Instagram has a chokehold on your options.

Should you rely on social media alone for financial advice, you’re faced with two choices: stay miserable as a W2, or start a business. There’s technically a third arm of disillusion that is buying a business (which in theory is legit), which has young people believing they can operate a 6-figure boring business from behind their computer on a beach in Tulum. Psssst: passive income does not exist.

Thanks for reading Operation: Replace My Salary! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Most people don’t want to run a business. If I wasn’t totally unemployable and dead-inside as a clinician, and the options available weren’t so royally bleak, I wouldn’t start a business. It’s something I feel like I simply have to do to make ends meet.

I used to believe owning a business was the one true path to freedom, to joy, to financial abundance. It’s the most socially accepted theme across social media platforms and is admittedly quite convincing.

This piece is about a simpler strategy: replace a smidge of your miserable hours with lower-pain, lower-drain W2 or contractor work. No brand building required, unless that’s what you choose to do! Starting a “side hustle” while preserving a safety net of W2 work is also an option I’ve found effective---- that will be for another piece.

Why 10 Hours?

Because it’s the most practical step forward that doesn’t break the bank. Replacing your entire job with your own self-generated income, or by starting over and interviewing for other positions, is too big of a change. In the emotionally raw state you’re in, it’s imperative you make decisions rationally and slowly. Ten hours is enough to:

* · Create a sense of breathing room and reduce feelings of burnout

* · Test alternatives while still making “enough”

* · Begin shifting your income and your time (i.e., gaining more control of your day)

I was scared for many years to let go of my salaried position. Because of my fetish for predictable, sustainable income, I assumed that going part-time and hourly would create too much variability in my week-to-week. In being fired and being in situations where my hand has been forced to pull money from nothing, I can confidently say that less work is the bomb.

The Real Goal: Replace PAIN, Not Just PAY

The purpose of this “exercise” isn’t to replace your current hourly wage or your salary. If that were the goal, you can easily find another job just as miserable as your current one. When I first shared getting fired and shifting into a home-service business from scratch, I got quite a few messages of people encouraging me to find X positions doing Y clinical work. My response was something along the lines of “fuck no.” It is zero issue for me to find clinical work; in just the past 3 days, I’ve been offered three separate positions paying a minimum of $80 an hour. They’re all what I hate most. I am in no way, shape, or form motivated to replace or exceed my previous income unless I absolutely have to (i.e., I’m bleeding money in spending each month and money from my new business can’t support my minimum survival number).

Even if your pay is slightly lower with your “replacement” gig, the net gain in mental clarity, time, and energy can be huge. You’re taking into account both financial decision-making as well as quality-of-life-based decision-making. Now we’re talking!

W2 is the Devil? I Think Not!

This need not be said: any employer-funded position gives you predictable pay, at least some form of administrative support (even if mediocre), built-in clients and demand, less decision fatigue because you’re not owning and operating the day-to-day, and overall lower risk. Because so much of today’s work couldn’t give a damn if you’re exceptional or you’re highly incompetent, being fired is a very distant risk for most people who are employed. You can essentially show up to the office or your computer screen, exist for a few hours, and receive your bi-weekly paycheck.

While you are trading your time for money, which modern culture has demonized as the ultimate form of self-deprecation, most people prefer these cons to entrepreneurship. Yes, entrepreneurship may be the “braver” choice in that you must generate your own income and build/sustain a livelihood from scratch. Below you’ll find a table in which I compare/contrast the risks involved should you go the entrepreneurial path versus the non-entrepreneurial one. There are clear risks to starting a business that no W2 would willingly take on.

The Replacement Framework

Step 1: Identify your Pain Score [5 tasks--- you can find this worksheet in my previous piece here]Step 2: Calculate how much income those 10 hours representStep 3: Decide whether you’re replacing equal pay or equal energyStep 4: Choose a lower-pain income sourceStep 5: Pilot it before making big changes

*IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: This table is based on my skillset, my education and experience, my reputation, and my network. If anyone tries to sell you something as a “simple”, “no skills required”, “immediate passive income” gig---- the pay probably sucks, the competition is probably insanely high, and it’s probably a scam.

Hustle Culture vs. Humble Culture?

You don’t have to burn your career down to change your life.You also don’t need a business plan or a rebrand.

Maybe the best path forward isn’t to start a business and break free of America’s rat race. Maybe it’s to find stable work that doesn’t completely gut your insides, pays enough to live a simple but fulfilled life, and is straightforward enough to cut ties not a moment later than 5PM.

Relief is a legit goal. Don’t be fooled by “hustle culture”. I don’t want to spend all of my time with my cats and my shelter babies thinking about money, the business, the next best deal. That’s what entrepreneurs do: while playing catch with their kids, they’re crunching numbers on a contract they have to close. During a romantic dinner with their spouse, they’re scripting their next move to a hedge-fund venture capitalist. They do not ever stop thinking about and acting upon their business.

That’s not me. And maybe it isn’t you either.

Thanks for reading Operation: Replace My Salary! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit honestlyunorthodox.substack.com