Image via authorlorilotto.wordpress.com

If you create, at one time or another your source of ideas goes dry. A creative stall, where you are unable to produce work, can seem like some sort of artistic paralysis. Whether you call it writer’s block, lack of muse, or something else, this situation can be frightening and maddening. A serious creative stall can cause high levels of personal stress and even permanently derail a career. But can it serve a purpose? We think so.

In a recent conversational thread about brainstorming, Deb Dorchak (our graphics designer, hire her!) remarked, “…there’s no reason to fall back on the old ‘writer’s block excuse’ ” in the context of reaching out to a trusted inspirational source. Reaching out is a marvelous tactic to break out of a slump. Others advise diverse invention strategies such as brainstorming, clustering, outlining and listing, and free painting or writing.

Within the past year, however, I’ve learned to take advantage of the creative stall. I’ve embraced the creative stall in a more strategic fashion by thinking of it differently. Instead of fearing that my creative engine is broken because I can’t create, I’ve learned to think of it as being at rest. My creative engine can’t run 24-7 in high gear. When I view the purpose of a creative stall in this way, most of the anxiety I might otherwise feel melts away, and I can function within the situation’s characteristics.

I’m not a pilot, but I do know that thrill-seeking flyboys and aviation experts alike (are the two mutually exclusive?) work with the aerodynamics of the plane or a power interruption to continue to cover considerable distance during a stall. According to flightsimbooks.com, a stall is “a situation in which the airplane loses its lift for one reason or another and simply ceases to fly. . . such a stall can even happen with the engine at maximum power. . .”

A creative stall, like an airplane stall, is caused by inadequate lift associated with speed that’s too low. According to writer and neurologist Alice Flaherty in The Midnight Disease: The Drive to Write, Writer’s Block, and the Creative Brain,  the perception of inadequate creative “lift” appears to originate in a transfer of control within the brain from the cerebral cortex to the more instinctual limbic system. Because of this transfer, a more primitive fear response – one that has resided in our DNA since we were running from saber-toothed tigers, evidently – is triggered. We’ve all seen this kind of freakout in response to writer’s block, and for some of us, it visits too regularly.

Here’s how a stall happens in aviation, and what savvy pilots do with it: If the airplane slows down from the forward speed necessary for the wings to lift it, it stops flying and goes into free fall. An airplane will stall during low speed turns, and it will also stall if it’s climbing at too steep an angle. “You correct the situation by lowering the nose and increasing the engine power, thus increasing the airplane’s airspeed and getting it flying again.”

Should your airplane lose engine power, you can continue to fly it by keeping the nose pointed appropriately for the speed. Using this method, you can even establish a glide, and go a long way without using any power at all.

Analogously, as a writer, you can work through a stall by simply getting to work and increasing your output – literally getting yourself up to speed to accommodate the direction in which you’re pointed. Or, if your writer’s engine is out of juice, you can switch to a glide – where you are supported by the prevailing winds. John Randolph Burrow reports that a recent creative stall was triggered by “work-weariness and the earliest sensation of arthritis.” His engine was worn out and needed rest and repair. When refueled, he could reignite his purpose and begin writing again.

In a section on Soaring, we read at MoneySmith:

Now lets look at the stall from the beginner’s perspective. The beginner is flying along minding his own business. Suddenly his plane stops flying and points its nose straight at the ground! The beginner panics – he pulls the stick back as far as he can to save the plane from imminent destruction. But wait, he was a little slow to react — the plane’s own positive stability has already raised the nose of the plane as it gained speed. The beginner’s late overreaction therefore pulls the plane into a second, more severe stall. The beginner realizes this just as the plane enters its second stall, and puts full down input. Again, he was too late, but this time the plane dives 100 feet before he realizes and pulls full up again. This creates a third stall, even more spectacular than the first two! Given no instructor intervention, I’ve seen beginners continue five or six times until they hit the ground.

