What does ‘doing what you love’ really mean, and look like?

Since moving to Iceland 4 years ago now, I have worked for myself. Working for myself is an easy phrase to type or say but the action of making it happen and being successful, as in profitable, is a different story. Working for myself looks like running this blog, posting on Instagram (now 2 accounts), collaborations, filming editing and uploading videos to YouTube, running an Etsy shop, commissions, online course creation, client interior and architecture projects and all the marketing and admin that come with it. I don’t say yes to everything, it’s not all fun and games. I’ve learnt many lessons along the way so I wanted to take a minute and discuss what working for yourself and ‘doing what you love’ really looks like.

Build a life you love

People today seem to think that they can find their passion and do that every day, all day long. Easy, right? Your life will be amazing. Your work will be wonderful. You’ll never be bored. You’ll never get stressed. You’ll never have money worries, and you’ll only do what you want to do.

In reality, all that is kind of false.

Everyone’s an Entrepreneur

I feel like I hear this everywhere I turn right now. On blogs, Instagram, podcasts, YouTube, Facebook. Maybe that’s just a reflection of what I’m listening to and attracting but is it true? Are we in a generation of entrepreneurs?

Most entrepreneurs start out either with an idea or a solution. The main aim is to make a difference, either in someone’s life or as an impact on the world. A lot of these entrepreneurs will claim they can teach you how to ‘build a life you love’, ‘'build your business’, ‘build your following’, etc and a lot of them are very successful at it - if you’re willing to put in the hard work then hopefully you’ll see results. This can, of course, make a difference in your life, work and purpose. But then it doesn’t appeal or apply to everyone. Not everyone wants to, or should, be their own boss.

80/20

Running your own business can take about 80% of your time (spent on marketing, admin, etc) to allow for the creative part, that part that you’re really passionate about, and there’s only 20% of your time remaining. It’s a juggle and a struggle, and it’s not often how you imagined you’d be spending your time.

Live a Creative Life

As creatives, our personalities don’t necessarily lend themselves to being the boss - at least not straight away. My advice is to build up loads of experience, learn from others. Work in different companies, on different projects, with different clients, and budgets, and problems. Try hard, ask questions, work late, stick around, sit in on meetings you don’t need to be in (if allowed), offer ideas, find solutions, build your confidence.

I’m not one to quote Oprah but she said “Are you going to get bored with your job, yes. Are you going to get restless, yes. Are you going to love every second of it, no”…“Your job is not always going to fulfil you.” And of course she’s right, there will be days where you don’t feel like going…go anyway. “Your job is not who you are, it’s just what you’re doing on the way to who you will become.”

Building a working framework isn’t glamorous

Routine is important in life, in work, in our jobs and in building a framework for our future self. Think of your future self. Think back 1, 2, 5, 10 years ago and imagine what you would say to yourself about growth and personal development. Now think 1, 2, 5, 10 years ahead and start working on what that future self needs, now. Massive question…Are you happy in your life, where it’s going and in what you have achieved so far? If no, doing just read on, it’s time to make a plan and start it today.

Become an Expert

Routine can be boring, mundane but the action of doing something over and over and over again, eventually makes you become an expert. Over that time you will no doubt get good at it. Now apply this thinking to your skillset, especially the items you aren’t so keen on; sketching, CAD, writing, presenting, making phone calls.

This has helped me with things like working under pressure. Sure, it gets easier with time, you learn how to respond to pressure and priorities. Juggling it all is something I still find challenging, and probably will for a long time; projects, clients, employees (haha Ingimar), contractors (both online and off), suppliers (both online and off), and deadlines.

Clients

Working with clients is possibly one of the best and most challenging parts of my work. The best for obvious reasons; you wouldn’t be working without them, but clients often don’t understand the process, or that they might not be your only client at one time, yet they will demand your attention and creativity whether you’re ready or not. I’ve had a client give a project brief on a Monday and they’ve expected ideas to follow pretty much instantly.

“It doesn’t matter what you do and how much you love it, you will still have a tonne of sh*t you have to deal with in order to do what you love.” - Marie Forleo

Wearing all the hats

Facing the good and the bad in business is a necessity, it’s just how it works. Working for myself means I wear many hats, some I don’t like as much as others, some I wish I didn’t have to wear (especially on Monday mornings). For me, like many, that’s unanswered emails and following up on phone calls. But my biggest pet business peeve is having to chase up fees from clients who haven’t paid - it’s so disrespectful and rude.

Be your own Boss, in time

Having said all that, I love it and it’s all worth it. I love Layoutlines, I love Iceland Family Life, I love my work, I love working for myself and I love that I’m building my little empire. But remember it takes time. Respect the time it takes to build your empire. Those who rush, make mistakes.

Yes, I get impatient at times, I want to see the numbers higher and the pressure less. But all of that comes from my boss; me. That’s what being your own boss sometimes looks like. And that’s completely normal, we all do it. So I keep on writing these blog posts, picking up my camera, doing commissions, designs for clients, chasing fees, opening emails, and replying to DMs. You just have to do the ‘sh*t’ to make the good stuff keep happening.

Let’s embrace all the stuff we don’t necessarily love about building our empires and think of our future self. Turn up to work, even when we don’t want to. And once we are in a routine, going with the flow, open to new ideas - that’s when the magic will happen. What do you think?