I admit it
I admit it. I bought the dream.
I honestly thought that building a successful online business was easy, little work and would allow me not only financial freedom but also more free time than I would know what to do with.
I couldn’t wait to buy a brand new laptop and sit in a bar while making money sending out emails.
My wife bought it too. She couldn’t wait to spend more time at Sundance Resort “doing nothing”.
It was all so easy. While I admit I am not the smartest person in the world, I can usually figure things out after beating my head against the wall a few times. So I started building a list and my business.
Things were going great! Well except for the fact that I wasn’t making as much money as I thought and I was constantly tired, overwhelmed, frustrated and confused. I was literally working 2 jobs and didn’t feel any closer to financial freedom or personal freedom. The exact opposite was happening.
I rarely saw my wife or family. I didn’t talk to my friends for weeks at a time. And for what? To be able to pay myself $2 per hour? (If not less?)
This isn’t the way the dream was supposed to happen.
It got even worse for me about November of last year. My list had grown to a size that most people could not believe. It was even fairly responsive. I had learned how to make “just enough” from it. But it was nothing that could cover my bills, let alone take my wife on her getaway she had been planning.
I admit it. I panicked.
I could no longer justify the amount of time that I was spending on my “business”. And that sucked because I could see that I was so close. I knew that I almost got it. I just knew it was within reach.
Then I looked at my “business”. I looked at it hard.
I had a very big list. I did know how to earn some money from it, so I knew it was possible.
I was quickly becoming a stranger to Grace and my wife. I am so fortunate that I have a wife who believes in my and supports me. But this was NOT what was supposed to be happening. The dream I bought into was supposed to have me rolling around on the floor and playing with Grace. I bet she didn’t see me 1 hour per day during this time.
I had no real product, something I made. What? How could I not have a product? Isn’t that just mandatory?
My business was empty. I didn’t know the people on my list. I didn’t give them anything special. What I did was just copy and paste pre-made emails and hoped people bought the product. My list could care less about me and the way I was treating them I was showing I could care less about them.
I had basically decided that I need something to change or I had to give up, which I didn’t want to do.
I looked around me and contacted Jason Fladlien. I told him I wanted to talk to him about my business and I him paid him to do so.
What started as a customer – client phone call has no turned into a great friendship and my business has changed.
He convinced me.
Jason convinced me that I had all the foundation in place to create a new business, one that would achieve all of the goals that I had including more time with my family.
He convinced me that it wasn’t hard to make my own product.
He convinced me that I could connect with my list and they would forgive me for my “copy and paste” tactics of the past and that I had lots to share with them.
I got focused
Since that phone call my business is thriving, I feel better about what my business is and most importantly I get to spend time all day long taking “breaks” and playing with my daughter.
Her current favorite thing is to watch Diego and make dad do what she calls the “Diego Dance”. This basically means dad gets to jump around in circles and sing and laugh all ending with a big hug from her.
I also started getting emails from readers on my list. They were actually taking time out of their busy days to ask me a question or thank me for a recommendation or a product and a few times just to tell me thanks for the email.
So far this year I have launched 5 products (I think, yikes) and am consistently finding more time to spend with my family.
What changed? I watched what Jason and his business partner Robert Plank were doing and copied them.
What did they both have in common? They are both MASTERS of time management. In fact, I even like to refer to Robert as “Super Robert”.
I started simple and took on 1, just 1 of their time management tips and got amazing results.
First, I started not trying to plan everything at once. Robert talks about his grandfather having “lists of lists he needed to make”… that was me. No wonder I had no time. How did I solved this?
Start thinking of your day not in projects but just tasks. I write down 4 tasks that I can complete in a single sitting and do them, one at a time. It is amazing how much you can get done when you aren’t thinking about a million things.
In between each task I reward myself by leaving the office and going to play with Grace and spend time with my wife. Even if it is just 10 or 15 minutes. It’s amazing how much quality time you have when you focus on one thing.
Just Try It!
It may sound simple and might sound stupid, but you are still reading this.
Just try this one thing. Make a simple of lists of tasks. Not projects. And just complete those. Don’t think about anything else.
This simple little trick literally brought me one step closer to realizing “the dream”.
Be sure to share this tip with your Tweeps...