When writer’s block hits, and it usually doesn’t discriminate, an overwrought and jerky response can actually make things worse. You might be thinking about the associated opportunity costs with lack of output, looming deadlines and a blank computer screen, and all of a sudden you’re in full-blown panic mode. This kind of drama is exactly what you don’t need during a creative stall. Like a more experienced pilot, you want to regain positive control by reducing the angle of attack. Stay calm and don’t be distracted by fear.

You can train yourself to glide through a creative stall using intuition and reflexes, just as a pilot will train for emergency conditions and slower speeds. “Most any one can skate or ride a bike fast. It is at slow speeds that true skill and control can be demonstrated. The same is true about flying,” we’re informed by Pilotfriend.com. Without the noise of an engine, I’m told by those who have ridden or piloted gliders, all goes very quiet up in the air. The senses go into hyper-focus, and perspective is altered during the glide and after landing. So, too, can your perspective benefit from a creative stall. You merely just have to stop fighting it. If we’re in tune with our creative aerodynamics, we can utilize the creative stall that writer’s block brings to soar to newer heights.

What can you do during a creative stall to regain your equilibrium and re-establish your purpose? 

Our friend Tracy O’Connor (her Twitter profile is here) has breakthrough advice for writer’s block  that is similar to a flight instructor’s: Separate out the distractions. Stay mentally alert. Get a new perspective with a new approach, and remember your “why.”

What can you do to mitigate the negative effects from a creative stall in the future?

Workspace at the cabin

1. Set up your workspace to win. Martine de Luna from Getting Freedom has tips for a working environment that motivates: Create an inspiring workspace – if you’re a visual person it will influence your mood and productivity. Make sure it’s well lit with natural or warm lighting. Work elsewhere, occasionally – a change of scenery can get you cranking the work out. If you work from home, keep work and non-work areas clearly defined, and keep focused with a work-at-home mission statement.

When we travel, Pete and I assess the furniture and wifi signal strength in a new hotel room before we unpack. We’ll change rooms if the working conditions are inadequate. We’ve found most hotel staff will try and accommodate our needs if we clearly explain why we’re making the request. At home or away, I clear my desk of non-essential clutter so that there is nothing to distract me from my intended task. I focus on my stated purpose – whether it relates to the project itself, or a more big-picture view.

2. Map out your future work product by keeping an ongoing idea file. I use a system I devised with my Mac’s Text Editor and Evernote that is organized by topic category for PassingThru. Because I spend time every day scanning various online resources, I can easily cut and paste quotes and links and organize them by topic. When it comes time to write a post, I don’t go far for inspiration, and much of the work is ready to be plugged into my outline.

3. Understand that writer’s block is rarely permanent – instead, it’s a transitory condition. You didn’t wake up one day as a brand new creative. Likewise, just because it’s morning and your muse is nowhere to be found doesn’t mean it won’t make a reappearance. If you’re in this thing for the long haul, it’s only a matter of when writer’s block will occur. Use it to assess conditions and fine-tune your skills for better performance.

We’d love to hear from you! What do you do when your creativity goes on hiatus?

Related articles

• 26 easy ways to conquer writer’s block(prdaily.com)

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Got Writer’s Block? Its Purpose Can Be Beneficial is a post from: Passing Thru

“My life and most people’s lives are a series of little miracles — strange coincidences which spring from uncontrollable impulses and give rise to incomprehensible dreams. We spend a lot of time pretending that we are normal, but underneath the surface each one of us knows that he or she is unique.” Colin Clark, My Week with Marilyn

Photo by Pete Wuebker

“It’s a miracle!” I will often declare, when resolution to a vexing problem is reached, or an answer to an elusive question appears. This is often accompanied by a sheepish little laugh, as if to dismiss the serendipity of an unexpected, yet very positive outcome. Time and time again, miraculous circumstances have befallen my obscure and unimportant life in the form of many blessings: a premature baby’s recovery from brain surgery, a successful assist to strangers in a burning car, a last-minute payment that kept the wolf from the company’s door. I truly do believe in miracles – the big and overwhelmingly provident, and the more quiet everyday kind.

