1427: Entrepreneurial Freedom and Responsibility by Steve Pavlina on Business Success

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[00:00:26] [SPEAKER_00]: This is Optimal Work Daily.

[00:00:29] [SPEAKER_00]: Entrepreneurial Freedom and Responsibility by Steve Pavlina of stevepavlina.com

[00:00:35] [SPEAKER_00]: I worked as an employee only once in my life. In 1992, I had a part-time job at a small independent

[00:00:42] [SPEAKER_00]: retail store earning $6 an hour. It didn't take me long to realize that I didn't want to have

[00:00:47] [SPEAKER_00]: another job ever. It wasn't that it was a bad experience per se, I just felt it would be

[00:00:53] [SPEAKER_00]: better to be the boss instead of a minion. At the very least, the boss always gets more hit points.

[00:00:59] [SPEAKER_00]: So at that point I made the decision not to be an employee again. I was going to have to

[00:01:04] [SPEAKER_00]: find another way to earn a living. Next, I tried working as an independent contractor doing

[00:01:09] [SPEAKER_00]: game programming and eventually running my own game development business working on games contracted

[00:01:13] [SPEAKER_00]: by larger publishers. I eventually realized that that wasn't for me either. I gained

[00:01:19] [SPEAKER_00]: the freedom of setting my own hours, but my publisher clients became my de facto bosses.

[00:01:24] [SPEAKER_00]: I often had to adapt to their frequently unwise decisions and my financial future was

[00:01:29] [SPEAKER_00]: tied closely to theirs. Next, I later changed business models and got into developing and

[00:01:36] [SPEAKER_00]: selling shareware which is really a direct sales business. After I built enough direct

[00:01:40] [SPEAKER_00]: sales to achieve a stable income base, I also did some licensing to bring in extra

[00:01:45] [SPEAKER_00]: royalty income. That I liked. I was making money even while I slept. I'm still making monthly

[00:01:51] [SPEAKER_00]: income off games I created as far back as 10 years ago. They were designed for Windows 3.1

[00:01:57] [SPEAKER_00]: and have never been upgraded, not even for Windows 95, but new customers still buy them

[00:02:02] [SPEAKER_00]: and the newer games every month. I know the entrepreneurial passive income route isn't for

[00:02:08] [SPEAKER_00]: everyone, but the freedom aspect is really nice. You get to be in complete charge of your

[00:02:12] [SPEAKER_00]: own time. You decide which projects to tackle. You can work whatever hours you want. You don't

[00:02:18] [SPEAKER_00]: have to ask permission from anyone for any decisions you make or actions you take.

[00:02:22] [SPEAKER_00]: There's just no substitute for holding the reins. Some people think all this freedom is

[00:02:28] [SPEAKER_00]: the best part of being an entrepreneur, but that freedom is a double-edged sword. If you

[00:02:33] [SPEAKER_00]: abuse it, you get into trouble. Initially, you may enjoy the freedom of sleeping in late

[00:02:37] [SPEAKER_00]: and taking two hour lunches, but then you see that overusing that freedom will hurt your

[00:02:42] [SPEAKER_00]: business. Your personal weaknesses turn into bottlenecks for your business. If you don't

[00:02:47] [SPEAKER_00]: have much self-discipline, you learn to develop some. If you have a tendency to procrastinate,

[00:02:52] [SPEAKER_00]: you learn to overcome it. So the extra freedom actually helps you sculpt your character.

[00:02:57] [SPEAKER_00]: There are few jobs that do this character sculpting to the same degree because most

[00:03:01] [SPEAKER_00]: jobs don't directly link your personal productivity to actual bottom line business

[00:03:06] [SPEAKER_00]: results and pay you accordingly. A job can shield you from the full effects of both

[00:03:11] [SPEAKER_00]: freedom and responsibility. If you slack off for a day, you still get the same paycheck.

[00:03:17] [SPEAKER_00]: It takes time to learn to balance freedom with responsibility. Responsibility and

[00:03:21] [SPEAKER_00]: self-discipline give you the freedom to be more spontaneous because you won't risk abusing your

[00:03:26] [SPEAKER_00]: freedom. When I lived in LA one morning while getting ready to go to work, I said to my wife,

[00:03:32] [SPEAKER_00]: let's go to Vegas. She was surprised at first, but she was all for it, so we made a hotel

[00:03:36] [SPEAKER_00]: reservation, packed a suitcase and within less than an hour after getting the idea,

[00:03:41] [SPEAKER_00]: we were on the road for the four-hour drive from LA for a spontaneous three-day Vegas trip,

[00:03:46] [SPEAKER_00]: laughing much of the way there. Nothing was pre-planned and we didn't even tell anyone

[00:03:50] [SPEAKER_00]: until after we'd arrived at the hotel. We had a fantastic time. Sometimes it's really nice to

[00:03:56] [SPEAKER_00]: take advantage of the freedom of not having a job. I don't know too many jobs that

[00:04:00] [SPEAKER_00]: let you say to your boss a half hour before you're supposed to be at your desk.

