When I ask people the reason why they want to start their own business, the most common answer I hear is: “To get more freedom”.

They often feel trapped in their current jobs because they answer to someone else and they don’t have full control over their time. They see all the glamorous stories on social media about people who quit their jobs and now are earning double the amount of money, doing half the amount of work… all from a beach in Bali.

But then next week, they’re doing high-powered meetings in New York and landing huge deals, right before flying off for a break in Bondi Beach.

I mean, who wouldn’t want that? Pure freedom, right? The ability to do whatever you want, whenever you want.

That is the definition freedom in my mind – the ability to do whatever you want, whenever you want… NOT the Bali, New York and Aus trips. Because a lot of the time, it’s just BS.

They may well be travelling the world, but it’s almost always not as glamorous as they make it out to be.

So, many of my friends think I have the “perfect life”. Yes, they’ve actually used those words. Some have even said that “I have it so easy”. It pains me when they say that. Especially when they’re living off daddy and hubby’s money.

So why do they say this? Well, because they often text me to meet up when I’m away. And so, I do look like a bit of a knob when I’m like “Sorry I’m in LA, or Marrakech, or Ibiza.” All of which I’ve been to this year… for example.

The thing is, most of my trips are not holidays. In fact, I rarely ever go on holiday. Marrakech was my only one – I took my partner for his bday. But I had my laptop out every single day. I even recorded one of these pods on our balcony!

I’m fortunate that I travel every single month, but I feel like I need it. I lose focus and creativity when I’m in London for too long. So, travelling really recharges me. Most of my best ideas are when I’m abroad. This is what I tell myself anyway, to justify the travel!

I mean, the idea for N0BS came in Verona and a huge TEDx idea came when I was in Atlanta. Plus, I’ve solved so many business problems while lying by the pool. Somehow, life seems so much easier when you’re lying by the pool. Even if you’re staring at the same emails on the same laptop. They just look different when you’re by the pool somehow.

Anyway, I travel every month. But I think I’ve done about 5 travel posts all year on my social media profiles. I could probably fill up 3 per week with the amount of stuff I’ve done. But I just haven’t had the time.

When I’ve been away, I’ve been running in between meetings and events, catching up with people because I have a short window to fit so many people in, or actually trying to catch some time alone in the sun because that’s what holidays are for.

So, I seem to miss content opportunities. Then, there’s never a free moment to post the content after as you’re busy catching up on all the “normal” work stuff you have to deal with when you’re back. *sigh*

Don’t get me wrong – I love going away and I will continue to. But I don’t have a lot of free time and it doesn’t look all perfect online because I rarely post about it.

Which gets me to my point… several minutes later – apologies… but thank you if you’re still here.

Those who show the perfect DITL or travel diaries have far too much time on their hands. You all create content and you absolutely know how long it all takes. The travel diaries of these people are usually soooo chiselled, which means they spent several hours a day creating this content, or they have a team to do it for them.

I don’t know which is worse.

There are people who have a full time content creator travelling with them wherever they go so they can capture their every move, to “turn it into content” later. I honestly don’t understand how you can enjoy life that way.

Does that sound like freedom to you? Will they also be in your bedroom while you sleep? In case you do something funny while you’re sleep so that could possibly be turned into a viral tiktok?

They MUST be there when you wake up though, so you can show off your morning routine!

If you think I’m exaggerating, think back to your own situation. When you’re having a genuinely amazing time – enjoying company, enjoying the scenery, how much are you thinking about content? Sure, you may take a couple of snaps here and there, but are you spending ages editing a reel to put on your Insta? You’re hopefully living in the moment.

Now think about your situation in terms of freedom. If you’re already an entrepreneur, how “free” do you feel? Sure, you’re probably picking your own hours, you have the ability to go to the gym and walk your dog in the day, which you may not have been able to do as an employee. But how free are you really?

Because most entrepreneurs I know are actually working most evenings and weekends… at least a little bit. Even the ones who claim that they have “amazing boundaries” and they have perfect “work/life balance”. They are also working outside your traditional office hours.

Because let’s face it – if you have potential opportunities coming in, why aren’t you trying to seize them? Especially in this financial climate – it’s pretty tough… and if you snooze, you’re likely to lose.

So many entrepreneurs are working way more than 40 hours a week. They’re doing MORE hours than they would be doing in a normal job. And they’re likely getting paid a lot less. Especially at the beginning. Even later on – I know plenty of business owners who have been going over a decade and are still not earning anywhere what they would have been earning if they spent that decade in a “normal job”.

It’s also questionable if they would have felt more “freedom”.

Imagine spending 10 years in a corporate job, working your way up the ladder. You’re probably in a pretty tasty position right now – you probably have your own assistant and have 50 days of holidays allocated to you.

Can you afford an assistant in your business? How many real holidays do you get a year? And during those days, even if it’s just the statutory 28 days, you’re not getting paid for those days off.

So, it’s a whole different type of situation.

I’m sure there are many people out there listening to this probably trying to call bullsh*t on me sniffing out the bullsh*t. After all, there are TONS of ways of making “passive income” and money while you sleep.

But there aren’t. I hate to break it to you. If there were, everyone would be doing it.
Zuckerberg, Bezos, Branson… they’re all the richest guys in the world. Do you think any of them own a dropshipping company or are selling a course? Of course not.

But if it really was that easy to make “millions in your sleep”, why wouldn’t they set it up??

After all, they could pay a minion to set it all up for them, put their brand all over it and it would sell out in minutes. Because it’s them.

But it’s not even worth the effort for them as they’re working on actual business ventures that make them real money.

Please stop believing the hype.

