2089: [Part 1] The Get-Started-Now Guide to Becoming Self-Employed by Leo Babauta of Zen Habits on Self-Employment Basics

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[00:00:54] This is Optimal Work Daily. The Get Started Now Guide to Becoming Self-Employed. Part 1 by Leo Babauta of ZenHabits.net. One of the best things I ever did was quit my day job and become self-employed. I'm so happy with it that I'm recommending it to everyone. My kids, my friends, my sisters. One sister has already started her own fitness business, and I'm strongly encouraging the other to go out on her own as well.

[00:01:22] And while being your own boss can be scary and a little risky, it's not as difficult as people think. You do have to be someone who loves his freedom, likes to be able to set his own schedule, likes to work on things he's excited about. I know, that's a tall order. Is that all there is to it? No. It takes a ton of hard work, and an ability to learn from your mistakes, and an ability to try. Let's briefly look at some of the things I've learned in hopes that it'll help you on your journey to freedom.

[00:01:50] First, can anyone be self-employed? Not everyone should, because some people just love working where they're working. They love the people they're working with, and they absolutely love what they do. They couldn't be happier working on their own, and I think that's great. But I think there's a fallacy that those who start their own businesses or work on their own are somehow born with an entrepreneurial spirit that the regular work-a-day employees just don't have. They aren't risk-takers, they aren't self-motivated, and they just can't manage themselves.

[00:02:20] I think that's a load of... Sure, some people like the security of a regular paycheck. But if recent events have taught us anything, it's that this kind of security is an illusion. Sure, some people are afraid of starting their own business, because it means they have to figure out things they know nothing about. But don't we all do this anyway? And I don't think anyone really likes being told what to do and working on someone else's terms, doing things someone else wants to do. We all like freedom, but we allow our freedoms to be sacrificed out of fear.

[00:02:50] It's this fear that stops us. And so the question really becomes, can anyone overcome this fear? I believe it's possible. Whether you'll be successful at overcoming the fear and at starting your own business is another question. It takes work and time and an ability to accept failure and learn from it. How to overcome the fear Ask yourself, what's the worst that can happen? For some, it's that you'll lose your mortgage and become bankrupt. But that's happened to millions of people recently, and they're okay.

[00:03:19] They just can't get another loan soon, but they're still living. For others, it's a fear that you'll be out on the street or hungry. Ask yourself, though, if you have a safety net. Family and friends who will take you in if it ever comes to that. That's the worst case scenario. Now ask yourself, is that likely to happen? Probably not. If things get bad, you can take a job with someone else or try a new tactic. Or figure something out so that things don't get that bad. Stay lean and small.

[00:03:48] Lean and small and hungry and nimble and flexible are good things. It means you don't need to pay a lot of bills. You don't need a huge amount of revenues. And you can change as you need to. Big corporations need to make huge revenues, need to sell millions, and have a hard time changing because of a massive corporate structure and thousands of meetings and lots of invested time and lots of people who are resistant to change. Small and lean has none of these problems. Don't start with a lot of expenses.

[00:04:17] Start small, with zero or almost zero expenses. Zen Habits is a good example. I had zero dollars when I started out. I started with a free blog host and software. I had a computer already, and I just started creating. And I started marketing for free. There are tons of ways to do this now, with social media and other similar platforms. Sure, not everyone can start for free. But you can start small. Want to run a ballet studio or fitness studio? Start by going to your clients, or start in your home.

[00:04:47] Or do it at schools and use their space. Want to start in retail? Start online with a cheap host and free web software. Want to be a marketer? Do it out of your home with a cell phone, a computer, and a car. Want to be a landscaper? All you need is a lawnmower to start out. Want to start a health clinic? Uprate out of your home or make house calls in the beginning. There are lots of ways to start out cheap. If your business requires lots of money, think about scaling it back or finding a different way of doing it for free.

[00:05:16] Starting out cheap means it's hard to fail and easy to succeed. Start right away. Don't wait for perfection. Figure out the simplest way to start and just start. Don't worry about taking a bunch of expensive courses. Just do it and learn as you go. You might even start for free if possible so that you can gain experience and as you get better, you'll get good word of mouth. Start out without an office, a website, business cards, employees, and a lot of equipment and software.

[00:05:44] Sure, you'll need some of those fairly soon, but you don't need them to start. Start? Well, unless your business is a website, then you'll need a site, but those are cheap. You can get a business card later. You can set up your accounting structure later. You can figure things out as you go. The important part is just starting. Does that mean you don't need to plan? Well, you should, but don't overdo it. You should give a lot of thought to what you're good at, what you can offer, who your target

[00:06:09] customers are, how you'll make money, how much you should charge, and how you can add value beyond what is already offered out there. But don't let it stop you. If you can't decide on something, just start and adjust your targets as you learn. To be continued. You just listened to part one of the post titled, The Get Started Now Guide to Becoming Self-Employed by Leo Babauta of zenhabits.net.

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[00:07:09] Canva is a simple online tool thing. It's a way to design with our magic AI tool things. You can social media your thing. Generate images or videos of your thing. Make decks for presentations to show your thing. Whatever needs to be done for your thing, Canva can make it an even better and bigger thing. Canva, the thing that makes anything a thing. And thank you to Leo for letting us share his work.

[00:07:35] Leo is a pretty regular guy, but has become an expert in changing habits by making small, incremental changes since 2005. He's originally from Guam, was an overweight smoker who was barely making enough money to support his big family. He's got six kids. And he turned all of that around, blogging about it throughout the process. He now lives comfortably in San Francisco, and he is in charge of how and when he works. It's a great story, and you can check it all out at zenhabits.net.

[00:08:03] Hope I will see you right back here tomorrow where I'll be back with part two of this post, and where your optimal life awaits. Hope I will see you right back here.