Be Your Own Boss: How & Why to Escape the 9-to-5 Grind & Find Freedom in 2024

If you ever wondered how to be your own boss and escape the 9-to-5 grind, believe me when I tell you: I feel you.

When I got laid off from my job as Head of SEO + Content Marketing for a tech company back in 2018, I did not see it coming.

Still, I was lucky. I had years of experience as a freelancer before I ever found my way commuting to that traditional 9-to-5 every M-F, and I knew plenty of ways to work from home and remotely to speed up the layoff recovery process.

Now with more than a decade of experience doing the damn thing as a freelance writer, SEO content consultant, destination wedding photographer, and a number of other interesting gigs, I’ll attest that there’s nothing better than being your own boss and earning a lucrative living.

And right now, it’s easier than ever before to copy my blueprint and become your own boss and ditch the ol’ office so you can start making money on your time and on your terms.

And the best part about this strategy is that no matter your education level, skill set, or “prior work experience,” you too can find a way to thrive while working from home or remotely, sans micromanagement.

So, if you’re thinking about making the switch from working full-time for someone else to running your own show and working from anywhere you choose, now’s the time — and we’ve got your back!

In this guide, we’ll explain exactly why and how to be your own boss and escape the 9-to-5 rat race for good, from the pros and cons of being your own boss and evaluating your options to plotting your exit from your current job, starting a work-from-home business, finding customers, and getting set up for success.

Ready to take back control of your life so you can work from anywhere in the world and never have to worry about layoffs again?

Let’s get this party started!

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How to Be Your Own Boss and Escape the 9-to-5 in 11 Steps

If you want to be your own boss and take control of your life in the 2020s and beyond, we’ve got a lot to discuss.

From going into it with the right mindset and determining how much money you’ll need to invest to start a home-based business, to choosing what kind of business to start and the step-by-step actions you’ll want and need to take on your entrepreneurial journey, we’re gonna dig into all of it.

But before we dive deep, let’s quickly run down the 11 steps we’re gonna cover in-depth in this guide so you can begin to mentally marinate in the process.

11 steps to be your own boss in 2024:

1. Assess yourself
2. Research the market
3. Select your business model
4. Pick a niche
5. Make a business plan
6. Choose a name + Design your branding
7. Build a website + blog
8. Start marketing (Set up social media, email list, etc.)
9. Become a legal entity
10. Get your first client
11. Grow your biz and scale (Automate, outsource, and evolve as a business leader)

With this 11-step action plan, you could quit your 9-to-5 and become your own boss in a matter of months.

But before we start talking about how to become your own boss, let’s talk about why you might want to consider embarking on this lesser-taken path to success.

What are the Pros and Cons of Being Your Own Boss?

There’s nothing as empowering, as liberating, and, for some people, as fulfilling as starting your own business, taking control of your income/schedule/work routine, and becoming your own boss.

There’s also nothing as downright difficult or, dare I say, as utterly terrifying, as being your own boss.

That’s because when you’re in control of and accountable for everything, you’ve got no excuse when things don’t go your way, and you always have to be willing to take the blame.

Your day-to-day involves making all the decisions, holding yourself to account for a certain schedule and standard, and setting a prime example for anyone and everyone you interact with in a business context.

That means being your best self for potential clients, official clients, employees, prospects, and all the other people you meet.

While all of that is a hefty ask for many people, and failure is pretty much guaranteed in some form or another along the entrepreneurial journey, there’s still nothing that I and so many others would ever trade career-wise when it comes to escaping the 9-to-5 to make money on our own terms.

So, let’s talk about why this is the best time in history for you to actually consider being your own boss, no matter where in the world you live.

Then, let’s talk about the main challenges you’re likely to face on the road to entrepreneurship so that you’re best prepared when any obstacles arise along the way.

5 Reasons Why You Should Consider Being Your Own Boss

#1 Reason to Be Your Own Boss: More Money + More Time = Better Life

People who say that money can’t buy happiness are only half right — it’s been scientifically tested in multiple different ways to show that money can buy “happiness” in the form of food, shelter, and security, along with having extra income to invest in securities (and yourself) and all the other cool stuff we all love to use.

On the flip side, too much money has been shown to have adverse effects, so you can rest easy knowing that there’s no point in embracing #hustleculture and trying to be the next Bill Gates or Bezos.

So, while it’s important to shore up your finances for eventual retirement with an income that affords you everything you need to survive, thrive, and live a generous life, it’s even more important to focus on the other resource in the room: Time.

Minutes are infinitely more valuable than money, and I don’t think anyone would argue about gaining more time every morning, noon, and night to pursue new passions, develop passive income streams, and discover their true purpose for being here on this planet at this remarkable time in history.

