The Sovereign Artist—Episode #5
The Sovereign Artist checklist & The Art of Procrastination & Why Fame is a Curse & The Beauty of Living a Simple Life & more
Friends,
Welcome to Episode #5 of The Sovereign Artist series, where I share with you 3 aphorisms, how I structure my internet business, 1 essay, and 3 questions to reflect on.
Let’s get started.
3 Aphorisms
I.
Show your anger when needed.
People need to know what irritates you and what doesn’t.
But you want to stay internally calm.
Your anger is only a tool. Don’t become a puppet.
II.
Most of us fail to pursue original paths to success because we opt to fit in rather than stand out.
Fear of uncertainty or ridicule overwhelms us, so we prefer “safety” and go for conventional achievements.
Original aspirations are rare. And they only develop organically.
III.
Fame is a curse. Truly successful people are not famous.
Almost every person I admire has a quiet life at home with someone they love, working on projects they love—designing their life as they love.
You want to be famous in your industry; but being famous among the general public is a curse. Relative anonymity is an asset.
The Sovereign Artist Checklist
Scythian Messengers Meet the Persian King Darius I by Franciszek Smuglewicz
“The world is split between those who don’t know how to start making money and those who don’t know when to stop.” — Nassim Taleb
My internet business model is simple: I want to read, meditate, play with my dog, and sip wine with my friends & fiancée whenever I want. I write. Seek beauty. And largely work on projects I love.
To figure out what I want, I didn’t dream about building the “perfect” career. I started by defining my worst career nightmare. The first step toward learning what you want is being very specific about what you hate.
And my worst career nightmare either looks like this…
Or like this: working in a corporate setting 👔
I used to get anxious when I visualized myself working for a corporation. That’s why I took action and decided to change something about my future.
If you get similarly anxious—that’s feedback. It’s a signal to change something.
In the first year of university, I started figuring out how I can build a service on the Internet. When I graduated from law school, I already had a few clients I was working with and a few projects that were profitable enough so that I could pay my rent and spend my time on my own terms and conditions. I wasn’t earning a lot; but I was free. I was self-sufficient. Plenty of my former colleagues were earning much, much more than I was. Being free is not always sunshine and roses—but you’re free.
Fresh coffee. Worriless sleeping. Books. Frequent laughs. Nature. Art. Work which I hope may be of some use. A cozy place to call home. Such is my idea of happiness.
There’s nothing more complex, meaningful, and difficult to build than a simple life.
Acrylic painting of a cottage scene by Sian Butler
The only definition of success:
You’re able to look in the mirror every evening and realize—with deep certainty and joy—that you haven’t disappointed the person you were at 18 years old, right before the age people start getting corrupted by life.
Any other versions of success are profane constructs, default ideals, and prepackaged narratives designed by Hollywood, corporate advertising, or intensive social media sessions.
Sovereign Artist (SA) = someone who enjoys being a creator, freelancer, and minimalist entrepreneur at the same time while identifying with none of these terms in particular.
The SA Internet Business Structure:
Calendar Sovereignty: Ability to grab coffee with friends whenever I want, play basketball on Wednesday, work when most people travel and travel when most people work. The goal is to take 180+ days off/year.
Audience Sovereignty: Loyal digital community that financially and critically supports my craft (hi there)—let’s say that the magic number is 1000 members, but 100 people who care about your work is already impressive.
The Power of Self-employment: You want to be neither the boss nor the employee. Neither a slave nor a master. I work with others but never for others. The goal is to stay self-employed. At all costs. The greatest success of my career so far is that I’ve never been employed. Not even for one single day.
Optionality: I have both scalable & non-scalable sources of income. This gives me safety and opportunity at the same time & the freedom to set my prices according to the value that I deserve. I work (almost) exclusively online & remotely & largely asynchronously with 2-4 clients that pay me predictably every month or so. In return, they receive my services: think of digital branding strategies or content creation systems. These are my non-scalable projects, and it takes me roughly 2 weeks/month to take care of them. This gives me the peace to tinker with my scalable projects. I’m building an online audience; I’m writing a book in public; I host workshops & webinars; and I’m also the manager of an online program.
Energy Sovereignty: Ability to reject projects that would make me “rich” but at the same time drain me spiritually or morally. This is the hardest part, and it requires discipline and introspection.
H/T Paul Millerd
P.S. If you resonate with this business model, click here to find out more about this framework.
The Art of Procrastination
“Procrastination is what happens when society has convinced you to desire something you don’t really want.” — Sahil Lavingia
In Antifragile, the philosopher Nassim Nicholas Taleb makes the confession that he uses procrastination as a filter for his writing. If he feels strong resistance to writing a certain section, he leaves it out as a service to his readers: “Why should they read something that I myself didn’t want to write?”
It took John Ronald Tolkien over 12 years to finish The Lord of the Rings. Since its publication, the book has gone on to sell around 150 million copies. It’s now ranked as one of the best-selling books of all time.
Michel de Montaigne reportedly worked on polishing his most famous book, The Complete Essays, from 1570 until 1592. He was quick to start—but very slow to finish. His French comrade, Louis de Bonald, came up with a witty remark: “All that is to last is slow to grow.”
Bill Gates, it seems, is also a terrible procrastinator. He often found himself putting off his university assignments to work on his business. That’s how Microsoft was brought to life. He stopped completing his unnatural duties to work on more meaningful projects.
In Mastery, Robert Greene talks about the power of embracing slowness: “When it comes to creative endeavors, time is always relative. Whether your project takes months or years to complete, you will always experience a sense of impatience and a desire to get to the end. The single greatest action you can take for acquiring creative power is to reverse this natural impatience.” You thus come to enjoy the slow cooking of your project, the organic growth that naturally takes place. “The longer you can allow your projects to absorb your mental energy,” Robert adds, “the richer they will become.”
Instead of fighting procrastination as though it were an illness, maybe we should learn to understand its utility.
What we often call “procrastination” is far from a vice; this is a misconception that spoils intellectual serendipity and creative thinking.
Procrastination is not a wicked phenomenon. It’s a source of wisdom.
“Men of lofty genius accomplish the most,” Leonardo da Vinci famously said, “when they work the least, for their minds are occupied with their ideas and the perfection of their conceptions, to which they afterward give form.”
3 Questions to Reflect on
i. What am I thinking that no one is saying?
ii. What’s my favorite way to fail? What am I willing to struggle for?
iii. What’s true about my life today that would make my 18-year-old self disappointed?
Wrapping up...
Hope you liked this episode 🥂
Any feedback, suggestion, or criticism is welcome: feel free to reply (if you got this in your inbox) or send an email to viziandrei@outlook.com
Thank you for your time,
Vizi Andrei