Entrepreneurial Freedom and Responsibility
February 17th, 2005 by Steve Pavlina
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I worked as an employee only once in my life. In 1992 I had a part-time job at a small independent retail store, earning $6/hour. It didn’t take me long to realize that I didn’t want to have another job — ever. It wasn’t that it was a bad experience per se… I just felt it would be better to be the boss instead of a minion. (At the very least, the boss always gets more hit points). So at that point, I made the decision not to be an employee again. I was going to have to find another way to earn a living.
Next I tried working as an independent contractor doing game programming and eventually running my own game development business working on games contracted by larger publishers. I eventually realized that wasn’t for me either. I gained the freedom of setting my own hours, but my publisher clients became my defacto bosses. I often had to adapt to their (frequently unwise) decisions, and my financial future was tied closely to theirs. Next!
I later changed business models and got into developing and selling shareware, which is really a direct sales business. After I built enough direct sales to achieve a stable income base, I also did some licensing to bring in extra royalty income. That I liked. I was making money even while I slept. I’m still making monthly income off games I created as far back as 10 years ago. They were designed for Windows 3.1 and have never been upgraded, not even for Windows 95. But new customers still buy them (and the newer games) every month.
I know the entrepreneurial / passive income route isn’t for everyone. But the freedom aspect is really nice. You get to be in complete charge of your own time. You decide which projects to tackle. You can work whatever hours you want. You don’t have to ask permission from anyone for any decisions you make or actions you take. There’s just no substitute for holding the reins.
Some people think all this freedom is the best part of being an entrepreneur. But that freedom is a double-edged sword. If you abuse it, you get into trouble. Initially you may enjoy the freedom of sleeping in late and taking 2-hour lunches. But then you see that overusing that freedom will hurt your business. Your personal weaknesses turn into bottlenecks for your business. If you don’t have much self-discipline, you learn to develop some. If you have a tendency to procrastinate, you learn to overcome it. So the extra freedom actually helps you sculpt your character. There are few jobs that do this character sculpting to the same degree because most jobs don’t directly link your personal productivity to actual bottom-line business results and pay you accordingly. A job can shield you from the full effects of both freedom and responsibility. If you slack off for a day, you still get the same paycheck.
It takes time to learn to balance freedom with responsibility. Responsibility and self-discipline give you the freedom to be more spontaneous because you won’t risk abusing your freedom. When I lived in L.A., one morning while getting ready to go to work, I said to my wife, “Let’s go to Vegas.” She surprised at first, but she was all for it, so we made a hotel reservation, packed a suitcase, and within less than an hour after getting the idea, we were on the road for the 4-hour drive from L.A. for a spontaneous 3-day Vegas trip, laughing much of the way there. Nothing was pre-planned, and we didn’t even tell anyone until after we’d arrived at the hotel. We had a fantastic time.
Sometimes it’s really nice to take advantage of the freedom of not having a job. I don’t know too many jobs that let you say to your boss a half-hour before you’re supposed to be at your desk, “My wife and I decided to have some fun for the next few days. Not sure when I’ll be back. See ya!”
The key is to balance the enjoyment of such freedom with responsibility, so you don’t end up developing a nasty procrastination habit. Being very responsible and on top of all your projects is what grants the extra freedom to be spontaneous with no negative consequences. When you’ve got everything well organized, you’re in a good position to know when you can be freely spontaneous vs. when it would be irresponsible or reckless to do so. In the words of Brian Tracy (paraphrasing), “Disorganized people aren’t spontaneous. They’re just confused.”
I think it’s interesting that there’s a project in the works to attempt to build a Statue of Responsibility on the west coast of the USA to balance the Statue of Liberty on the east coast. I hope this project succeeds because we could all use a reminder that responsibility and freedom go hand-in-hand.
February 17th, 2005 at 11:51 am
I’m an entrepreneur. I have ran my own company for many years.
I am also horribly undisciplined. I hate this. I procrastinate a lot, don’t get things done, etc. In college I almost didn’t complete my BS, because I was too lazy and too disorganized for it.
I also overanalyze everything. 95% thinking, 5% doing.
My business works well. I earn a lot, I have savings, etc.
But I know that if I were a disciplined person, I would earn 50x that much.
I know that this sounds very strange. Right now I’m trying approaches such as “Goal-Free Living”. I don’t know what this will lead to, but I’ll keep you posted.
