Being your own boss is a beautiful thing. It throws your life in chaos and tests you as a man down to the core. You will muddle through darkness, alone, in search of something that is beyond your wildest expectations. Perhaps the greatest discovery you will encounter along the way is: Freedom.

It is indescribable, but to obtain it, isn’t easy. In fact, it’s damn near impossible for most men to grasp ahold of.

The truth is, most men today are terrified to act as if they had no limits to their ability. When opportunity knocks and presents itself, answering the challenge and taking the call invites fear in the form of risk. It forces you to make sacrifices earlier on in life, and makes you accept the fact that this isn’t going to be as painless as every guru in the past has led you to believe.

Understand that there is no such thing as work, life, balance. There’s only work, life, choices!

If you want to know how to be your own boss, I will gladly tell you without sugar coating it. But first and foremost, there are no grand secrets on how to do this. You can spend a lifetime in search of keys to open the doors of super success. Yet, the only key out there that can unlock and open the door is well, you.

You can believe that “luck” plays a role in the success of others, and I will tell you with complete confidence, that’s just not the case. You certainly won’t find those types of excuses below, because all of them are bullshit and I won’t accept any of them! All of the things you think matter, truly don’t.

In reality, there is nothing hold you from back from reaching your greatest self, except for three letter word, you. It’s a tough pill to swallow for most.

Welcome to a unique kind of hell.

1. It’s full time or failure

You must be willing to commit to yourself that you will never work for someone else again. It’s not an easy thing to do. In fact, it scares the hell out of most people. In a way, most give up their freedom in exchange for a false sense of security. I’m talking about a 9 to 5. Most call it job security or even a steady paycheck. In reality, your employer could tank tomorrow. They could introduce a massive cut back or lay off. Or perhaps your company gets bought out by a bigger business that decides to come on in and trim away all the fat: a.k.a. you.