PP 195: 11 Lessons to Survive & Thrive as a Self-Employed Creative
What I’ve Learned in My 1st Year of Doing Perspective-Collective Full-Time
Late 2019 through 2020 has been an insane ride.
The craziness stems from making the scary transition to self-employment after getting let go from my “safe” corporate day job.
I’ve grown and learned A LOT in the past year.
I admit, being self-employed is super dope. It’s also the dream of so many creatives like you.
At the same time, though, it’s hella over-glorified.
This shit is hard—your back is literally against the wall EVERY DAY.
The risks are high when you lack the reliable income safety net that a day job provides.
To be honest, most people aren’t cut out for it...and that’s okay!
I’m learning you have to be mentally tough, flexible, open-minded, focused, disciplined, and DRIVEN if you want to play this game long-term.
Technically, my one-year anniversary of self-employment is January 11th, 2021. That’s when my severance package ran out.
However, I still want to do a recap of the top lessons I’ve learned in my first (almost full) year of doing Perspective-Collective full-time.
I’m going to keep this shit super raw and hella transparent, while at the same time planting seeds of hope and actions for you to implement over time.
That way, you can take the necessary steps to prepare for this venture if that’s what you want to pursue.
Here are my top 11 Lessons to Survive & Thrive as a Self-Employed Creative:
1. Establish Healthy Routines
Take care of your body (self-care is the best care).
“Be good to yourself. If you don't take care of your body, where will you live?”― Kobi Yamada
My morning rituals:
Lemon water, sit in silence, stretch, meditate, and read.
I feel more aligned and in tune with my body.
My productivity and energy levels skyrocket.
The gym 5 days a week is a non-negotiable.
It releases endorphins which gives me more confidence, energy, and creativity.
Listen to your body + give yourself permission to rest.
Your body will tell you when it’s reaching its limits.
Rest but don’t quit
Envision yourself as a car gunning it toward a specific destination.
The journey is full of ups and downs, but no matter what, stay the course.
When things get tough, don’t give up and turn back.
Instead, stop and fuel up or recharge when necessary, pump the brakes, or hit cruise control.
Having a light at the end of the tunnel helps avoid burnout.
Roughly every 7th week I take off from the podcast and reschedule a BEST HITS episode.
2. Have a Plan
Create a visual calendar within a project manager app (I use Notion—it’s free).
Start by planning quarterly (view this as 4 separate sprints).
Allows you to set your big targets for the year.
When you know the big items you want to tackle, you can then break them up into smaller, achievable tasks.
Then breakdown your calendar into monthly planning > weekly planning > daily planning.
Plan your next day’s attack the night before.
3. Master the Art of Saying NO
You have to protect your finite time and energy—no one is going to do it for you.
You have to know what’s most important to you during the season you’re in that’s going to make the biggest impact in your business.
Adapt the motto/filter: If it’s not a HELL YES, it’s a HELL NO.
Saying NO gives you the power to say YES to the main thing(s) that will move your business forward.
Saying YES fills your time, while saying NO creates more bandwidth for HELL YES opportunities.
Focus is about what you say NO to.
“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you've got to focus on. But that's not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully.” — Steve Jobs
4. Do ONE Thing at a Time
The hardest—yet best thing—I’ve begun to implement in my practice is focusing on doing ONE thing at a time.
Otherwise, I get burnt out doing all the things (Superman Syndrome) or get paralyzed because there’s so much I want to do (Shiny Object Syndrome).
Multitasking = split focus and energy = subpar results.
“Never half-ass two things. Whole-ass one thing.” — Ron Swanson
Create a bunker and sweep for mines
Optimize your environment for focused work and eliminate all potential distractions.
This helps you become a better master of your time and projects because you’re now operating from a single top priority vs. a mountain of tasks.
When you knock out the ONE thing, tackle the next important priority.
6. Accept That the Work Will Be There Tomorrow
Your day is a success if you knocked out your most important task.
The rest of your work isn’t going anywhere. Wake up ready to tackle the next ONE big thing.
5. Know When to Delegate, Eliminate, and Hit Pause
You don’t have to do all the things. Do less, but better.
If you have the means, delegate admin work to someone to free you up for more big-picture, top priority tasks.
Eliminate the non-essentials that don’t serve you or your business.
Hit pause and put things you’d like to do but aren’t important on the back burner.
This isn’t a life sentence...you don’t have to say no forever!
7. Do What’s Most Important vs. Most Fun.
Often, the top priorities that move your business forward don’t scratch the creatively fulfilling itch.