When you eliminate a traditional 9-to-5 job from your schedule, time bursts back into your life in ways you wouldn’t believe until you experience it for yourself.

Gone are mundane mornings cramming yourself into crowded buses or trains, driving through traffic with sociopathic road ragers, and dragging your feet through any weather imaginable to a job that will never love you back.

All of a sudden, the middle of your days are wide open for working out, making healthy and gourmet AF meals, and/or spending time on the couch watching 90-Day with your boo, depending on how you choose to allocate your extra hours.

Think about how much time you typically spend commuting to work.

The average American commuter spends 27.6 minutes each morning and evening commuting to work, respectively, with just under 10% of commuters spending more than an hour each way, according to the 2019 US Census.

Just how bad does that suck for all those people, you ask?

It means they lose about an hour each workday traveling between home and job site, not counting time spent fretting over what to wear or eat for breakfast, or the time spent decompressing after a draining day at the office.

Forget that life.

Because there’s nothing cute about your commute stealing hours of your existence.

#2 Reason to Be Your Own Boss: Anyone Can Do It

If you feel unworthy of taking on the title of entrepreneur or business owner, you’re not alone, but understand that it simply isn’t true.

You might be feeding yourself limiting beliefs: negative thoughts that only serve to stunt your progress and often lead to self-sabotage, keeping you stuck in the status quo.

Like fulfilling your in-the-moment need for hunger with a greasy fast-food burger with carelessly cut tomatoes, sad meat, and browning lettuce, limiting beliefs fulfill your need for in-the-moment safety and security from anxiety-inducing thoughts, like thinking about having to do all the uncomfortable work of changing deep-rooted habits, learning new skills, and building something bigger than yourself.

I get all that, and you should know that I’ve also been there before, and I still struggle with limited beliefs myself, at times.

But thanks to the power of the interwebs, you don’t need to be rich, famous, or well-connected to be successful as your own boss.

You don’t even need to be traditionally educated.

With informative blogs like this, along with tools like WordPress and top search engine optimization (SEO) tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush, anyone can learn the essential skills to start a work-from-home business.

From building a website and brand identity to marketing on social media and getting found by strangers on Google, Bing, and beyond by using SEO best practices, all that sweet, juicy info is right there to be found online, free for the taking.

Of course, you can also pay a fat premium for online courses that could teach you the same valuable stuff, sometimes in a better, more streamlined way. So, if throwing down cash money is a strategy that you believe will hold you accountable to consistently trying to reach your goals, then have at it.

I’ve certainly invested thousands of dollars into online courses over the past decade, in everything from web and email copywriting to search engine optimization, content marketing, and web design.

Plus, with social media, people can transform into personal brands and thrust themselves into the spotlight in ways that were never possible just a decade earlier.

With the growing power of AI, people that don’t consider themselves writers can rely on artificial intelligence content tools like Jasper.ai to create blog posts that don’t sound a smidge different than many human-written articles.

Once you learn the secrets to how other people have been doing it for years, you realize that there’s nothing stopping you from copying them and becoming your own boss, too.

And you’re about to find those secrets out.

#3 Reason to Be Your Own Boss: You Only Live Once

YOLO, baby!!!

Okay, so I’m usually not a fan of the whole YOLO thing because it’s usually used in the wrong contexts, like showing filthy rich d-bags partying it up excessively in bougie paradises like Ibiza and not doing anything remotely positive for others.

But when it comes to why you should consider being your own boss, you should definitely remember the old, if often overused and misused, adage of YOLO.

Because here’s the thing:

Life moves fast.

Like, scary fast.

And the messed up part is that sometimes, our most precious resources get taken from us before we’re ready to leave this earth.

I’m sorry for getting morbid, but I’ve had too many friends die young to not understand that our time on earth, alive and in good health, is meant to be spent making other people’s lives better while simultaneously pursuing our wildest dreams.

Consider this tragic statement as a wake-up call because here’s the unkind truth: You’re gonna fucking die one day.

So, if you don’t really give a shit about following through on your dreams, you can just stop reading this guide immediately.

But if you even have the smallest inkling that you want to be your own boss and quit working a job you loathe, there’s no better time than right now to let that feeling lead you to change your mindset.

You can make a promise to your future self right now and get on the path to running your own business.

#4 Reason to Be Your Own Boss: Working Remotely is the Future & The Office is Obsolete

The truth that many companies can’t seem to accept is that the traditional 9-to-5 office job is already becoming a thing of the past.

While the laggards will always cling to the traditional, more and more people like you are realizing that they don’t need to be stuck in a cubicle all day long, answering to a boss they despise.

Remote workers are more productive than office workers according to numerous studies, and while some people experience loneliness while working from home, most remote workers report feeling happier and more free without having to commute and be stuck in the confines of an office away from the comforts of home.

