300,000 miles.

72 miles a day.

That’s how many miles I commuted during my 17 years as an employee working for other people’s businesses.

That's a lot of miles, but it's even more time to dedicate to building someone else's dream.

I felt like a cog in someone else’s vision of an architecture practice.

And even though I disliked the fact that I was stuck in a job where I had no control of my time, what I earned, or even what I made, I still couldn’t find the courage to step out on my own.

I made a lot of excuses.

Rational at the time, but as I look back, really, they were based in fear. Of the unknown. Of failure…

But, it was the financial fears that caused me the most anxiety. It's especially concerning if you have a spouse or family.

I didn’t want to be the dad that couldn’t afford to take the family on vacation… or the spouse who risked everything to start a business, only to close it a year later.

Maybe you can relate?

Every business owner faces financial anxiety at some point.

And everyone copes differently.

Like saying “yes” to the wrong clients.

Or undercharging…

Discounting our work…

Working too many hours and still not being profitable…

Sometimes, it can even be the reason why we aren’t taking the leap.

That was my case.

I thought I had to save 12 to 18 months of runway before I could step away from my job.

For me, that just ended up being this insurmountable barrier.

I know I’m not alone.

I hear about it from design professionals in this community as well.

And because things like finances, profitability, and finding (the right) clients are such big concerns for our industry, I decided to focus on these topics in the days to come.

It’s my hope you’ll find this email series useful.

My next email comes tomorrow and talks about how financial anxiety impacted what I was earning.

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Talk soon,

Eric @30X40

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PS: Tell me a bit about yourself. Are you thinking about starting a business or do you already have a practice? Just reply to this email.
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PPS: Just a heads up: I’m going to be sending more emails than usual this week. If you want to skip this email series but continue receiving 30X40 updates in the future? No problem, ​click here​.

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