Because you only live once…
Controlling your Life
Sep 2nd
One of the biggest struggles that people have in starting their own Lifestyle Design Business is having the financial and time freedom to do so. Most people only have a vague idea about where their money and times goes. How much do you really spend on coffee?
Without the ability to control your time, money, and responsibilities, changing your life for the better might be a struggle. You can’t quit your job because you don’t have enough savings to cover you while you start a business. You can’t work on your business because you have too many other obligations in your life. You can’t find important items because you have too much stuff cluttering your space.
All of these things fall under the category of life control. You must first master yourself before you master the world. In order to really be able to follow your UnWork, you must first control yourself and your life.
I believe Life Control is a big issue for a lot of people that want to follow their UnWork. For this reason, I am going to make Life Control one of the topics of this blog, along with specific UnWork information. You will begin to see more info on this topic as time goes on.
I’d love to hear from you any thoughts on Life Control and its necessity when trying to find and follow your UnWork with a lifestyle design business.
Chasing Efficiency
Aug 31st
Nothing gets me more excited about working then reviewing my projects list and seeing all of these super awesome projects that I have on it – that is, until I start getting overwhelmed at the number of them. Just by looking at the list it doesn’t seem like that much. I have, say, 10 projects all of which are pretty exciting. I feel like I can just knock some out and move right along. I want to jump to the end and have the awesome finished product. It seems reasonable. They all seem doable. But then time passes and I don’t get them done.
When reviewing my list, I like to imagine myself doing the project. I can see myself working on my new ebook or building my new robot. I imagine myself totally sucked into the project that time is forgotten and I just work, completely focused, until I am finished. This is what gets me all excited. I am in love with the dream of this efficiency. I love the idea of complete focus, going from one project to the next without getting distracted by the latest cat videos on YouTube. I dream of crossing each project off my list and moving on to bigger and better projects.
So back to reality. Here is what really happens when I sit down to work. I may pick my first task and start working on it. Then a thought pops into my mind about some other project and I have to stop and take notes on that project else I forget the awesome idea I just had about it. I might then get back to the original project, but not without some other distraction or stray thought. I rarely reach the level of focus that I have when I visualise myself working. I do occasionally, and I take good notes on how and why those situations arise, but most of the time, my brain is not all the way there. I am chasing efficiency and never ever getting there.
I think a lot of people chase efficiency. This is why the productivity gurus can make so much money. This is the universal struggle that anyone with a project list faces. How do we align the way to actually work to the way that we wished we worked? Can we do more then just chase efficiency?
Stuck in a Rut
Aug 24th
Being in a rut is like being stuck in quick sand. You really want to get out but your just don’t know how – and it just keeps pulling you farther in. You didn’t mean to fall in. It just happened.
Okay. Now what? How can you get out of the quicksand?
First off… Don’t panic. Fighting it will only stress you out. You must be level headed and strategic.
I currently feel quite stuck and it can be overwhelming at times. There are reasons that I need to being doing what I am doing now and reasons that I should not be doing what I am doing now… and that can be quite frustrating at times. I tend to get overwhelmed too easily and panic. But that usually does no actual good (although it does let off a bit of steam).
But what from there? This is where I tend to run into trouble. So I’m going to open this up to audience participation…
How do you deal with being in a rut?
Winchester Commemoratives Vol 2
Aug 9th
So this is a post I should have written a month ago, but didn’t. So I’m writing it now. A project that I have been working on for 3 years now finally finished.
My grandfather wrote a book in the eighties called Winchester Commemoratives. It is about, you guessed it, Winchester Commemoratives – those fancy guns that no one ever shoots but collect like crazy. It was published the same year I was born.
Well right before he passed away, he wrote the next book: Winchester Commemoratives Vol 2. He hadn’t finished it though, so that is where my mom and I stepped in to work on it. My mom edited while I did pictures. It took a long time and I learned a ton about print publishing, but we finally got it published.
I’m very proud of it. You can check out the project here:
What is Cool?
Aug 7th
So Wordcamp today had a lot of cool. WordPress is cool. Matt is cool. We even talked about cool.
The question was asked to us in one of the session about what makes cool things cool. Why is Wordpress cool software and Joomla not? What lessons can you learn from such companies?
Wordpress is cool because it works and its easy. If Wordpress required you to jump through as many hoops as Joomla, it probably wouldn’t be as cool. The iphone works really well. Zappos shoes are really good shoes or they will replace them or take them back.
Wordpress is also cool because it is very focused. You know Wordpress. It is a simple yet powerful blogging platform. Apple computers do well what they choose to do. They don’t try to be something for everyone.
James Dean was cool because he was James Dean. He had his personal brand and stuck with it.
Okay, great. So what does that mean for me, who has interests in a wide variety of areas? Can I make a personal brand? Can I be cool?
Even limiting it down to just my company, can I be cool? Answer me this: What is your one thing? What does ever action you take boils down to? If you can’t easily answer that, think of an action you take and answer Why a bunch of times.
Take for example a marketing firm. What is their one thing?
Well we do websites, SEO and article marketing.
Why?
We get our clients to the first page of Google.