Not to mention that one of the biggest expenses for companies large and small is office space, and as we’re living through inflation for the first time in forever, rents have shot through the roof in recent times.

With the rise of remote work due to the pandemic combined with rising commercial rent prices, it only makes sense for companies to adopt remote working practices (or at least some form of hybrid work) to lower costs and retain the type of talent that demands the flexibility of remote work.

Interestingly, the whole idea of an office was started long ago when computers and access to high-speed internet didn’t exist.

The idea of making employees spend their days in a dedicated workspace was developed by powerful people to control their “subordinates” with a watchful eye, which doesn’t quite sound like something to willingly be a part of when there are better options available.

Plus, by investing in some work-from-home essentials like an adjustable height desk, a laptop stand, and noise-canceling headphones, you’ll be able to create a home office that works just as good, if not better, than your company’s HQ.

#5 Reason to Be Your Own Boss: You Don’t Need Lots of Money to Start

When we talk about being your own boss, that could look like a variety of different possibilities depending on who you are.

From creative services like writing, web design, and marketing strategy, to cerebral services like SEO, accounting, and software development, any of these offerings (and so many more) can be where you begin to find your niche in running your own business.

And whatever you decide to do, the initial investment (other than your expertise) typically remains the same:

Most of the time, being your own boss requires nothing more than a great laptop for working from home or remotely and a high-speed internet connection to get started.

And if you’re reading this right now, chances are you’ve already got both of those necessary pieces under control.

It’s a good business idea to make your company official by incorporating, becoming an LLC, or making it another legal entity, and that, too, doesn’t require you to invest much. But to get started, you just need to put yourself out there and let people know what you’re offering.

Once you start making money, that’s when you can take the official steps to become an official business, and there’s nothing stopping you from elevating your earnings to extraordinary heights after that.

So, instead of succumbing to a fate where you commute to and from an obsolete office for hours each day, only to be micromanaged, share mediocre company, and be forced to share a stanky public shitter, there’s a story with a better ending…a nifty twist that not everyone in your life saw coming…maybe not even you…

…a story in which you exit stage left from your subpar situation and start your own money-making enterprise by using your passions, skills, and wisdom from your personal life experiences to offer services (or products) that create value for others.

What Are the Downsides of Being Your Own Boss?

It certainly isn’t easy to be your own boss, nothing is perfect, and if you plan to go the entrepreneurial route by starting and running your own online business, you’ll be best prepared beforehand if you understand the biggest challenges you’ll face throughout the process.

Challenge 1: Inconsistency destroys motivation

Self-discipline is a must when you decide to be your own boss, yet it can be one of the biggest challenges you’ll ever face.

Why?

Because building a business takes one thing more than anything else: CONSISTENCY.

I don’t use all-caps lightly guys, so really let that statement sink in.

It doesn’t take a genius to start a business and become wildly successful; it takes an ordinary person who happens to be organized enough to consistently do the shit that needs to get done every day, without hesitation, until they reach the goals they’re trying to achieve.

And I hope it goes without saying that I’d never suggest that in a Machiavellian way.

So, before you decide to take the plunge and be your own boss, understand that doing so requires a commitment to yourself because, in the end, you only have yourself to hold you accountable.

Perhaps one day you can get a partner and/or hire help, but at the beginning, it’s just you (and your computer) doing all the heavy lifting.

It’s crucial to develop solid habits to carve out time for deep work and building strong business foundations because, without a strict schedule, it can become harder to achieve your goals at the beginning of your journey when everything feels daunting and unfamiliar.

Having a consistent approach will help you overcome the natural frustration you’ll feel whenever an unforeseen bump comes up along your road to running a successful business.

Challenge 2: Frustration can stem from slow results

When it comes to working for yourself, it can take some time to gain traction and see your first bits of revenue trickle in.

Between all the foundational building, setting up accounts, finding and procuring the best tools for working from home and remotely, all the tasks you need to get done, and then actually doing those tasks, your schedule is going to be jam-packed when you’re first starting up.

And then comes the hard part: Finding clients, doing the real work your business provides, and learning how to deliver amazing results that build trust and long-lasting relationships (a.k.a. repeat business and recurring revenue).

Don’t believe the hype that doing this shit is easy: It’s not, and frustration is inevitable.

Sometimes it even gets so bad that you might wanna quit and go back to the routine predictability of the 9-to-5 grind.

Marketing legend Seth Godin even wrote a book about this entrepreneurial emotional roller coaster called The Dip that delves deep into the off-putting feeling and helps people like us overcome preventable pitfalls that plague nearly every entrepreneur at some point.

Bottom line: Frustration is a major challenge you’ll face when trying to be your own boss. But, if you reframe the feeling as something natural that all growing entrepreneurs experience, it becomes much easier to push through when you feel your lowest.

