Tell me if this sounds familiar to you: Step 1: You decide you're sick of your job. You're tired of waking up every morning to do something you don't enjoy. You're tired of being mistreated. You're tired of being a slave. You're tired. You realize it will take you years to get the money you need to live your dreams. When I decided to go into business for myself my motivations were very much the same. Army pay, even as an officer, wasn't so great ... Step 2: You decide "enough is enough". You look for other options. Maybe you can go into business for yourself? There has to be a better way, right? You start doing research and you're overwhelmed with the options. You decide, though, that it's better to work for yourself than someone else, so you know that one way or another you will quit your "day job".
Step 3: You make the big choice: start your own business or participate in a business opportunity (franchise, network marketing, affiliate, etc ...) Like most people, you probably went the easy route first. You started promoting a business opportunity, or maybe even several of them ... You spent a heap of money on books and tools. You worked late into the night. You neglected your social life ("Hey, I'm pursuing my dream - my life can wait.") And in the end for what? After a few months you do the math ... If you had put the same hours into overtime at your job you would have made more money ... And then someone tells you the "big secret": "the only way to make money is to sell your own product!"
Step 4: You go into business for yourself. You're now totally in control. The money goes straight to you and you're happy. When you get those first few sales you're fired up! At the end of the first couple months, though, you realize that your business is getting out of control. There is too much to do and you're now sleeping even less than before. Someone tells you: "Why do all the work yourself? Hire some employees and let them do the work!"
Step 5: Where the heck are you now? Now you're working more hours, your life is more complex than ever before, you experience stress every moment you're awake and when you sleep you don't really rest - you toss and turn every night worrying about business "issues" (but we're so brainwashed into believing running a business is our key to happiness that we call them "issues" instead of "problems"). Does that sound like you? Of course it does. This is the story I hear from almost every business owner I know. There are a few exceptions who have used a skillful combination of automation and outsourcing, but the vast majority have relived the above story to one degree or another. I personally lost track of my own dream along the way ... I started down my entrepreneurial path to get personal freedom, but I ended up losing freedom rather than gaining it. "Freedom to do what," you ask? Well, I don't even have to tell you what my dream is ... You know what I mean because you have your own dream. It's what got you walking down this path to begin with. Maybe you wanted to buy a boat and live on the water ... Maybe you wanted to go back to school ... Maybe you wanted to be an artist ... Maybe you just wanted to have more time to spend with your children ... But it all went back to money, didn't it? You didn't have enough money or time to pursue this dream, so you got into business - thinking that it would take your troubles away. Instead you woke up one day and realized that you weren't living your dream at all. In fact, your life had become much much harder. Is There an Answer? In Part II I'll tell you about how I'm addressing this problem in my own life. I'll show you my theory and what I believe to be a great solution to this problem. Let me tell you right now, though - if you're looking for an answer that won't take any time and effort on your part, you won't hear that from me. Such a thing doesn't exist. What I will show you, though, is a path that will allow you to set up income streams that will give you a certain amount of freedom. It's a realistic plan that definitely works. GO TO PART II - The Answer. All the best, Mark
Mark Joyner
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