

The Freedom - Responsibility Trade-off for Entrepreneurs - jacquesm
http://www.jacquesmattheij.com/freedom-responsibility-tradeoff

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jasonkester
I disagreed with this when it was posted as a response to one of my comments
last night [1], but didn't say anything because it was sitting below that
comment, which had already addressed it.

But since it's standing on its own here, I'll pipe in again and remind folks
that all that responsibility is entirely optional. You can design your
business such that it can grow arbitrarily successful without ever requiring
your full attention.

I can understand why the author feels that success and workload go hand in
hand, because, well, that's what happened to him. If, on the other hand, you
design your venture from day one to ensure that it won't ever drag you away
from the beach, it's certainly possible to achieve that. Because, well, that's
what happened to me.

[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6374125](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6374125)

~~~
jacquesm
I've seen a couple of entrepreneurs that did not have a sense of
responsibility about them, they did not strike me as particularly nice people
to be around. As soon as you have just _1_ employee, _1_ customer or _1_
supplier you start having responsibilities. If you know how to run a business
without all of those then you're a very lucky outlier.

~~~
jasonkester
I think the employees are the things that bring responsibility. Customers come
and go, and so long as you have a good product they'll accumulate over time.
If you make it a primary goal, you can get your product to the point where it
doesn't generate much in the way of customer service burden. I field maybe one
email per week per 500 paying customers.

The added advantage of a low customer service product is that you don't need
to hire employees. (Which, I agree, would add all that responsibility you talk
about).

I disagree that you need to be an outlier to do this. There's nothing
particularly special about the formula, and there are several people doing it
here. It's not really a _sense_ of responsibility that's lacking. It's the
actual _responsibilities_. Most weeks I just don't have that much to do.

~~~
ilbe
Not sure why so many people are telling you that you have to do this and that
as opposed to doing it themselves and letting you do things your way, which
sounds like they're working. Would you mind sharing what this business of
yours is that requires so little day-to-day management?

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mmcconnell1618
There is a difference between "free time" freedom and "autonomy" freedom. You
may actually have a lot of free time at a 9 to 5 job but you have little
autonomy. Your boss can dictate working hours, schedules, tools, etc. As an
entrepreneur you may have less free time but you have significant autonomy to
decide you're going to work on Sunday and head to the beach on Tuesday.

~~~
startupstella
This was my main takeaway, freedom doesn't necessarily mean time away from
work...it's the freedom to change the direction of your business at any point
or not to take on more customers (or even to hire people) or sell the
business. It's the feeling of being in control of your destiny (not to be
cheesy).

~~~
mindcrime
That jibes with my take as well. The "freedom" in being an entrepreneur is the
freedom to shape your company, and have more control over your path going
forward.

------
Ixiaus
Time is a lot like shelving. When you have empty space, you want to fill it.

Filling your time with the right responsibilities and being strategic about
how you qualify what is a "right" responsibility relative to your personality,
is "Doing It Right" IMHO.

I would never turn in what I have now - I have a startup, a lot of
responsibility, a structured day, obligations to fulfill, and people that look
to me execute on my promises. More so than I ever have at any point in my
life. Is it stressful sometimes? Sure it is. Do I have less freedom? Only in
the sense that I knowingly structured these responsibilities and obligations
in such a way that yes, they are binding, but they are also enhancing my ken
ineffably. That is my ultimate goal, to ensure my responsibilities aren't void
of meaning for me - I also aim to not _repeat_ them and when I do it usually
means I wasn't paying enough attention.

The experience that you have less or more freedom is always relative. Freedom
is always in the mind (sorry if that sounds wishy washy but my argument for
that is not appropriately short for a comment).

We are bound by our own nature, we are impelled by archetypal forces
(psychologically, biologically) most of us aren't even conscious of and
realizing that you can structure what responsibilities or obligations you
think will serve you the most _is exercising freedom_ in the face of that
which you cannot change.

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mcv
Of course you could avoid the responsibility of the company by simply not
hiring people, and raising your prices until the demand for your work fits how
much work you can do. And that may leave you more time and money to do what
you really wish you could do.

Personally I became freelancer to work on my own ideas. I do paid jobs for
others, but it's the time between those jobs that it's really about for me.
Working for someone else, I never had that freedom. Now I do. It's not
perfect, but it's pretty good.

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narag
Good point. Anyway personal freedom is not exactly the same as freedom of
choice. I mean you could be personally less free because you have to work a
lot making decisions, and still it's you who call the shots.

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ordinary
Jacques, back in 1986, you were looking for more freedom... but 27 years is a
long time. Have you not changed since then? Do you still have that desire for
freedom, or do you rather like the increase in responsibility?

~~~
jacquesm
I deal with it a lot better than back then. 27 years indeed is a long time and
there were plenty of opportunities to learn life's lessons.

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MortenK
Good article. The point applies to the corporate career man as well. The
further up the ladder you go, the more responsibility, cash and prestige you
get, but with the trade-off of less freedom and more work.

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kamaal
I don't think pure freedom. As in a fully funded party for life would be ever
possible without secure routine monthly income, taking care of you while you
do whatever you feel like.

Until then its just a trade off. A few days back I read a article:
[http://blogs.perl.org/users/ovid/2013/07/perl-startups-
lacun...](http://blogs.perl.org/users/ovid/2013/07/perl-startups-lacuna-
expanse.html)

From the last paragraph: " _Do not quit your day job. When you 're starting
your business, you need to make decisions from a position of strength. If
you're making decisions because you're strapped for cash, you're almost
certainly going to make the wrong decision. ..... if you haven't created new
revenue streams by the time the previous ones dry up, you'll be right back at
the problem of #1: making decisions based upon financial hardship rather than
what's best for the business."_

This thing explains the true deal about freedom in our lives. Once you have
all the money in the world to take care of you, you will have the freedom to
experiment and fail without dying along the way.

The key is financial freedom.