Why?
We drive traffic to their site.
Why?
We want to increase their sales.
Why?
We want to make them more money.
Why?
We want to help the business be on better financial grounds.
Why?
We want to increase the happiness of the people in the company.
Why?
We want them to be satisfied with their lives and their business.
Wow. Check it out. I ended up in the same goal as I had on UnWorkaholic. Crazy.
So helping people live satisfying lives is important to me.
But thats not all I am about. There is also this other half of me that loves technology. For example, I’ve had a long standing interest in robotics and techie stuff makes me happy. I spend my free time reading about all sorts of nerdy things, from programming guides to electrical engineering textbooks. And yes, I have been known to do math on Friday evenings.
But nothing about this improves people’s satisfaction with life. In fact, I don’t really do it for any one but me. And yet I feel that that part of me is intrinsic in my personal brand, or it really should be. If I had to pick one this to do for the rest of my life and money was no issue, it would have to be programming. Yes, I am a nerd and I’m proud of it.
But why?
I love the puzzles and the challenge.
Why?
I like being able to come up with the solution to a challenging question.
Why?
I guess I get a bit high from being able to get things to work to my will.
Why?
It makes me hope that I might be able to add something to the world through my creation (even if my current creations are straight out of elec 101)
Why do I want to do that?
Because I want to add value to the world.
So both areas are about adding value to the world through technology.
So maybe my personal theme should be something like:
Making the world a better place one line of code at a time.
Okay, that’s kinda sappy, but I like helping people and I like to code. And those together and I’m pretty happy.
Nerd girl makes her stand.
What is your one thing?
Where is Hailey?
Aug 7th
So as you may have noticed, I haven’t posted anything here in a while. I kept writing about about finding your passion and then turning that into your life when I really am not a writer and writing for a living or even for a hobby is probably not what I should be doing.
That by no means that I’ve stopped trying to turn my passion and interests into ways to live the life I desire. I’m currently focusing on freelance websites and marketing targeted towards local businesses. I just don’t really plan to be writing about it that much.
I am also finally pursuing a lifelong interest in robotics which is leading to some fun and nerdy friday nights full of math and code. I am trying to fill in many of the gaps in knowledge that I have in the realm of electronics. But I will bet that you won’t find too many other people who discuss the quadratic formula over breakfast who are not complaining about the math homework that is due that day. And yes, I’ve been reading Discrete Math textbook for fun.
Okay, enough about being a total nerd. I would like to keep posting here, but I warn you now that this blog will no longer be maintaining the super professional lifestyle design focus it originally had. I’m just going to be writing, when I write, on my own journey towards unwork and following my interests. If the topic change is not of interest to you, I will not hold it against you for removing me from your reading list.
I am at Wordcamp Houston, which is one reason I decided to pull out this app and post. Its kind of inspirational being around so many bloggers. It made me wish I liked writing more than I do.
Well anyway. Peace and nerd power to everyone. 
Hailey
7 Ways to Fail at Lifestyle Design
May 22nd
Here are some sure-fire ways to fail at creating the UnWork lifestyle.
- Read too much about Lifestyle Design. This one may be surprising to some, but reading too much can actually prevent you from accomplishing your goals. First, reading too much can cause you to become overwhelmed with ideas and then get so bogged down that you never act. Second, you can’t read it all, so saying that you just need to read that next product before you start is a guaranteed way to fail. So if you are looking to fail, go ahead and read too much.
- Never focus. Businesses that try to be everything to everybody usually don’t succeed. Even companies like Google who seem to be doing everything started with a very small focus (in Google’s case, providing the very best search engine). When starting your business, whether it’s a product, a blog, or anything, focusing on a very narrow niche or providing one well defined service helps you succeed. You can also always add more to it later once you have grown a bit. When you are starting out, if failure is what you are after, don’t focus.
- Never start. The best way to fail is to do nothing at all. Never start your blog or create your product. Never take the first step towards your new life. Of all the ideas for failing listed here, this one is the best. If you don’t want to succeed, never even try.
- Quitting too Early. Most lifestyle businesses don’t have instantaneous success. It’s not “build it and they will come.” But given that you are providing value to an audience that needs value provided to them, they will come. You just have to keep at it. If you find that they are not coming, try evaluating why and change your tactics slightly. But even if you are totally awesome, your success will not be over night. There will be times when you feel like you are writing to no one. If you want to fail, that is when you quit. If not, just keep at it.
- Not Quitting. When you start out, you may go through many ideas until you find the one that you like best. No matter what your niche, if after a month you can’t stand thinking about it, maybe that is not the niche for you. You need to be able to really enjoy your work. Don’t be afraid to quit something if it’s a bad fit for you. Trying to do something that you hate is a great way to fail.
- Don’t Produce Value. I mentioned this above, but it’s worth repeating. If you don’t add value, you are doomed to fail. Don’t repeat others. Don’t copy. Add something special that only you can add. Your whole topic doesn’t need to be unique, but you need to add something to the topic in order to succeed. If you don’t, do one would have a reason to buy from you.
