The Freedom Philosophy: Stabilising the Roller Coaster of Starting Up for Fledging & Future Entrepreneurs

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I want you to be able to use #thefreedomphilosophy to create an entrepreneurial mindset and lifestyle before you startup. Whether or not you intend to quit your corporate job and start a business, you can create more freedom in your day-to-day life; you can find purpose and meaning in your current job; and you can live a healthier, happier life just by making a few lifestyle and mindset tweaks. All without leaving the comfort of the corporate safety net. But if you do want to escape the nine-to-five and explore entrepreneurship, then #thefreedomphilosophy will help you set yourself up for success before you quit.

In February 2015, I found myself working at a boutique media agency in Sydney, Australia. Two months earlier I had decided to mastermind a radically new business model. By that I meant throw everything out the window and start from scratch. I stopped working one-on-one with coaching clients because I didn't enjoy trading my time for money. It seemed so limiting. My business model wasn’t really working for me any more. I wanted to reimagine what I refer to as my freedom life & business, and I find it easier to do that in the corporate world. Sydney has always been like an old love that welcomes me back with a warm hug every time I’m in town. What is a freedom life & business? It’s a sustainable, profitable and impactful business that supports life on your own terms.

One Friday night I temporarily abandoned my principles and joined new colleagues for Friday night Chardonnay and crisps on the roof. Eventually four of us were left, by that time more than merry, and conversation began to deepen. Shiny and new, I was quizzed. Where did you come from? What do you do?

‘You have an amazing life, Steph!’ said James. The whole #workfromwherever lifestyle is terrifying and out of reach for most, but for 20-somethings it’s amazing and aspirational. He then turned to the others and said, ‘I don’t get it. What is media anyway? I mean… what are we actually doing?’ It dawned on me that the search for meaning and purpose is starting much, much younger. And it begins with ‘Why?’

As it turns out, they were already thinking about the future (years before I ever did — I had my crisis at age 29) and hoping they would be doing something else when they were older. Not yet sure exactly what, but there was a vision of a better life, a more meaningful vocation, a sense of a higher calling.

So, over the next four months, I asked questions. They felt underwhelmed by their jobs. ‘It isn’t what I thought it would be’, ‘It’s definitely not what I planned’, ‘Not sure how I ended up here’. And a universal, open-ended conclusion: ‘I’m just not sure what else to do.’ With rent and bills to pay and partying to do, what could they achieve?

The 30-somethings had similar feedback, although the tragedy seemed to escalate. Burdened with house and car loans, and feeling like their careers were going nowhere, they felt trapped. Just one more year and then maybe I’ll figure something else out, said one. It’s fine for now. I’ll do something about it when I really can’t handle it any more. If defeat were a chocolate muffin, they would have been fat with regret for having eaten so many of them.

To be fair, I knew this problem was a pandemic across generations, not just ‘Millennials’, and it was also the reason I wrote my first book Absolutely on Purpose (AbsolutelyonPurpose.com). But since I had been out of the corporate world for almost three years, this sudden immersion in agency life shocked me back into an obvious reality: people of all ages feel powerless when their passion, purpose and vision don’t align with the core values and beliefs of the work they are doing (whether it’s their own business or someone else’s). Hence the disconnect. The frustration. The boredom. The limitation. And the more attuned they are to their need for meaning and purpose, the more visceral the pain, which can be felt physically, mentally and emotionally or even spiritually.

All too often we find ourselves in jobs and roles — in business and relationships — where we feel powerless to create change and steer ourselves in the right direction

I have to wonder if these companies are even vaguely aware of what’s happening amidst their ranks. As with most agencies, 95 per cent of the boutique media agency consisted of worker bees. They work long and hard for little more than a paycheck. There is zero career direction. Within the first month I had pitched an MD and HR Director with an ‘Agency University’ training model. They both ignored the email.

The idea for The Freedom Philosophy arrived one day on a bus. The L22 from Newtown to Sydney City became the incubator hub for this project. If corporate bosses weren’t interested in creating meaningful and purposeful career paths for their employees, then I was going to inspire employees to follow a completely different path: their own.

I created this project to share what I’ve found most inspiring and empowering on my own journey from corporate misfit — who began by alternating work and travel without having a clue what I wanted to be when I grew up — to a purposeful, multi-passionate human who follows all her ideas, no matter where they lead her. It lead me from studying aromatherapy to writing a blog, from freelance writing to writing two books, from consulting with successful entrepreneurs to business coaching for fledgling entrepreneurs.

What was important was not the ‘model’ or the ‘plan’. I developed those along the way. What was critical was my commitment to self-care, a vision of the life I wanted, and living the lifestyle I wanted right now.

I’ve noticed that in the race to do something different and be commercially successful the emphasis is on the financial viability of an idea to ensure the risk is minimal and the bills are paid. To say this is cutting off your nose to spite your face is an understatement. Since according to Bloomberg 80 per cent of startups fail within 18 months because of founder burnout, and since your first idea will likely fail anyway (at least in its first iteration), you need to be in it for the long haul.

On my own adventure, I’ve discovered that being able to thrive physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually 24/7, regardless of success or failure, is the only way to hack an entrepreneurial lifestyle. This book is about setting yourself up for success before you quit the 9 to 5 and while you build your empire. Even before you have an idea. Once you thrive on all these levels you’ll not only be able to recognise your ideas and follow them but also succeed in life at the same time.

Even if you don’t startup, I want you to be able to steer your life and career in the direction of passion, purpose and vision, so that you can align who you are with what you do. This project will teach you how to become the CEO of your life, so that you can show up as a leader of yourself and others. It will teach you how to thrive, regardless of what’s going on in your life and business. It will teach you how to create a freedom framework, so you can startup without creating another job for yourself. It will teach you how to failure-proof your mindset so that you can keep tweaking and modifying until you get the results you’re looking for.

