Technicians, Visionaries, and the Myth of Going Solo

About this episode

Tara McMullin explores the complexities of being a small business owner and the skills required to succeed in independent work.

To the uninitiated, "being your own boss" sounds pretty nice. Of course, the moment you go into business for yourself, you realize the wide variety of skills it requires—skills that you yourself do not possess. Skills that you don't want to and have no intention of learning. Being your own boss means balancing a host of functions within one corporate (that is, "body") system. You can address the variety of those functions in a number of ways: learn, hire, minimize, or fight like hell and hope the problem goes away on its own. Today, I'm exploring how we think about who a small business owner or independent worker is, what mental models have informed that identity, and how that identity plays into economic reality as work in the knowledge and creative sectors becomes increasingly hard to come by. First, we'll talk about a pair of influential books. Then, I'll take a look at recent layoffs at The Washington Post . And finally, I'll propose a different way to think about what "going solo" actually means and how it can help identify the trade-offs on offer. After the main episode, I've got a brief coda about some highly relevant Grammarly drama. P.S. Making Sense starts soon ! Join…

People in this episode

Host: Tara McMullin

Topics covered

• small business ownership
• independent work
• economic reality
• knowledge sector
• creative sector
• mental models

Keywords

• small business
• independent worker
• economic challenges
• knowledge work
• creative industries
• business skills

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: The Washington Post

Books & works: Blank Slate, Making Sense

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