Posts Tagged ‘inspiration for entrepreneurs’

Freelancer vs. Self-Employed vs. Independent Contractor…what’s the difference? Are you really an entrepreneur or just avoiding getting a “real job?” Battle-tested ‘treps share their stories in this insightful documentary…

Watch Shine: The Entrepreneur’s Journey

If you’ve been tuning in to my blog for awhile, you’ve noticed how I like to talk about the entrepreneur’s journey and staying motivated & encouraged along what often seems to be a lonely road. While reading a copywriting e-newsletter, I came across this interesting excerpt from six-figure copywriter, Mindy Tyson-McHorse, and thought it would be good to share here. Some really great lessons for those still on the road to financial freedom. Read on…

Admit It: You’re Already An Entrepreneur

If you’ve found yourself fretting lately about how far away your goals seem and how hard it is to get started, take a step back for a moment. Look at what you have accomplished.

Honestly, not a lot of people have the guts to do what you’re doing. For one, you’ve stepped up and said, “Hey, I’ve got what it takes!” You won’t settle for a status quo lifestyle.

Instead, you recognize there’s more to life than just “getting by” and you’ve put yourself in a position to not only enjoy but command your reality.

Plus, you’ve got all the makings of a great entrepreneur. After all, you get to:

• Do what you most enjoy
• Determine how you spend your time
• Take charge of your money
• Choose the people with whom you work
• Become a known expert
• Control your schedule
• Decide who gets access to you
• Be perceived as a visionary
• Be admired by people who feel “stuck” in their jobs
• Have the freedom to follow your passions

Entrepreneurs aren’t just born. The qualities you need to be successful can be developed through hard work and application. You can cultivate what it takes to succeed just as you can resign yourself to working for someone else the rest of your life. [end]

Which will you choose?
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Mindy is a working mom who earns six figures writing copy from home. For more details about her journey to financial freedom on her own terms, click here…

Join us in the comments to tell us about your journey and what inspires you to keep going…

Be Thankful

Be thankful that you don’t already have everything you desire.
If you did, what would there be to look forward to?
Be thankful when you don’t know something,
for it gives you the opportunity to learn.

Be thankful for the difficult times.
During those times you grow.
Be thankful for your limitations,
because they give you opportunities for improvement.
Be thankful for each new challenge,
because it will build your strength and character.

Be thankful for your mistakes.
They will teach you valuable lessons.
Be thankful when you’re tired and weary,
because it means you’ve made a difference.

It’s easy to be thankful for the good things.
A life of rich fulfillment comes to those who are also thankful for the setbacks.
Gratitude can turn a negative into a positive.
Find a way to be thankful for your troubles,
and they can become your blessings.

— Author Unknown

Deciding to journey the life of an entrepreneur, in the inevitable isolation you sometimes wonder if you should give up. Well, I was in need of a little inspiration and found this poem I’d copied into my notebook many, many years ago. I don’t know who wrote it (if you do, please let us know in the Comments) but hope it inspires you as it has me…

Don’t Quit:

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re traveling seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but do not quit.

Life if queer with its twists and turns,
As everyone of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow—
You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than,
It seems to a faint and faltering man,
Often the struggler had given up,
When he might have captured the victor’s vup,
And he learned too late when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out —
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far,
so stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit—
It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit.

— Author Unknown

The trend of Independent Business Professionals continues to rise during what has come to be known as The Great Recession. Many industrious Americans are choosing to opt out of the recession by taking control of their financial freedom with creative entrepreneurial business ventures. Everything from tupperware-style pleasure parties for women to mobile dog-walking services, the list has no end.

The Coop :: Chicago-based Co-working Community

One of the growing trends that Indies are using to maximize their resources as they start their new businesses is  joining co-working communities. Co-working communities are sprouting up all across the country and take advantage of shared resources that a traditional office space provides for the fraction of the cost of leasing an office space. The communal space is often shared by individuals who do not work for the same company, instead they work for themselves. This concept is attractive to both work-at-home and traveling professionals because it offers a much needed relief from the isolation of the home office or local Starbucks.