Challenge 3: You have to handle EVERYTHING

In case you didn’t know, when you’re trying to be your own boss, you gotta do virtually everything to get your business up and running.

Breaking out of your comfort zone is therefore unavoidable, so if you’re an avoidant person, then you may find the process extra tough.

From developing new skills (and/or leveling up in areas where you’re already somewhat competent) to actually implementing what you learn, there are numerous learning curves for every entrepreneur.

Depending on how much you know about the essential skills you’ll need to succeed (like building and designing websites, blogging, marketing, managing social media, etc.) and how much you can afford to outsource the stuff you won’t want to do by yourself, being your own boss requires handling a shit-ton more than you’d be doing in a typical day job.

Here’s a short list of things you’ll be handling initially when planning and launching your enterprise:

• Generating ideas
• Organizing your plans
• Writing blog articles (and learning how to use AI content tools and AI transcription software to do it faster and more efficiently)
• Copywriting emails, your website, and landing pages
• Editing your writing
• Building a website and blog
• Designing a website for UX
• Performing search engine optimization (SEO)
• Marketing and promoting
• Managing social media
• Maintaining eCommerce systems (if you plan on selling products online)

And that’s just some of it.

Understand going in that you’ll be learning lots of new skills and that you will hit walls when working on different things.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help within your network and connect with like-minded experts who can share helpful advice and potentially become allies as you build relationships.

Challenge 4: Your clients can still “boss” you around

The beauty of being your own boss is that you have complete control over the types of projects you take on and the kinds of companies you choose to work with.

While you never have to work with anyone you don’t jive with, there’s always a possibility for conflict to arise within a working relationship, even when you enter it amicably.

So, it pays to understand upfront that even when you’re being your own boss, you still have clients to answer to, and if your clients aren’t happy with you, then your bottom line suffers.

Some people can naturally come off as vibrant or chill in any situation, so when it comes to building strong relationships with clients, it will never be an issue for them.

Others may struggle at putting on a happy face when a client comes back requesting changes to a deliverable you sent them.

Knowing how to manage people’s expectations is one of the most crucial parts of being your own boss, as this can make or break clients’ perceptions of the products or services you’re providing.

How to Be Your Own Boss: 11-Step Action Plan

Now that we’ve talked about the advantages of being your own boss, let’s discuss how to actually become your own boss.

Because that’s why you’re here.

With these 11 steps, you’ll go from your initial business idea on how to be your own boss to creating an actual plan, to building your own personal brand and getting high-paying clients that rave about the in-demand services you provide.

Here’s how.

1. Assess yourself
2. Research the market
3. Select your business model
4. Pick a niche
5. Make a business plan
6. Choose a name + Design your branding
7. Build a website + blog
8. Start marketing (Set up social media, email list, etc.)
9. Become a legal entity
10. Get your first client
11. Grow your biz and scale (Automate, outsource, and evolve as a business leader)

Step 1: Assess Yourself

Before you can be your own boss successfully, it’s vital to consider what you’re best at.

That means being introspective and honestly assessing your skill set and experience, while also asking deep questions like:

• What do you really enjoy doing?
• What are you truly passionate about?
• What are you actually skilled in?
• What areas are you lacking in that could present potential roadblocks?
• What past experience(s) can you parlay into trust + credibility?
• What don’t you want to do for work ever again?
• What gaps can be found in markets you understand?
• What equipment do I currently own already that can be useful in my new endeavor?

This step may take more time for some people than others, so don’t stress if it’s taking a while to figure it out. On the flip side, you may know exactly what you’re best at and what you want to do right away, and there’s nothing wrong with that, either.

Once you feel confident in your skills assessment, you should have a few business ideas that sound feasible and you can move to Step #2.

Step 2: Research the Market

After you’ve done your personal deep-dive and answered the questions above to get a better understanding of what type of new business you could start, it’s time to do some research.

Google is your best friend in this case, and here’s what I recommend searching for:

• How-to articles covering your target industry (Example: “how to start a freelance writing business,” “how to write for tech companies,” or “how to start your own real estate business”)
• Similar service providers’ websites to see how they present their offerings (Example: “freelance tech writer” or “copywriter for hire” or “small business writer near me”)
• Websites that cover your target industry to find information on jobs, average pay rates, how services are best delivered, etc. (Example: “freelance writer rates in [your location]” or “best website for new freelance writers”)

By analyzing your industry upfront, you’ll know whether or not it makes sense to continue in that direction, or if you need to go back to Step 1 and reassess your options.

I also recommend researching people on LinkedIn who offer similar services to what you envision offering when you want to become your own boss. That way, you can get inspiration from their profiles and then model yourself in a way that reflects those whom you admire most.

Allow yourself to get a feel for who and what is out there in the space you plan to enter, then explore your options and ask people you know for advice.

