Let me start by saying that I am all in favor of doing your own thing. I completely get it. You have a dream and you want to pursue it. Chances are, you want to get going ASAP.

Having worked on my projects ever since I was 21 or so, I know exactly how it feels. But looking back, I believe that any post-grad should start their career by working a normal 9–5 instead of getting straight into freelancing or starting a business.

Here‘s why:

Right now, you’re just not good enough.

If you start freelancing now or try to…

Being a starving artist is almost always a mindset problem.

The wrong mindset causes starving artists to ignore market realities. For a variety of reasons, they act in ways that make it impossible for them to make a living from their work.

Here are a few of those reasons, which are pretty common:

1. You want full creative control over your work
2. You have a dream and a very unflexible idea of how you should get there
3. You fail to acknowledge the reality of your situation

I get it, you have a dream and you want to get there. The problem…

“Writing is thinking. To write well is to think clearly. That’s why it’s so hard.” — David McCullough

I have known this quote for a long time. But it’s only since I have become a full-time employee that I truly began to understand its importance.

You see, I used to follow the ‘golden nugget’ approach. I wrote so many pieces that one of them would blow off from time to time, even though the majority of my work got hardly any attention at all.

When you have only a few hours available every week, this approach simply doesn’t work.

Instead…

If you want your side-hustle to be successful, one of the most crucial things you must do is to choose the right kind of job. Since you don’t know how long it will take to turn your project into a profitable business, you might be doing this job for quite a long time.

Obviously, a lot can go wrong with your job.

It can:

• Drain too much energy from you
• Not pay enough to cover your bills
• Make you too stressed
• Etc.

We all have different needs. There is no single rule that works for everyone when it comes to…

The time between October 2017 to August 2018 was definitely the most creative period of my life. During those 10 months, I published 369 articles on Medium as well as my first book.

All in all, I published around 400,000 words during that time. That’s an insane number considering that it is the equivalent of roughly 8 books. Plus, I wasn’t exactly writing full-time as I was finishing my master’s degree at the same time.

Today I wanted to reflect on that period of my life:

• What made it possible to be so consistent in my work?
• How did I…

Few people are productive while working from home. There is an endless stream of distractions all around you. Perhaps you are pretty good at successfully resisting temptations like binge-watching Netflix or just chillin’ on the couch.

But it’s still easy to justify not working by doing other ‘important’ things like cleaning, cooking, answering e-mails or whatever. Avoiding to be stuck in that cycle is actually not that hard. By applying a few simple principles, you should be able to get your productivity up to the same level as you would if you were working from anywhere else.

1. Use your workspace exclusively for work

Are you often…

If you are an aspiring entrepreneur, you will constantly be bombarded with concepts and ideas of this kind:

• Be disruptive
• Change an entire industry
• Build a unicorn
• Etc.

Aspiring entrepreneurs are bound to believe that this is the path they have to pursue. They want to be the next Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk or someone of that caliber.

When they think of starting a business, they are imagining themselves building a billion-dollar business.

Let’s be real — for 99,99% of people, this is completely unrealistic.

Unrealistic expectations will destroy you

If you are constantly thinking of the next business idea with the potential…

Nobody believes in my work except for myself. That’s the key learning I’ve gained over the past six years. Support from others only comes long after a project is already successful.

Until then, you’ll be completely alone.

Friends and family only want the best for you. But in their minds, your entrepreneurial aspiration is nothing but a fantasy. This is something you’ll just have to accept.

When you’re all alone with your work

Life as an entrepreneur can be incredibly lonely. With nobody believing in your work, you don’t really have anybody with whom to share your thoughts, worries, and ideas.

The maximum you’ll get from other…