Too often than not, fledgling entrepreneurs get caught up in the fancy trappings of starting their business. Things like sleek, flat screen plasma televisions for presentations, fancy office furniture and the top of the line ergonomic chairs. But what business really boils down to is the ability to foster growth from consistent sales and by staying true to that goal, business debt is less likely to occur. At least not for such superficial reasons. This is critical to a start-up since lack of cash flow is the primary reason why they go under. To be able to keep the cash flow going means being able to keep the doors open one more day, which is crucial in those critical first stages.

Collaborative workspaces allow for a debt-free opportunity to bootstrap one’s way to business success while meeting the needs of a business start-up. In a time when debt is all too common, being smart with limited resources is almost as good as cash in the bank. Golden.

I had the opportunity to interview Terry Dean recently, who is living the ultimate in lifestyle freedom as a successful internet marketer and entrepreneur. Wanting to uncover some of the thinking behind “success” and how various people connect their educational choices with careers and ultimately success, I had a few question for him. To no surprise, his insightful answers gave me pause and no doubt you will too. Listen in…

1. If you could go back to when you were 18 again, bright-eyed and hopeful of what life held in store for you, would you do anything differently?

Really I would not do anything differently. The reason is your experiences create the person you are today.

For example, I’m a college dropout, but the reason I dropped out was because it was a ministry school and I got married to one of the teachers who taught the high school at the same organization.  They got upset with us, and we decided to leave them entirely.

So I could say I wish I would have skipped college, but I came out of there with my wife who supported me all the way to the success of my business.  We’ve been married 16 years.

I also wish I had never gotten myself into the deep debt I did, but that is what gave me such a committment to never being in debt again.  This led me to coming up with business ways of buying cars with cash and even recently paying for my home with cash (you can bet the home builder was quite happy to get a cashier’s check in today’s financing environment).

So the answer is I wish I would have skipped college and skipped the pain of those debts, but they’ve led to the life I have today.  So the answer is no I would not change anything…even the painful parts.

2. Would you go straight to college, attend a trade school or backpack through Europe for awhile?

If I was advising someone starting out, I would tell them to do what it takes to accomplish whatever dreams they have for their life.  If that requires you to go to college, then do so. You’re not going to move toward your dream of being a surgeon by backpacking through Europe for example.

Take the next step toward what you want to do and finish with your life.  I could mention all those exercises here everybody talks about like writing your obituary and what you want to accomplish, but I’m sure you’ve heard them before.

What if someone doesn’t have a clue, which is pretty common when someone graduates from high school?  In that case, backpacking through Europe or anything else that will get you EXPERIENCES on a low budget would be what I’d advise.  Get out there and meet people.  Become a listener and ask questions.  The more variety of people and cultures you do this in, the better it will be to helping you figure out what YOU WANT.

Because it’s not about what your parents want or what the media tells you that you should want.  It’s about what you want.  And I’m also very big on finding your purpose and providing value to others.

What kind of work would you enjoy and love to provide values to others?  If you know what that is, go for it.  If you don’t then do the experiences and listening above until you get a good idea about it.

3. What are your thoughts on the old adage “go to a good school so you can get a good job?”

It’s a stupid statement.  Who just wants a good job?  A good entrepreneur makes more than almost any job.  But if you do want a job (which some people do), then get the RIGHT job…not just a good job.

The right job would be one that fulfills what I said in the above question.  It fulfills you while providing value to others.

And should someone go to college just to pass the time until they figure out what’s right for them?  NO WAY.  Talk about getting into debt…and wasting money.  They’d be stuck in one way of thinking (whatever school they attend) so they’d miss other experiences and they’d come out with a mountain of debt still possibly not knowing what they want.  In my opinion, that’s just stupid.

I am a hardcore entrepreneur.  I can’t work for anyone else.  I hated it…and I was never a very good employee.  Yet my wife now works as a nurse.  That is what she WANTED for quite a while.