Step 3: Select Your Business Model

Now comes the time to decide whether you want your business to sell physical products, services, or some combination of both.

Maybe you want to start something simple, such as a freelance writing or editing business, which requires minimal startup costs, save for a fast laptop and internet connection.

Maybe you want to share your expertise as a consultant, which can be in literally anything imaginable, from marketing and politics to music and movie production.

Or, perhaps you envision earning your fortunes through eCommerce, selling physical products you curate through an Amazon or Etsy store, your own branded eCommerce site, social media marketplaces, or through dropshipping.

The business model you choose will determine your day-to-day operations more than anything else, so choose wisely.

Note that it’s easier than ever to create an eCommerce storefront using platforms like Amazon, Shopify, and Etsy, and collecting online payments and processing credit card transactions has never been easier.

That means you can start a service-based business and transition into selling products and even online courses later on, once you build your reputation and have fans willing to pay for your premium offerings.

Step 4: Pick a Niche & Target Market

Next, it’s time to narrow your focus to the market segment you’re going to target, which means finding your niche and ideal customers.

The key when initially trying to become your own boss is to be adaptable, flexible, and nimble so that you can pivot when necessary without getting discouraged.

Some questions to ask yourself at this stage include:

• What business ideas generate the most excitement and passion for me?
• What can I see myself doing (and improving at) for the foreseeable future?
• What types of people and/or businesses do I want to work with?
• What is lacking in the market right now that I could offer or build a product for?

There are endless opportunities to define your brand based on the specifics of what you offer and who you aim to please, so take your time when planning this stage of your business.

Let’s say you’re a freelance writer or editor. You can choose to niche yourself down into finance, business, and cybersecurity, setting your sights on top publications like Forbes, Insider, and Entrepreneur while maintaining a healthy living with articles in less-noteworthy outlets that still pay well.

Consultants can niche themselves into very specific disciplines, such as building remote teams, technical SEO, or social media marketing, and target businesses of a certain size, like SMEs, Fortune 500s, or solopreneurs.

If you do eCommerce, you can niche yourself into a more creative, bohemian space by choosing to only sell your best wares on Etsy (while selling a teaser catalog on Amazon to get people to your brand’s owned website), targeting customers of a certain age, income bracket, and aesthetic sensibility.

Do your best not to go too narrow where the target market becomes too small for you to truly capitalize on your offerings, and try to build flexibility into any niche you aim for so that you can avoid getting pigeonholed and pivot when need be.

Step 5: Make a Business Plan

Now that you’ve done the research and groundwork, it’s time to plan everything out.

Thankfully, this doesn’t need to be a massive 100-page document like in the old days, but it’s a good idea to create a basic roadmap for how you’re going to start and grow your new business.

At a minimum, your basic business plan should include:

• An executive summary (sum up your biz in a paragraph or two)
• A more detailed description of your business operations
• Your business goals
• Your target market
• Your marketing and sales strategy
• A financial plan
• An appendix with supporting documents

Check out this resource from the US Small Business Administration (SBA) on how to write your business plan for more help getting started.

Step 6: Choose a name + design your branding

Next, you’ll want to pick your business name and get your first iteration of branding designed so that you can start building a website, blog, and social media presence.

Your name could be as simple as including your real name plus the word “consulting,” or it could be a clever play on what you do.

Either way, you want it to be a positive reflection of who you are and what you’re offering but don’t overthink it.

I once worked for a company that had a completely nonsensical name that didn’t even relate to what they did, and they were making millions.

Then, after building up their name recognition for nearly a decade, the founders decided to change their name to one of the most common words in the English language without consulting anyone, killing their search rankings in the short term.

And guess what? They’re still around!

Like these dudes, you can always change this stuff later on, and surely in a smarter way, so the point at the beginning is to come up with something that can help you launch, and then worry about improving it later.

I personally recommend using Canva for designing logos, finding color palettes, and creating images and icons for social media, websites, and beyond.

It’s free to use, but my partner and I invested in Canva Pro and highly recommend it for making custom images, banners, social media assets, infographics — literally anything you’d ever need to design. You can even snag fonts, video templates, and sound effects for videos with Canva Pro, allowing you to create a full suite of visual assets that are enhanced with audio.

If you’re looking for another fantastic FREE option for designing a logo, check out VistaPrint’s Logomaker By Vista. This free tool can help you design a logo in minutes without spending a dime.

If it proves too difficult to DIY, you can tap into the power of Vista logo design services to hire a designer of your choice to make marketing magic on your behalf. You can even run a design contest with many designers competing to create the best branding for your business.

I also love playing around with the Adobe Color Wheel when trying to find good complementary colors for brands. Use it to find color combinations that you like when planning your logo and branding. For tips and advice, check out this guide from Canva on how to choose your brand colors.

