How To Drive Yourself Insane, Go Broke, And Accomplish More Than You Ever Could Before.

“Learn How To Quit Your Job And Make 6-Figures Online In 30 Days”

It is headlines like these that have created the explosion of people wanting to work on the internet. They gobble up course after course and shell out thousands of dollars in some cases, to learn the tricks of the trade. They dream of the day when they too can tell their overbearing boss to shove it, quit their job, and begin raking in piles of easy to come by dough. And do it all while sitting at home in their pajamas, sipping coffee, for a few measly hours a day. These people are clueless, and I hate to be the one to burst your bubble, but if you believe in this easy work big pay falsity, you are too.

Now before heads start to roll, mine, in particular, let be clear. I am not by any means trying to insult your intelligence or anything else for that matter. I was once as clueless as you are. I came across a book with a title that promised to teach me all of the secrets to striking it rich online. Not only that, but it assured me I would not have to work myself to death to do it.

I was hooked from the very beginning.

I was no stranger to working from home being I had been doing it for quite some time as a customer service representative. I spent my days and nights providing technical support for various cable, phone, internet, and software providers. Also, I do not want to brag here, but I was pretty darn good at it too.

I do not remember when the moment hit precisely, but it dawned on me one night, lying bed, trying to get my brain to shut down after the exhausting round of back-to-back calls I had that day that I was not happy. I liked my job, and it was a stable source of income, something that was desperately needed at that time in my life.

It was a job that would always be there too, no matter what the world turned into, there would still be a need for people to fulfill the role. Moreover, with the advancements in technology, there would undoubtedly be a need for people to fix all of the various devices coming into the picture. It was a pretty sweet deal. Still, it did not make me happy.

I will not go all into it because that is not what this post is about but the long and short of it is, I did a ton of self-analyzation and eventually came to the conclusion that if I remained in my job, I would never achieve my dream of helping people with my writing. So I decided to quit. I decided right then and there to become a full-time freelancer.

Once I came to terms with my new decision, my entire world instantly changed. I was no longer just some faceless customer service worker. I no longer had a boss telling me what to do and when to do it. I was no longer forced to rearrange my life to meet the ever-changing schedule I had and could be a mother to my son. No more would I have to endure the headaches from the uncomfortable headset I had worn for eight-plus hours a day.

And it felt FANTASTIC!

For a little while.

About Twenty-Four hours to be exact.

The first thing you discover when you decide to venture into the world of entrepreneurship is you have a ton of steps to take to get there. Your first task is to pick your niche. Sounds pretty easy huh? Go ahead. Try it.

Get out a piece of paper or the notepad on your phone and pick one.

Narrow down all of your passions, interests, and skills to one and only one thing that you will now do for the rest of your life, knowing It will become everything you are. Pick the one thing you want to do. The one thing you want to be known for. The one thing you are sure you will excel at because not only do you love it, but you are good at it too.

How did that turn out for you so far?

My guess is not so well. I can almost see the smoke appearing above your head as the many passions, interests, and skills you have dance in your brain. I bet I even know some of the thoughts you are having.

“How am I supposed to pick just one?”

“Which one do I pick?”

“What if the one I pick isn’t the one I want to do later on?”

“What if I pick the wrong one?”

Sound familiar?

I know how it is. I also know this is where the first hint of the mindwreck to come rears its ugly head. I have had those thoughts. Those thoughts and others like it have kept me up for many nights. It is those thoughts that have caused me at times to unknowingly chain-smoke myself half to death as the frustration mounted around me.

I quickly realized that what sounds like such a simple task to accomplish, rapidly turns into a nightmare. For me trying to find that perfect niche was what held me up the longest and likely drove me the craziest. How was I supposed to settle on one tiny thing when I had so many other passions and interests.

I was good at more than just one thing.

I was an expert on more than just one topic.

I could consult and teach on more than just one subject.

So why did I have to settle anyhow?

Still, I did what the other more experienced experts said to do and tried to find it.

I cannot tell you how many hours I wasted trying to narrow down my online business idea to one topic. Notebooks and Google Docs became flooded with jumbled ramblings on various business ideas I could do. I had list after list of how I would accomplish it, what I needed to get it done, and what the future would look like if I were fortunate. Before I knew it a year of my life had gone by. Yes, you read that correctly.

