You Can Work for Yourself Even If You're Not a Master

The Mastery of 10,000 Hours Explained for 2025

The idea that it takes 10,000 hours to master a skill comes from Malcolm Gladwell’s popularization of research by Anders Ericsson. It’s been echoed by some of the biggest business voices today like Codie Sanchez, Alex Hormozi, and many others.

Here’s a breakdown of how long it might take to get to 10,000 hours based on your commitment:

If you're working on the skill:

• 1 hour per day → ~27 years

• 10 hours per week → ~20 years

• 20 hours per week → ~10 years

• 40 hours per week (full-time job) → ~5 years

We’re often told that we become “masters” of something after putting in those 10,000 hours. And while I don’t disagree with that idea, I do challenge the assumption that mastery is the only way (or the only time) you’re allowed to go out on your own.

That mindset reinforces the belief that you can’t break off from the traditional 9-5 until you’ve become the best of the best. But, that’s just not true anymore.

Thanks to the rise of the internet, it’s now possible to monetize before mastery!

You’re watching me do it. Right now.

I haven’t hit 10,000 hours in any of my core skills yet. And still, I’ve built a real business. A platform. A brand. It’s hard to even quantify my “10,000 hours” because what I do doesn’t always fit into clean categories. But I gave it a shot:

My 10,000 “Influencer” Hours

• E-Commerce
  Prior to this, I was flipping items on eBay and experimenting with dropshipping on and off between the ages of 19 and 23. It was never full-time but more like something I picked up and dropped depending on what else was going on in my life. Still, I gained a solid foundation in spotting trends, creating listings, managing margins, and navigating platform logistics. But since it wasn’t consistent or strategic enough, I wouldn't consider this anywhere close to mastery. They were more like early reps that helped me build entrepreneurial instincts.

Estimated: ~5 hrs/week × 4 years = ~1,040 hours (10% toward mastery)

• Content Creation
  This is where I’ve logged the most consistent hours. I’ve been posting videos regularly for the past three years. The first year was part-time while I was still testing what worked, and the last two have been full-time consisting of developing, filming, editing, optimizing, and iterating nonstop. Even when my videos aren’t scripted, they’re always mapped out in my head. I know the beginning, the arc, and the landing. My captions, text on screen, hooks, and CTAs all come from a writing mindset. I’ve also had to learn storytelling, audience psychology, and branding through trial and error in public.
  

Estimated: 1 year @ 10 hrs/week + 2 years @ 30 hrs/week = ~3,640 hours (35% toward mastery)

• Public Speaking
  This one’s harder to scope because I’ve been speaking in front of people my whole life from school presentations and classroom debates to college projects. But now, my public speaking looks different. It is media appearances, podcast interviews, and going live. It’s prepping all last year for my TEDx talk and then delivering it. It’s speaking in ways where you’re not in front of a crowd, but your words still need to land: interviews with journalists where I have to think about how a quote will read on the page, or webinars where tone and timing matter. Even creating content is a form of public speaking. It’s just to a lens instead of a room.

Estimated: K–12 + college = ~130 hrs, TEDx = ~100 hrs, Content = ~312 hrs, Live media = ~104 hrs → ~646 hours total (6% toward mastery)

• Writing
  I’ve been writing creatively since I was a kid. That’s the original form of expression I gravitated toward—essays, stories, and journaling in K–12. Then two years ago, I started my Substack, which gave me space to sharpen my voice and dive deeper into cultural commentary. But writing shows up in almost every part of my work now: scripting or bulleting my videos, writing sales pages, building courses, and writing hooks, captions, and text overlays. Even when I’m not “writing,” I’m writing. It’s layered into every part of my business and brand.

Estimated: K–12 = ~1,000 hrs, Substack = ~312 hrs, Content scripts = ~468 hrs, Sales/captions/etc. = ~104 hrs → ~1,884 hours total (19% toward mastery)

So when I add all of this up of years of flipping on eBay, creating content full-time, writing across platforms, speaking in various formats; I'm still not at 10,000 hours in any of these individual skills.

And yet, I am materialistically and objectively successful.

Mastery Progress Snapshot

E-Commerce: ~1,040 hours (10% toward mastery)
Content Creation: ~3,640 hours (35% toward mastery)
Public Speaking: ~646 hours (6% toward mastery)
Writing: ~1,884 hours (19% toward mastery)

Wow, I haven’t even hit the halfway mark toward mastery in any of these skills. And yet, I’ve already landed major milestones: a Substack Best Seller, an upcoming book with Simon & Schuster, regular contributions to Entrepreneur and Hubspot. I have a steady flow of brand partnerships sponsoring my videos, and I’m frequently invited to speak or be interviewed on topics I’ve either created or popularized. So you can be successful even though there isn’t a mastery level achieved yet.

