Louis C.K. has always been one of my favorite comedians, but over the last few years he’s become one of my favorite business minds as well. Louis got a lot of attention back in 2011 when he bypassed the entrenched distribution channels and made a fortune selling his “Live from the Beacon Theater” comedy special direct to fans for $5.

I recently bumped into an interview Louis did around this time on the B.S. Report Podcast. He shared a lot of great insights into how he works, but the themes he discusses don’t just apply to comedy or entertainment, I think they are the pillars of being bootstrapped and independent. The entire interview is embedded below, but here were the main lessons that I took away.

Give yourself freedom

Louis doesn’t want to talk to anyone when he makes something. He has a vision for his work, and he doesn’t want to be told how to do it. He simply wants to make something and put it out there. This takes sacrifice, but he happily trades bigger audiences and bigger paychecks for his autonomy.

Give others freedom

Louis has to work with a number of other people to run his TV show, comedy tours, specials, and his website. But instead of being a dictator, which would be understandable since everything bears his name, he gives everyone the same freedom that he himself would want. As he puts it…

“I don’t need to control this stuff, I can’t. I don’t have control over this shit, I just don’t have anyone controlling me. I create the opportunity and see what happens.”

Grow slowly and organically

Louis keeps his TV series small and cheap so that it flies under the radar of network and public scrutiny. Not only does this allow him to keep his creative freedom, he believes it also prevents a lot of ill will that would come along with a big show being forced on everyone and only appealing to a select few. Instead, his approach is “If anyone is interested, we’re doing this.”

Use the pressure

Louis loves pressure, it motivates him. In addition to the pressure he must feel from his fans, he’ll frequently add his own pressure by making public declarations like he’s going to do a new special every year, or his work will be available exclusively on his website. He shares a wonderful story of Billy Jean King’s response to pressure during the Battle of the Sexes that inspired him.

Sweat the details

Louis is an artist, and comedy is his craft. It took years of grinding it out at small clubs around the country to get to where he is today, and by the time you watch one of his hour specials it’s been polished and battle-tested. But his attention to detail extends into everything he does, from the editing of his show, the pricing of his tickets, down to the copy on his website. Everything has been considered and represents him.

It’s artists like Louis that remind me it takes different skills and priorities to build something great over a career. There’s a lot of glitz and glamor in trying to blow up and cash out, but I hope this helps inspire you to make something that fills your soul more than your wallet.