I'm The Real Jason Duncan, back with another edition of Beyond the Grind – showing entrepreneurs how to stop being slaves to their own businesses and start building assets that run without them. 🚀

Have you ever watched a group of people stay stuck in a bad situation and wondered, Why don't they just walk away?

You've probably seen it in a friend who stays with a partner who mistreats them.

Or the employee who complains about their boss every single day but never updates their résumé.

Or maybe it's the neighbor who grumbles about local leaders but still shows up, nodding along to every rule.

From the outside, it makes no sense.

The door is wide open.

All they'd have to do is step through it. And yet… they stay.

Here's What's Crazy About Entrepreneurs

I see successful business owners do this exact same thing every single day.

They built a business to buy their freedom.

Instead, they're working 60-hour weeks, answering emails at midnight, and can't take a real vacation without everything falling apart.

The door to freedom is wide open.

All they'd have to do is step back and let their systems run the show.

But they don't.

They stay chained to the very business they built to set them free.

Why?

Because being the hero feels safer than building systems.

Being indispensable feels more secure than being replaceable.

Controlling everything feels less risky than trusting others.

It's the same pattern that's trapped people for centuries.

The Ancient Answer

This question haunted a brilliant young French writer named Étienne de La Boétie – we'll call him "E.B." so he feels less like a dusty name from a textbook.

The remarkable part? He wasn't an old sage reflecting at the end of his life.

He was barely 20 years old when he wrote these words.

At the very age when most of us are worried about dating, passing classes, or finding a first job, E.B. was wrestling with one of humanity's deepest patterns: why do people surrender their freedom so easily?

His answer was unsettling.

People don't stay enslaved because their rulers are powerful.

They stay because they get used to it!

E.B. saw that even tyrants – kings and rulers who seemed unstoppable – only held power as long as people kept obeying.

They obey out of habit.

They accept little comforts in exchange for silence.

They prefer the safety of chains to the risk of freedom.

And in one piercing line that still rings today, he wrote: "Resolve to serve no more, and you are at once freed."

His words are as relevant in the age of smartphones and social media as they were under monarchs and tyrants.

The Pattern Is Everywhere

Think about social media.

Millions of people wake up every morning with good intentions – exercise, prayer, focused work.

But before they even get out of bed, they're already thumbing through feeds.

Hours slip away every week in an endless scroll of likes, arguments, and entertainment.

Most people know it's not making their lives better.

They even admit it drains their energy and attention.

And yet, they keep opening the app.

The door to freedom is wide open, but the comfort of distraction feels easier than discipline.

Nobody forces you to give that time away – you hand it over willingly. That's voluntary servitude.

Four hundred years after E.B., an author named Aldous Huxley told the same story in his novel Brave New World.

In his version, society kept people calm with a drug called "soma" – a pill that erased worry and left everyone smiling while their freedom quietly disappeared.

We may not have "soma" today, but we have plenty of modern substitutes.

Another Netflix binge after a long day.

An endless scroll through Instagram.

The little thrill of hearing someone say, "I don't know what I'd do without you."

Each one feels harmless in the moment, but together they dull our resistance.

They make us settle for chains we were never meant to carry.

E.B. called it "voluntary servitude."

The faces change, but the chains are the same: we hand over freedom for the illusion of comfort, safety, or belonging.

Hero Syndrome: Voluntary Servitude in Business Dress

Here's where it cuts closest to home: entrepreneurs do the very same thing inside their companies.

You build a business so you can be free, but then you hand away that freedom by making yourself the center of everything.

The team runs every decision through you.

Customers expect your personal touch.

The company only grows when you push harder.

On paper, you're the boss.

In reality, you've just traded one set of chains for another.

And because those chains come with perks – the praise of being indispensable, the thrill of fixing things no one else can – you accept them.

You even defend them.

This is The Hero Syndrome in action:

• Every sale needs your personal touch
• Every decision runs through your desk
• Every crisis requires your intervention
• Every client relationship depends on you personally
• Every process exists in your head, not on paper

It feels like strength. It looks like leadership.

But it's E.B.'s "voluntary servitude" in modern dress.

The difference is, the tyrant you're feeding isn't a king. It's the business you built.

The Success Trap

Here's the cruelest part: the more successful you become as the hero, the harder it gets to stop.

A $25 million business owner recently told me, "Your mastermind is the best thing we've ever done. You're exactly the people I need to help me get unstuck and ready to exit."

Then he dropped out and went back to running everything himself.

Why?

Because his hero syndrome works.

He built a $25 million company by being indispensable.

Every time he personally closes a deal or fixes a crisis, it reinforces the pattern.

The golden handcuffs get tighter with every success.

The entrepreneur who's never broken $1 million dreams of having his problems.

But once you're there, letting go feels like sabotage. You think: "I got here by controlling everything. Why would I stop now?"

