not want to be forced to be great at making Cosmopolitans again, and that is very, very motivating. - Be insatiably curious and committed to ever-expanding your mindmap with empathy and understanding.
Curiosity is my unique advantage. I believe that if someone has done it before, then it can be done. It’s simply a matter of finding out how and why. I also believe that in order to truly communicate, in writing, in relationships, in action, you must harness the power of perspective. By asking questions, following your intuition, you can develop the kind of acute mental acquisitiveness that makes it possible for insight and inspiration to blossom.
The more fluid and flexible you are in your willingness to learn, challenging your own limiting beliefs and seeing things from another POV, the more indispensable you’ll be wherever thought leaders, paradigm smashers, connectors and creative types are called for.
- Always be poised to pivot.
Don’t like change? This life probably isn’t for you. To be an entrepreneur is to always mitigate vision with second-guessing yourself, the market, and the opportunities before you on a daily basis. It means striving for constant, non-stop evolution because that is actually the only way to thrive.
Whether it’s your first day with a brand new logo, freshly open for business or you’ve been grinding the whetstone of a seasoned, self-made career for two decades and counting, the sands are never stable beneath your feet. You’re not gonna wake up one day real soon and say, “phew! I did it. I figured it all out and from this day forward everything is totally in control and I have zero worries because nothing is ever going to change again.” Nice try, french fry; that is not a thing. The only constant here is change. On your marks…get set….GROW!