And if you do find yourself overthinking the whole business name thing, you might find luck by using a brand name generator tool like this one from Shopify (best for eCommerce businesses), this one from Namelix, or Looka’s.

Step 7: Build a website and blog

Once you’ve got your name and a simple color palette for your branding, it’s time to get your online presence built and growing.

Here’s where you’ve got to start putting your money where your mouth is, as building a website from scratch requires some new unavoidable expenses, such as:

• Web hosting
• A domain name
• A content management system (CMS) / website-building platform
• A website theme
• Plugins

Your initial website iteration should be simple, including nothing more than a homepage explaining who you are and what you offer, an About page that delves in a little deeper, a Blog page for where your eventual posts will appear, and a Contact page to help people get in touch with you.

That’s it.

On top of not having to worry about building a massive website, you can also find many of these website essentials for free, including some of my top recommendations for building a website.

Web hosting

While web hosting is never free, you can get super affordable and reliable web hosting with the provider I use, Bluehost, starting at just $2.95/month.

I’ve tried and tested other web hosting services like SiteGround, GoDaddy, and others, and I’ve never had as good an experience as I’ve had with Bluehost.

They offer great support via chat or phone, and I can’t tell you how many times they’ve helped me over the phone with complicated questions I bring to them.

Domain Name

Bluehost isn’t done yet — they can also help get you the domain name of your choice.

And if you’re going to be using them for your web hosting, you can get two things done at once by getting your domain name from Bluehost, as well.

You can opt to get the traditional .com suffix to your website from Bluehost starting at $12.99 for your first year.

These website suffixes or endings are known as Top-Level Domains or TLDs, and they come in a variety of forms these days at different price points.

Depending on your company name, certain TLDs may not be available in your first choice, so you may decide to use .co, .net, .blog, .website, .me, or something more relevant to your industry, like .tech, .biz, .store, or .org.

For our destination wedding photography company, we opted for .co when .com was unavailable for our brand name, and these days it is actually more expensive than .com, starting at $27.99 for your first year at Bluehost.

CMS / Website Builder

I’ve always been a fan of free, and because of that, I’m a huge fan of WordPress.org (not WordPress.com, which is slightly different, offering managed hosting), because it’s free to use, many themes are free, and it allows you to optimize your website using millions of free and premium plugins for various purposes (we’ll get to that in a sec!)

While WordPress has a learning curve for those who’ve never used it, I promise you that it’s more than worth the time and frustration you’ll experience on the way to WP mastery.

The key to WordPress is getting to know the sidebar menu and what each of the menu options means, so you can get your site set up quickly without messing anything up.

Once you spend some time in WP, you’ll begin to feel comfortable navigating the dashboard and sidebar menu, and you’ll know exactly how to crank out content that gets your site found in the search rankings and beyond.

Note that Squarespace is often touted as the “easy to use” website builder for beginners, or the “fastest way to create a beautiful site” for creatives.

I fell for that and threw down $168 for an annual plan with them when I first started building this site, only to realize it was a mistake the day after my refund period ended.

So yeah, I got assed out of that $168 because I wanted to test out Squarespace and then forgot to cancel it, but still, it was a lesson learned.

The main reason I couldn’t get down with Squarespace is that you’re limited in what you can do for site speed and a few other SEO things, as I learned after reading this comparative study by Ahrefs, so you’re basically left to trust Squarespace to optimize site speed for you.

Website Theme

There are plenty of premium themes on the market for WordPress, some costing upwards of $99, and plenty for between $25 and $75.

The thing is, do you really need a premium theme?

The short answer is no f’ing way!

I use the Kadence theme to power Erik’s Guide and my SEO content consulting site, and I’ve never once paid a dime for it.*

Kadence does offer premium upgrades, and maybe I’ll consider doing that once my site grows a little more. *(Wow, so I guess my site grew up since I first published this post.)

If you’re building a site from scratch, you’ll be perfectly pleased with what the free version of Kadence has to offer, including the hyper-fast site speed (I’m an SEO professional, so I have a need for site speed!) and the customizable Kadence Blocks (free) that make it super simple to create the pages and posts on this bomb-azz website you’re perusing right now.

Plus, Kadence has a ton of different starter templates to choose from based on your industry, making it so easy to start building and customizing a beautiful and clean site right away.

If Kadence doesn’t do it for you, check out the Astra WP theme, another freemium theme that’s easy to use, super-lightweight (so your page loads super fast), and similarly good-looking.

Plugins

There are a ton of plugins you can find for free to improve your website’s design and performance.

From WordFence for keeping your site secure and RankMath for SEO to plugins for compressing images to minimize their file size without impacting their on-screen quality, these special add-ons exist for virtually any website upgrade or enhancement.

