For the past year, I have survived being self-employed. It wasn’t easy and it’s been a lot of work, but I love it. I’m far from rich or where I want to be in my career, but I have survived and I continue to survive.
Being an entrepreneur can look fun and easy from the outside looking in, but when you have no starting capital because you were raised in a low-income household and you didn’t receive a small loan of a million dollars it’s a lot of work.
I’m lucky enough that I LOVE being an entrepreneur. I am extremely passionate about building my businesses and my personal brand. If you approach entrepreneurship half-heartedly then you’re probably going to quit.
I have been an entrepreneur since I was in primary school. I remember trying to sell scoubidous and comics to my classmates. In secondary school, they forced me to do work experience in Iceland and I quickly realised that being someone else’s employee was not the path for me.
These days I work harder than anyone I know with a 9-5 job (for considerably less money) and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Even when I’m barely surviving, living on a tiny budget and grinding like my life depended on it (because it does), I am happier than I would ever be working for someone else.
I would love to recommend the entrepreneurial lifestyle to everyone if I could, but the truth is that it’s not for everyone. If you prefer freedom over security and stability then you might be a suitable candidate, but I don’t want to create any illusions that this life is easy. You will begin by working for free, then working for next to nothing and eventually you might make a reasonable income.
Below you’ll find my daily routine. This is how I can manage to release valuable content on many platforms on a daily basis. Sometimes I work for longer, sometimes less. I try to take at least one day off on the weekend but even on that day I generally work. Some things in my daily routine are done at set times but most things are flexible and may be completed out of order. That’s why there’s a lack of time-stamps.
- 7:30 – 9:30 am: Wake up
- Make and drink coffee – this burst of energy is vital for me!
- Record my first Anchor segment of the day for the Grow On YouTube podcast and reply to any call-ins and questions.
- Start running a bath
- Reply to comments on YouTube, Discord, Twitter, Instagram and reply to emails.
- Do any admin work needed to be done that day. E.g: YouTube video information, adding posts and videos to my social media schedule and posting new videos in my Discord. I also find pictures for blog posts, create thumbnails and publish them around this time.
- Bathe
- Wash dishes
- Eat breakfast
- Meditate for 5 minutes
- Plan and write blog posts
- Post on Instagram – I basically write a mini blog post over there too.
- Start completing tasks on the day’s to-do list
- 2 pm: Eat lunch
- Record the lesson of the day on Anchor for the Grow On YouTube podcast
- Continue completing the tasks on the to-do list
- 6 pm: Cook dinner
- Resume to-do list completion
- 7 pm: Eat dinner
- Record my daily wrap-up on Anchor and publish the Grow On YouTube podcast
- Try to finish every last task on the to-do list
- 8:30 pm: Stop working on the to-do list.
- Chill out:Â Watch YouTube videos, an episode of a sitcom or play PS4. I usually end up researching and learning about new things that may benefit my businesses.
- 12 am: Go sleep while listening to an informative podcast
As you can see, my daily routine is quite packed! I highly recommend getting a Filofax or some sort of planner to stay on top of things. Having a physical planner that I can look at and write in has helped my organisation and productivity a lot.
If you want just want to get a free digital notebook then I suggest getting Evernote. Evernote is one of my favourite apps and I use it alongside my Filofax to stay on top of my daily tasks and remain productive.
What does your daily routine look like? Leave a comment down below!