My first attempt at starting a company was called TrekDek. It was a deck of playing cards that had a different travel challenge to accomplish on each card.

For example, one card would say to eat the street food and another would challenge you to strike up a conversation with a local.

I worked on it for a few years and eventually gave up. In the end, I netted zero dollars.

I loved the idea, but for a number of reasons, it wasn't successful.

What I realized later was that I was confusing my love for novelty and originality with the desire for a successful business.

Contrast that with going 1099. With my first shot at it, I earned an extra $40k-$50k.

I didn't invent solo 1099 federal sub-contracting and I didn't invent data analysis as a professional service.

It was 100% not original.

Now I'm also building a "real" government contracting company by hiring qualified people to do the work the government wants done.

This is also 100% not original.

If you have concrete business goals, being original should be a low priority.

You can certainly be original within the business, but usually this manifests in more conservative ways, like being faster at delivering your service or doing it to a higher level of quality. It requires original/creative thinking but within the very unoriginal constraints of a traditional service business.

If you're an entrepreneurial/creative type, that's great! Definitely use that side of your brain and personality.

But if you want the relatively quick win of working for yourself and making more money, don't focus on originality and instead just focus on fundamentals: being technically competent, actively networking, and pitching 1099 arrangements.