The Sovereign Individual Era
What a successful person looks like in the 2020s
Every decade has their own archetype of what a rich guy looks like.
In the 1980s it was the yuppie. From 2005-2020 it was the tech bro. The Wall Street finance bro waxes and wanes in the public consciousness depending on where we are in the economic cycle.
The 2020s have brought us something different.
All of the previous Rich Guy Archetypes were tied to the system.
They were all part of something bigger than themselves, and that connection is what made them rich.
The advance of technology has made suckling on the teat of the system unnecessary.
We’re now fully in the era of The Sovereign Individual.
The dream is no longer about raising series-whatever rounds of financing from a Silicon Valley angel investor or sitting in an office on the top floor of a Wall Street skyscraper.
It’s about being free.
And it’s about using that freedom to become the best possible version of yourself.
Mandatory shoutout for the book for anyone who hasn’t read it:
Here’s my view of what a Sovereign Individual looks like.
Remote business(es)
Owning a fully-remote business (preferably more than one) is the essential trait of a Sovereign Individual.
You can’t be truly free until you:
Remove your dependence on an employer and
Remove your dependence on a specific place
A job and a boss is a nonstarter. You can’t be a Sovereign Individual until you take responsibility for your own income.
Starting a local business that’s tied to a specific location (stores, offices, factories, whatever) is definitely better than being employed…but you still aren’t Sovereign.
If the area you operate out of is starting to go downhill you have no choice but to stick it out, at least in the short-to-medium term.
Being a Sovereign Individual is about optionality.
If the area you live is starting to suck or if you just don’t like it anymore you can just grab your laptop and go.
This is true freedom and it’s only been possible for the past 15 years or so.
Operating a remote business opens up the world to you in other ways as well.