I got to cutest, most sweetly naïve DM from Angela:

“Can I have my own business and also have a lot of time off, especially in the summers, to spend with my young children?”

What would you say to Angela?

My reply was “HELL YES! That’s kinda the whole idea!”

When you work for yourself, you get to create the life you want to live.

In a big picture sense, that means you aren’t necessarily tied to a specific geographic location – you can work wherever you want, in theory.

In a small picture sense, it means you have the freedom to construct each day of your life on your own terms. However you want it to go. You get to make it up!

I freakin love that level of autonomy.

Angela will too. Because it means that if she wants summers off with her kiddos, she has the freedom to book all of her clients during the school year, even during school hours, so that when the bell rings, she’s there to pick them up.

It might seem like this is only possible if you work in a digital consulting space, but not so.

My all time favorite pizza shop closes for entire weeks out of the year so they can all go on vacation.

The framemaker a few blocks from me put up a sign that said “Out for the summer. Reopening September 5. By appointment only.” The quality of his work is so high and people are willing to pay a premium for it, that he can have a brick-and-mortar that’s only open for appointments.

In a more micro picture sense, the way you structure each day is a part of the freedom entrepreneurship gives you.

Lots of newbie entrepreneurs initially set up their days to mimic whatever corporate or academic environment they came from. 8 hours a day, butt in chair. Work through lunch. Clock out at 5.

And if that’s your jam, rock out.

But you’ve got options.

You’ve got freedom.

My daily structure has changed with the seasons of my life. When my kid was younger, I mostly followed the school day schedule, working 8-3 each day of the school year and 10-4 during the summer, getting in exercise and errands after school let out. (PS – those are 6 hour work days, in case ya didn’t notice.)

I have LOVED being there for my kid before and after school – a privilege that so many folks can’t usually enjoy.

Now that my kid is older, I wake up and read a book with my coffee. I go for a long walk or tune into a YouTube yoga class or pretend like I know what I’m doing at the pilates studio. Then I start work around 10:30. Heck, I’m writing this at 11am on a Saturday because he’s a teenager and he’s still sleeping.

I didn’t work Fridays at all this summer. I’ve taken SEVERAL weeks of vacation. We’re looking at a house in another country.

Other people embrace their night owl nature and work 3-midnight.

Some folks, like the owner of my nail salon, want a weekday off to grocery shop or whatever without the crowds, so they trade Sundays for Thursdays.

I’ve heard of people who make all the money they need for the year starting in January and as soon as they hit their financial goal, the rest of the year is totally off.

And this is all aside from the new digital nomad model where you literally take your computer and work from the world’s best coffee shops.

I’m just throwing out ideas here, to help you dream.

How you shape your day and your life is up to you.

That’s the kind of flexibility and freedom you get when you’re the boss.

But listen: The only way you can afford to work 4 6-hour days per week and take off as much time as you want and work from anywhere in the world is to be highly focused and self-disciplined in the time you are on the clock.

I can’t spend that time scrolling IG, hopping on every latest trend. I have to give my sole focus to the actions that keep my business strong.

With freedom comes great responsibility.

So, my friend, what will you do with that freedom? What’s the thing you want to have space for in your day or your life, that entrepreneurism can bring you?

For you seasoned entrepreneurs, what have you enjoyed most about that flexibility? Or did you forget that you’re the boss?

I can’t wait to hear what you have to say. Email me.

There’s joy in that freedom. Let’s find it.