The beauty and persistent, driving fear of being a Realtor is that I don’t have a “boss” (other than my wife). This essay by Paul Graham is simply wonderful and accurately describes personality traits held by many successful Realtors and other entrepreneurs I know.

I was in Africa last year and saw a lot of animals in the wild that I’d only seen in zoos before. It was remarkable how different they seemed. Particularly lions. Lions in the wild seem about ten times more alive. They’re like different animals. And seeing those guys on their scavenger hunt was like seeing lions in a zoo after spending several years watching them in the wild.

Sure, we “set our own hours;” sometimes that means working at 0600 and sometimes that means working at 10:47 pm responding to offers. But no “boss” is telling me to do that – just my drive to meet and exceed my clients’ and my expectations.