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Working for yourself feels like FREEDOM...with an occasional existential meltdown.
Here’s a thought that will immediately put to rest any anxieties you may be feeling about your creative business.
Yesterday, I saw this Reel posted by the creative fashion artist Anne Sophie Cochevelou that perfectly sums up what I want creative business owners to know about working for yourself:
She said, ‘’Do you notice, it’s always the ones in the 9 to 5 who ask you, ‘’But what are you going to do if that little thing of yours doesn’t work out? Well, Stacy, I’ll do exactly what you’re doing; I’ll go get a job, get on the payroll, clock in. Why do you see your current situation as my potential biggest failure? So, basically, my worst-case scenario is already your reality?’’
Working for yourself comes with a steep price and sacrifices you MUST be willing to pay...
So if you're considering whether it's worth going after, let me share some of my personal reflections to help you become aware of what you're in for.
This is for you if you are a creative and unconventional person who is HUNGRY for the freedom that you believe you'll enjoy when you are self-employed.
Or if you're QUESTIONING why you already chose to work for yourself, and just need a reminder why it's worth it. 😉
Continue reading, OR if you prefer listening and want to hear my weird American-Australian accent mix, click below for the podcast version 🪄 🎧💫
Prefer to watch instead of read? Watch the YouTube version here. It's an unusual one that features behind-the-scenes videos of my home office, pet-sitting, and travel across Australia, Bali, and my birth area in Georgia. 🪄 📺 🎧
First, let's talk about THE FREEDOM of working for yourself!
There's no understating THE FREEDOM you'll gain.
If you're creative, unconventional, and neurodivergent, this and the increased income security are probably at the top of your list for reasons why you want to do your own thing.
They were for me.
You can take every Monday off to hit the shopping malls when there are no crowds.
Get up between 8 and 9 AM, do some yoga, play with your dogs, then get all your work done between 10 and 8 PM.
That's my real current schedule.
Take overseas trips for weeks or months at a time, like I do, to visit my family in Atlanta.
You don't have to ask ANYONE.
No waiting for ''leave time'' or for Sally in sales to come back from HER vacation before you can go. You can just GO.
Take your lappy and work from anywhere.
Work from your favorite local chocolatier cafe, or pet-sit for a couple of weeks in another town, state, or country -- like I do.
You know what I really love most, though? Simple, silly things like not feeling weird and getting my bosses' side-eye when I go to PEE fifty-million times a day because I drink a LOT of water!😅
And not having to buy or wear ''office clothes.'' Ugh!
My uniform is the same velvet yoga pants and soft knit black tops every day. I LOVE it.
Having all my makeup last for months because I don't use a lot of it.
Growing my hair longer and smoother because I rarely style it with hot straighteners, hot curlers, or a ton of sprays. LOVE IT.
Would not give up all that for anything...so long as I AM making the uncapped money that makes it all WORTH IT. (More on what that means below!)
What Working For Yourself Does NOT Require
It does NOT require a lot of money or a perfect business idea to get started.
For example, you can start selling ANY service or start an online e-commerce business selling ANY product for FREE.
There are many free website builders and all-in-one marketing software available.
You can learn how to use SEO or network like a ninja to get free traffic instead of paying for Facebook ads. (btw, I can show you how in my beginner mentoring program, The SWAN Academy. More on that below.)
But I do NOT recommend quitting your job to plunge into a business on your own.
Either save money from your job to have at least 3 to 6 months of cushioning, OR build up a side-hustle income stream until it is consistent and livable.
When I started, I had just lost my full-time job, BUT I secured a freelance social media contract with my last boss and a few weeks' payout for being let go.
AND I still ran my accessories e-commerce business on the side, which was bringing in less than a thousand a month at that time (still super helpful though).
The first thing I did was let out the second bedroom of my apartment. I moved my office into the garage. I made it as comfortable as possible with thick red velvet curtains, a rug, and a $20 K-Mart floor heater.
It worked well, though; there was a lot of noise from birds or rain on the tin roof.
And used TF out of my $6k line of Visa credit - that's what I used to buy my first social media management course, in fact! (I do not recommend doing that if you can avoid it)
That all happened in May, 2016.
