By the time you read this, you’ll already be sorting through tons of emails from info-marketers using Independence Day as a way to sell you small business success advice and programs. The message they’ll deliver is this one: BREAK FREE from your job. BREAK FREE from bad customers. BREAK FREE from ______________. But here’s the (heretic) truth:
Most small business owners are NOT free at all.
Oh no. Contrary to popular entrepreneurial messaging, the REALITY is that most business owners are ankle chained to their businesses. They are working long hours, chained to their phones and ipads, feeling like they need to ask HOW HIGH every time a potential customer says, “jump.” They feel enslaved to industry norms… working according to what “people expect,” afraid to set boundaries on their time, afraid to say “NO, I can’t meet with you on Friday night at 7.” Are these busy, busy business owners making tons of money?
Mostly, no. I heard one business owner put it best when she said, “If I added up all of my hours, I’d have been better off working at McDonald’s for minimum wage and a shift meal.” Some, yes. But, even then… is it worth it?
I say no. May I tell you a little secret that the slave-creating business gurus will NEVER tell you?
The way you build your business IS the way you’ll maintain it.
So, don’t EVER think you’ll hustle, hustle, hustle now and then push pause somewhere along the way and FINALLY create a sane schedule. CAN this happen? Sure, but it IS the exception. Your business is a living, breathing entity. “Raise” it on nothing but adrenaline and you’ll soon have an adrenaline-junkie business… always requiring your next breath, your next hustle, its next fix.
BUSINESS FREEDOM is (only) built when you’ve done TWO things:
1) Generated MORE demand for what you sell / offer than supply.
2) Grown the chutzpah necessary to call your own shots, unapologetically.
There’s no other blueprint for business freedom. So, don’t be lured into some false hope or hype. My warning is this: Do not listen to anyone selling you a bright shiny object promising “freedom” tomorrow.
Instead, read a history book. Where red, white, and blue. Thank a veteran. Honor a fallen hero. Talk with your kids about independence and what it means to them. Hug your spouse. Then, when you get back to work, focus on those two ingredients to FREEDOM listed above.
Happy July 4th. (And to my Canadian readers: Happy Belated Canada day!)
