For Max Farber, becoming an entrepreneur kind of happened by accident. After all, he’s what could be dubbed a modern entrepreneur – his business is, essentially, himself. Farber is a full-time content creator, going by @farbsy on Instagram, and decided to make the leap to a non-traditional job out of necessity.
“I was working a 9-5 that I enjoyed, and even though I was doing very well with my channel, I enjoyed having a steady paycheck, going into an office, and all the camaraderie that comes with working in an office,” he says. “I ended up getting let go from that job, and took that as a sign of ‘hey, I think it’s probably time to go all in.’ That’s exactly what I did!”
Going all in seems to have paid off – recently, Pitbull reshared some of Farber’s content (which specifically called out the musician) to his page, joining an impressive list of celebrities who have enjoyed Farber’s content. He also got to work in a “Work from Dome” commercial for the Toronto Blue Jays, a dream-come-true moment for a lifelong fan. But Farber always does some introspection, reminding himself that authenticity plays a strong part in his career.
“I always want to stay true to myself, but at the same time, it’s important to take risks. Same can be said for many jobs. If you play it safe the whole way through, sure, you might end up fine, but you’re probably gonna look back and say to yourself, ‘I wish I did that a little differently,’ or even, ‘I wish I tried that. That would’ve been fun,’” he says. “So I always make sure to remind myself that, at the end of the day, even though many people love what I do, I don’t do it for them, I do it for me. I’m going to do what I want to make myself happy, and hopefully others are happy with the choices I make for myself. Because really, at the end of the day, it’s called the For YOU page, not the For THEM page.”
Of course, even the non-traditional entrepreneurship journey of content creation has its challenges. “It asks you to really be aware of yourself and your limits. I think a lot of creators, when they start doing it in a full-time capacity, don’t really understand how much easier it can become to burn yourself out. You feel this pressure, like you have to keep filming all day and doing everything you couldn’t do when you were working a 9-5, or whatever it may be,” Farber says. “When you essentially become your own business, it really challenges you into figuring out when you limit yourself, how you limit yourself, and just in general, being aware of how to keep yourself in check with what’s important.”
Like other entrepreneurs, Farber also faces a balancing act of sorts, navigating the split between feeling that pressure to always create and stepping back to take care of himself. “I’m always keeping an eye out for everything. I genuinely can’t help it. If I see something on the street, or overhear a conversation, I’ll always find something that makes me go ‘ooh, that can be turned into something,’” he says. “As far as being committed to creating when I feel stuck, I take that as a sign that I probably need a day or two to recharge. So I stay committed by giving myself time off. Lots of creators will try to push themselves, but as I mentioned before, that’s how burnout shows up. Giving yourself time to rest and recharge is the best way you can stay committed to yourself. It’s your brain saying ‘hey, so I’m not feeling 100%, I’m gonna just take it easy today, and you should probably do the same.’”