By September, I started attending as many local networking events as possible to find clients.
By December, I had secured enough clients to go full-time.
I had a fire under my bum, and I wanted to fan the flames (the self-tormenting demon was hard at work already!).
You can read the details about how I landed my first few clients to become fully self-employed here.
But what's important to remember is you don't really need anyTHING to get started working for yourself - you just need to START.
Just start selling something - anything.
The moment you make your first sale, congratulations!
You're in business!🪄💸
What Working For Yourself DOES Require
Ok, so I can't pretend it’s always a glittering stream of passive income and unlimited weeks spent overseas (though I enjoy both!).
Sometimes it feels more like there is a voracious, am-BITCH-ious inner part of myself that just adores self-imposed torture.
Why else would someone force herself to do LIVE videos, run intense Facebook group challenges, and work 13-16 hour days completing new offer launches??!😂
It’s exhilarating and exhausting.
Liberating and low-key terrifying.
It’s freedom, yes…but it comes with a side of existential dread… sprinkled like confetti on every big dream that manifests!🎉
It's the self-improvement CHALLENGES. So. Many. CHALLENGES.
What working for yourself requires is a level of self-reliance, self-discipline, and self-introspection that you just do not need when you are employed.
When you are employed, you aren't forced to see that YOU are always in your own way.
As an employee, you have other things to distract yourself from yourself. And lots of other people to blame.
Like when your boss is an ass, or there's a company 'restructuring,' or when Sally gets fired, and the office politics gets messy.
You deal with what you get served.
But in entrepreneurship, you are both the server and the served.
You're alone.
That's the truth of it, even when you've got a team.
You're the sole decision maker.
Who will YOU work with? What will YOU charge? Which types of products or services will you sell? How do you make contracts?
You, you, you.
The buck stops with you, cygnet!🐣
There's one BIG THING you'll need to start working on right away.
Ok, so for those who are serious and hungry for the freedom of self-employment, there's one essential thing you'll need...
Belief in yourself.
Belief that you CAN do it.
You can make it work; you can even go beyond just surviving...
That you can THRIVE.
And that you are willing to do fn ANYTHING for as long as fn possible to figure out how to make things work.
THAT's what you're going to need.
But the good news is that this is something you can work on and strengthen every single day.
My personal secret weapon to gaining self-belief is hands-down my DAILY self-coaching rituals.
Read this to get the breakdown of how I ritualistically use my own ''Exotic Life Manifesto " to self-coach myself every day.
Self-coaching is an important part of most entrepreneurs' daily ritual, usually in the morning.
Another part is a little more obscure and less known: energetics.
Energetics is the secret sauce to self-belief behind thriving self-employed creative business owners.
I believe it's OK to ''consume before you create" for exactly ONE creator that you admire each day.
The one that helps you with your energetics, not just your business and marketing strategy.
This is any person who gives you the most inspiration, motivation, and self-belief-strengthening exercises for whatever season you're at in your business.🪄💫
So, for example, I listen to ONE podcast episode or YouTube video by the person who is ''speaking'' to my soul the most before I get out of bed. Or I'll read one chapter or one email of theirs before I write my own.
This person has changed many times over the years, but there's always one that I'll prioritize for a few months. Just to energize and raise my vibe when I need it.
This constant vibe-raising ritual is called ''energetics.''
''Energetics'' is crucial for working for yourself.🔥
Because you cannot show up for yourself with a bad mindset, because people are going to feel it.
You'll notice that the longer people are in business, the more they'll talk about its importance.
Successful entrepreneurs talk a LOT about how they use energy-revving rituals and habits to get into the right frame of mind every single morning. They are using it to get their work done, to stay resilient, and to be consistent.
Self-belief-enforcing rituals are the key to happiness when you choose the lifestyle of an entrepreneur.
I'd even say a requirement.
Only self-belief is going to help you avoid burnout, frustration, and the ongoing anxiety that entrepreneurship can generate in you.
And in order to HAVE that self-belief, you have to focus on your own energy.
What Makes Working For Yourself SO FN WORTH IT?