Not everyone is a believer in miracles. Some people are downright cynical and refuse to consider a miraculous outcome. They believe they’ll go down with the ship and nary a life ring will appear. Others are unrequited in their beliefs – they hope until the very end for  a specific outcome that doesn’t arrive. Others fail to recognize the blessings that have shown up amongst very ordinary circumstances.

To the skeptics, believing in miracles can seem non-sensical and naive. Thomas Ash, writing in Atheist Ground  asserts, “. . . perhaps the most powerful argument against believing in miracles is their apparent arbitrariness. There are hundreds of places where a miracle is surely deserved, yet it does not happen.” Ash appears to believe that his (or another mortal’s) assessment of a worthy situation should be sufficient evidence to catalyze a miracle. But the first universal distinction regarding the miraculous is that we don’t get to decide.

Graham Pockett believes that the reason miracles aren’t always the answer to prayer lies within the intentional aspects of faith: “. . . our faith grows by being exercised, and faith is not exercised when we receive everything we want (or think we need). What faith is required when God becomes a Santa Claus – giving presents to all? It takes no faith to simply receive presents (“miracles”) but it takes great faith to believe when you don’t get everything you want, when you trust God completely knowing He is doing the very best for you in all areas of your life. That is what strengthens faith. Ultimately, we are here on this Earth to exercise, and therefore strengthen, our faith.”  This explanation would appear to replace the seemingly random nature of miracles with a faith equivalency, though. Do those whose faith is “better” stand a higher chance?

Or are those who recognize their life is already comprised of blessings closer to the possibility of a miracle?

Lately there’s been a popular meme that advises converting gratitude from an atitude into a habit. I believe this practice actually improves the likelihood that miracles will show up. Marelisa Fabrega, in How Gratitude Can Change Your Life, quotes UC Davis psychologist Robert Emmons, who wrote Thanks: How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier: “To say we feel grateful is not to say that everything in our lives is necessarily great. It just means we are aware of our blessings.”

If we’re regularly aware of our blessings, then our faith has grown to a closer manifestation of the intentional practice and tenets of most religious teachings. Andrew Wommack, writing in How to Receive a Miracle, tells us, “Blessings are better than miracles. If you live your life from one miracle to the next, you will live from crisis to crisis. It’s better to be blessed with good health than to always need divine healing. God’s will is for us to walk in blessing. We all need a miracle at some time to simply jump-start our faith. If it weren’t for miracles, we wouldn’t grow to the point where we could walk in the blessings of God.”

Therefore, an imperative element to the miraculous is recognition. But how exactly do we recognize a miracle when it doesn’t match our idea of what it should be? Faith Baldwin, writing in Many Windows: Seasons of the Heart, describes a miracle thus: “Every time something hard becomes easier; every time you adjust to a situation which, last week, you didn’t know existed; every time a kindness falls as softly as the dew; or someone you love who was ill grows better; every time a blessing comes, not with trumpet and fanfare, but silently as night, you have witnessed a miracle.”  These kind of everyday miracles would belie the grandiose expectations that many, like Thomas Ash, might expect.

Jon Bon Jovi has said, “Miracles happen everyday, change your perception of what a miracle is and you’ll see them all around you.” Miracles are everywhere, in the little victories and reminders that we’re not without something or someone who resides within us all.

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Miracles All Around is a post from: Passing Thru

“I regard working as part of life, I don’t know how to distinguish between the two. I know that one can, and people do. I honestly think that the best answer to that question that I can give you is that the two things aren’t separated in my mind…Work is an expression of life for me.” – Orson Welles

Pete working on 5-12-2012

Consult any life coach or self-help guide about achieving work life balance and they’ll equate it with the quest for the Holy Grail, sending you off on a journey worthy of the most devout crusader. That’s an ironic analogy, though, because even though you may seek true work life balance, you’ll never attain it.

Designing work to fit the life you want, however – what we’re calling work life integration – is within reach of most people.

We’ve been talking about work life integration for years (just a couple examples here, here, and  more thoroughly in our Work Life Integration Resource Section). We’re hoping we can get you to focus on thinking about how to make work fit life, too, instead of chasing after a concept you’ll never be able to catch.

