Let's take a typical day as an example. I might start at around 8am, sitting at the breakfast table with my laptop, a coffee and something on the television.

For the first couple of hours, I'm working through emails, booking in mastering and mixing orders, replying to customers and organising everything that needs to be completed.

At around 10am, I'll head into the studio and begin working on music. That might involve mixing a song, mastering an album, preparing a project or working through the jobs we've got booked in.

I can easily spend 10 hours doing actual audio engineering work. That's a substantial working day in itself, but it doesn't necessarily mean I've finished for the evening.

Once I leave the studio, there are still other things I want to work on. I might edit a YouTube video I've recorded, upload it, prepare a description and schedule it for release.

I'll then create an article for the Audio Animals website based on that video, add the relevant links, work on the SEO and prepare social media posts to help promote it.

Suddenly, what looked like a 10-hour studio day has turned into a much longer working day. But I've spent those additional hours doing things that I genuinely enjoy.

I think there's a common misconception that when you own a business, you suddenly have all this free time. And technically, you do have the freedom to decide how you spend your day. That's one of the advantages of working for yourself.

But if you want to build something successful, there's an enormous amount that goes into it behind the scenes.

At Audio Animals, we're not simply providing mixing and mastering services. We're also developing and maintaining a website, creating educational content, producing sample packs, working on product reviews, building our online presence and communicating with customers around the world.

These things don't happen by themselves. Every new video needs to be recorded, edited and published. Every article needs to be written and added to the website. Every product needs descriptions, images and supporting content.

Then there's search engine optimisation, building internal links between articles and services, improving the customer experience and making sure the website continues to develop.

I enjoy all of these things. I genuinely enjoy sitting down and working on the website just as much as I enjoy working with music.

And I think it's important that anyone wanting to start an audio business understands this. The engineering is only one part of running the business. Everything else matters too.

Take this video as an example. I'm recording it while another process is running behind me in the studio.

Rather than sitting on my phone and scrolling through social media while I wait for that process to finish, I'm using the time to answer a question someone has asked me.

Later on, I'll edit the recording and prepare it for YouTube. I'll create the title, thumbnail and description, upload the finished video and schedule it to go live.

Once it's published, I'll turn the subject into a written article for the Audio Animals website and embed the video so visitors can either read my opinion or watch me discuss it.

I'll also create social media posts, take photographs and schedule additional content for the following days.

It's a whole process that extends far beyond the few minutes it takes to record a video.

And that's exactly my point. It's all part of running the business, even if you aren't physically sitting in front of a mixing console.

Another reason I enjoy spending so much time working is that no two days are the same.

I might start the day mixing a rock track, move on to a film score in the afternoon and then find myself working on a drum and bass album the following day.

Different genres, different clients, different sounds and different challenges. Every project brings something new.

And if I'm not particularly feeling one type of work, I have the freedom to change what I'm doing.

Perhaps I've spent hours mixing and I feel like I've reached the point where I'd benefit from doing something different. I can move that work to the following day, provided it fits with our deadlines, and concentrate on recording something, creating content or working on another project.

Sometimes I'll look through the jobs booked in for tomorrow and find a song that I'm particularly excited to work on. I'll decide to start that project instead.

That's one of the things I love about running my own studio. I have the freedom to move between different creative tasks and keep things interesting.

For anyone thinking about starting their own business, my advice would be to choose something you're genuinely passionate about.

If I were working in an office or stacking shelves in a supermarket, I wouldn't want to spend 18 hours a day doing it. There's no chance I'd willingly work every Saturday and Sunday either.

But put me in a professional recording studio, surrounded by incredible audio equipment, working with music every day, and it's a completely different situation.

I'm incredibly fortunate to have built a business that allows me to spend my days doing something I love.

Think about it. If you had access to your dream recording studio and could spend as much time there as you wanted, how many hours would you actually spend in it?

I suspect a lot of audio engineers would say they would hardly ever leave.

That's how I feel about my studio. It's not somewhere I have to go because somebody is paying me to turn up for a shift. It's somewhere I want to be.

Of course, that doesn't mean everybody should work the same hours I do. Having enough sleep, time away from work and the opportunity to properly recover matters. I sometimes work extremely late, but I wouldn't suggest that sacrificing rest should be anyone's goal.

The point isn't that 18-hour working days are necessary for success. The point is that enjoying what you do can completely change your relationship with work.

If you're planning to start a mixing and mastering business, don't assume the only work involved will be engineering music.

You'll need to spend time building a website, communicating with potential clients, developing your brand and getting your services in front of people.

You'll need to think about marketing, customer service, content creation and how you're going to continue attracting new customers.

These responsibilities might not be as exciting to everyone as mixing a great track through a beautiful analogue mastering chain, but they're incredibly important.

Personally, I enjoy the business development side just as much as the engineering. Watching something you've created develop over time is extremely satisfying.

Whether it's a new article bringing visitors to the website, a YouTube video helping another producer or a new sample pack that people enjoy using, it's rewarding to see the work produce results.

That's why I think there's value in learning to enjoy the process of running a business, not simply the service you're selling.