By FAR, the thing that makes working for yourself SO worth the risk and struggle, in my opinion, is that there is NO income cap.
You earn as much - or as little - as the effort and skill that you put into your creative business and the value you create for the world.
Commission-based pay, cash income, side-hustles, or tip-based jobs all fall into ''no income cap.''
No income cap on how you make money also means no cap on your income security.⚡
THIS is the thing that makes it so worth it, overall.💥
You no longer fear losing a job or an income stream because you've got other streams you can rely on - you can create your own.
Your mind becomes your greatest ally and asset: you know how to CREATE money.
It's a primal survival skill in a ruthless capitalist economy.
The desire to earn my own uncapped money went as far back as elementary school, when I sold my first handmade beaded bracelets...
Looking back, I now see that MOST jobs I went for before I technically started working for myself had that one thing in common: no income caps.
If I worked hard, I'd make more.
Taking jobs with capped pay didn't make any sense to me; why would I choose something so…limiting?
But before you start thinking that I just thought I was better than other people, let me tell you, it was because I was LAZY AF.😂
I didn't want to work any more than I absolutely HAD to. I wanted to squeeze as much money as possible from every hour I put in working for someone.
There's a quote by Steve Jobs you may have heard: “I choose a lazy person to do a hard job. Because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.”
That's me!
I'll ALWAYS find the straightest, fastest path to getting something done.
Because I often just can't be farked.
My Personal Journey Toward Self-Employment (And building HEXOTICA!)
When I was a student at the University of Georgia, I started working as a waitress for tips.
The idea that I could make as much money as I wanted attracted me.
After that, I held a number of contract and cash-in-hand casual positions. Then I started my first side-hustle selling used clothing on eBay in my late 20's.
My first proper business was selling handmade gothic-burlesque accessories online. That was what Hexotica used to be; what it started off as. I just loved the name, so I kept it!
Let me tell you, it is a WILD RIDE when I'd earn over $5k one month and barely scratch a thousand the next.
''Roller coaster'' pretty much sums up how business goes.
And I did that for EIGHT fn YEARS.
It wasn't until I became an online service provider that I was able to fully support myself. I became fully self-reliant AF.
I took an online course and became a fully self-employed social media manager within a mere four months.
From there, it took me three years to eventually earn more than I ever earned in a full-time salaried job.
Ready to Start Working For Yourself As Soon As Humanly Possible? Here's How I Can Help You.
If so, this is what I can mentor you to do in any of my SWAN Transformation Marketing Strategy mentoring programs,
And if you are keen to get into it fast, I recommend starting out by selling a service.🪄⏰
I will ALWAYS advocate selling a service as the fastest and most profitable path into self-employment.
Even if you just want to carve handmade soaps into skulls to sell at a market or in a shop, creating an additional income stream by providing a service can be a huge boost to your income.
Offering a done-for-you service can be just the temporary bridge you need to transition from a job into working for yourself, doing whatever you love. ✨
Especially when you're just starting out, it can help you gain the financial security you may need to never have to go back into a job. So I strongly urge creatives to consider it no matter what type of business you desire in your heart of hearts. 🖤
Coming up with service ideas that align with your creative business is one of the things I can help you do.
In my mentoring program, the SWAN Academy, we can work one-on-one for 4 weeks to help you get started.
Offering a service is also ideal for you if you're still not quite sure WTF you want to actually do yet.🤷♀️
It's enough to just be scared about the future.
You don't need to have a noble cause like rehoming farm animals, either.
It's not selfish to want to be in the strongest financial position possible. Or to want to be rich, either.
The best version of you that you can give to the world is the most empowered version of you.
Financial or otherwise.
But whatever you choose to do, it's good to find that ONE thing above all that you can believe in that'll make working for yourself feel worth it.
For me, that's uncapped income potential.
The sky is the limit-thinking.
I thrive on that.
So does my inner coach-potato who doesn't want to wait till the evening to binge-watch The Handmaid's Tale.😅
That B will batch a month of content in a few hours just to get her way (but I love her for that!)
If you're not quite ready because you don't know what business you'd like to start yet, I can still help ya out!
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