Having conversations, generating leads, serving students, and creating hyper-focused content propels my business forward as opposed to my love for drawing.
Professional vs. Hobbyist mindset.
Delayed gratification
Eventually, I’ll get to a point where I can pencil in time blocks to play more often, but I’m not fully there yet.
8. Mondays are Better Than Fridays
If you hate Mondays, it’s probably because you hate your job and don’t have anything in your life you’re excited to pursue.
Loving Mondays in a world that hates them is not only a choice—it’s a mindset.
If you can master the mindset that Mondays are dope while you have a day job, Mondays will become your favorite day of the week when you are able to do you full-time.
9. Expect Chaos (and do your best to plan for it)
Being self-employed is a rollercoaster, and you need to expect the unexpected: there’s always some type of fire to put out.
This year alone, I’ve had to navigate through a pandemic, my kiddos getting sick, my wife’s health issues, and so much more.
Being an entrepreneur means you gotta be able to handle chaos and respond accordingly.
10. Document, Journal, and Organize
It’s important to journal what’s on your mind and what you’re grateful for.
You gotta get stuff out of your mind onto paper or screen vs. internalizing it.
Acknowledging things you're grateful for each day will put how good you have it into perspective.
Collect your ideas—don’t let them escape and become someone else’s.
Use Notion, a Task App, your iCloud Notes, Fieldnotes Book, Planner, etc.
Document conversations, people’s struggles/questions, compliments, etc.
You never know when you’ll need to reference something.
Hoard your victories.
Track all the big AND small wins you have throughout the year.
It allows you to timestamp moments to look back on.
It also documents measurable growth to silence the inner critic.
Organization is key.
Properly store and organize your files, conversations, file names, paperwork, storage, backup storage, etc.
This makes things so much easier to find.
It also significantly reduces anxiety and stress.
11. Get Your Money Right
This could’ve been #1, but everything I mentioned in #1–9 could live under this realm.
It’s hard to thrive in life, let alone your own business, when you don’t control your money...it controls you
Getting your finances in check means:
Setting targets.
How much money do you want to make in a year?
Now how much do you need to make per quarter?
Now how much do you need to make per month, week, or day?
Now what moves and plans do you need to make to accomplish this?
Having a budget.
Constraints are good and puts you in control of knowing what money comes in, what money goes, and what’s leftover.
Paying off debt.
Eliminating debt frees up income and significantly decreases stress/anxiety.
It enables you to take more risks, invest, scale, hire help, relax, and take more breaks.
Making a profit account.
Instead of taking taxes out first, pay yourself by starting small (e.g., 1%)
Instead of hoping you get money back now when you do quarterly/yearly taxes, you know for a fact you still have your profit on the side.
Having a system for accounting.
This means tracking incoming revenue, monitoring expense reports, staying on top of quarterly taxes, etc.
I use free online software called Wave.
Building a rainy day fund.
Our goal is to have 3-6 months of expenses saved up for both life and my business.
Have an investing strategy.
Since I was let go last year, our focus has been on eliminating debt.
Now that we’re through that, we’re focused on building up our emergency funds.
Behind the scenes, I’m preparing our next moves to become investing machines so we can be F.I.R.E. (financially independent and retire early).
ONE thing at a time.
Overall, wanting to make more money is a good thing.
But freeing up your income, ridding yourself of consumer debt, and being smart with your money is even better.
When your money is in check, you have more freedom in life.
Making more money allows me to scale quicker, take more risks, invest in myself and my family, and make a bigger impact on people.
BONUS: Areas for Improvement
Here’s a list of areas I have a lot of room for growth:
Saying NO without the need to explain myself
Delegating more design work
Pre-scheduling vacations
Quarterly and monthly planning
Knowing my options for insurance if I’m able to bring Emily home
Implementing my investment strategy in 2021
There are definitely more, but these are the main ones I’m putting my focus into.
Your Next Steps
Doing your thing full-time isn’t supposed to be easy.
If you still decide this is the path you want to pursue, I hope you were able to pinpoint some areas that you need to be more intentional in.
Start taking yourself, your craft, and your creative business seriously RIGHT now.
Approach each task like a professional, not a hobbyist.
Treat your side hustle like it’s your full-time grind. That way, when the opportunity comes as it did for me, you may not be ready...but you’ll be PREPARED.
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Credits
Music - Blookah
Executive Assistant - Paige Garland
Photo & Video Specialist - Colton Bachar
Social Media Coordinator - Hannah Schick
Animation Specialist - Greg D'Amico