Rai Cornell 0:03
Welcome to the SOAR Podcast, the place for creative entrepreneurs with limitless dreams and unconventional stories, who want to build healthier, happier, more profitable, self employed businesses. I’m your host, RaI Hyde Cornell, get ready to soar.

Welcome to the SOAR podcast, season three, this is Episode 78, the first of this new season. And kicking off the season, I want to talk about the dichotomy between freelancing and business ownership, because this is the real either sticking point or turning point for most people. So what does that mean, when you’re just playing at business. When you’re playing at business as a freelancer, and that’s usually the word that we associate with kind of like this early stage, I’m doing the thing, I’m earning money, I have clients, but there’s not really a structure or a flow or any sort of reliability built in. When you’re in that playing at business stage, and this is more of a mindset thing, you haven’t decided that this is what you want to do. You’re still dabbling, you’re still floundering, you’re still testing the waters without a clear focus on where you’re headed, or a compass set to get you there.

When I decided that writing and digital marketing is how I’m going to make my money, and I wasn’t going to keep seeking out or responding to, even just mentally, any of these help wanted signs or job opportunities that I saw, that’s when everything changed. And I’ll give you some kind of insight into the way my brain worked back then. Back then, this was probably since I was a young girl, when I was about 13, 14 years old, is when I started really noticing help wanted signs, job opportunities, gig listings. And this wasn’t online. This was like literally signs in Windows or looking at the soccer referees who were officiating the games I was playing in as a kid, and going, huh, I wonder how much they make? I bet I could do that. And as I got older, it was like collecting pokimane. If anybody’s ever gotten into that, I never collected Pokemon, but I collected jobs, I collected gigs, I collected opportunities, and I would go out there and I would go, Okay, I’m looking at job boards, especially when I got into college, you know, they had a designated spot on the school website, where you go and see what openings were available. And I would go there, and I would look at every single one and see, could I do that? Could I do that? Could I do that? And most of the time, the answer was yes. And that’s how I ended up having eight to nine jobs at a time on my college campus.

I was a math grader, I was a website developer, I ran social programs for our student events center. I was a part time blogger, for like a student experience publication on the website, I did all kinds of crazy random things. And on top of that, I was writing papers for high school and college students at the same time, which I mean, that was my first foray into freelance writing, so to speak, even though that was not legit. But I would look at the world and go, Where can I get another gig? Where can I get another job. And it was probably about eight or nine years ago, when I noticed that I would see a help wanted sign in my neighborhood or even at a job listing online. And I would just mentally delete it, I would just go on by it. And I had to think about when did that change happen? When did I stop looking at every single help wanted sign, every single job listing and going oh, opportunity, let me jump on that. Let me apply for that, there’s some money there. Maybe I could get that. And instead really having a decided dedicated thing that I knew I was going to be earning my money from that. And so I didn’t need to look elsewhere.

It was more important to me to double down on what I was doing, and build that infrastructure rather than looking outside of what I was creating, and looking for the opportunities the world was presenting me. And when I’m working with my mentees on the Chiron side, this is what I call opportunity creation. Rather than seeking out opportunities that people can give you, you create your own opportunities within your business. And that’s really the change. It’s deciding, I’m going to stop looking outside of myself. And instead I’m going to really commit to building this business based on myself. So you have to make that decision, if you really want to stop playing at business, and really be taken seriously, take yourself seriously, and enjoy the things that we traditionally associate with employment like stability, reliable income, validation, upward growth, a set schedule, then you have to decide that you’re going to be your own employer. Once you do that, you’ll break through a glass ceiling of limitations and access a whole new world, like a secret door to truly magical land, like literally, and I’m about to go into that here in a second, this really magical place of leveling up challenges, opportunities, experiences, all new things that you’re going to encounter.

Now, I know that I’m known as the Freelancers business mentor, but really, the business of it all, that’s just the surface layer. Anytime I’m working with one of my mentees, what we actually do in mentoring goes so much deeper, because the business itself, that’s just the byproduct of all of that inner work of you really understanding yourself and what you’re meant to do in the world. And there’s this model that I’ve developed in the past year or so that puts together all of the pieces of how we grow as operators in the world. And it goes like this.

