#creative business
Is it hard to have your own business? Here’s a secret I’ve never heard anyone else say before:
When you start a business, you are the boss, which means it is exactly as difficult as you decide it is.
“BUT WHAT ABOUT—“ No! I don’t want to hear any victim-based nonsense about responsibilities you *willingly chose* to take on. Yes, challenges and lessons happen. That’s just life, even at a job. But you have free will. You can start an income stream that can be done from your phone at the beach if you want. Deconstruct “professionalism” and skip the stuff you don’t truly agree with. Don’t get sucked in by greed or other people’s opinions. You can use your creativity to build something that is perfect for you, and you can decide to keep it very simple.
I’ve tried many different strategies since I quit my last job in 2004. I promise you—more difficulty does not equal more money! It often means less!
You don’t have to choose a business that you think will be hard. You don’t have to quit your job and go all in. You don’t have to take an expensive course. You don’t have to go into debt and then have that pressure to deal with. You don’t have to start something that even requires capital at all.
You could take something you ALREADY DO and share it in a way that produces income. You could take something you love, and use empathy to see how it could help others.
I once did a year-long experiment where I didn’t do ANYTHING for money that I wasn’t already willing to do for free. My income went up! Not because of any lucky coincidence, but because what I love doing has value in the world. Because following your inspiration has power. And when you’re focused on inspired action, it never feels like work.
The key here is to use integrity, inspiration, and compassion—first for yourself, then all others involved in your work, whether clients or collaborators. Don’t push yourself beyond what feels compassionate. Don’t believe the bullshit about things needing to be hard. Don’t copy from other people. Don’t try to trick or scam people.
Love yourself, love what you do, and share that love.
This is not part of a sales funnel. I don’t have anything I want you to buy from me. I just want to see a freer world for us all.
It’s a great time to have a flexible and self-generated source of cash and other resources. If you’re curious about how we’re able to live rich lives and do what we love for a living it’s all in this book. You can use it for anything creative, whether that’s art or any other kind of business you’d like to build in an inspired, holistic, and innovative way. I’ve seen people design all kinds of business plans using these steps, from designers and writers to tech entrepreneurs.
The big key that some people don’t like to face is inspiration. This isn’t a “work harder” type model. This is about tuning into your intuition and passion and following just the steps that are exciting and effective for you—not designing your path based on someone else’s. That doesn’t work and it’s not fun.
You really have to step up and empower yourself to rely on your own creative solutions, but when you do it works so well it feels like pure magic. When you build your career like this from the start, the steps you need to grow your business become the steps you are actually most excited about doing! Motivation is no longer an issue.
Plus, this system is universal and will work whether you live in a utopian dreamworld, an apocalyptic dystopia, or anything in between. It can help you through whatever is next, no matter what’s coming. This philosophy is not about buying into the game that everyone else is playing, it’s about designing your own and flying high enough that what everyone else is doing doesn’t matter. This is prosperity through self-liberation.
