Author - admin

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...

I quit watching the news on January 8, 2009…

Ok, I have caught myself maybe 4 times watching a broadcast.

I have been addicted to politics and world events since I can remember. I used to pride myself on understanding, as well as I could, what was going on and how events “would impact me” and the people around me. My wife would say I was obsessed. I would check the stock market every 20 minutes, follow the daily news stories and rant all day about what “the mess” we are in.

I found myself falling into a huge depression as I wondered what happened to all of the people that were losing their homes and jobs. I would literally yell at the tv during news casts in anger about what was going on around me.

This is obviously not the type of environment I wanted my 2 year old daughter Grace to grow up in.

So I quit.

I didn’t even watch the inauguration. Something I could have never imagined missing in the past. I quit watching the stock market except to check in for a quick peek once every couple of days. But I didn’t spend hours reading message boards and new stories on the latest scandal or fraud case. I just ignored it all.

I am the happiest I have ever been since I have quit.

Since I quit I have made several new friends, spent more time getting to know my neighbors and most importantly have been able to create a happy and stress free environment for my daughter, my wife and myself.

My childhood friend just called me and was feeling depressed about what was going on in the world and his frustration about needing to find a job and fast. He was desperate and wanted to talk.

For every idea I gave him, he had 6 excuses of why he couldn’t do THAT. So I would respond with a simple question, “So, you do or do not NEED to make money?”. Each time he would explain he did and would do anything. I would give him a suggestion and he would give me more excuses.

I must have given him a dozen ideas of things that he could do to make money.

I finally told him to “quit” and call me when he was ready to make a change and hung up. Not the nicest thing, but I just couldn’t go around in circles any more.

Then I got a skype message from my friend, Jason Fladlien. If you know anything at all about Jason, then you know that he is one of the hardest working people on the face of the planet. Not only that, but when he needed money he painted houses until he could build his online business, was a monk and even a rap star (Go J-Flad…), basically whatever he needed to move forward.

He is a guy that isn’t afraid to try something because of some comfort zone or let what other people think of him dictate what he does (take a look at his picture here if you don’t believe me).

Jason started telling me that he was having a record day in sales and how excited he was.

It just opened my eyes to how different two people’s experiences can be based on their attitude and work ethic.

Now I am looking at my own business since I had an “attitude adjustment”. I spend my business time studying productivity, time management and enhancing relationships that I have.

I now find that I am happier and more peaceful than I have ever been in my life. When I focus on my family, I am with my family. When it is time for business, I make sure I am focused and spend my time doing things that will set the foundation for the future.

Since I have quit, my business has transformed and I am working less and making more money than I have ever had, all from a little attitude adjustment and some refocusing.

So what is holding you back? What thing can you change that will not only make you more money but also increase your general happiness and quality of life? Leave your comment below.

Lance

Tell your tweeps about this post...