If you don't actually love it, it won't work.

034. learning as I go. going as I learn.

Hello Substack world! My word, it's been a while since my last blog post. Like with many things in life, when something demands more of your time, unfortunately something else has to give. For me, that something was regular writing, as I focused all my energy on building out Freedom Fitouts.

The first calendar year of Freedom Fitouts is complete, and I couldn’t be more proud of the year we’ve had. Back in February, I set a goal to build 6 vans. Instead, I ended up working on 17+ vehicles, with about 10 of those being full start-to-finish fitouts.

Life update: As I write this, I’m back at the airport and heading to New York City to see Georgia. The joys of long-distance relationships, getting the opportunity to explore new parts of the world. This will be my first white Christmas, and I’m feeling content with how the year has unfolded.

It’s been a big year: moving interstate, traveling to NYC earlier in the year, racing internationally in New Zealand, living with my best mates, starting a business, launching a local run club, debuting in the Brisbane Ultra Trail 100-miler, and navigating a long-distance relationship throughout it all.

Merry Christmas to everyone! I hope you take some time to reflect on the year, whether you're spending it with friends, family, or some quiet moments to yourself. It’s that time of year when most people are forced to pause and reflect.

Lessons from my first year owning a business.

1. Never been stressed before? Well your about to be. I’m a pretty easy going guy, low stress is the way I like to operate at. The day I launched freedomfit outs and started having the phone ring, the stress level rised. I had 3 builds booked in and had no where to build them. Looking back at that time I’m glad it went like that, it taught me how to react but also showed me how I was going to react to those situations. Because that was just the beginning of it.

2. You’ll question everything. I was 3 months in and was like what the fuck am I doing. Thanks to social media my imposter syndrome was at an all time high. Comparing myself to everything I seen. Thinking how, why with every build I seen pop up on my phone, like no one I can do that. I remember thinking, this is why not everyone wants to run their own business because it’s daunting and I was ready to go back to working for someone else.

3. Ride. It. Out. This is my first year at it so as my partner says, it’s basically been 3 seconds. The first few months when I was in the pits with it all and questioned it I remember just thinking - it’s been 3 seconds. Ride it out. I’m a big podcast guy and have listened to business/entrepreneurship podcasts for years so I was well aware of the ride it out process but it’s a lot easy sort said than done.

4. It’s a lonely clap. When it’s dark outside and it’s just me and the workshop lights still going at it while the rest of my household and friends are probably tucked into bed or hitting the gym, I’m the only clapping and cheering myself on. No one else cares. So whatever you start, make sure you love it enough to cheer yourself on. This is my pride and joy.

5. You’re going to fail from time to time. Even though it’s only been a year, I look back at the builds I did at the start, heck even the builds I did 3 months ago, and I wish I did it differently or changed something about it. The other day I fucked up a simple measurement and had to cut down the whole thing. Just me and that light still at it.

6. I’ve learnt more now than I ever have before. Forced to grow and learn when you put yourself in the arena. The basics were learnt during my apprenticeship but the real learnings have happened over the last 10 months.