There are six layers, that first layer is when you’re operating as an employee, your realization that got you here was, I’m an adult, it’s time to get to the grind, it’s time to be responsible, it’s time to earn my way. And your focus is on security. Your focus is on making sure you have enough money coming in to cover the things that you’re responsible for paying like rent or student loans, or the electric bill or the internet bill. That’s the first layer. And that’s unfortunately, where a lot of people stop. I mean, if you look around at the people in your life, how many people do you know who are employees, and they’re in that mindset, and they just can’t seem to break out of this mental mold of thinking that employment in a job that someone else provides them and can take away just as quickly, that’s the only way. That’s the only way to earn a living. That’s the only way to operate in the world. That’s the main focus, because that allows you to pay for your house and pay for your family and feed your family and take care of all of those things that you are responsible for. And this is – if you follow psychology, and you know Maslow’s hierarchy of needs – this is the very base layer. This is that essential survival list for modern living. I don’t want you to just stay there, I want you to go way beyond that.

And the next layer to that is being a freelancer, you’re operating in the world as a freelancer. And instead of your focus being on security, your focus is on freedom. At this layer, your realization is I’m sick of the grind, I want to do my own thing. I want freedom, I want autonomy, I want control over how I spend my time. Now, a lot of people get to that level. And they either burnout, or they just kind of dabble. And they sometimes ping pong back and forth between employee and freelancer, employee, freelancer. What I’m talking about in this whole episode is I want you to break through the glass ceiling that exists between freelancer and business owner. Because once you do that, everything changes.

So that third layer is when you’re operating in the world as a business owner, you are taking yourself seriously, your realization at this layer is it’s not just about me anymore. This is a living organism. I’m feeding it, I’m designing it, I’m building it. But I can make this a real business that has other people involved in it. And that other people come to to receive goods or services. And I’m the owner of it. This is my thing. This is my ecosystem. And your focus at this level is on respect both for yourself and received by others. And on your craft. This is where you start to get really good at what you do. You’ve decided that I’m going to be a business owner, I’m going to be in my case, a writer, I’m going to be a content marketer. I’m going to be an agency owner. And that label might change over the years and there’s nothing wrong with that because we all evolve. We all level up, we all learn new skills and techniques that we want to share with our clients. And we also find new things that we’re interested in. And so you might niche or you might actually spread your services out.

So instead of doing one focus thing, now you start offering things that are complementary, that complement that original core service that you set out to do. And this is where you get really good at your craft, and you start figuring out what it is that makes you unique and different in that service, or that business as a whole. Whether it’s, maybe it’s a good that you sell, or a particular shop that you run or something like that, whatever the case it is, you get really good at it, and you start to wrap your identity up in it. That’s a really great place to be. And you could, in theory, go your entire life there. But what tends to happen here is people realize that when you become your own employer, you can sometimes create the same problems for yourself that you experienced as an employee in someone else’s ecosystem. And as long as you realize that any kind of problem, working too long of hours, being on too many zoom calls, not getting paid enough, whatever the case may be, as long as you realize that you can change any of those circumstances because you own this ecosystem, you’ve built it, you’ve designed it. As long as you realize that, then you will continue to level up. If you don’t, you will create a machine that you are a slave to, just like you are when you are an employee.

So that fourth layer is, when you’re operating in the world, as a business designer, you’re still the business owner, but you’re more importantly, a business designer. And your realization at this level is it’s not just about running a business. The point is to have a better life. And so your focus is on quality of life. You’ve built the thing, you’ve built the machine, you’ve got all the infrastructure in there, you’ve got everything going on that needs to be in the operation. And now, it’s about tweaking and tuning and refining and improving that machine so that you as the business owner, are still free. Because all those other things in those lower layers, as employee, freelancer, business owner, all of those things are still important to you. They’re just no longer your focus. Security is still important to you, freedom is still important to you, respect and your craft are still important to you. But your priority as a business designer, is your quality of life.

Now, you might think, Okay, so now I’ve got this business, I can design it, I can tweak it, I can improve it. What’s left, I mean, if my focus is on my quality of life, what’s beyond that? Once you’ve gotten to a point where you realize that you are in full control of how your business operates, and its effect, your business’s direct effect on you, your mind opens up to realize, Wait, if I can do this with my business, can I do this with my life, with my relationships, with my health, with where I live, with how I spend my time outside of working?

And it’s this holy shit aha moment where you step into that fifth layer of being an operator in the world, you are a manifester. And your realization at this level is I have full control over everything in my life. No matter what happens, good or bad, you are in full control of how you respond to it. And you understand in some way, that even the bad things that happen in our lives, we attracted those in for a reason. Usually, it’s because we need to learn some sort of lesson from them. And that’s why if you don’t learn a lesson from something, that pattern keeps repeating itself throughout your life. Maybe it’s an unhealthy relationship and you have never really taken the time to dig in and realize, why do I keep attracting in these bad partners, these unhealthy relationships, these toxic dynamics, why? You haven’t taken the time to dissect that and learn the lesson that you need from it so it’s gonna keep happening. And you are a manifester. No matter whether you’re doing it intentionally or not, you’re always manifesting, you’re always bringing things into your life.

