Being a boss isn’t just a position or a title, it’s a decision, an opt out from the nine-to-five grind.

For this new Dazed x Beats series Bossing It, we picked out three independent creatives who’ve taken matters into their own hands, living a life outside the office, answering to no one but their phones.

For Berlin-based photographer Maxime Ballesteros, constantly moving is a necessity and enables him to live out his artistic dreams shooting for the likes of Louis Vuitton, Purple and Interview Magazine. Alexandre Daillance (aka Millinsky) is a young Parisian designer with his own collective called Nasaseasons, whose hats were even worn by Rihanna.

Rather than working a eight hour day in house, Daillance spends his days designing and distributing his label while organising parties at iconic Parisian clubs. And in London, DJ Siobhan Bell has used her independence to turn a residency at East London’s Work It club into gigs DJing for Moschino, Versus Versace, Skepta and A$AP Mob.

To celebrate the power of young bosses doing things their own way, Beats meets these three creatives thriving outside the institution.

SIOBHAN BELL

“I’ve always been independent and done what I kind of want. I feel like I have this like weird intuition…you know when you have a gut feeling of stuff? I always follow my gut feeling. And I just knew that I had to go out into the world and do things.”

MAXIME BALLESTEROS

“I think if you have a nine-to-five office job or in a factory or something, you need to find your dream somewhere else. And I think everyone needs something to believe in and with this kind of job, it makes it easier, maybe, to dream.”

ALEXANDRE DAILLANCE

“When I was younger, I was all over Tumblr and all of these platforms like Instagram and I realised there were so many young creatives in New York that were doing stuff like fashion brands and I quickly realised there was nobody in Paris. To create Nasaseasons was not only important to me as a person, but also something important for Paris.”