Be A Free Range Human summary

Life is short. You’d think, then, that a question like, “What do you really want to do with your limited time on Earth?” would be treated as the most important question of all. But you’d be wrong. We’re often instructed that pursuing our passions and making good money just don’t mesh. But that’s just not true.

The key message here is: Doing what you love is a precondition of success, but first you have to figure out what that is.

Figuring out a free-range alternative to the nine-to-five grind is a puzzle with a lot of pieces. The most important piece, however, is always the same – you. How can you hope to enjoy an above-average – no, scrap that – a fantastic life if you believe that you’re average? The answer is: you can’t. This means that we’ll need to unlock your hidden strengths, or superpowers, before we look at your free-range career.

To do that, we need to understand the key message, which is: Your weaknesses are often your strengths, you just need to be in the right environment.

When the author was setting herself up as a consultant, she encountered a competitor. Her rival’s business concept was virtually identical to her own. Even the website design was similar. She’d been beaten to the punch. It was a dismaying moment, and she almost called it quits.

Almost. A month into her new venture, she realized she didn’t want to be like her competitor – she had different values, priorities, and customers. But it was a close shave: the myth that every idea has to be completely novel almost killed her business before it had a chance to get off the ground.

So far, we’ve looked at the basics of the free-range mindset. That brings us to the next question – what do free-rangers actually do for a living? The most common idea the author hears from people who want to quit their jobs is “start a café/bookshop/B&B.” There’s nothing wrong with that if it really is your dream, but there are easier ways to make money as a free-range human. 

The key message here is: There are four main types of free-range business.

Has all this given you the urge to quit your job and strike out on your own? Great! Now all you need to do is craft that killer business plan, right? Not quite – in fact, detailed planning isn’t necessary at all when you’re just starting out.

The key message here is: You don’t need a complex business plan to get a new company off the ground.

In the career-cage world, you’re in trouble if people don’t like what you’re saying. In most offices, the aim of the game is always the same: keep the peace, avoid controversy, get through the day, and emerge unscathed on the other side, paycheck in hand. Being a free-range human is different. One of the perks of freedom is that you get to say what you actually think without forfeiting your income.

The key message here is: You don’t have to appeal to everyone to be successful.