Of course, sometimes it pays to throw down for premium plugins when it comes to website performance, and for that, I recommend investing in WP Rocket. This is an all-in-one caching plugin that helps speed up your site in ways that most people couldn’t do themselves without a ton of extra effort.

If you’re interested in learning about the plugins I use to power this page and everything else I use to run Erik’s Guide like a boss, check out our full guide on how to start a blog and make money!

Step 8: Start marketing (Set up social media, an email list, etc.)

After you’ve built a simple website and blog for your business, it’s time to embrace being your own boss by getting your name out there and getting found — and hired — to share your knowledge and expertise and do what you do best.

Getting there takes marketing, and it can be done in countless ways.

This can feel like the real grunt work for some freelancers, consultants, and eCommerce business owners because their personalities are on the introverted side.

But as a certified INFJ in the ol’ Myers Briggs, albeit one that scores pretty close to the ENFP at times, I can attest that there are ways for people who are introverted to market themselves without feeling icky, salesy, or gross.

If showing face ain’t your thing, then maybe don’t start with video and create a written blog and social media presence instead.

Over time, you can learn to be on video if you want to branch out and test yourself by learning new skills, or you can stick to what you know and do best if you find it’s working for you.

The idea is not to go crazy overwhelming yourself by thinking you have to be marketing in every single place at once.

Because that would be too much to handle when you’re just starting out at being your own boss.

Instead, stay consistent with your blog, and use social media posts to promote your latest blog articles in a way that provides value to your audience.

Don’t make it about you.

Just put your expertise out there in a way that showcases you know what you’re talking about and that you’re happy to help other people by sharing your skills as a service.

Here are some ideas for how to market yourself when you decide to become your own boss:

• Build an email list by creating a lead magnet, something downloadable that people will be happy giving their email in exchange for, and placing it on your site/blog. Use it to build relationships and eventually turn subscribers into clients
• Start a blog or vlog related to your business/industry/area of expertise
• Join social media groups related to your business/industry/area of expertise and be an active, engaging member as a way to network
• Attend relevant industry events (online or offline) with other professionals as part of your networking strategy to find collaboration and guest posting opportunities 
• Reach out to any connections you have in your personal or professional networks that might be able to help get you started
• Cold pitch businesses/clients in your area of expertise (more on how to do this later)

And, of course, talk to everyone you can in person to spread the word about your new venture — you never know who can help pass your info around through word-of-mouth.

Step 9: Choose a business structure and become a legal entity

Now that you know what type of business you want to start and have a basic biz plan in the works, it’s time to choose a business structure.

This is an important decision, as it will affect everything from how much money you’ll need to start your business to how much you’ll pay in taxes.

The most common business structures are sole proprietorships, partnerships, limited liability companies (LLCs), and corporations (including S-Corporations and C-Corporations). Each has its own advantages and disadvantages, so be sure to do your research before making a decision.

If you’re an individual person running a business you can opt to be a sole proprietorship or pay a fee to your state to become a one-person LLC, which is treated the same as a sole proprietorship for tax purposes while offering you some legal protection.*

This is the method I used when setting up my businesses, but I have friends who chose to set up their companies as S-corps or C-corps for their own reasons.

Do your research and consult with a tax professional before you decide which business entity type to use for your business when you become your own boss.

*Please note that this blog does not claim to offer legal advice or financial advice and is purely for educational and entertainment purposes. Consult a business lawyer and financial advisor before making any official business decisions.

Step 10: Get your first client

Now that you’ve got all the pillars in place, from a fully functional website and blog to make you look legit, and social media to showcase your true personality while promoting your product/service, to the paperwork proving you’re the boss of an official (read: legal) biz, it’s time to get down to business, literally.

Getting your first client is a huge rite of passage that will elevate you from almost there to there in terms of being your own boss.

Sure, your first client becomes your first “new boss” so to speak, too, since you’ve got to deliver something they deem worthy of the price they pay for your offering.

But that’s the new game when you decide you’re going to be your own boss – you’re in charge of managing yourself and determining how you and your work live up to others’ expectations.

Which brings me to the most important part of dealing with clients next to delivering an extraordinary offering: managing expectations.

By letting your clients know exactly what they’ll be receiving from you in the business agreement if you’re a freelancer or consultant, you’ll avoid communication issues and mix-ups that waste time and energy, and also potentially sour relationships before they even begin.

You might also want to use a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool like monday.com to manage your client information and track your interactions, or start with Hubspot’s free CRM if you like how it looks and works.

Be clear, concise, and respectful of others’ time as you’d want them to be to you, and you’ll create plenty of solid connections and get repeat customers once you build momentum.

