People love to talk about freedom.
“Be your own boss.”
“Follow your passion.”
“Build something that matters.”

What they don’t tell you is how quiet — and lonely — the climb can be.

Some days, it feels like I take one step forward and two steps back — whether it’s building Lucid Futurism, scaling Gritletter, or trying to make sense of an investment portfolio that moves like quicksand. The truth is, progress often hides inside frustration. You just don’t realize it until later.

Lately, I’ve been revisiting a few old books — Making Comics by Scott McCloud, The Screenwriter’s Bible, and even a dusty copy of Starting a Business: An Easy Smart Guide to Starting Your Own Business. The advice is dated, but the fundamentals never change: every builder wrestles with uncertainty, isolation, and self-doubt.

What you rarely read in business books is the quiet admin work — the compliance, the taxes, the parts that never make Instagram reels.

Recently, the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration reminded me of that the hard way. Back in 2021, I had a small e-commerce run selling guitar accessories. I was making sales, feeling momentum — and ignoring the paperwork. When I applied for a new seller’s permit this year, the system flagged me for not filing those old sales taxes.

Twenty-one thousand dollars in sales.
Two thousand five hundred of that in California.
A revoked permit, a revocation fee, and a valuable reminder.

The rep told me plainly: Don’t let it happen again.

It was humbling — but necessary. Entrepreneurship will expose every gap in your discipline.

This is the part most people skip over—the days where traction feels nonexistent. The late nights, you question whether the world even sees what you’re building.

But then I remember the miner who stopped digging three feet from gold.
He had the right tools, the right vein — he just quit too early.

Most people do.
They underestimate how long excellence takes to compound.

When you’ve invested time, money, and energy into something that still hasn’t “popped,” you reach a crossroads: give up or double down.
The answer isn’t blind hustle — it’s sustained discipline. Grit isn’t noise; it’s endurance in silence.

I wake up at 6:30 every morning as if I’m clocking into a job — except the job is me.

If I were working for someone else right now, I wouldn’t have the bandwidth to build what I’m building. Every hour would belong to a paycheck instead of a purpose.

And while that freedom can feel terrifying at times, it’s also a test. Because when there’s no one telling you what to do, you either rise — or drift.

That’s why I write Gritletter.
Not because I have it all figured out, but because I’m in the same trenches — learning to build without burning out, to stay motivated when momentum feels invisible, and to keep showing up when the world’s not clapping yet.

The work no one sees is the work that matters most.

When you’re juggling multiple projects and ideas, structure isn’t optional.

I use Project.co to manage tasks, share files, and keep everything connected.

Simple. Visual. Built for creators who wear too many hats.

Gritletter is now on YouTube.
Short visual essays on clarity, systems, and discipline in the modern world.
If you’ve been enjoying these ideas in writing, you’ll see them come to life there.

🎥 Subscribe to Gritletter on YouTube

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