I remember it being 1998 and I'm in my room listening to Ultra Nate - Free, thinking of all the possibilities in life and being newly diagnosed with bipolar disorder, thinking, "Ah...crud."
I have always worked hourly for over 20 years, but looked into freelancing in my 20s.
Didn't really feel very successful at it because I didn't understand self-worth and business very well.
FREE!
FREE! I will do it all for FREE! Pay me back in muffins! Just happy to help and be appreciated was my motto in my 20s. Here I was in my early 20s and being a part of projects where the money would come after the exposure, residual passive income; hey, who knew it would never worked out?
I could never pay myself what I was worth because it was a love, or rather the lack of it, and how could you put a price on a part of yourself?
I think as an artist, you either have an innate business sense or you have to develop one through education. I told my cousin, "unless you're willing to live off a can of sardines for your craft for the first couple of years, don't do it.
This was how I was experiencing life in the 2000s.
As is the case with this problem, my disease started progressing in my 20s. I saw friends developing their careers and I just went from job to job, a lot of voluntary work, but still, job to job. Remembering about a couple of years after college, I had met a fellow classmate downtown in Toronto who had just started working at a reputable boutique advertising agency. I couldn't even go get a cup of coffee with him because I was too ashamed to admit I was making $10 an hour
A Decade Flew Past
Within a decade I went through 30 jobs and a lot of volunteer work. But I'm grateful for this time, because I had to learn how to adapt quickly and I met a lot of cool people who became successful.
When I hit 30 I became disabled and found my way to working in the financial industry. It's been through the last 7 years that I've understood finances and business better
True Irony
I will always find it ironic that I made more money in the long run disabled in my 30s, than when I was able bodied in my teens and 20s.
I think self-worth is a tangible concern for a lot of entrepreneurs, because so much monetary value is placed upon skill and confidence
Two Needed Skills
1. Humbly I state that in my experience, the main skill you need is confidence.
2. The second most valuable skill you can gain is to be able to trust yourself enough to know your value and worth
Then:
Then work and learn and work some more. But like yourself and trust yourself while you're working and learning and working some more.