Do you want to be a freelancer or a business owner?

Do you want to be a freelancer or a business owner?

There is a difference. 

Both paths can be very rewarding, in different ways. 

Let’s look at what each path means for your future. Yes, this email can literally predict your future with a good degree of accuracy. 

If you choose the freelancer path, here’s what that looks like:

• The Balance reports that a typical freelance income in the US ranges from around $41,000 per year to $79,000 per year for certain higher-earning professions (like software engineering). $79,000 ain’t too shabby! But if you pay your income taxes (and hopefully you do), and you have a mortgage, student loan debt, or kids to feed, $79,000 doesn’t stretch very far. By the end of the month, you may find yourself peering into an almost-empty checking account wondering, “Where did all my money go?”
• The US Census states that a typical solo business owner with no employees (aside from yourself) can expect to earn $47,000 per year on average.
• While there are some freelancers who manage to earn big money, these folks are the exception to the rule. Less than 2% of freelancer/single person businesses ever become millionaires. Slim odds. 
• Choosing the freelancer path brings a financial price, but there’s also a price to your health. 
• Sooner or later, busy freelancers usually feel exhausted, depleted, and burnt out from their relentless schedule.
• Because, as a freelancer, everything rides on you. If you get sick, have a family emergency, or can’t deliver a project you promised to do (for whatever reason), it’s a big mess. There’s no team to swoop in and help out. There’s nobody who can “cover you” if you need to take a mental health day. There’s very little wiggle room for error. It can feel like a very punishing way to live.

Okay. Let’s peer into the crystal ball again—and this time, let’s look at a very different future.

If you choose the business owner path, here’s what that looks like:

• You build a team, and you’re no longer working alone.
• Your team might start with a part-time assistant, then a full-time assistant, and then eventually you hire more people as things scale and grow.
• You no longer have to wear all the hats. You don’t have to be the marketing director, the sales director, the customer service specialist, the product designer, and 27 other positions all rolled into one. You can hire and delegate and let your employees work their strengths.
• You get to focus on the elements that you do best and enjoy most. Your Zone of Genius.
• You take on more risk and responsibility. And, in return, you reap bigger rewards.
   
• You will make more money. 
• The US Census shows that businesses with 1 to 4 employees generate an average of $387,000 in revenue per year. Businesses with 5 to 9 employees average $1,080,000. 
• Let’s say you’ve got a 5-person team and you’re generating $1,000,000 annually after paying non-salary business expenses like rent, utilities, liability insurance, etc. Divided 5 ways, that could mean a salary of $400,000 for you (Founder/CEO), plus $150,000 for each of your 4 employees. That’s a hell of a lot better (for everyone!) than a piddly $47,000 like many freelancers earn. Win-win for you and your whole team. Everyone gets to rise up.
• Plus, with all that revenue, you can provide exciting options to your team like cash bonuses, profit-sharing in the company, health insurance, retirement plans. You now have the funds to create real magic and change lives.
• As a business owner, you have the pride of feeling legit. Like a real boss. Because you are one.
• You discover that “we can do more together” is not just a cute saying. It’s the truth. We really can do more—and earn more—together.
• As a business owner, eventually, you can work towards creating a company that actually functions without you. 
• Your stellar team can roll out brilliant marketing campaigns, find leads, get customers, and serve those customers beautifully—without you needing to be involved daily. You can even sell your company one day, if you ever choose to. True freedom. 

I’ve tried both paths. I was a one-woman show for a long time, and it brought some advantages but also a lot of pain. Then I started hiring—and that, too, has brought its own type of growing pains but also immense rewards. Financial rewards and emotional riches, too. 

My attitude is, whether you are building a 5-figure business, a 6-figure business, or a 7-figure business, it’s going to require plenty of creativity, time, energy, and hard work. 

No matter which path you choose—the freelancer path or the business owner path—it’s hard work either way.

It’s just a different kind of “hard” depending on which path you pick.

So, if you’re going to be putting in hard work anyway, why not choose the type of hard that leads to 7 figures instead of 5 or 6?

You get to choose your hard.

If I were you, I would choose the version of hard that leads to millions in the bank.

So, maybe it’s time to make the change from busy, tired, under-earning freelancer to CEO.

And when you’re ready to make that move, we’re ready to support you and help you do it right.

xo,
Rachel

PS. February is all about Million Dollar Support inside We Should All Be Millionaires: The Club. We’re showering our Club members with training and resources on how to build a team and do it legit. 

When you’re a Club member, during February you automatically get:

• A checklist to help you figure out, “Am I actually ready to hire someone?”
• Templates to help you write a fabulous job description and attract the right person.
• A list of really good interview questions to ask when considering someone (these are not the boring, standard questions you’ve seen before!).
• A resource with 5 ways to get the money you need so that you can make your first (or next) hire if you want to hire someone but don’t have enough money. (There are so many options—including government programs you’ve probably never even heard of.)
• Guidance on how to build a diverse team that is not 100% white people and how to make your employees feel safe, valued, and respected.
• Plus, coaching to help you deal with the fears, insecurities, and emotional resistance that can come up when you’re about to make a big decision like hiring someone. We’ve got you. 

Want all those goods? Join The Club before February 1st, and it’s all yours. And, of course, in addition to special training on Hiring, you also get all the perks that your Club membership already includes! Gold on top of gold. 

PPS. One important update for everyone in our community:

As of midnight January 31st (TONIGHT), we will be temporarily closing the doors to The Club until later this Spring. 

We’re doing this because our community has grown so rapidly (from 300 to 1,800 in less than a year), and we want to focus 100% of our attention on our current Club members and absolutely blow their minds and help them get results, results, results…before we start bringing newbies into the group again. 

So, if you’ve been meaning to join The Club for a while, you have a few days to get in here before we gently and lovingly close the gates for a while. 

Join before February 1st. Last chance to join for a while. 

We can’t wait to meet you and help you become the wealthy badass you were born to be.