The Calmpreneur Manifesto
Inspired by yesterday’s post and “The Calm Business Manifesto”, I spent a few hours this morning writing out my own Calmpreneur manifesto. A bit thought exercise, foreshadowing, and call to arms.
Here’s what I wrote…
The Calmpreneur Manifesto - Oct. 11, 2023
Anti-hustle - A calm business rejects hustle culture. By definition, you cannot move fast and juggle multiple things in a calm way. We adopt the motto “Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.”
Life centered - The Calmpreneur plans his work around his life, not the other way around.
Profitable - A calm business isn’t afraid to mae money. It understands the more profitable it is, the more resources it can devote and reinvest in things to keep the business calm. This includes freelancers, tools, and automation.
Small and cozy in size - Big things require more resources to maintain. A calm business, then, needs to be as small as necessary. We have no aspirations to be billionaires or “change the world.” Bigger goals require bigger effort, and that’s stressful. (Big requires big!) Our goal is to create a career that allows us to live a calm, intentional, fulfilling life. That requires us to identify the real things that matter to us and focus on that, not just getting bigger.
No deadlines - Deadlines create anxiety. While it’s important to get work done on time, we approach it with a calm holistic solution. We learn how long tasks take an schedule enough time for the work to be done. Anxiety comes from unrealistic expectations of how fast something can be completed. If you want to wake up at 6am to feel refreshed and productive, you do it by going to bed at 10pm. Not by setting a jarring alarm to 6am.
Pays a living wage - People feel overworked when they’re underpaid. I believe in paying people a living wage (often more) when people I employ win, I win.
Timeless works - You are not the news, nor Apple. Your work doesn’t need to be the latest and most exciting. The goal should be work so good and timeless in its usefulness that you need to do less of it.
Embraces technology - Automation, A.I. digital products, mailings list, they’re all tools that allow us to create a business that needs us less and less. It serves us, not the other way around.
A calm business must be designed from the start - A calm business goes against conventional ideas of what makes a successful business. Therefore, “calm” must be planned and integrated from the start. It requires redesigning the type of work we do, the income we can make, and the expectations around all of it.
Be useful and help people - There is more than enough useless junk in the world. In order to create a profitable, calm business, we must make being truly helpful a goal.