One year.

365 days.

One full year of my life passed by as I struggled to find the one thing I wanted to do. I bought domain name after domain name, shelled out for various memberships, courses, and products, related to the niche I was sure was the one for me at the time. I created I do not know how many different resumes, product ideas, and other tools for my online success arsenal.

I absorbed as much information as I could and taught myself digital marketing, social media, and the rest of what I needed to succeed in today’s online business world. I worked my butt off to learn everything I needed to know and I did not have a thing to show for it.

There were no chunks of cash sitting in my bank account from my successful business. I did not have a tribe of devoted followers buying up everything I created. I was not sitting on some tropical island, sipping margaritas, putting in a few hours of work, while living the good life. Nope. Instead, I was still in the same position I was a year ago, and it was all because one thing was holding me back; My darn niche!

Now I know you are probably asking yourself how in the world did I let it get that far, and the truth of it is, I honestly have no earthly idea. One minute I am set on becoming an entrepreneur and the next, I am buried in debt, my desk was littered with unfinished business ideas, and my stress level is through the roof.

The fact that I had not accomplished anything and was still stuck in the same spot I was before made me severely depressed. I hated myself. I felt like a complete failure. My family life was starting to take a hit as well. I had spent an entire year doing nothing but trying to find the “perfect” niche for me, and it almost killed my dream entirely.

I wanted to give it all up and go back to the safety of my old career. I told myself I was not cut out for this writing thing after all and I should just stick to what I was good at, which was helping people with their technology. Sure, I would never be a life coach or a published writer whose words changed lives, but at least I would not be at a standstill anymore.

I would never be able to use the experiences I had with toxic relationships, and  life’s other not so great happenings to help other women survive, but at least I would have a career and money in the bank.

The more these types of thoughts entered my brain, the more frustrated I became. I did not want to go back to my career in the customer service industry. I wanted to help people, and I wanted to do it with my writing. I wanted to touch lives. I wanted to motivate, inspire, and educate people on the topics that hit the closest to home for me. I wanted to write.

The more I thought about what I wanted, the more motivated I became. The thoughts of my failure the past year started to make their way out of my brain, replaced by new feelings of perseverance, motivation, and determination. I was not exactly sure HOW I was going to make it happen, but I knew I was GOING to. I was not going to allow the fears I had to hold me back anymore. I was going to be a writer, and I was going to help people with that writing. And this time, I was not going to let anything, not even myself, stop me from doing it.

Since then, I have tossed aside every other business idea I have had into a folder marked “business ideas to try out someday” and have devoted every waking moment I have available to achieving my dream of becoming a writer. I have begun to develop my online brand awareness and branch out into by-line work. I am almost done with the first of the many books I have on my list to write. I have accomplished more now in a few months than I ever did that entire year of confusion and failure.

Now, this is the part where I bet you are preparing yourself to read how it all turned out to be beautiful and how I am currently a successful writer who is touching millions with her words. You are assuming I am about to tell you how all of my hard work has paid off and I am now free to live the dream I set out to live all those years ago. You are probably expecting to scroll down and see my offering of a coaching session or other product to help you do the same.

I hate to burst your bubble again, but that is not the case. I have not made it.

Yet.

And that is okay.

If you have made it this far, first, let me thank you from the bottom of my heart that you chose to stick with me. That means the world to me. My hope is in your reading this; you see that you are not alone in this whole online business thing. You are not the only one that doesn’t have it all figured out. I sure as heck do not. And that is okay too.

See, although, I may have sat at a standstill brought on by my internal fears, doubts, and what-if scenarios, I learned a valuable lesson. I learned that you cannot let fear or any other harmful emotion hold you back. It was my fear of failure, saying the wrong thing, and ruining someone’s life instead of helping them like I wanted to that held me back for so long.

Like a ton of other people who set out to be their own boss, try a new job, get into a new relationship, or attempt any kind of change whatsoever, I was paralyzed by the fear of screwing up. I was terrified I would pick the wrong subject matter and end up worse than I was before. I was scared to death that the gurus and other influencers in the digital world would laugh at me, call me ignorant, and worse, discredit me as a writer in general.

