Minding my own business
Part 1: On becoming a freelance knowledge worker
The year is 2010, I just started college, moved into my first apartment, and I’m assembling IKEA furniture. In the background, Tim Ferris’s audiobook “4 Hour Work Week” played. For a doe-eyed newly-independent kid in the final year of his teens, the book was a revelation, challenging my notions of life and wealth.
The book was very much emblematic of my generation; in a world that was becoming increasingly productivity-driven and fast-paced, we sought a shift in our relationship with work. Seeing a life-long employment as a set of shackles.
Before that, the only example I had was my father, who worked for a single employer his whole life, and for him, that job gave him everything he wanted: challenges and opportunities befitting his abilities. Most important of all, it gave him profound security. Having been born during the greatest famine in recent Chinese history, security meant a whole lot to him.
I have to study politics and war so that my
sons(children) can study mathematics, commerce and agriculture, so theirsons(children) can study poetry, painting and music.— John Quincy Adams
My parents prioritized security and realism, so I turned out as a romantic. I grew up believing the highest pursuit of my life was self-determination: the privilege to do what I wanted when I wanted, go where I wanted when I wanted. Luckily, I grew up in an era of increasing globalism, and traveling around the world became incredibly safe and accessible. I discovered that I carried an asset that was unevenly distributed around the world, but was incredibly easy for one person to carry: Knowledge.
It was a resource that was useful everywhere in the world, and it doesn’t diminish when you sell it.
Unbound by Geographical Constraints
It has been a golden age for digital nomadism. Over eight years of freelance consulting have allowed me to live and work across the globe and in a wide range of industries. I have cherished the freedom to choose what I give my energy to. But it wasn’t as easy as getting off the conventional path I was on and finding a new one. It took many years to cultivate the confidence necessary to deviate from the safe options available and to silence the imposter syndrome whispering doubts about my capabilities to go in a new a new direction. Each destination and project brought its own set of self-doubt and questions about my worth.
“Am I on the right path?”
I’m in my 30’s now. And I wouldn’t want to live any other way.
Because knowledge work is so expensive, I at least don’t have to work many hours to earn a living. On average, I calculate that sustaining my lifestyle takes about, as Tim Ferris predicted, 4 hours per week, allowing ample time for personal pursuits and interests. Everything else becomes extra.
I just got back from a four-month sabbatical in Asia: kayaking down the Mekong river, backpacking from Tokyo down to Okinawa, indulging in a writing retreat in Bangkok, among other bucket list items.
Right now, I’m pursuing my PhD, and I’m tremendously privileged to not have to depend on the meager salaries or stipends most junior academics rely on, often at the cost of large chunks of time dealing with the demands of funding bodies. I have the freedom to dedicate as much time as I desire to my research, create and teach courses that captivate me, and mentor Master's students whose projects or personalities inspire me.
I would recommend choosing freelance knowledge work, but only if material wealth isn’t your highest pursuit.
I have friends in finance who traded a decade and a couple of heart attacks (and in one case, a cocaine addiction) for comfortable $10’s of millions to retire on in their 30’s. Even more who have risen through the ranks of the Big 4, now with high 6 figure salaries. Or entrepreneurs whose grueling few years diligently growing startups that yielded them both prestige and lucrative exits.
I am not wealthy; I have no renown.
I am just a very expensive and useful tool that those with money hire to get things made.
Why I’m writing about this…
Many students and graduates ask me how to embark on a freelance consulting career. The answer seemed so straightforward, just:
Identify your skills.
Assess your passion for utilizing them.
Determine your worth.
Rinse and repeat.
But that hardly scratches the surface of getting started.
What's often left unspoken is the personal growth required alongside these steps. It's easy to give out advice that overlooks the intricate challenges of confronting fears of inadequacy and the daunting task of establishing your own value.
Recently, having been asked again by a Masters student I’m supervising —coupled with an existential realisation that I might reaching the peak of the mountain I’ve been climbing (an end of the road that I didn’t anticipate) — I realized that I might be sending others, unprepared, down a path to nowhere. By reflecting on my career so far, I hope to distill a roadmap for those who want to follow a similar path.
Or… just get a peek of where it leads to before embarking.
What to expect :
In the next four (probably?) newsletters, I'll outline my journey from the beginning of my freelance career to the present, sharing valuable lessons learned along the way.
Before Day 1: Preparing for the Plunge
The First 180 Days: Establishing Your Offerings
The Rest of Your First Year: Committing to Your Practice
The Following Years: Growing as an Expert
Beyond that, I'll speculate on what could come next, aided by the wisdom of others.
In preparing for this series, I talked to many friends and colleagues with successful freelancing careers. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, recounts the same doubts, fears, and moments of imposter syndrome that accompanied them. It's a career choice that inevitably demands answers to questions of worth, value, and purpose. My hope is that by humanizing these experiences, these newsletters helps you face the hurdles as natural parts of growth.
If you find this interesting, consider liking, subscribing, and commenting to let me know. Do you have your own experiences you’d like to share? Please comment below or DM me; I’m looking to collect as many stories as possible. Thank you!