Thank you again, Steve, for an excellent article. I loved the article. I aggree 100% and I couldn’t have said it better myself.
February 17th, 2005 at 12:12 pm
Great post steve… I look forward to having those same choices
February 17th, 2005 at 2:15 pm
Hum i’ve a problem like MX : overanalyze everything. 95% thinking, 5% doing.
Very problematic. Sensation of being powerful but results are less good than others who seems to be weaker.
February 17th, 2005 at 3:29 pm
Steve,
I have followed a similar path. I had jobs, then became an independent contractor, and now I have my own software business. I think it is the most frightening and exciting thing I have ever done. I will do everything in my power to remain independent.
February 17th, 2005 at 5:37 pm
I had 2 jobs. I got my first job when I was 18 years old – I worked as a Delphi 1.0 programmer, developing Windows 3.1 applications. Worked at that job for 7 months.
Then during college I had a second job, at a large software company. I was writing C++ / Win16 and Win32 API software.
During that time I also created my first web site, containing my resume and some articles on Windows API. This has proved to be the step that got me into entrepreneurship.
I wanted to be an entrepreneur since high school, but after posting my web site, this finally became possible. Someone in Canada (remember I live in an East Europe country) contacted me. He wanted me to write some software for him.
I did.. and then other clients came, attracted by my web site. In about 2-3 years I have employed 2 other guys. I had clients in Germany, Belgium and USA.
Then 7/11 came in the US. A really tragic event for all civilized people.
All my clients were scared. For some reason they didn’t want to outsource anymore. I guess they were scared and didn’t want to invest.
I had gotten to the point where very little money was in the bank, and I was very depressed because I knew that in a few months I won’t be able to make payroll.
So.. during this critical period, I made the jump to being an ISV. It’s much better now as an ISV – we make a lot, and don’t depend on large clients. We depend on many sales that happen every day.
February 17th, 2005 at 5:58 pm
Forget about 95%/5%
So far I’ve been 100%/0%
I love your articles Steve. I read each one on dexterity and am liking the ones you have here. But there’s something that doesn’t..quite…move me far enough to get me started being a better person. And, so far, I can’t seem to motivate myself.
It’s so easy to float, to do the minimum necessary to get by. Lately my feeling of self disgust has grown. I’m trying again… mybe this time I can find a way to keep going long enough to build momentum and honestly improve myself.
I feel so bad about it I’m too embarrassed to give you my name.
February 18th, 2005 at 4:28 am
Just a short reaction on comment #6. Your “feeling of self disgust” reminded me directly of “the now habit” by Neil Fiori. Procrastinators are experts at kicking and down-talking themselves for their procrastinating behaviour.
I’d suggest reading that book (cheap paperbacks available) as it shows shows you the mechanisms *behind* the procrastinating behaviour. Recognising what’s really going on might be just the thing you need.
While we’re doing the percentage-thingy over here: I’d guestimate a 30% chance of you managing to give yourself a big push forward by reading this book. And a 90% chance of at least getting two or three nice tips out of it; those tips ‘ll pay for the book within a month.
Regards,
Reinout
February 18th, 2005 at 4:34 am
Hm, at the moment it looks like my comment got lost somewhere…
Anyway, short reaction to comment number 6: read “the now habit” by Neil Fiori. Excellent resource for self-disgusted procrastinators, if only because it shows you the mechanisms in place behind your procrastinatic behaviour.
I’d guess you’ve got a 30% chance to give yourself a real big push after reading that book. Not a bad investment for a paperback
Regards,
Reinout
February 18th, 2005 at 5:57 am
Hey, Steve, how’s AdSense working out for you. I (and a lot of other folks) would appreciate if you post that info in one of your posts. Weekly stats – visitors/click/money – would be perfect.
February 18th, 2005 at 7:28 am
I’ve found that, if you’re passionate about your business, it can be hard to distinguish between strategic entrepreneurial work (crafting your business’s vision) and slacking off (daydreaming). I’m not entirely sure whether that’s a good or a bad thing.
February 18th, 2005 at 7:43 am
“You do not talk about AdSense results.”
This is essentially what the AdSense TOS agreement says about revealing your results (at least the current version I signed when joining). Perhaps in the past they were OK with people to sharing stats, but not anymore.
