17 Comments

I love the third point about showing your kids that they can chase their dreams but will have to work hard for it. So much to ponder on this essay, Louie. It's such a pleasure to know you and read your work. Wishing you a wonderful 2024!

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Thank you Sairam. And likewise to you and your family my friend happy and healthy 2024!

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Dad life 🤣

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“It’s not a bad life” 😃

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Hey Louie, I read this some 12 hours back and since then I am being doing 'Why?' for everything that I do.

You've pulled us to Reason Respecting Mind.

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I too wanted to earn more money.. but when I do stuff to achieve it.. some grey devil pulls me back.. it’s a deep rooted culture conditioning of money is evil nonsense (and hating who earn more money) practically I know I need this money... it’s that thought I’m fighting with🙃

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🌶️ I'm on a mission to return to full-time employment after 7 years as an independent contractor.

Setting reasonable goals that align with your background, credibility, and competence is super important. Split focus is another killer of goals.

In 2021, when I purchased Daniel's guide about building a Twitter audience, I set a goal of helping software engineers in their careers. While I liked the goal, as I met others who were after the same goals (and succeeded after a very short time), I felt I lacked credibility. I couldn't match people who worked at AWS, Google, and others, managed people, and went through some corporate leveling.

The other thing is, when you're a contractor and run a small agency, your focus is now split on building your agency's brand, building your brand, finding the work, and doing the work. While a full-time employee, you do the work and just worry about the personal brand.

Having multiple projects and, thus, multiple income streams is good, but it's essentially just having many bosses. Add complexity to this when you hire your first employees, which I did.

It's funny that after almost 4 years of tackling the way to freedom, I think (for me) it begins with finding a good job aligned with my goals.

Happy New Year, Louie!

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Happy New Year Akos! And I hope you find the sort of opportunities you’re looking for my friend.

Everything has its tradeoffs, all the more reason for us to find our own “why”

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Thanks for the kind words Louie!

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“I hit my goals because I found my reasons in the pits of my despair.”

Powerful! And inspiring. Love it!

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Thank you Alexandra and happy new year!

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Excellent reminders, Louie.

An incidental advantage of being really clear on your WHYs is that, when the going gets tough, all you need to do is tune into your inner reasons: there you'll find the way to push through the inevitable adversities.

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Very inspiring topic. I feel like your reasons for being an entrepreneur could come out of my mouth. Thanks for all your teaching and Happy new year Louie!

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Thank you David! And happy new year to you too, I hope this is a good one for you.

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Especially in a world becoming devoid of religion, it makes sense that we’ll need to be clearer on the reasons for doing what we’re doing.

It used to be hashed out and we wouldn’t question it. But now, if we don’t think about the meaning or how a project fits in the context of our lives or communities, we’re bound to having a hard time. “Why am I doing this thing if it doesn’t benefit me and people around me?”

Thanks for sharing, Louie!

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Love that line of thinking Kenny. I think it’s absolutely right.

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Glad I took the time to read this.

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