Step 11: Grow your biz and scale (Automate, outsource, and evolve as a business leader)

You’ve finally made it to the final step, which means you’ve been successful at getting multiple clients who’ve raved about your business through exceptional testimonials.

You’ve got a lead magnet that helps you collect emails and your list is growing. You regularly send out emails to subscribers and have regular engagement through comments, social media, and leads from your contact page.

You’ve made it from wanting to be your own boss to actually being your own boss, and at this point, you deserve to celebrate how far you’ve come.

But at this point, you might also be feeling a bit burnt out from having handled so many different tasks up until now, so you’re probably wondering what to do next.

That’s where automation comes into play.

You can use automation anywhere from your emails to your social media, using tools like Hubspot, Constant Contact, ConvertKit, and many others to manage email sequences and subscribers, and even create complex funnels that bring in leads with specific magnets and take them through custom email campaigns.

If it sounds like a lot, don’t sweat it: that’s where outsourcing comes into play.

Outsourcing is simply finding someone else to do something for you, hopefully someone who is better qualified and affordable enough to make it worth your while.

Look to online marketplaces for freelance services, such as UpWork, Fiverr, and others to find help in the form of virtual assistants (VAs), web designers (for updating and enhancing your site), email copywriters with automation experience, and other service providers who can help you offload tedious tasks.

That way you can spend your time on more important matters, like finding clients and investors, conceptualizing new products, getting loans, and other things that only the boss can do.

Over time, you can also create blueprints and operations manuals that outline exactly how you run your business, perform your specialized services, and other important systems, procedures, and processes so that you can hire people to do them for you.

The better you lay out the responsibilities you want to outsource, the better the person you eventually hire will be able to perform those duties to perfection.

Eventually, you may want to step away from the business entirely, and that’s when you can look to sell it.

If you run a profitable eCommerce business or an online business with a high-traffic website and blog with affiliate revenue and an email list full of subscribers, you may be able to sell your business on Empire Flippers for a pretty penny.

Consider what your ultimate ideal exit strategy will be before you get to that point so that you’re ready to make a move if things get to a point where you want to enjoy the fruits of your labor on a beach, climbing mountains, making music, baking bread, or however else you like to spend your time outside of being a MF boss.

How to Be Your Own Boss: Wrapping it Up

Hopefully, you’ve learned a ton about what it takes to be your own boss, why you should consider starting your own business, and how to actually become your own boss in the digital age.

You also have a step-by-step plan on how to do it, something I personally followed to start my own profitable online business and blog.

The bottom line is that we all have only a limited amount of time left on this earth, and, of course, we all want to make the most of it.

But time flies, and all too often we fall for following the script that society sets for most people to blindly go along with, without questioning if there’s a better way.

You know the story I’m talking about:

Work 9-to-5 jobs, save for retirement in your 401(k), and take annual vacations to all-inclusive resorts to “reset” and “decompress” before you have to return to your regular routine, the one that regularly makes you miserable.

Whether you realize it yet or not, if you stay stuck in a career you only feel lukewarm about, you’re gonna end up living a life you ultimately regret.

Unfortunately, it becomes harder to remove yourself from a traditional job the longer you stay in one, as you’re typically drawn to the “stability” and (hopefully) growing incentives with each passing year.

Not to mention that the “stability” of a steady salary is one of the biggest cons in modern society, as you can get laid off or fired at any time with no recourse, severance packing, or inkling of what to do next.

Plus, it deprives you of your potential to do something bigger than be a cog in someone else’s system.

On the other hand, when you’re your own boss, you can set your own hours, work from wherever the F you want, and take complete control of your life and career.

You’re no longer chained to the cubicle or stuck on the hamster wheel of working for someone else on their time.

You’re in control of your own time and schedule, you can work from anywhere in the world, and you’re not tied down to one location.

You can also be more selective about the projects you work on and the clients you work with.

And, of course, being your own boss means you get to keep 100% of the profits!

When you become your own boss, you’ll be amazed at how much more productive and creative you can be.

Whether you work a 9-to-5 in a soul-sucking corporate office, a 12-to-8 in a run-your-ass-to-the-ground retail establishment, a 5-to-2 in a slippery, sweltering kitchen, or anything else that you could do without, it’s time for you to break free from the grind, regain your time, and experience the unparalleled feeling of freedom that comes from being your own boss and making money from wherever the F you choose.

Doesn’t that sound like the life you’d rather live?

Making the switch from traditional employment to self-employment is a big decision, but it’s one that can be extremely rewarding and transform your life in unfathomable ways.

If you’re tired of working long hours for someone else and not seeing the results you deserve, being your own boss is the perfect solution.

With a little hard work and dedication, you can achieve success and enjoy the financial freedom that comes with being your own boss.

So what are you waiting for?

Start planning your escape from the 9-to-5 rat race today and find freedom wherever it takes you.