February 18th, 2005 at 3:14 pm
Interesting thread. Let me add my two cents.
Most people who talk about success automatically assume that goal-setting is the answer. Unfortunately, many people are goalaholics…and aren’t happy with their lives. By loosen the grip that goals have on your life, allowing for greater “peripheral vision”, and engaging in more “experiential living”, people can have truly passionate lives without hard work.
I have done this throughout my career. I am incredibly successful AND love my life. And it has all come easily…without goals. People think I am lucky. I say it is because I try many new things, I play full out in the areas I love most, I make connections with lots of people, and I have the courage to change direction frequently. This “Goal-Free Living” approach is not for everyone…but relaxing the stranglehold of goals even slightly can have a huge impact on your life.
February 18th, 2005 at 4:31 pm
Hi Stephen,
“Goal-free” living seems like a semantic difference to me. IMO most of what you mentioned would be considered setting and achieving goals. To have greater peripheral vision, to more fully embrace experiential living, to live a more passionate life, to connect with people, to have more courage… all of these things you mentioned above… how are these not goals you’ve achieved? You wanted them. You got ‘em. That’s the very essence of setting and achieving goals.
I think what you’re really referring to is the broken process by which most people set and achieve goals. Instead of miserably striving to achieve what lies dimly in the distance and bemoaning the path, it’s far better to enjoy the journey and live in the present without becoming obsessed and losing perspective. What could be harmful about setting and achieving goals if you love the journey? What’s harmful isn’t the intention behind the goal — the harmful part is becoming overly attached to a specific outcome. It’s not the nature of setting goals that creates stress; it’s the attachment to a specific outcome and failing to remain open to the magic of the present moment.
So I think this is a mere semantic difference because your definition of a goal seems to focus on the attachment, whereas I focus on goals as intentions (without the necessity of attachment). Attachment creates stress. But intention without attachment grants focus and clarity. Deepak Chopra does an excellent job of explaining the difference between attachment and intention in his wonderful book The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success. Marc Allen also does a brilliant job of covering this subject in The Millionaire Course; he explains how to set goals as intentions and remain open to all possibilities without becoming fixated and stressed out.
Personally, I absolutely love the process of setting and achieving goals. It’s a lot of fun, something I deeply enjoy. My goals don’t create negative stress; instead they create eustress, helping to fill my days with energy and passion.
It’s ironic that if I wasn’t actively setting and achieving big goals, this site wouldn’t even exist; therefore, neither would your thought-provoking comment about goal-free living.
February 21st, 2005 at 8:22 am
Steve,
Thanks for writing back. I like your paradox that you pose…if you did not have goals, the site might not exist, and hence my comments would not appear. Maybe. Maybe the site would have existed without goals…or at least traditional goals.
For me there are a couple of key points. 1) many people are goalaholics. That is they abuse goals. Just like an alcoholic abuses alcohol. The right kind of alcohol (a nice red wine, for example) can be quite good for you. But the wrong kind (shots of tequila maybe?) or too much of any kind of alcohol, and you have a problem. Goals are the same. 2) there are healthy goals and unhealthy (traditional) goals. Most people have an unhealthy relationship to goals. The whole concept of SMART goals runs completely counter to the way I live my life. Specific, measurable, achievable?? Not me. I go for vague, bold, and audacious. A direction, but not a specific outcome or destination. I create many paths. I view this as a Darwinian approach to living life. Lots of different things going on…the good ones survive. But there are no traditional goals, plans, or anything like that in the process. Very experiential.
February 21st, 2005 at 9:55 am
Steves and Stephens approaches to life are probably two opposite ways of living life. I think it’s important for everyone to choose what suits his personality best:)
February 22nd, 2005 at 2:14 am
Its probably better to be like a child. That may be a worthy balance between Steve and Shapiro approach. Do something as long as it interests you and when it doesnt stop and do something else that interests you.
April 17th, 2005 at 8:02 pm
#73 Best of Me Symphony
The hate and the deeds were ignored or excused. It was less than nothing to those nestled safely elsewhere. Worse yet were the ones who defended the madness, who embraced it and called it patriotic, right, and necessary.
August 14th, 2005 at 10:30 pm
THE CASE IS SIMILAR WITH ME. I SERVED 3 JOBS SIMULTANIOUSLY