But when you’re at this fifth layer of how you operate in the world, you start doing it deliberately. Your focus is on your power, you’re intentionally attracting things in. And when you start doing it deliberately, you start attracting in the most incredible opportunities. Of course, there are still going to be things that are bad that come along. Because on a soul level, we all still have things to learn. Nobody is perfect, nobody is flawless. Nobody is without karma, you always have more to learn. This is a never ending video game, there is no final level or final boss, it will always continue because there is always more and more and more and more for you to learn. But most people don’t even scratch the surface of what there is to learn in this life. At this layer, you are accessing all of those advanced levels, where you learn the most important things about life. And you were literally evolving yourself, mind, body and soul, you are evolving your energy. And every time you do that, every time you level up, you are able to attract in more and more good things into your life, whether they are circumstances for you and your family, travel opportunities, experiential opportunities, relationships. If you want to be a parent, children, grandchildren, whatever those things are, that are really important to you that you really want. That’s that layer that you start just magnetically pulling them in.

So what’s beyond that, the sixth and final layer is when you’re operating in the world, from a place of sole purpose. And your realization at this layer is everything I’m doing is aligned with my greater purpose. I’ve healed, I’ve grown. And it’s time for me to give back and inspire others. This is where you’ve either already addressed the things that you need to heal, or you’re currently working on those things that you need to heal. Because healing can take a very, very long time, even if you’re aware of the thing that you need to heal within yourself on an energetic level, a physical level, a spiritual level, whatever the case may be for you. Once you’ve identified those things that you need to heal, and you’re actively working on that, and you’ve grown, you’ve grown beyond who you were 5, 10, 15, 20, 30 years ago, and you look back and those first decades of your life, you feel like, wow, was that me? I barely recognize that person. And actually, I barely remember those things that happened. Even the victim stories, the pain stories, the trauma stories, you look back in those things, and you go, is that really my story? Really, you just feel so far away from it at this layer of sole purpose operation.

Your focus here is on something greater. The little things, the tragedy news stories, the Little tiffs on social media, the materialistic things, those don’t matter as much, they don’t hold as much weight. Yes, they might still get under your skin every once in a while. But when they do you go, Wait, why am I getting upset about this, this is such a minut granular thing in the grand scheme of what I know is out there. And this is when everything starts to really come together. No longer do you have just a business and then your family is separate. And then your personal life is separate. And then your social life is separate and your health is separate. No longer is everything separate and compartmentalized. Now everything is one. Everything is working together in unison in harmony. And you realize that every single action you take in your personal life, in your business, and communications with others, in communications with yourself in your own mind. It all affects everything else, like tweening a string on a spiderweb, the whole web ripples.

And this is eventually where I would like for you to get. But this isn’t going to happen overnight. And in order to do that, if you’re listening to this, you’re most likely either at that Freelancer operator level, or maybe you’re at that business owner operator level. Maybe you’re even at the employee operator level. And you need to break through those lower levels. You can’t just jump to level six. There’s just no point because you haven’t gone through the experience of the other layers that you need to in order to grow and be ready for that level six. So if you want to access those upper levels of growth and opportunity, it’s time to stop playing at business and start deciding what your business and life are going to look like. Your business can quite literally be the stepping stone to something so much bigger, so much greater. But we often get tunnel vision and we think about our business as the be all end all of every thing that we’re doing. We stress about it, we dream about it. We wake up in the morning thinking about it. We’re fretting over it and fussing with it from our phones, from our computers, while we’re traveling, while we’re at home, everywhere. Our focus is on our business. And that’s not a bad thing.

Your business can be the catalyst system to something absolutely amazing. But you need to decide that this is going to be your mechanism. This is going to be the way that you’re going to operate in the world. And only you can decide, and you have to do it with full confidence and full enthusiasm. If you’re ready, if you feel like okay, I’m done playing. I’m done dabbling. I’m done waffling and floundering and just kind of floating along and seeing what’s gonna come and seeing what’s gonna happen and letting things happen to you as opposed to making things happen in the world. Then you need to decide. And if you need help getting there, you know how to reach me. Until then, I wish you well. Now, go soar.

Hey, Rai here again. Thanks for listening. If you liked this episode, please subscribe and rate us in your favorite podcasting platform. Want to be a guest on the show or know someone who has an amazing story of entrepreneurship? Apply on our website at Chironconsulting.us/podcast.