Every year I make resolutions. Lose weight, read more, eat better…etc. Generally, I proceed accordingly, with gazelle-like intensity…for about a month. Then the wagon hits a pothole, I fall off and resolve to do better next year.
This year…it’s different. Yeah, I’d like to lose weight (admittedly, it’s only about 10 lbs I’d like to lose, but still), read more and eat better, but I’m not going to cloud my focus with those goals. I’ve got one single, solitary goal in mind this year – by Dec 31, 2008 I will be self-employed and on the way to more freedom than I’ve ever known. Ambitious? Yup. Never one to have my feet firmly on the ground, I’m committed to changing my life forever.
Here’s the scoop on what this will all entail. I’ll lay out my goal, my somewhat cloudy plan, and all the other supporting pieces that are important.
Last year, I began thinking seriously about how to get out of the employed, weekend-focused lifestyle and into something that made more sense and allowed me more freedom. After circulating through various ideas, I’ve finally landed on one that has made sense to me for months.
Paranoia alert: This is a public blog. The ideas, experiences, thoughts and musings here are available to anyone and everyone, with essentially no way of tracking and verifying users of the content. As such, I’m sorry, but I’m not giving out specifics on what I’m creating/doing within this new company. Hate that for you, but once it’s patented and on the shelf, I’ll let you in on it. Til then, you’ll have to be ok with abstracts. Don’t like it? Go read another blog and steal someone else’s idea. I’m not normally this paranoid, but I’m determined to make this work. That involves not letting someone in the ether grab this before I have my shot at it.
That said, I’ve created a product. This product is something that I’ve seen a need for over the past few months, and is targeted at craft beer drinkers, as well as wine drinkers eventually. I’ve spent the last year involved deeply in the craft beer industry, and I feel pretty damn good that this particular product is something that is able to fill a need.
A few goals for this product/company:
- The product must sell enough (perhaps in combination with other products that are related) to permit me to quit my 9 to 5 by Dec 31, 2008.
- The company must become automated and outsourced enough to require only minimal involvement by myself once I am able to quit the 9 to 5.
- The main goals are to create a source of income which is completely automated, based not on time-for-money (time-based earning…e.g, I work 4 hours and make X dollars for those hours), and allows me to pursue education and entertainment in hobbies, travel, service and reflection.
Many of you reading this are thinking “Oh geez, someone trying to do as little as possible and make as much as possible”. Yup. However, I’ll caution you to be careful about calling this laziness. On the contrary, the epitome of laziness would be staying in a mediocre job and not dreaming/reaching for something difficult to obtain. I submit to you that my goal of creating a company that supports my lifestyle, instead of hindering it, is actually the antithesis for laziness. Just because it doesn’t seem normal and seems like a way out of the daily grind doesn’t constitute a bad plan – just something very different.
So, with that, I’ll sign off here and start on the next post with the specifics of this project. There will be a whole random slew of postings, ranging for tactical problems to goal setting issues, and probably occasionally touching on personal obstacles and hurdles. There may be times where I don’t post for awhile, and then post quite a bit. However, I promise you, it’s going to be entertaining, emotional, and filled with great stuff. Glad you stopped by.
Now, let’s get started…
