What do you own?
Your skills.
Your reputation.
The noise in your head, your attitude, your personal passions…
But after that, it starts to diverge.
Some own real estate. Some own machines. Some own trademarks, or the permission asset of being able to interact with people who want to be interacted with.
If you want to build a career as a freelancer, or a business as an entrepreneur, it helps to own something. Really valuable public companies are worth so much because of the assets they own and the market position they can defend as they grow. A hard-working but disrespected worker (whether an online freelancer or an actual factory worker) struggles because they’re not seen as owning enough. People have choices, and they often choose to hire and do business with entities that own something that they want to use or leverage.
As you seek to make a difference and to level up, it helps to come back to that key question: what do you own?