Freedom Fridays is here. Yay.
If you’re new to the feed or the site, you should know that on Freedom Fridays, we talk about free tools for your business, the freedom of working for yourself, full or part time, or something in-between. I’m hoping to do all of the above today for reasons that will hopefully become apparent in a few minutes.
I’m having some issues with my back again, as always. It may mean that I’ll get admitted to the hospital. In that case, I’ll have a colleague push through my saved updates to you and I’ll keep going when I get back. I might be offline for several weeks, but I’ll still be giving client support by email, via phone, and in the forums, though it may be slightly slower than usual.
Before I get started, I just want to take a few minutes to thank everyone for their well wishes during my brief bout with the flu, and of course, the on-going degenerative issue I have with my back.
People keep asking me how I can do it, how I can still work with a weaker-than-normal immune system, with the back problem that affects my entire body, and keeps me from being able to type at times. How do I keep up?
Sometimes I can’t. When I can, I do. It’s really that simple.
And as anyone who purchases my books can tell you, I just do my best. That’s all you can ask of yourself. Sometimes you’ll be late updating a site. Other days come and you’ll somehow miss an email here and there. It happens. Ironically it happened more when I was in better health. I used to really beat myself up about it, and I’m not perfect. So sometimes I still do.
But at the end of the day, what else can you do? You keep going.
My condition is kind of serious this time and there are talks of surgery. There have been before, but I’ve always been really cautious about being under the knife for my spine. It has never seemed like a good idea to me. This time I might not have a choice.
Why am I telling you this?
Because I want you to realize something. Whether you’re sick or you’re well, whether you’re busy working a full-time job, whether you have a family to consider or you’re on your own, it is entirely possible to start a home business, or for you to get more traffic to your site to make sales. I’m living proof.
Do I make lots and lots of money? That depends on how you define lots and lots. To some people, a lot of money is a million dollars. No, I’m not a millionaire, though in a few years, I have a pretty decent shot at it. I don’t even make two hundred thousand dollars a year. And even though my present income is a fortune to some people, most of my money goes to doctors bills, assisted living expenses, and medication.
So I really am just like you. Only difference is that I work from home, and I’m the boss of myself. It seems like an ideal situation, but it also means that all the responsibility falls on you. If I ever fail, it will be my own fault, in one way or another, even if it’s not directly my fault because I expose myself to a situation I can’t control.
And that is, strangely, the most freeing feeling there is. Because your destiny, good or bad, is in your own hands.
The only way in which I’m not like you is that I have no choice. I work from home and sell my books or I have no income. I can’t work a regular job and I’m too “rich” for welfare – and unless the time comes when I can’t breathe on my own, I’ll remain too proud for a hand-out. It makes for a great motivator, but it can be stressful at times.
And here is another way that is relevant to you.
What would you do to succeed in life if you had no choice?
If you HAD to make your business work, what would you do? Invest some time in learning more about your field? Make your kids employees? Buy that service for your site that you’ve been putting off? Remember to write off your ebook purchases as a business expense? (I’m not a lawyer or an accountant, but you really should contact yours to see what you can write off. The savings in one year helped me buy what I needed to become an expert.) Finish writing your ebook?
Thiink about that for a few minutes and I’ll be back to show you where I’m going with this.