Implicit within the ideal of work life balance is constant activity: taking something from one part of your life to fill a deficit in another. Maintaining the equilibrium you’re aiming for traps you an endless cycle. No wonder everyone gets so tired! Work life integration, on the other hand, can be achieved by evaluating and strategizing how to fit work within the lifestyle you desire. Thus, it’s a far more rewarding and realistic objective.

Katherine Rosman, writing in the Wall Street Journal’s Checks and Balances personal column some time ago, concluded, “Living a full  life sometimes means living different ones at once, fulfilling contrasting obligations that compete for our time. Away from my life, I could see just how out of balance things are. But that may not be such a terrible thing. . . Balance is almost an impossible ideal.” Interestingly, Rosman resigned from the column shortly thereafter, citing the need for more time with her family and other priorities.

Others concur. Judy Martin, blogging at Work Life Nation explains, “The quest for work life balance is the problem. It is a myth. It doesn’t exist. When chasing work life balance, you have accepted that your work is separate from your life. We give no other aspect of our life this kind of separation and power. There is no life-work balance, any more than there is life-family balance or life-breathing balance. There is only life.”

Merging work to fit in better with the life you choose to lead isn’t a new concept. Yet, Pete and I repeatedly find ourselves explaining it. Many people conclude that work life integration is something new or unusual because over the past 75 years or so, we’ve been conditioned to think of working for someone else in a Monday through Friday, 9 to 5 existence as “normal.” People sign on to the belief that this kind of work style is preferential for reasons of security and professional fulfillment. Nothing could be further from the truth!

An artist's depiction of the rat race in reference to the work and life balance. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_race Made with following images: http://www.openclipart.org/detail/75385 http://www.openclipart.org/detail/74137 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The real truth is that we’re killing ourselves in modern society chasing an ideal that we’ll never meet. Life is fast-paced and stressful, from the moment we awaken through the morning commute and immeasurable demands throughout the workday. Chasing the clock continues through the afternoon rush hour, trying to get to the daycare center or the after school event in time, shovel some food into everyone, help with homework, do some housework and fall exhausted into bed only to get up and have to do it all over again. This isn’t life, it’s a treadmill.

Perhaps we’re subconsciously aware of how detrimental our daily lives are to our overall well-being. Tony Schwartz, in the Harvard Business Review, believes this is why “we deify doing.” Schwartz defines such speed as “the enemy of depth, nuance, subtlety, attention to detail, reflection, learning, and rich relationships — the enemy of much, in short, that makes life worth living. . .The faster we move, the less we feel, which may be a primary reason we move so fast. Most of us are more worried, uncertain, and insecure than we care to acknowledge, even to ourselves. Moving fast keeps those discomfiting feelings at bay.”

Integrating work with life allows for the antithesis of the speed Schwartz deplores. It’s a transformational shift that can encompass an entirely new career, the pursuit of dreams deferred, and a higher level of adventure. In our experience, work life integration has provided greater fulfillment and unparalleled happiness.

We’re in fine company. Hear Orson Welles make a marvelous encapsulation of a healthy life view that incorporated his personal genius in the following video (if you can’t see it in your reader, click here):

Changing your life the way it is now into something you’d rather it be is difficult. We’re all influenced by the expectations of others, what we perceive as intractable obligations, material possessions and prestige. Letting go of these conceptions and crafting a different way will require preparation and dedication.

Be aware that your finances might be adversely affected – it’s likely that you need to implement frugality AND diversify your revenue. Then you might realize that your current skills might be inadequate. Be realistic and make a plan based on what currently is so you can get to where you want to be. Get up to speed and gain confidence.

Connect with others who are doing what you want to do. Perhaps you’ve been neglecting the wrong people and paying attention to the ones who are only perpetuating the contributory factors you need to deal with. Maybe you need to expand your network. Whatever your reality, you must convince yourself that what you aspire to is attainable, and then be prepared to fully experience the journey.

One final example: The guy who wrote “How to Quit Your Job, Move to Paradise and Get Paid to Change the World” is living the work life integration dream. When you read his story, you’ll wonder what your excuse is.