So she went to a trade school to get an associate’s degree to be an RN.  And she works a job as an RN.  And you know what, she is very good at it.  And she enjoys it.

We don’t need to the money, but she didn’t feel fulfilled just working in business.  In fact we often forget to even update the checkbook with her direct deposit checks.  She had to find what fit her, and that took a while.  Once you she KNEW what she wanted, she went to a trade school to get it done.

4. What is your opinion on how one’s success in life relates to their education? What would you say success IS related to?

Success does relate to education, but education doesn’t just mean college.

I continually educate myself every year.  Amazon.com and I are very good friends. I buy a couple of books or ebooks every week so I’m always learning both in my subject of internet business and other subjects I enjoy.

I’m glad you left the question a little open by asking about success, not just money.

You can earn money doing a lot of things.  But success in my opinion only comes when you’re doing something you love.  That means that success is going to be related to finding what you love to do and going after it with all your heart.

And that means intense passionate work.  I recently wrote an article on my blog that talked about a key of every successful entrepreneur.

Success is directly related to the speed of implementation.

This means how quickly you test new ideas and put them in place.  Let’s say you have a coach and they suggest you test a new form of advertising.  Some people sit around and think about it.  Others want to study it for two months before they do it.

The successful people test it by the next day.  They play it a LITTLE SAFE and keep their investment very low in the beginning, but they put the test in place immediately.

It’s not thinking about business that makes you successful.  It’s DOING business.  Successful entrepreneurs test small, but do so quickly.  And they learn as they go.  Unsuccessful dreamers learn everything before they go…and then get distracted by something else along the way.

5. With regards to achieving the illusive “lifestyle freedom,” what would be your advice to those who are struggling with making the transition (i.e. those who still trade time for dollars)?

Lifestyle freedom means you have enough coming in from passive sources that you don’t have to go to work today if you don’t want to.  It’s now fully your choice what you do…not the mortgage company’s choice because of what you owe them.

My advice is to start putting information products together – items like books, ebooks, audios, videos, etc. on subjects which solve people’s problems.  The job of an entrepreneur is to SOLVE other people’s problems.  And the easiest way to do this passively is to through products that sell for you even when you’re not working.

Let’s say for example you know how to kill the weeds in your lawn.  Do you think others want to learn this?  You bet they do.  Maybe you did backpack in Europe.  Do you think others would like to know what you learned to have a better experience?  Yep.  Every problem is an opportunity to profit by helping others overcome it.

Create your product.  If I was just starting out today I would use a system like Clickbank.com for my first product.  They pay the affiliates for you, giving you the opportunity to concentrate on what matters…getting a good conversion on your website and finding good affiliates to promote for you.

You will work hard at first to get everything in the system flowing, but once it’s up and moving it requires only a small amount of effort to keep it going.

And here’s one more element to mention.  When you’re putting together that product you can put a few affiliate links throughout it.  These links could be to other information products, physical products, or even continuity programs like membership sites.  These all then pay you the affiliate share of the profits totally passively while you’re promoting your new item.

6. Lastly, what book(s) are you reading now?

The one I just finished was Facebook Marketing for Dummies by Paul Dunay and Richard Krueger.  The next book will be Methaphorically Selling: How to Use the Magic of Metaphos to Sell, Persuade, and Explain Anything to Anyone by Anne Miller.  I read through one book at a time and I take action at least one principle from the book immediately.  So I just put up my Facebook fan page for example because this was so important throughout the Facebook Marketing book.

Terry Dean is an internet marketing coach who has been helping home based entrepreneurs and small business owners for over 14 years.  Grab a free copy of his Internet Lifestyle Manifesto which shares how to find your passion and profit from it online at his web site today: http://www.mymarketingcoach.com.

“If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.”

Jim Rohn was a famous author and motivational speaker who passed late last year. A google search will yield a bounty of inspirational quotes he was most noted for. This one is my favorite. Living life on purpose is hard work indeed but considering the alternative, it’s well worth the extra effort. Be Well.