Escape The Cubicle: Building Your Online Business On The Side
137: It is not an easy job, but it is possible.
Welcome reader! Based on what our Telegram readers (source) voted. Today’s article? It is all about working for someone else and starting your business. It serves as a guide for escaping the cubicle and understanding what it takes. We believe that if you are still employed by someone else… Reading this will be the best 20 minutes of your weekend.
Prerequisites - There Are Few
Building a business while working for someone else: Everyone’s situation will be different. Everyone's priorities are different. Everyone’s workload is different. What you will find here are principles, strategies, and methods that can be modified and fit to suit your lifestyle and needs. Those will help you get out of your cubicle and allow you to focus entirely on your business. Everything outlined here will help you move forward. The reason we mention this is that no single approach works for everyone. You must create your strategy based on what applies to your situation. If you don’t know how to make it work… No one else can do that for you.
Mindset and free time: Without a proper outlook and keeping in mind a few things… You won't get far. Building a business has never been easier. Yet there are a few more things worth mentioning and keeping in mind. If you are working a full-time job, starting your business on the side is harder. There are two main reasons for this: 1) the psychological aspect (it is hard for things to gain momentum—you will constantly compare it to your primary source of income) and 2) depending on your life situation, there is a big chance you will use time (lack of it) as an excuse. Recognize these factors, and working on avoiding them should be your goal. They are traps you don’t want to fall into. The next step on the list is realizing that most of your free time should be dedicated to starting your own business. There is a big chance that the first 1 to 2 years, you should allocate all your free time (or at least 80%) to building something. This phase is the hardest and one most struggle with.
Check out full statistical breakdown (source)
Free time inside your cubicle: This builds on the previous point. All your downtime and "free time" during working hours. Better said for the time your employer is paying you. You should use it to gain an advantage. When you know you have 20 minutes free and no one will ask you anything? Time to send a few emails for your business. Have you finished your tasks for the day but still need to stay in the office before you can leave? Create a post for social media (source). There are countless things you could do for your business. We have mentioned some basic examples that are still ROI positive. Those who want to take things further might use the exact laptop model provided by their employer to pretend they are working while building their business. This should help you spark your imagination and emphasize the importance of your free time. When you see your current employer as a golden ticket to something bigger… That is when things get better. There is a mindset switch.
Remove negative beliefs: This point is more about the psychological mindset aspect. What you need to admit to yourself is that no matter your situation or what is currently going in your life. There is a big shift once you get into the 30s and how you start perceiving things differently. Lack of optimism or laziness. Hard to pinpoint. However, if you believe you don’t have enough time to build your business or feel too tired to do it today (source)… You are limiting yourself. Both of these claims are untrue, considering that we know multiple people who successfully built their businesses while working for someone else. Creating a business while having a family, working for someone else, and caring for your health is possible. Negative beliefs are the real gamebreaker that make little sense until you start paying attention to them. They influence your daily behavior and perception. We recommend diving deeper into mental models (source) and checking out posts on how to reinvent yourself (source). Optimism and energy are underrated factors in achieving what you want—pay attention to them.
He who suffers before it is necessary suffers more than is necessary. - Seneca
Finding what works for you: We have discussed this in our previous work (source) and plan to do so again. Your first focus should be determining whether you are an early or late performer. This is the base and will allow you to get the most output out. This takes about two weeks and provides the clarity you need. If you are an early morning performer, your goal should be to put as much business work as possible into the hours before you head to your work. Impossible to have clarity once you wake up or prefer to stay up longer? There is a good chance that you are a night owl. This means you should be spending hours after work to build your business. These rarely get enough attention, but both will give you the space to do what you plan. It is not an easy job to lose a solid chunk of energy working for someone else and then coming home and repeating the same. You want to save as much energy as possible and allow yourself to use what works best for you. The same principles apply to your diet and other fitness activities. There is a good chance both will suffer as you shift your focus to different priorities (like building your business). This is part of the game and everyone experiences it. At the same time, you need to minimize the damage that will be done. Sharp body and a good diet equal a sharp mind. A sharp mind leads to better ideas and greater creativity. It is all one big cycle.
Look for patterns: The final piece of the puzzle regarding prerequisites and what it takes to self-internalize. Observe patterns in your daily life. Basic example: you know that your manager is taking Fridays off—typically a more relaxed day. This creates a perfect opportunity for you to focus more on your business and use that extra energy for the good. Once you start paying attention over time, you will notice multiple patterns that affect your life. To clarify our point. Those patterns should not be used as excuses. If you don't feel like working, there is a good chance you will have to do it anyway. This angle on how you should notice patterns serves as a reference point. Helping you develop the strategy and a plan in which you will know exactly when to push harder and when to take it easier. Recognizing patterns also provides additional support when it comes to days when you will not feel it. Processed food you should not eat in the first place, unnecessary media consumption during the day, or your boss fought with his wife and let it all out on you. You can’t avoid all those negative factors in your daily life. But you can figure out when to push harder and make it easier for yourself.
Friendly reminder: Never use company devices to run your business. No matter what you do on your machine and how you do it. There is always a trace or log in case things go wrong or your performance goes down—which is expected. Your employer will be able to use this information against you. All activities related to starting your business should only be done on non-company devices so that your employer can’t monitor you. Understand basic security principles and what it takes to win (source).
Prerequisites summary
Plan your free time to focus entirely on building the business.
The first 2 years of starting a business will be the hardest and require the most sacrifices.
Your "free time" in the cubicle at work should be dedicated to your business.
Negative beliefs or a limiting mindset (not having enough time or feeling too tired) should be removed ASAP. Otherwise, you are setting yourself up for failure.
Work as much as possible to find out what works for you—early mornings before work or late nights.
Look for patterns in your daily life and what gives you the most clarity and sharpness. Avoid processed foods, skipping workouts or cardio, and consuming brainrot content.
Always use your equipment to get the work done—forget about the employer’s laptops, mobile phones, or WiFi.
Cubes feel like prison to me. The generic, vanilla, white box environments contribute to the same old ideas for the same old problems - escapefromcubiclenation.com
How To Escape The Cubicle - Get More From It
To be 100% transparent, we never gave it a read but it is a good headline…
From now on: There are three things you must always keep in mind when escaping the cubicle hell. 1) No matter your career plan or what you are currently doing. Starting your business and having results usually takes 1 or 2 years—until things become more predictable and you can begin to plan. Ensure you understand the corporate cheat sheet (source) and how to get the most out of your corporate career (source). It doesn’t matter that your goal is to leave the cubicle and escape as soon as possible. Those years until you quit can become much smoother if you know what you are doing. Both posts go hand in hand with what is presented here and will give you a big picture overview that is much needed. 2) Never tell coworkers about your business and WiFi money (source). This has been mentioned multiple times in both articles related to the corporate life, but for those who will skip those… This is an important reminder. 3) Make sure you keep a work journal (source). This helps you for one big reason: in case things go south, you always have a backup.