I recently sat down with a very successful marketer (and my good friend), Sergej… and we talked about something most aspiring entrepreneurs never slow down to ask:
What does clarity in business really look like? How do you build the perfect career for YOU?
By this, we don’t mean clarity about your market, or your product, or your pricing strategy.
Those come later.
We talked about the kind of clarity in business that goes way deeper:
Who are you building for? What’s driving you? And are you choosing this path, or just reacting to what others expect of you?
The podcast, which you can listen to here, was inspired by Sergej’s realization that he achieved all the ‘external’ success, but still despised the situation he was in.
It’s a tough position to be in… but it also teaches you a LOT.
You might (although unconsciously) also be in such a position, where you’re doing something in life you DON’T want to be doing.
So in this article, I’ll extract the most important lessons from the podcast to challenge you and undoubtedly help you in your entrepreneurial journey.
Sergej is one of those people whose CV would immediately send you into a trance.
He spent more than 15 years in marketing, leading teams, building campaigns, and achieving the kind of external success most people chase.
But since he started to dislike, and even resent marketing, he started to take on all kinds of different tasks, just to escape his current job:
“My CV is actually screaming between the lines – it’s screaming that I don’t like marketing stuff anymore.”
He told me that – although he mastered it and got great success – he never loved it. It’s just not what excites him.
And then he bought my course and flipped his life around. The end!
In all seriousness…
If you feel like your current job/study/business is draining your energy, instead of filling you with exciting thoughts and dreams…
… know that that’s NOT the way it’s supposed to be.
I urge you to think – and see if you can find yourself in Sergej’s story. I think we all can.
Even though marketing checked every box from a functional perspective – impact, income, status – it failed the only test that actually mattered:
Does it make him feel alive?
That realization wasn’t just uncomfortable. It was clarifying. Because it forced him to confront a hard truth:
“This is not a dream job. Not mine. Maybe someone else’s. But not mine.”
Why do we get stuck doing things that DON’T fulfill us?
Why do we get degrees we don’t believe in, or work jobs that impress everyone but ourselves?
It’s a great question (not to toot my own horn), and I think it’s because…
You might think you’re pursuing a business because you’re passionate.
But if you slow down…
If you really listen…
You might realize you’re building something for someone else’s approval.
This might sound cringe to you, but we do this when we don’t love ourselves enough.
That’s where the need for external approval comes from.
We’re afraid that others won’t love us or accept us if we don’t take a path that impresses them.
And why does that bother us so much? Because we think we’re nothing without the love and acceptance from other people.
Ask yourself:
“Who am I doing this for? What would I do if I didn’t care about external approval?”
(Obviously, this is related to career choices. I don’t want you to do some weird things and then blame me…)
Here’s what Sergej said…
“I thought I needed financial freedom. I needed to become successful. I needed to prove something – to my parents, my friends, whoever traumatized me in my childhood. To prove to the world that I’m worthy… that I have the right to exist the way I am.”
His clarity is an AMAZING thing.
If he hadn’t realized this (which is no easy feat, so hats off to Sergej) – he wouldn’t have decided to find a new job.
The ‘vain’ motivations are exactly what will get you lost and depressed.
“It has nothing to do with what you actually want. It’s all about what they expect from you, their projections, their idea of success… yachts, Instagram pictures. That’s not your goal. That’s the crowd’s idea of success.”
Isn’t my friend wise?
This question comes up constantly for new (or aspiring) founders.
And again, I’m not currently talking about product market fit or business models…
For Sergej, the answer to this question had nothing to do with logic or external advice. It was about energy.
He asked himself:
“What makes me feel alive? What actually energizes me?”
You should really think about this as well. Also, ask yourself:
“In 10 years, will I really be satisfied by the years I’ve spent doing this?
These are NOT easy questions, but when you answer them, success becomes MUCH easier.
If you have good motivations and you’re aligned with what you’re doing… your work will feel much more effortless.
When your mind starts telling you to go take a nap and watch some Netflix, you’ll have an easier time managing those thoughts.
If you want to hear more philosophical stories as well as business tips to help you grow as an entrepreneur/startup founder… I really recommend joining my email list.
You can do that only after getting a gift from me…
The 8D Framework To Launch Your Business. It’s a step-by-step guide designed to help you go from 0 to having a fully launched product.
A while ago, I also had a great job… which I’m not doing anymore.
My contract ended, and I knew I wanted to do something different with my life.
But in the moment, I felt overwhelmed by external noise and internal pressure to make a decision immediately.
I didn’t listen to that voice.
First, I decided to check into a hotel for 2 days alone. I didn’t bring my laptop or any books to kill time.
It was just me, a notebook, and my phone.
“What do I want? What don’t I want? What do I hate? What excites me?”
I just recorded it all with Voice Memos, without overthinking it.”
Then… something surprising happened.
I looked back at my notes and thought, “This wasn’t all me.”
It felt like different people had written them.
I realized… there are multiple personalities living in my head. They all want different things.
And no, it’s not a disorder (but thank you for caring about me!)
They were sub-personalities, each with their own survival mechanisms, fears, dreams, and strategies.
The voice trying to impress others. The voice driven by scarcity. The rebel. The achiever. The peacemaker.
So I did the following…
I gave them names… I could even hear their colorful tones.
One was ambitious and critical. One just wanted to rest. One wanted revenge on old classmates.
And then came the hard part: figuring out WHO was actually in charge.
Do the same for your mind, and ask yourself:
“Which one of these people is the ‘real’ me? Who’s the parent? Who’s steering the wheel?”
When I told this to Sergej, he immediately expanded on it:
“These are protection mechanisms… identities we create to survive. But if we don’t integrate them, they keep hijacking our decisions. And then we wonder why we feel misaligned.”
Even the famous psychologist Carl Jung said…
“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”[a]
And he’s a really smart guy. I’d listen to him if I were you.
One day, you’re going to look back at the thing you built – your business, your job, your legacy – and you’ll think:
Was that really mine? Or was I just performing for someone else’s approval?
Sergej’s story proves that success without self-clarity leads nowhere good.
And mine shows that clarity doesn’t arrive by accident – you have to create space for it.
You have to spend time alone.
Think about it, how can you ever meet someone on a deep, personal level, if you don’t spend 1-on-1 time with them?
If any part of this made your stomach flip… if you saw even a fraction of yourself in this story… then maybe the next step isn’t a new goal.
Maybe it’s a new level of clarity.
Maybe it’s time to pick up a journal, a pen, and start writing.
I actually have something that will help you with that… The Make It CLEAR course.
It’s going to teach you everything you need to know about getting ‘clear’ on your vision and getting on the same page with your partner (if you have one).
You can check it out here:
You just saw the blog version of my podcast episode with my dear friend Sergej. He recently quit his successful 15-year career as a marketer… and we had lots of thoughts about it, and about developing clarity in business.
The most important takeaway for you is to really ask yourself why you’re doing what you’re doing. Who are you doing it for? Here are some more takeaways:
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