- Don’t Market Yourself. Face it, if you are online you are a marketer. Jonathan Fields wrote about this in greater depth a few weeks ago. It is through marketing efforts, usually through social media and networking, that people find your blog for the first time. If no one ever finds your blog or sales page, no one will ever be a reader or buyer.
What other ways can you fail at all creating a lifestyle business?
Honesty, Friendship and Empires
May 18th
I went to Pei Wei for lunch today, which is the land of free fortune cookies. I, of course, helped myself to a handful. After opening a few that were about food (I don’t think that a Wonton a day will actually keep the doctor away), I got one that rang true:
Honesty and friendship bring you fortune.
I have never seen a truer fortune cookie (except maybe “You like Chinese Food”), because honesty and friendship are the key ingredients to building an information business online. If you are dishonest, people won’t believe you and won’t buy anything you sell. If you don’t build friendships, you miss out on a whole range of partnership opportunities.
I’ve seen this first hand in the case studies that Chris Guillebeau put together in the Empire Building Kit.
The what?
About a month ago, I signed up for the Empire Building Kit brought to you by Unconventional Guides. All I knew was that I was working on building my online business and could use all of the help I can get. The turns out to be one of the best purchases I’ve made all year. The kit consists of interviews with real online emperors that you are guided through over the course of one year by email. That’s 365 emails! Add to that a No Question Left Behind policy and your get the Empire Building Kit. I recommend it to any UnWorkaholic out there!
I think this product is so great, I signed up to be an affiliate. I would never recommend something that I didn’t think you could benefit greatly from! But I am getting a referral fee if you buy the kit through my link.
How’s that for honesty? and now for the friendship:
I’d like to extend Chris’s No Question Left Behind policy. If you have a question about building your empire and becoming an UnWorkaholic, send them to me and I’ll answer every single one. This is true whether you buy the kit through my link or not.
Do You Have to Be a Writer?
May 15th
I wish I had a dollar for every time I hear someone say, “I can’t create an online business because I can’t/hate to write.” Even I thought this for a while. But is this true? Do you have to be a writer to be an UnWorkaholic?
I will admit that it helps. If you love writing, you can produce blog posts and informational products easily and enjoyably. And since information products and blogging have a pretty high rate of return, writing can indeed help you succeed in an UnWork lifestyle.
But the answer to the question is no. You don’t have to be an writer to make it online. You will have to write some, even if it’s just getting your thoughts on paper for someone else to polish, but there are ways to minimize the writing. Here are my tips for doing so:
- Pick a non-writing business – If you hate to write, sell something besides information. If you are selling a doodad or something physical like that, you won’t have to write in order to produce it. A similar option is selling software, either that you coded or you hired someone to code for you.
- Use alternate media – Hate to write but love to talk? How about delivering your information through audio or video? A successful video blog can be just as powerful an online tool as a regular blog. And plus, audio products have a higher perceived value when packaged into a product, which means your audio information product may sell for more then an ebook anyway.
- Hire a transcriptionist – If you still want to have a blog, you can record your entries and hire someone to type them up for you. You may have to try a few people before you find a good fit, but this is definitely doable. Some of them may even be able to post your entries to your blog for you.
- Hire a writer – You come up with the outline for your post or ebook and then work with someone else to actually get it written. This works great for information products where you supply the ideas and someone else actually writes it. This is called ghostwriting.
- Create a group blog / community – This is where you have a team of people all writing on your blog. Your audience knows about the team and can see who posts what, but you hare still running the show. You provide direction to the team by setting the goals for the site and benefit from the group success.
Those are my ways to still be successful online even if you don’t like to or can’t write. If you try something and keep hitting road blocks, that may be a sign that you need to look into alternate paths. I hope these can provide you with a starting point.
What other ways can you think of to get around a writing road block?
Fear of Being Normal
May 10th
Throughout my whole life, I’ve struggled with fear. Growing up, I was afraid of fire and thunder and stuffed bears. As I’ve aged, some of the fears have lessened and changed, but I’m no way over my fear. I’ve replaced my fear of bears with the roar of the airplane that is about to take off under my feet.
I still fight my fears. I still go on trips and light candles. But there is one fear that I’ve had for my whole life that I will never hate and will never try to get over. It is the fear that, until college, ruled my life.
It’s the fear of being normal.
I fear conformity. I fear the crowd. I fear that people will look at me and claim that I’m just another one of the sheeple. I fear waking up when I’m 40 and realizing I never did anything with my life. That I’m am ordinary.
Because I want to be extraordinary.
In college, I got beaten down a bit (not literally) and burnt out. By the end of college, I just wanted to veg out and do my job. I had turned into one of those dreaded sheeple. After graduation, I got a job as a web developer. As jobs go, it’s pretty nice. I make a decent living working 4 days a week.
But as the burn out from college began to subside, my old fear began to come back. I felt normal. Well, I was normal. And that needed to change. I began searching for myself. I wanted to prove that no, I wasn’t just an ordinary girl. I could be extraordinary.
That’s what got me to where I am now. I started this blog and am working on some super awesome projects.
And never again am I going to be normal.
Want to join me?
Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinksherbet / CC by 2.0