This book won’t teach you how to get rich quick, become an overnight startup superstar, nor will it explain the mechanics of starting a business. It’s not a blueprint that you can copy but a collaborative strategic-action framework that will help you make sense of your answers to the powerful questions that follow. It also won’t teach you how to come up with ideas — that project is on its way. First you have to learn to thrive before building your empire.

How much time will it take? I’ll answer that with another question: have you heard that a butterfly flapping its wings in one country can create a hurricane in another? It’s much like that: even the smallest actions can have giant ripple effect. If you can work through this content in only an hour a week, you’ll be in the top 2 per cent of the population who take action around their life and ideas. You’ll officially be an action taker. If you can spend 3 to 5 hours a week crafting your success, you’ll be the one teaching us how you did it sooner than you think.

Structured guidance can mean the difference between starting up — taking action and implementing new ideas — and not starting anything at all. It's for this reason that I've created additional resources - The Freedom Philosophy Study Pack - for those who are ready to dive deep, claim their freedom and fiercely protect it right now. You can find out more at https://stephanieholland.co/the-freedom-philosophy/

Oh, and email your comments, questions, feedback and constructive insights to me at:

Stephanie@StephanieHolland.Co

What you’re about to read is an echo of your inner voice. It’s an invitation to thrive on all levels, regardless of success or failure

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Glossary

Freedom life: The capacity to thrive on all levels, physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually, regardless of success or failure, and to live with passion, purpose and vision on your own terms.

Freedom business: A sustainable, impactful, profitable business that supports your vision of a freedom life.

Startup: Throughout the book I've used the word 'startup' to refer to starting a business and following your ideas interchangeably.

Sometimes I say 'startup', sometimes 'business', and sometimes 'freedom business' depending on the context. It's not just for tech ideas either, but all ideas & projects.

Whether you're starting the next Fortune 500 Company, a Silicon Valley startup or a micro business from your living room, 'startup' refers to you!

Just quietly, before we start…

Don’t imagine that everything I’m about to tell you comes easily or effortlessly to me all the time. I share a ‘perfect life’ in photos or newsletters, to inspire possibility and imagination. It’s 80 per cent of my life and business. But behind the scenes there’s a lot of work (blood, sweat and, yes, tears). There’s a lot of discipline, a lot of perseverance. Sometimes it does feel impossible for me to go any further. And even though I continue to show up, sometimes it’s only ‘in body’, while my heart and mind are elsewhere (usually on a beach in Mexico or halfway through my fourth coconut macaroon).

There are challenges, struggles and roadblocks on a daily basis. Sometimes waking up at 6 a.m. is easy; sometimes it’s hard. Sometimes the blank page is easy to fill; sometimes it’s impossible. Sometimes doing two hours of yoga and exercise each day is effortless; sometimes my body feels like lead. Most of the time eating healthily is a no-brainer; other times I crave thin-crust Margarita so doughy you could fold it before ascending to pizza heaven.

I’ve come to realise that it doesn’t matter how I feel; it’s what I do that counts. I wake up, write, move my body and eat healthily anyway. And that’s what keeps me moving forward on my path, in competition with yesterday’s best. Can I write better than I did yesterday? Am I closer to the splits? Can I communicate better than I did yesterday? Maybe I can; maybe I can’t. I write anyway. I reach out to potential clients anyway. I stretch anyway. I’m not aiming for perfection — I’m just showing up and doing the best I can today. Today’s best is a powerful benchmark for tomorrow.

Along the way, I’ve developed a few tricks to help me achieve my goals: I set #40DayChallenges where I decide on an action, and do this every day for 40 days; I set my alarm; I tell others what I’m doing to create accountability. I buy my domain name and change my email signature; I tell my business and writing groups that I’m going to have my book finished by the end of the month; I buy only the freshest, healthiest food so that when I look in my kitchen cupboards that’s all there is to eat. So when I want to drown my tear-stained face with chocolate and red wine, I can’t. There is none there. I do 90 minutes of Kundalini instead, or go to the movies.

As you create disciplined actions around your goals and learn what you find challenging and what motivates you, you’ll create your own foolproof hacks and support frameworks, too. (In which case, please share them with the rest of us; why don’t you?) It’s surprisingly easy to coax yourself into right action until it becomes an effortless lifestyle. This is what makes the effort worthwhile; you know that life will get easier if you just stick with it. And when it does, even the tasks + activities we label as a ‘must’ feel light and encouraging.

When we focus on the things that matter our efforts yield greater impact. Working smarter, not harder, should never go unrewarded. We work smarter in the first place so we have more time to do what we want.

I also make a point of rewarding myself, regardless of the size of the achievement. It could be anything from a walk on the beach, to taking the rest of the day off, to lie in the sun, to a week in Istanbul.

The sweet spot is showing up for what matters, so you can work less and live more.

But I’ll let you in on a little secret: sometimes I sleep ’til 8 a.m. Sometimes I skip the second hour of exercise. Sometimes I eat real pizza with a glass of Chianti followed by homemade Banoffee pie. I do this consciously, I enjoy it, and then I get right back into the lifestyle that helps me to thrive the next day. When we discover a way to thrive effortlessly, we can break the rules without backsliding.

Life is a container for a multi-level experience. When you become the CEO of your life, an entrepreneurial lifestyle is available to you even before you have a business. I hope this perspective empowers you to take back control and escape from the career trap. I’ve previously heard that we’re spiritual beings having a human experience. Mastering the day-to-day of our human existence is the fast track. To have a vibrant, spiritual life, full of love and creativity, we must