On this blog, and on my newsletter, we talk a lot about how to make a living in a sustainable way, using minimalism as a tool to make it possible. But going from a consumer just like anyone else to a minimalist business owner can be a big jump. In fact so big that it is easy to get discouraged from trying at all. That’s why you need an intermediate step to start from, and here it is:
First, become minimalist to create art. Don’t worry about making it a business at first.
By becoming an artist1 first, you don’t yet have to worry about whether your idea will be profitable or not. You can work on anything that excites you and keeps you up in the night, and enjoy the excitement that comes from creating something of your own.
That’s how it started for Jay Shafer (and most other remarkable people out there) who, without any prior construction experience, taught himself to build his own tiny house. Today, he designs tiny houses for others through his own business, Tumbleweed Tiny House Company.
Give yourself freedom to figure out what makes you come alive
For me, the most frustrating part in career advice has always been figuring out what I want to do. There are so many things that could work. When I read about turning my passion into a business, I keep coming back to the question: “so what is my passion, then?” Treating all the paths as ways to create art is making the process much easier: I can always just start practicing and creating first, and then see if that thing is something I will keep doing even after the initial excitement wears off.
Following this approach, after you have tested your passion would be a good time to start to think about ways to make a living through this passion. What if there isn’t one? That’s just fine too. After all, you have just created something of your own, something of lasting value, and only “lost” the time you would have otherwise spent watching television!
A new e-book
I was blown away when I started reading Brett Oblack’s new e-book, Consume Less, Create More. It takes the above philosophy that I have been living by for quite a while and puts it to words in a beautiful way. In fact, just reading the description of the book was one of the moments where I couldn’t help but think: “How didn’t I think of this theme for a book?”
If you are excited about the idea of using minimalism for creating more, check out what Brett has to say.
But most importantly, think about this: What could you create if you gave up some of the consumption and spent the time on building on your own ideas instead?
- When we talk about art in this context, I use a broad definition that means anything that comes from you heart that you create with your own mind and two hands. Some example could be writing, baking your bread, knitting, painting or song writing ↩
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I’m glad you liked it Jarkko! Thanks for the mention. And I love the Tumbleweed homes also. I keep telling my wife that’s where I want to move into next, but she’s not going for it yet.
I know, I’ve just started talking about them to my wife as well, but I think it’ll take years to convince her ;)
Thank you for your thoughtful words. Your observations are inspiring and helpful. I’ve always told my daughter, who is a reader and a writer, that if she loves what she does for a living (writing), she will always be a success. An extra bonus, is if at least one other person benefits from her writing, her writing is also a success. Jarkko, thank you for being a success, because here is one person who benefits from your words. You’re writing is not in vain. Thank you.
Thank you for the encouragement, William. Those are wise words!
Moi Jarkko.
Very good thoughts, I agree with you completely on this. It’s almost impossible to start making money right away by doing what you feel the most passionate about, so it’s better to not even try, just like you wrote.
When you start following your passion daily and working towards it by creating something you can feel proud of and doing the things you love doing the most, you will naturally start to attract the right kind of people and opportunities.
The most important thing is to find the courage to jump into the unknown, forget the money (as long as you have enough money to support yourself and your family), and take action. When you have a decent amount of dedicated followers, making money is not going to be a big issue, but it doesn’t happen overnight.
The easiest way to support oneself financially when trying to start something new is to live a minimalist life just like you preach. :) When you cut off unnecessary spending (like 80% of all spending people usually do), it’s really easy to do anything you want to without working 9 to 5, at least for the time it takes to create your own online business or whatever the ultimate goal might be.
Hey Petteri, thanks for the comment!
Forgetting about money and living without spending isn’t easy, but you’re right, the more you succeed in doing so, the more time you can free for what matters most to you. And that’s pretty awesome. :)