The biggest pushback I get is often well-meaning, but it carries this “well you’re different” energy. Or “you are gifted”. Thanks y’all, but I’m really not. What I’ve trained myself to do is stay focused on something for longer than what feels comfortable. While brainwashing myself into being brave, even when the stakes are high. There’s nothing about this that I was born with.

Growing up, my mom used to tell me that some people just have “it” when it comes to entrepreneurship, and others don’t. Maybe she’s right. But maybe it’s also true that if we all found something we could stick with long enough (and taught ourselves how to manage the stress of the unknown) we’d all have a shot at going solo. I don’t think either perspective is 100% true all the time. But I do think we put way too much weight on the “must be nice” narrative when someone figures out how to make something work for themselves.

A lot of that comes from how jobs condition us over time. 9-5’s teach us that we’re not allowed to feel ready or skilled until someone else gives us permission. We wait for other people to validate us before we claim mastery. But most of the time, no one’s coming to give you that permission slip. You have to write it yourself.

You Don’t Need a Job for 10,000 Hours

A lot of the business gurus we look up to started in 9-5s. They used the skills they built inside companies to eventually go out and launch their own businesses. That’s still a powerful and proven path, but it’s not the only path.

You might find the passion and courage to start something on your own from other places like your interests, your unique perspective, your current career, your skills, or even your art. These are all valid foundations for building something solo.

Creating on your own, especially online, is a completely different game from working a traditional job. In corporate America, there’s a ladder. There are hoops. There’s a checklist of requirements and people who decide if you’re allowed to level up.

That red tape looks like:

• Hiring managers deciding your title and salary before they’ve even seen what you’re capable of

• Bosses deciding when (or if) you’re ready for a promotion

• Certification hours that prove you’ve “mastered” something before you're taken seriously

Sure, some of those systems offer structure. I’m not saying burn them all down. But I am saying: don’t bring that same dogma into your dreams. Just because corporate life measures progress a certain way doesn’t mean your personal growth or business journey has to follow the same rules.

Working for myself has taught me more about my skills than any job ever did. Corporations move slow. If I had stayed in one, I wouldn’t have made nearly the same progress in the skills I listed above. It took working full-time for myself to actually accelerate my growth.

And honestly I don’t stress about not being a “master” yet, even while I’m operating publicly. I don’t pretend to know everything. If I don’t know something, I say so. I give myself permission to evolve, even in front of an audience. I might change my mind. I might shift directions. That doesn’t mean I should give up and close shop, that’s just what it means to be a real, growing person. And it’s completely normal.

Not Being a Master, May Be Your Thing

There’s an up-and-coming creator I’ve been loving lately: @jimruitang. He quit his $350K “dream job” at Google to pursue what he calls Project Freedom. This project is his commitment to building a career entirely on his own terms. What I really admire is how openly he’s documenting the process while not being a master at this yet. He’s not waiting until he’s successful or polished or even confident. He’s showing up now, mid-transition, full of vulnerability.

jimruitang

A post shared by @jimruitang

He talks honestly about the criticism he gets like his parents telling him he’s “throwing away his career,” his own self-sabotaging tendencies, and the fear of the unknown that lingers over him daily. He’s intentionally not trying to look perfect. On platforms where everyone is flaunting perfectly executed business moves, he’s doing the opposite. He is sharing the money he’s walking away from, the messy process of learning how to make a living on your own, and what it actually feels like to not have it all figured out.

Watching him brings me back to my first few months of doing this solo. I remember how scared I was. And honestly, I regret not documenting more of that time for myself and for all of you. Because it was real. Monetizing yourself before mastery flips your entire world upside down. You don’t get to hide behind a title or a manager or a company. It’s just you. And that does bring judgment from others and sometimes even from people close to you.

But, it also lit a fire in me I didn’t know I had. I have never shown up so consistently for anything the way I’ve shown up for Anti Work Girlboss. No matter how many times I don’t get my way or fall flat, I’ve always gotten up the next day. There’s something really beautiful in that duality: the fear and the fire, the mess and the mission. And I honestly think that is what real life feels like.

I still believe there’s so much to learn from being in a job. But this bootcamp of monetizing yourself is something you can’t simulate anywhere else.

So yeah, you don’t need to be a master yet to start something. Just don’t pretend to be a master because that part is exhausting for you and people preceiving you. And honestly, it’s not even required anymore.