That's voluntary servitude at its most insidious.

It's not just accepting chains – it's polishing them.

The transition work – building systems, training people, documenting processes – feels like going backwards.

It's slower than doing it yourself.

It's messier.

It requires faith that others can eventually do what you do naturally.

Meanwhile, the old way delivers instant results.

Pick up the phone, close the deal, solve the problem.

The dopamine hit is immediate.

The progress is visible.

So you tell yourself: "I'll systemize next quarter. Right now, I just need to handle this personally."

Next quarter never comes.

The Real Cost

Servitude always feels easier in the short run. But the bill always comes due.

For citizens in E.B.'s day, it meant generations living under rulers who cared more about control than flourishing.

For Huxley's imagined society, it meant people trading away their humanity for comfort.

For entrepreneurs, the cost shows up in brutal ways.

It crushes the Five Freedoms – Energy, Money, Time, Choice, and Purpose.

The very things you started the business to gain become the casualties of your need to control everything.

E.B. was right: voluntary servitude looks safe in the moment, but it robs you of freedom in the long run.

Withdraw Consent

E.B.'s challenge wasn't complicated.

He said the path to freedom begins the moment you stop playing along. "Resolve to serve no more, and you are at once freed."

That's the turning point.

Freedom isn't handed down by rulers, bosses, or even businesses we build.

It starts when we decide to withdraw our consent from the patterns that keep us trapped.

For an entrepreneur, that decision is deeply personal.

It looks like saying…

"I will no longer be the only one who can close a sale."

"I will no longer let every decision run through me."

"I will no longer measure my value by how many fires I put out."

"I will no longer accept that my business can't run without me."

The moment you say no to those habits is the moment you start reclaiming your freedom.

The systems come later.

The delegation comes later.

But the first crack in the chains is always a decision.

Exit Without Exiting: The Operating Play

Once you decide to stop feeding the chains, the question becomes: what do you do instead?

This is where my #ExitWithoutExiting method comes in.

The goal isn't to sell your company to find freedom.

The goal is to design your company so it runs without you.

That way, you enjoy the lifestyle of an exit while still owning the asset.

Here are the levers that matter most:

Systemize the vital 20% – Document the key processes that actually drive outcomes. Not everything needs a system, but the 20% that drives 80% of results absolutely does.

Transfer relationships – Don't hoard clients, vendors, or partners. Put others in position to own those connections so the business isn't dependent on your personal network.

Install a leadership layer – Give clear decision rights to trusted people so the company doesn't stall waiting on you. Document who decides what, when, and how.

Govern by dashboard – Lead with numbers, not noise. Create metrics that let you guide the business without micromanaging the details.

Run absence audits – Test whether your business can function without you by stepping away for set periods. Start with a few days, then stretch it to 30 days or more.

Every one of these steps reduces owner-dependence. And reducing owner-dependence is the very thing that raises buyer confidence, increases valuation, and multiplies your personal freedom.

The Payoff

When you stop feeding the tyrant and build a business that runs without you, the rewards compound. It's not theory – it's lived reality.

Here's what freedom looks like when you reclaim it:

Energy – No more waking up drained because every problem depends on you. You have margin instead of running on adrenaline.

Money – Buyers trust companies that don't revolve around their founder, which means higher valuations and more options when you're ready to sell.

Time – You can take a real vacation without checking email every hour. Your calendar serves your priorities instead of everyone else's demands.

Choice – You decide where to spend your best hours instead of reacting to whoever yells loudest.

Purpose – You focus on legacy, impact, and the work that actually matters instead of just keeping the machine running.

I've seen it firsthand.

One entrepreneur connected to my Exiter Club mastermind said, "The #1 thing Jason taught me is that I cannot be the hero of my own business."

Another said, "The Exiter Club encouraged me to hire employees and free up my time for higher-value activities."

Those are cracks in the chains – and every crack is a step toward freedom.

Your Next Move

E.B. had it right: the moment you resolve to serve no more, you are free.

So here's my challenge for you this week: pick one "consent" you'll revoke.

One meeting you don't need to attend.

One client relationship you can transfer.

One approval gate you can remove.

One process you can document so it doesn't live in your head.

Because the exit lifestyle doesn't start with selling your company.

It starts with refusing to serve the business you built as if it were your tyrant.

The door to freedom is wide open.

Step through it.

Words of Wisdom

"In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps." – Proverbs 16:9

That's what E.B. was pointing to five hundred years ago.

That's what every burned-out entrepreneur feels in their bones.

The entrepreneur's heart plans to stay in control, to be indispensable, to keep all the decision-making power.

But wisdom establishes different steps – systems, people, and processes that don't depend on you.

True freedom comes when you build something bigger than yourself.

Until next time…

Go beyond the grind,

The Real Jason Duncan 🚀