It’s time for you to give yourself permission to do the thing you’ve been dreaming of doing.
When I released my first book, Creativity For Sale, I was met with a barrage of messages from people all over the world. They were all inspired to start their own business or pursue an idea theyâve been sitting on for years, which was awesome. Yet most of them felt stuck and werenât sure what to do next. The question I got most often was (and still is), “What’s your advice on getting started?”
What I’ve come to realize from my discussions with hundreds (maybe thousands) of readers and subscribers asking that question is that they donât actually need any advice or knowledge. Theyâre looking for someone to give them permission to start.
We live in a time when anyone can create anything. Itâs those of us who donât need permission who make progress the quickest.
It’s Time To Un-Learn Asking For Permission
We’ve been taught our entire lives that we need to ask permission to do things. Whether that’s permission to go outside and play with our friends (when weâre kids, or big kids posing as adults). Permission from a guidance counselor to take a certain class outside our major. Permission from a boss to veer from the normal corporate strategies or tactics. Permission from a significant other to pursue a side project that has nothing to do with our current work. There are a million things in our life we ask for permission for, itâs no wonder so many people are afraid to take a leap and start a business or chase a dream. No one told us that we donât have to ask for permission anymore.
When I reply to people asking my advice, I often hear some version of this reply: âThis was the exact permission I needed to get started!â
Itâs not that I wrote anything amazing. I donât have a nugget of wisdom perfect for every situation. I donât even actually grant anyone permission for anything. I just reply, and thatâs often the catalyst people need to go ahead and grant themselves the permission theyâd been waiting for.
So letâs pretend you sent me an email today asking for advice, and that this article is my reply to you.
We are our own gatekeepers, so letâs stop limiting ourselves
If you want to start a freelance design business right now, you donât need anyoneâs permission to do it. Whip together a website on Squarespace that promotes your awesomeness, your skills, and your work (if you donât have work, make some!). Email a handful of friends and ask if they need design work. You could do this in the next few hours and make thousands of dollars immediately.
If you want to write a book, but donât think landing a big publisher is realistic, publish your book your damn self! Thatâs what I did with Creativity For Sale, and itâs gone on to sell 15,000+ copies. Sure, it hasnât been a best-seller or on any fancy lists that books get put on, but who cares? If youâre writing a book and your only measure of success is a best-seller list, you shouldnât be writing a book.
Maybe you want to open a super hipster coffee shop where all the drinks have Saturday Morning Cartoon themed names (like Scrooge McLatte, or Captain Americano, or The Flintspressos). Sure, my examples are awful, and maybe the world doesnât need another hipster coffee shop, but why not? You could hone in on a super-defined niche of people who absolutely love your crazy idea and want to pay you money for it. Stranger things have happened.
In all of these examples, one of them not-so-great, youâll never know unless you give yourself the permission to try. No one else needs to approve. Stop locking the gate on your own progress.
Three mini permission slips you can give yourself
#1 Write a message of permission to your future self: Use a service like Followup.cc, Boomeranggmail, or RightInbox to send yourself an email that arrives in one week. In that email, write âI give you permission to start or launch .â Youâd be shocked at how powerful receiving a message from yourself can be.
#2 Get permission for an accomplished person: Watch Casey Neistatâs Do What You Canât video. Then watch it again.
#3 Ask someone you know to give you permission: Send an email to a person you admire and ask them to give you permission for your idea. Sound weird? Well, I think itâs weird that you havenât given yourself permission yet, so this seems less weird to me!
There will never be a better time than right now
Do you have a crazy idea for a business? Something as crazy as getting paid to wear t-shirts for a living? I launched IWearYourShirt during the recession of 2008. All signs should have pointed to that being a terrible time to launch a weird/unique business idea. But to the contrary, there probably wasnât a better time I could have picked. People were ready for something weird. People were looking for ways to get attention and get noticed on social media.
Are there almost 50,000,000 books already on Amazon? Yep. But does that mean there isnât room for your book? Not at all. If anything, it just shows how much people are willing to continue to purchase and read books. Get your book out there, because if whatever you’re creating never exists, you have a 0% chance of succeeding.
Right now is the time to start that crazy business idea. Right now is the time to start your freelance business. Right now is the time to give yourself permission to do whatever thing youâve been dreaming of doing.
You already have enough skills and resources at your disposal, all you need to do now is give yourself permission and get started.
