Paul Millerd Quotes

American independent writer

Paul Millerd is an independent writer, freelancer, coach, and digital creator. He has written online for many years and has built a growing audience of curious humans from around the world. He spent several years working in strategy consulting before deciding to walk away and embrace a pathless path. He is fascinated about how our relationship to work is shifting and how more people can live lives where they can thrive

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Enough is the antithesis of unchecked growth because growth encourages mindless consumption and enough requires constant questioning and awareness. Enough is when we reach the upper bound of what’s required. Enough revenue means our business is profitable and can support however many employees/freelancers we have, even if it’s just one person. Enough income means we can live our lives with a bit of financial ease, and put something away for later. Enough means our families are fed, have roofs over their heads and their futures are considered. Enough stuff means we have what we need to live our lives without excess.125

You are not broken.

Don’t buy into someone’s sales tactic

your bank account can't do emotional labor

Writing is not a strategy it’s an affliction

People hate considering that your life’s work may involve working less for pay

To her, the "best way to succeed is to discover what you love and then find a way to offer it to others in the form of service, working hard, and also allowing the energy of the universe to lead you.

After returning to work, I felt like I had gone through a major transformation, but to my colleagues, I appeared back to normal. I was physically present but detached. Rather than participating in meetings as a good team member, I observed them as a visiting anthropologist. I saw my colleagues with new eyes. Are they happy? What kind of pain or challenges are they dealing with? Is this how they want to be spending their time?

Publishers should give much larger advances to fewer writers. Especially those who already have shown a proclivity to hire teams and spend money to build an audience. The publisher through a large advance then is basically hiring highly skilled creators (at a discount if they had to hire them directly)

Life is not a linear game

Success in business has more to do with interest in business and finance more than almost every other factor

Now a successful life? That’s got many paths

rejecting the default path should be a phase

2-3 years max, you almost certainly have to go through this phase, being against your former self

in some ways this is defending you from going back, bootstrapped confidence

but its not a good stance long-term

it shouldnt need to be pointed out but it is far easier to make money if you like talking about generic broader themes and happen to actually love business and making money

if you have niche interests, weird artistic proclivities, or want to do novel experiments, you will likely make less. its just way easier if you price this in earlier

generosity is a practice not a strategy

i dont think most people actually want time or money

many people who pursue money, get shocked that once they have it, time is even better

but after that, eventually people realize, all you really want is a life of caring - work, family, things you care about

We are convinced that the only way forward is the path we've been on or what we've seen people like us do. This is a silent conspiracy that constrains the possibilities of our lives.