[00:04:03] [SPEAKER_00]: My wife and I decided to have some fun for the next few days. Not sure when I'll be back. See ya!

[00:04:09] [SPEAKER_00]: But the key is to balance the enjoyment of such freedom with responsibility,

[00:04:13] [SPEAKER_00]: so you don't end up developing a nasty procrastination habit. Being very responsible

[00:04:18] [SPEAKER_00]: and on top of all your projects is what grants the extra freedom to be spontaneous with no

[00:04:23] [SPEAKER_00]: negative consequences. When you've got everything well organized, you're in a good position

[00:04:27] [SPEAKER_00]: to know when you can be freely spontaneous versus when it would be irresponsible or reckless

[00:04:32] [SPEAKER_00]: to do so. In the words of Brian Tracy, paraphrasing,

[00:04:37] [SPEAKER_00]: disorganized people aren't spontaneous, they're just confused. I think it's interesting that there's

[00:04:42] [SPEAKER_00]: a project in the works to attempt to build a statue of responsibility on the west coast of the USA

[00:04:47] [SPEAKER_00]: to balance the Statue of Liberty on the east coast. I hope this project succeeds because

[00:04:53] [SPEAKER_00]: we could all use a reminder that responsibility and freedom go hand in hand.

[00:05:01] [SPEAKER_00]: You just listened to the post titled, Entrepreneurial Freedom and Responsibility

[00:05:06] [SPEAKER_00]: by Steve Pavlina of stevepavlina.com. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. We're all marveled at

[00:05:13] [SPEAKER_00]: how quickly kids learn and that sense of wonderment they have while doing it,

[00:05:17] [SPEAKER_00]: but as adults sometimes we lose that curiosity. Well if there's something you've been wanting

[00:05:22] [SPEAKER_00]: to learn, know that therapy can help you reconnect with your sense of wonder

[00:05:26] [SPEAKER_00]: because your back to school era can come at any age. And make no mistake, therapy is for everyone.

[00:05:33] [SPEAKER_00]: Whether or not you've been through significant trauma, therapy can be a great tool for setting

[00:05:38] [SPEAKER_00]: boundaries, learning new skills and ultimately becoming the best version of yourself.

[00:05:42] [SPEAKER_00]: If you're thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. It's entirely online,

[00:05:47] [SPEAKER_00]: designed to be convenient, flexible and suited to your schedule. Just fill out a brief questionnaire

[00:05:52] [SPEAKER_00]: to get matched with a licensed therapist and switch therapists any time for no additional charge.

[00:05:58] [SPEAKER_00]: Read Discover Your Curiosity with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com

[00:06:02] [SPEAKER_00]: slash workdaily today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash

[00:06:09] [SPEAKER_00]: workdaily. And I want to give a big thank you to Steve for letting us read his content.

[00:06:15] [SPEAKER_00]: He's a huge blogger in the personal development space and Justin actually reads a lot of his

[00:06:20] [SPEAKER_00]: content on the podcast Optimal Living Daily. And just a little more background information

[00:06:25] [SPEAKER_00]: about him, Steve is widely recognized as one of the most successful personal development

[00:06:30] [SPEAKER_00]: bloggers in the world with his work attracting more than 100 million visits to stevepevelina.com.

[00:06:37] [SPEAKER_00]: He has written more than 1500 articles and recorded many audio programs on a broad

[00:06:41] [SPEAKER_00]: range of self-help topics including productivity, relationships, spirituality and entrepreneurship.

[00:06:48] [SPEAKER_00]: Conscious growth has been the central focus of his life. He studies what it means to grow

[00:06:53] [SPEAKER_00]: and how we can deliberately invite, process and integrate new growth experiences.

[00:06:59] [SPEAKER_00]: Come by stevepevelina.com for a lot more great content to learn a lot more about

[00:07:04] [SPEAKER_00]: Steve and also to show your support. It would mean a lot to us as he was one of the

[00:07:08] [SPEAKER_00]: first authors we narrated back in 2015. Alright that's going to do it for today.

[00:07:13] [SPEAKER_00]: Hope you are having a great one and I'm going to be right back here reading to you tomorrow.

[00:07:17] [SPEAKER_00]: So I'll see you there. That's where your optimal life awaits.