And it was these fears that caused me to sit and dream instead of stand and do. I had done nothing the whole time because every single time I tried, those fears, insecurities, and worries would sneak their way into my brain, hindering me from accomplishing anything at all.

It was not until I and I alone made the decision to stop allowing my fears to hold me back from doing something I was determined to do that I was able to “figure it all out”. I was able to sort through the mess I had made, rectify my financial trouble, and start putting in an actual effort to achieving my dream.

The day I made a choice to just say the heck with fear and the what if and do it was the best day I have ever had as an entrepreneur. It was that decision that changed everything for me. I hope that you learn from my mistake and can start making moves towards your own happily ever after.

Fear is natural. It is what makes us human in my personal opinion, but we cannot allow it to control us. We cannot permit the fear of failure to cause us to stop dead in our tracks from progressing because before you know it, that fear will take over. It will cripple any chance of moving forward that you have. It will halt you and halt you big time.

Instead, what we must do is tell fear to take a hike for a bit so we can do the darn thing and accomplish what we want to achieve. We have to let go of the what if’s and worries because if we do not we are not going to get anywhere. In my case, the fear of failure caused me to go broke, lose my mind at times, and end up with nothing whatsoever accomplished.

It was not until I chose to stop fearing and start living that it all clicked for me. So what I hope you take from this is that you are doing fine. You may not have it all figured out right now but you will. Stop focusing so much on your niche and getting it right the very first time and just do something. Anything. But for the love of all that is holy, please do not sit still because you are scared. Make some move, no matter how small, and you are doing exactly what you need to do to succeed.

So what if the niche you choose, today turns out not to be the one you want to do forever. It is not the end of the world. You can change it. It is your choice. Your life. Your business. You can make it into whatever you want it to be.

The fact of the matter is you are going to mess up. You are going to buy something you wish later on you should not have. You are going to lose sleep trying to get it all set up. You are going to have arguments with people who want you to just pick something and stick with already. You are going to go crazy at times, and you are going to want to give up.

You are going to want to give up a lot.

There will be days when you want to throw your hands up and just quit, go back to your boss, kiss his butt, and do whatever else you have to do to get your sense of safety and security back. You will have moments when you break down because you are not getting anywhere.

You will ask yourself if all of the hours you are putting in, everything you are learning and everything else you are doing is even worth it. There will be doubts, fears, insecurities, and worries that creep into your brain and attempt to prevent you from success.

It is sad and probably a little disheartening to hear, but it is the truth. It is not going to be all peaches and cream when you decide to become an entrepreneur. It does not matter how lucrative your chosen niche is or how good you are at it; there will be hard times. Tough times.

It is how you overcome those times and the fact that you did that make you successful. Success is not just measured in dollar signs. If you are making progress, you are achieving success. You may not be where you want to be, but you are not allowing the fear to stop you. You know you still have a ton of work to do and a long way to go unless you get a lucky break or something but you are getting there.

That, in itself, is a huge accomplishment. There are so many of us like myself that allow the negatives to control us and prevent us from achieving what we want to achieve. We are afraid of messing up or someone not accepting us that we do not do a thing. We just sit there in our safe little bubble and mosey about our day as our dreams fade to the background.

Don’t be one of those people!

If you want to be an entrepreneur, do it. You do not have to give up your day job, and in fact, I would encourage you not to so you do not end up like I did, struggling to even get by. Instead, make the decision and stick with it. Fight through your fears and doubts. Tell them to take a back seat while you work hard to achieve your dreams, whatever those may be.

I learned the hard way, and now I am working my butt off to get out of the mess that I created for myself. It is hard sometimes. It still drives me crazy and those fears still creep in from time to time, but I keep going. I keep typing away, putting my thoughts on digital paper, in hopes that one day, someone will see what I have written and it will help them. It might sound crazy or even a little cliched, but if I can help at least one person make it through to the next day when they are determined not to, then my dream is accomplished, and that, to me, is worth more than any million dollar mansion on paradise island ever could be.

Angel M