Related articles

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Work Life Balance – Forget It: Focus on Work Life Integration is a post from: Passing Thru

We think the message of this book will resonate with readers because they are dissatisfied. We believe you will find it inspiring. Some will take action using its information and guidance and go on to greater fulfillment. But sadly, we believe many who are inspired by this book will still take no action at all. The reason? They are self-constrained by outmoded beliefs. Consequently, they are stuck in an anachronistic work paradigm that destines them to obsolescence in today’s evolving economy. Read on . . .

The $100 Startup title is not a misnomer. This book relies upon specific case studies from many an entrepreneur engaged in microbusiness. These individuals shared not only their stories, but their specific income statements and projections. From these, Chris extracted actionable lessons that could teach you how to start a business on a shoestring, do better things under a revised work paradigm, and achieve greater personal fulfillment as an entrepreneur.

The book’s premise is simple:

“The money you have is all you need. The skills you already have can be put to use helping others and earning a good income for yourself. Don’t take it from me; take it from all the unconventional entrepreneurs in the study.”

Guillebeau believes the combination of two key themes, freedom and value, will enable a savvy entrepreneur to participate in a microbusiness revolution that throws aside the traditional career “rules” we’ve long been conditioned to follow. This new work paradigm is premised on something Pete and I maintain and continuously attempt to communicate: the bigger risk nowadays is holding down a job working for someone else. Instead, the safest pathway is working for yourself.

The modern-day micro-entrepreneur achieves freedom by providing value in today’s marketplace. The $100 Startup emphasizes low startup costs, and it takes you through planning, launching and leveraging options for growth that match your comfort level.

Even though the $100 Startup contains a specific blueprint which will enable you to start and build a thriving microbusiness, we’re betting the vast majority of its readers won’t do this. Why? Well, we think they might be inspired, yes. But will they act? We think it’s a toss-up.

If you’re dissatisfied with your prospects, why wouldn’t you start up a microbusiness? Here are a few reasons:

1. You’re still stuck in the conventional work paradigm. This would be the 40-40-40 plan: work 40 hours a week for 40 years and then retire on 40% of your income. Wow, sign us up, eh? An Accenture survey referenced in the June 2011 issue of Inc. magazine indicates 58% of employees say they are dissatisfied with their job, yet 70% plan to stay there. Even more inexplicably, many folks, even if they’ve been out of the job market for an extended period of time with no prospects under the conventional work paradigm, have not considered starting their own business. Instead, they wait for a job opportunity that may never arrive.

2. You’re still too comfortable. Many of the real case studies in The $100 Startup start out with an unexpected development: a layoff, a firing, a forced relocation, an illness. Life was going along okay, the bills were getting paid, there was enough money left over, until suddenly one day things went off the rails. Many people today, even if they’re out of work or underpaid, are still sufficiently comfortable that they perceive there is a greater risk in starting their own business. Even if this could be done so that it would supplement their current lifestyle, they’re still reluctant to commit.

3. You’re too afraid. Change can be difficult: you might have to learn something new, leave people you’re used to being with behind, adapt to different expectations in yourself from others, you might even fail. Cathy Davidson, a digital innovator interviewed in Fast Company, discusses how we’re wired to create walls against change and new realities when we feel threatened in her book Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work and Learn. Davidson thinks older people in particular have complex reasons to resist: “When I hear from those 40-year-old, 50-year-old Luddites, I’m thinking, what else is wrong in your life that you have to make such a wall?” Previous loss (job, income, prestige, security) may have tainted your willingness to be resilient and forge ahead. Loss is painful, and you may be avoiding even the smallest possibility of encountering such pain again.

4. You’re waiting until the time is right, and that time will never come. Christine Kane says this is a huge shift in mindset that is difficult for some people (especially those coming from larger organizations) to make:

When I begin working with a client who has been in corporate, I often catch them “waiting.” Waiting to get it right. Waiting to make all their materials perfect. Waiting for things to look slick.

Waiting won’t make you money. Action will. Even if it’s imperfect action.

