Why I Am NOT Growing My Business – A Different View to Entrepreneurship

On my website I’ve described myself as “…an entrepreneur that can’t be compared” and one reason for this is that I am not growing my business. And when I realised this, it actually came as a surprise.

I hadn’t really thought about it until somebody asked me why I don’t just hire someone to help with my workload. I answered without even thinking about it: my business exists just to make me money to live on. NOT to grow, like most businesses do.

I say ‘do’, obviously they don’t do shit by themselves. There are people responsible for making decisions on whether or not to hire people and grow their revenue streams. While I’m all for growing my revenue streams, even the thought of hiring someone I’d have to share my work with gives me chills.

Why is that? Why would I not treat my business like all other entrepreneurs and try to make it bigger and more valuable? Well, I’ve got a couple good reasons, and I’m happy to share them with you.

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Why I Am NOT Growing My Business – A Different View to Entrepreneurship

First of all I have to mention that becoming an entrepreneur was a complete accident for me. I had grown up knowing that entrepreneurship equals 24/7 working hours, no holidays, sleepless nights and an eventual failure. I didn’t want that!

But then the world changed, work moved online on many fronts, new industries (like social media marketing) emerged, and remote work became a mainstream phenomenon. Suddenly the thing I had always been gifted at, writing, became something that I could actually earn a living with!

I still didn’t embark on the journey of becoming a solopreneur before I was fired. That was the point when I decided I will not apply for another job. I don’t want to work for other people! I’ll try and see what other options are out there. That’s how my days as a Freelancer Copywriter began.

If you want to know more about how my life has shaped itself to what it is today, watch my episode of the Doing Business Differently podcast on Youtube. Otherwise, let’s get to business: why am I not growing my business? Here are just some of the reasons:

 1. I don’t live to work, I work to live

This is the absolute number one reason why I am NOT growing my business. My work is just a way for me to make money so that I can live my best life. My business is not my life purpose, it’s not the thing I wake up every morning for, it’s just work.

Sure, it’s work that I love! But I love my life and free time more. And since it turns out that the lifestyle that I want to have costs quite a lot, I have to make sure I can afford that lifestyle.

While preferring what many might classify as ‘luxury lifestyle‘, I’ve always embraced the principles of slow living. And prioritising work definitely doesn’t fit into that! I’m happy exactly as my life is right now. Why would I go and mess it up? You know the phrase:

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

2. I don’t want the responsibility of managing people

You can call me whatever you like; lazy, self-centred, avoiding responsibility. None of that changes the fact that I am not interested at all in managing other people. Not in a corporate setting as a Team Leader, and not as an entrepreneur.

This was the question that made me realise that I am not growing my business, though. Sometimes I have a lot of work to get through, and sure, I could hire someone to write couple of my articles per week and pay them a part of my earnings. But there are couple issues with that:

1. Finding someone who would be up to my standard would take more time and effort than it takes me to get through the work myself
2. Writing styles are different, and I can’t expect the speed and quality I work with from others
3. I would have to proof-read and edit all the articles, which wouldn’t save any of my time in the end
4. I’m able to cope with the temporary busy periods because I’m a professional in time management
5. I want to keep every penny I make for myself (more on this in the next chapter)

Perhaps I’m even traumatised when it comes to hiring people because I am truly very much against it (for myself). This may be because I grew up in a country where labour laws make hiring an employee extremely risky. Risky, because it’s near impossible to get rid of them if they turn out to be not suitable.

I don’t want any extra hassle added to my work. I love everything exactly as it is, so again, why would I go and change that?

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3. I refuse to share my work / income

As mentioned above, I do not like the idea of giving up any of the money I make, which is why I am not growing my business. I work to make that money, and since I love what I do, I think it’s natural that I want to keep it all as well.

As selfish as it may sound, I see absolutely no problem with this. Yes sure, companies can help in running a society by offering work to people. But I don’t see it as my inherent responsibility to help run any society.