So, back to freedom. What you’re actually confusing is flexibility. You definitely don’t get more freedom as a business owner, at least not at first. However, you do get more flexibility.

As a business owner, you choose what you want to work on. So you could choose to work just 4 hours a week, like Tim Ferriss claims in his book. Farm everything out to VAs overseas and it all apparently just runs swimmingly.

Of course, the reality is that doesn’t work so well. If you care about quality, you’re putting a lot more hours in than that. But you don’t have to. In employment, you’re contracted to work a certain amount of hours per week. If you don’t, you’re likely to lose that job.

You’re also often contracted to work certain hours of the day, which means you do not have the flexibility to do things when you want to. This is definitely a benefit in entrepreneurship. However, the reality is that something often comes up. I had planned to go to the gym today, but I ended up working on a different project and finishing up this podcast. But that was my choice. I have chosen to dedicate time to doing this podcast weekly and so I need to put work into it.

Freedom is very easy to mix up with flexibility. I don’t feel free right now – I wish I didn’t have to work. I wish I could live by the beach and wake up when I want. But I do feel like I live a very flexible lifestyle, albeit stressful at times.

And I’m not alone. Take Elon Musk, for example. He is one of the most financially free people in the world. He always talks about living a free life. He’s gone to space for Christ’s sake. 

But he’s also a self-declared workaholic. He works 80-100 hours a week and says that he sleeps in the Tesla office sometimes. He even structures his day in 5 minute intervals so it leaves no room for interpretation or spontaneity, and maximises efficiency. 

I mean, this sounds like hell to me, but there’s no doubt that he’s a successful business man, no matter what your thoughts are on him.

He’s super passionate about what he does too, and he really believes in hard work… hence all the hate against him for bringing people back into the office 5 days a week.
He just believes that hard work is what it takes for success. He lives and breathes his businesses.

But to many people, he is the pinnacle of freedom. He can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants. He has the money, power and influence to do anything. He’s said to influence election results, affect the price of bitcoin etc. The dude is a force, but yet he still spends all that time working.

He’s not the only one either. There are so many hugely successful entrepreneurs who spill the beans on what their life has been like to build their businesses. Take Phil Knight, the founder of Nike, he talks about his financial struggle in Shoe Dog. He sacrificed so much in the early days of Nike.

The same as Sara Blakely – I spoke about her in the last episode too. She is very open about how she gave up her personal life to work on Spanx.

In all these success stories, there’s an element of self-sacrifice involved if you want those long-term rewards. Becoming an entrepreneur does not mean instant freedom, no matter what people say.

There’s been so much research on the struggles of entrepreneurs in high quality sources such as the Harvard Business Review. They’ve highlighted that entrepreneurs face unique pressures, often stemming from an intense commitment to their ventures. They often work significantly longer hours and shoulder high personal stakes, which can lead to burnout, especially when financial security and team morale depend on their endurance.

Despite the promise of flexible schedules, many find that the reality is far from autonomous—pressures can trap them in cycles of overwork, with minimal downtime or separation between work and personal life​

Then there’s the problem of decision fatigue, which I find every day. My friends are often so surprised as to how casual I am when people want to do things. Because I’m someone who knows what I like and I’m assertive.

But OMG I just love it when other people make decisions for me. Decision fatigue is so real. It massively affects our sense of freedom.

Think about the sheer volume of daily decisions we make in our businesses. It exhausts our mental energy, which leads to poorer decision quality over time. It’s even worse if you’re a who doesn’t have a team in place, or systems that help delegate responsibilities.

Studies show that cumulative decision-making can severely impact focus, problem-solving ability, and creativity, contributing to exhaustion and ultimately reducing a leader’s efficacy and enjoyment of their work​

Which is why Elon time-blocks his day soooooo meticulously. So, he doesn’t have to make any additional decisions!

I love being an entrepreneur and I wouldn’t trade it in for anything. Don’t get me wrong, I have days where I think about how much easier life would be if I just had a job that paid me a steady salary each month, but I know I wouldn’t enjoy it as much.

For me, it’s all about fulfilment. And I love my life so much more as an entrepreneur. I love the flexibility, but I’m not quite free yet.

There’s too much focus on freedom in entrepreneurship, because it’s a nice idea. It’s a fairy tale solution for small businesses. But sadly, it’s far from reality.

However, what’s more realistic is creating a flexible lifestyle for yourself that’s meaningful and fulfilling.

And that will vary for everyone.

Focusing too much on freedom then makes you see everything as an obligation. Each task you have to do as part of your business is one other thing keeping you from freedom.

I see so many people start their businesses and then give up just months later because they didn’t feel freedom. Their passion didn’t carry them through – which is the subject of the last episode… so please listen to that.

I don’t want people to get a misconception that entrepreneurship = freedom. It doesn’t. At least not right away. It actually may be easier to get a high-powered job and then retire early if you want that. That’s much more guaranteed than entrepreneurship.

However, running your own business does help you achieve more flexibility than employment, and you carve a nice life for yourself around this.

Perhaps you can also call this freedom – that’s OK. As long as the definition doesn’t make it negative for you. Maybe there are different levels of freedom for you too.

Either way, I hope that you stick at entrepreneurship, because it’s so wonderful and rewarding. But it is difficult.

And if you’ve been working now for a bit and been feeling down that you don’t have the freedom you thought you were going to get when starting out, then please do not feel alone.

I still feel like that 15 years into my entrepreneurship journey!

However, I do feel like I’m edging much closer to my ideal life – slowly but surely.

We will get there!

I hope this episode has been useful to you and I will see you next week for a new release. Until then, keep sniffing out the bullsh*t!