When I went from working in-house to freelance, I thought: “I’m great at 3D, so I’ll succeed on my own.”

But that thought was my downfall. I hadn't built a business; I'd built myself a more stressful and exhausting job.

I remember sitting at my desk one night at 11pm, render whirling and thinking, “How am I working this hard just to stay in the same place?”

I was stuck in a constant, very frustrating loop that was impossible to escape: The more I focused on doing the work, the less I focused on finding it, and vice versa. I tried to work harder and longer, but there is a cap on hours you can physically work in a day... I was constantly reacting to whatever came next, and I was on the fast track to burnout.

That changed when I read "The E-Myth Revisited." It hit me like a ton of bricks: I was confusing being a world-class Technician with being a competent business owner. I was only working IN my business, never ON it.

Every business needs three roles.

Technician: Doing the work (modeling, lighting, rendering)
Manager: Organizing the work (timelines, clients, systems)
Entrepreneur: Designing the business (offers, marketing, strategy)

When I looked at my week, I realized I was only the Technician 100% of the time, doing all the work but I was completely neglecting the Manager and Entrepreneur.

I heard you can tell a person's priorities by their bank statement and calendar. When I looked at mine, I realized 100% of my time was spent wearing the Technician hat. I had allocated zero hours to the Manager's systems or the Entrepreneur's strategy. No planning. No systems. No direction. Just output.

I don’t even want to mention the bank statements…

If you only ever wear the Technician hat, you stay stuck in the work forever. To grow, you need space to design the work, not just do it. Once I started acting in all three roles, things changed I wasn’t just busy anymore, I was building a profitable, predictable business.

After speaking to many of you, I realized I wasn't alone in this. And that is why we started Future-Proofed 3D Artists. We've been running it for the last six months, helping other 3D artists build better systems, better direction, and get better results.

Not by working harder, but by working like a Technician, Manager, and Entrepreneur.

We’re starting again in January with 10 more 3d artists. Applications close soon. So if this feels like where you are now, you can find out more here and book a call with me: 👉 https://future-proofed.luxuryvisuals.com

You don’t need to be exhausted from the constant hustle.

Here's how I broke up the roles.