Pivot!

Hi. If you’ve read my first two posts, awesome! Thank you! Welcome to week three. Full disclosure: I had an entire post written for this week and scrapped it. I scrapped it because this blog is in need of a little more reality and a little less curated message. I’m not about to go on a psychopathic, conspiracy-filled rant, don’t worry. I do want to share more of my thinking though. More than I have been.

To start, some background. I wanted to start this blog for a very specific reason: to document a very specific journey. My journey to bosslessness. I’m still on that journey and I’m still going to document it. However, it’s becoming clear to me that the journey to bosslessness is far more of a nebulous-looking thing than it is a linear path. So I need to switch gears, in a good way! Plus, it’s only week three and I’m not convinced anyone is reading this yet anyways, so what have I got to lose?

Over the last few weeks it’s become clear to me that the journey to bosslessness is bigger than I initially thought. Being bossless is more than just a career choice, it’s a way of living. One that I’ve been clawing at since I first started a modest neighborhood landscaping business around age eleven. I went on to embark on a number of entrepreneurial endeavors throughout my teens and early twenties (I’m currently twenty five); I sold rocks with cute words and phrases painted on them at local farmer’s markets, I expanded my landscaping business to cover more neighborhoods when I got my license and a car, and I ran an airbnb out of a nearby second apartment for a year in college, to name a few.

At first, I thought being bossless was only about literally not having a boss. And that’s a big part of it, but there’s more. Being bossless is to be assertive, to generate ideas, to always be learning and implementing new strategies in work, play, love, and study. Also, I think there are some folks who qualify as bossless despite having someone to which they report. Part of my inspiration for the course adjustment was an article I read a few days ago about screenwriter Taylor Sheridan. Now that’s a bossless dude! His story reminded me that Bosslessness, as a lifestyle, is highly personal and will almost definitely look different for everyone.

This is the credo of the Bossless Blog and it’s the reason I want to expand the focus. I might start an e-commerce business. I might sell a television pilot I wrote with a peer. I might help my mom replace her income entirely with online tutoring resources for parents of children with dyslexia. I might sell funny bumper stickers and pins on Etsy. I might create a movie blog with my partner. I might do a lot of things. I will do a lot of things.

This blog is, and will continue to be, a place where I document my own explorations, financially lucrative or otherwise, and highlight the stories and experiences of others who are embarking on their own journey to bosslessness. This includes sharing anecdotes from bossless heroes of mine, like Taylor Sheridan or Tim Ferriss, and sharing any tools and ideas I discover along the way.

Also, I’m writing this blog because I need to share. Not to teach or preach, just to share. My loved one’s are incredible listeners, but everyone has limits. I need a place to share my thoughts and reflections even after I’ve called everyone in my favorites. It’s my hope that you find some comfort in knowing that someone else out there is wading through the same shit. And that, at the very least, you’re mildly entertained by my adventures.

I wish you perseverance in your endeavors this week. Maybe next week I’ll share a bit about my propensity to elaborately quit on projects when they get hard. But, for now, lets just enjoy the moment.

With care,

Will

P.S. The name Will Barnes is an alias. As mentioned in my first post, I can’t leave my current job until I have another comparable stream of income and I’d like to prevent my boss from firing me first. Please don’t seek out my real identity. I will reveal myself when the time is right.

You can reach me via email at [email protected] or on Twitter @BosslessBlog.