I pay my taxes, I put my trash in the bin and I’m a relatively law-abiding citizen of the world, I think that’s quite enough favours for society from me. I pretty much live outside of any society anyway.

Let’s also not forget that sharing my work with someone would require quite a lot of time and effort from me to:

• train and mentor the new hire
• ensure the high quality writing that I’m committed to myself
• maintain the fast working pace (because I’m bloody fast!)
• make decisions and timelines that I don’t need to make while working by myself.

Also, with the world being the way it is, there is no such thing as job security anymore. There never was for entrepreneurs, but now it applies to everyone.

And imagine if things came to a point where you’d have to fire someone?! I am not growing my business because I don’t want these unnecessary extra responsibilities and nuisances.

Read also: Starting A Podcast – Sharing The Lessons I Learned

4. I want full flexibility on my own terms

Because I am a self-employed person who can work remotely anywhere in the world, I’ve taken full advantage of all that flexibility and freedom. As a Digital Nomad I need a lot of flexibility that running a big business and having employees wouldn’t allow. This is a big reason why I am not growing my business.

Freedom is one of my most important core values personally and in terms of work. I found that out when I was fired from my last job and had a few sessions with a life change coach. Her very first question in our first session was “what do you want most in your life?” I immediately heard the word coming out of my mouth without even thinking:

“Freedom!”

Freedom is what my current work situation allows me. Yes, I have delivery quotas for my clients but they’re completely under control, and don’t mess with my personal life at all. Because that’s how I’ve arranged it all!

While Digital Nomading isn’t the most simplest lifestyle to lead, it does provide me with a way to find a perfect balance between work and free time. Does it require quite a lot of self control? Absolutely! But I have never struggled (much…) with that side of things.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I have massive authority issues. I detest taking orders from anyone, so self-employment is really the only way someone like me can be truly happy and free.

5. I want to focus fully on what I do, nothing else

Running a bigger business means you’d have to consider all sorts of things like competitor strategies, employee supervision, finances, marketing, etc. Things that I don’t need to spend a minute thinking about while working for myself.

In fact, I don’t even market what I do myself! I have my clients♥ and my name is out there for anyone who would be interested in observing possibilities to work with me. As I’ve said many times, I love what I do, and I am so happy and grateful every day for being able to do what I do as I do.

And because I love what I do, I naturally want to make sure I do it well. Quality is important to me, no matter if we’re talking about clothes, hotels or work. Ensuring high quality is a part of my work that I actually enjoy in addition to just writing copy. And the people I get to work with!

As self-employed I am, of course, also fully in charge of my business’s communication strategy. I like to think of myself as an excellent communicator, so this is a part of my business I wouldn’t be willing to give up for anything or to anyone.

I’m fortunate to be working with similar-minded people who have a great sense of humour and who I can communicate with completely openly. It’s important to me to be able to choose who I work with.

With a bigger business creating revenue becomes the number one issue, which often means working with people you don’t necessarily align with. This does not suit me at all, which is also why I am not growing my business.

Why I am NOT growing my business – Conclusion

I guess at the end of the day it comes down to what is enough? In the capitalist world that we live in, NOTHING is often enough. You need to reach higher and get bigger, no matter what it takes, even if it’s your health. And many do just that.

I have decided that I am not growing my business for this particular reason. I have never bought into capitalism. When we learned about it in Primary School I was disgusted by the entire model/system. And by now we can all see what an exploitative, abusive system it really is!

Why on Earth would I want to get involved in a shit-show like that? Why would you? Sure, you might be able to grow your bank account into stratospheric dimensions. But at what cost? For me the cost of all that is way too high, both personally as well as globally.

Unfortunately it’s impossible to completely avoid it, but in my own business I am not engaging in capitalist ideologies in the slightest. Quite the opposite, I strive for happiness, freedom, flexibility and joy in my life and in my business. And I do that by operating on a slow business model.

What do you think, is this a really outlandish way to exist as an entrepreneur? Or should more people look at having a business from this un-capitalistic point of view? I’d love to hear your thoughts so let’s chat! ♥