A Lesson in Having the Freedom You Want

What I love most about being a solo biz owner is the boundless and uninhibited possibility for freedom ...

Freedom to choose how I work, who I work with and when I work.

Freedom to roam the country, and eventually the world, while I earn a living (there's very little that can't be accomplished with WI-FI and a laptop).

Freedom of unlimited earning potential. Even though I'm not quite earning what I want just yet, I know it's more than possible. And it's not dictated by someone else's idea of what I'm worth.

Freedom to create my own rules. No one can require me to show up where I don't want to be. I don't have to ask for permission to take a break when I need it. And if there's something that isn't working about the way my business is going, I can shift and modify it as I see fit.

But that kind of freedom doesn't just happen, and that certainly wasn't always my reality.

It took years for me to realize that freedom in business is something that has to be meticulously crafted and consistently executed. Otherwise, you'll look up one day and realize that your business is on a very different path than you intended (and not in a good way).

Here's what I learned about having the freedom you want:

Freedom requires the truth.

Truth is the guiding compass by which we make the right decisions -- even if we don't always like them. Truth is what rests at the heart of what we do and value, but sometimes we lose sight of it. And when that happen we quickly find ourselves veering off course, making compromises and substitutions for what we really want. My experiences have proven time and again what Beth Grant has so eloquently stated: that when we're out of alignment with [the] truth, we are in struggle. And struggle is the opposite of freedom.

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"Freedom in business must be meticulously crafted + consistently executed." (via @hellormharrison)
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Freedom is cultivated by deliberate action.

It also took years for me to understand that business does not necessarily equal freedom. After trying unsuccessfully for 3 years to make my branding and design business work, I finally had to take a step back and pay attention to what I was missing. As it turns out, it was a lot of things, but chief among them was the fact that I wasn't intentional about building my business. As a result, I spent a ridiculous amount of time just drudging along, clinging to any opportunity I could find to make money, and feeling like nothing was really coming together. This ultimately led to frustration, burnout and disappointment.

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"Business does not necessarily equal freedom." (via @hellormharrison)
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Freedom comes with a price.

When I made the leap to become a solopreneur, I was never really concerned about what it would cost me. I just assumed it as a new identity -- a new definition of my lifestyle. It wasn't until I got serious about building the kind of business I really wanted that I realized the steep price that comes with it: a shit ton of hard work without immediate or equal results (which is what puts most people off of building a business altogether).

That's why it's important to be clear about the freedom you want. Everything else you do, including building your business, should be aligned with that.

Over to you ...

What does freedom look like for you? Does your business support it? Tell me all about it in the comments.