Nobody's gonna carry your boats

Today's email is going to be a little different than the ones I usually send.

If you’ve been on Money Twitter for a while, you’ve probably heard a lot of people tell you that owning a business is a ticket to freedom.

In reality that isn't the case.

Yes, it’s a ticket to financial freedom but definitely not time freedom —at least in the early stages.

In terms of owning a business, I’m still in the early stages (14 months) and most people would consider that to be a fairly young business.

Now, don’t get me wrong…

I do plan on getting much of that time freedom back in the near future, but I just don’t have a lot of it right now.

Anyway, this is what most of my days look like:

• 4:45 am - wake up

• 5:15 am - 6 am - gym

• 6:00 am - 6:30 am – drive to training

• 6:30 am - 8:30 am - training (I play competitive beach volleyball)

• 8:30 am - 9:00 am - drive home from training

• 9:00am - 12:00pm - coffee + Slack + emails + client touch-base

• 12:00 pm - 12:30 pm - lunch

• 12:30 pm - 4:00 pm - client work + meetings + content creation

• 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm - walk (or more recently, a 3-4 mile run - slowly getting into this)

• 5:00 pm - 6:30 pm - finish up client work + planning for next day

• 6:30 pm - 9:30 pm - dinner + relax + bedtime

This is about 4-5 weekdays, plus I work 3-4 hours on Saturdays & Sundays, longer if I don’t have social plans. 

It averages between 40-50 hours/week, oftentimes more depending on my training schedule. 

9 months ago, it used to be 50-60 hour weeks. 

If I don’t train, I work during those 2-3 hours instead. 

Everyone wants to build a business and they don’t want to work a 9-5… I was the same.

There are definitely pros to working a 9-5.

You show up at 9:00 AM and leave at 5:00 pm with a steady paycheck. You don’t have to worry about business outside of work.

Some people love that and there are days where I wish I had that.

But I’ve built this business from the ground up and I’m not letting it go anytime soon.

Everyone talks about how running your business is your ticket to freedom – does this look like freedom? 

Not really, but it definitely creates flexibility and financial freedom. 

Work-life balance doesn’t exist.

Work-life integration is the only way to make it happen.

Your first 6-9 months will probably be miserable, I’m not joking.

You will want to give up - don’t. 

People will call you a workaholic - nature of the game. I am now in a position to set healthier boundaries with work and prioritize other areas of my life, but anyone who’s ever built a business will tell you that it takes far more than 40 hours a week to make it happen. 

If you’re building, lock in for a long ride. 

If you’re thinking about building, buckle up, you’ve got a long road ahead. 

The good news is that 80% of your competitors will quit in the first 30 days - not as easy as they thought. 

Half of the remaining 20% won’t make it past 90 days - “I’m not making enough money.”

Half of the remaining 10% won’t last 6 months - they’re burnt out. 

You’re now competing with the last 5%, and no matter what niche you’re in, there’s plenty of customers for all of you. 

Your success is directly correlated to your number of inputs over a given time. 

If you consistently put in reps for 6-9 months, it is nearly impossible to fail. 

Anyway, that is all for today.

Until next time,

Kai Cromwell