For most of us, we've been taught that business is about size. Growth, scale and an army of employees.
We celebrate entrepreneurs who build the biggest companies.
Make no mistake. People like Elon, Bezos and Zuck are incredible minds. But I firmly believe that 99.99% of people should not try to be like them.
The vast majority of people are not built for running an Amazon or Tesla.
I’m certainly not. And I don’t want to be.
I love entrepreneurship, but building something huge goes against every fiber in my body. Let me explain.
For me? Entrepreneurship = Freedom.
The reason I started a business was to unlock freedom.
I wanted to take 100% control over my lifestyle and work on my terms.
When I want. From where I want. On what I want. With who I want. If I want.
Building a business has enabled me to do all of this. But staying small has been a superpower.
It’s tempting to keep pushing for more. More clients. More revenue. More headcount. More growth. But for what?
When you honestly ask yourself that question, if you're anything like me, you may realize that being big is the opposite of what you want.
Here’s the stark realization I had when I started growing headcount in my businesses. Growing for the sake of it began to become an ego play.
It feeds the ego to tell people you own a company with 10, 20, 50, 100 employees.
But I've found there becomes a point where more growth equals less freedom.
I’m not willing to take that deal.
Today, I have a small, agile team of contractors who work in my business.
I realized that having a few key people was enough to provide boutique, premium services without needing to keep growing headcount and taking on more and more clients for the sake of it.
A focus on premium means I still have 100% freedom and autonomy over my time.
I make it so that my team enjoy the same levels of freedom and autonomy over their time. More freedom than any employer would provide - because I want people on board who align with my values.
I pay well, make enough to live comfortably and invest liberally.
I'm not saying that building a business with a high headcount and offices is bad, if that's truly your goal, more power to you.
But if you're running a business or thinking of starting one - pondering what lifestyle you proactively want to choose is indispensable.
Growing at the expense of freedom is not worth the trade-off for me.
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