If you’re waiting until you have enough money to start a business, The $100 Startup eliminates that excuse. Heck, you can get going for $5 with Pete’s e-book, How to Get Started on Zazzle, and the computer you’re reading this with. Five dollars. Tell you what? If you really don’t have five dollars and you want to start a business, email us your story and we’ll comp you a copy.

If you’re waiting until the economy improves, you’ll be far behind a competitor who already took the plunge, and it will take you that much longer to get established. If you’re waiting until you’ve researched and prepared yourself for every little wrinkle of eventuality, no matter how slim the likelihood, you’re lying to yourself. You’re using procrastination because you are afraid to act.

5. You might really not want to work that hard. Let’s be honest, starting up a business is hard work. For some people, it’s easier to stay in dissatisfactory circumstances (and sometimes incessantly complain about them) because they can do their work with little effort. There’s nothing wrong with putting in your time and having a real life outside of work – accept that this is what you’ve chosen to do and enjoy your off time. But be aware, if you’re not working for yourself, circumstances are not entirely in your control. You may want to consider a Plan B as a hedge.

Reviewer Jessica Sideways writes, The $100 Startup is ”. . .going to show you how other people did it and how you can implement it in your life. So I am going to tell you right now that this is not a book for the lazy. . .”

She’s right. Most people aren’t really lazy, but sometimes they do need a reality check. If you’ve been dreaming of embarking on your dreams of business ownership, or if you’ve started and could use a helpful roadmap and examples of people who’ve hustled what they love to do into a fulfilling vocation, get this book and get moving.

Related articles

• Chris Guillebeau and the $100 Startup (entrepreneur.com)

The $100 Startup: A Review and a Rant is a post from: Passing Thru

This Zazzle book is INCREDIBLE!! Best thing I’ve seen yet on how to get started on Zazzle! Excellent!!! – Becky Blanton

Zazzle’s model lets you sell products without the hassle of keeping and inventory or shipping items to customers. Using the site’s features, you can design hundreds of different products from t-shirts and bumper stickers, to smartphone cases and skins for electronic items such as iPads and laptops. When one of your designs is purchased from the Zazzle site, the company will produce the item and ship it to your customer, often within 24 to 48 hours.

We’ve found Zazzle to be a great way to support our goals of location independence and work-life integration. All you need is an internet connection to create products and keep track of your sales. You don’t have to worry about inventory or mailing costs. Your design goes up and is available for someone to buy as long as you want. You can create as many different stores within Zazzle as you like, and you can earn referral fees when a customer purchases from another Zazzler, as well. And your earnings are deposited into your PayPal account every month. This kind of diversification and convenience fits in with the idea of work being something you do, as opposed to someplace you go.

All of this versatility is very appealing, but it can be intimidating to get started on Zazzle. While the process is simple and sequential, it can seem complicated to a beginner. And even though there is plenty of documentation and help on the Zazzle site, Pete often thought it would have been so much easier for him to get started with a simple, step-by-step guide instead of having to track down the information and learn on his own. Voila! “How to Get Started on Zazzle” was born!

As a Zazzler myself, my first thought was, “Oh, how I wish I had this tutorial when I set up my first store”. Although the learning curve can be steep, Pete’s ebook makes the process of setting up a store and creating products easily understandable. Although it’s possible to learn without a “how-to guide,” if you value your time, I highly recommend “How to Get Started on Zazzle” as a time saving,  quick-step guide which will quickly put you on the path to earning that supplemental income you’re dreaming of. – Barbara Swafford, Blogging Without a Blog – Your Blogging Classroom on the Web

We’ve priced “How to Get Started on Zazzle” at an incredible value! Just $5 will get you started on the road to additional income. Zazzle is a wonderful, easy way to make money online, and who knows, it could be the start of a wonderful adventure!

Related articles

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New E-Book: How to Get Started on Zazzle is a post from: Passing Thru

We mark “cabin time” by seasonal firsts and tasks more than dates. In northern Minnesota, some of these are: ice out, hatching platform in for returning loons (our Loon Pontoon), dock in, getting the boats out of winter storage, Minnesota state walleye opener, lupine bloom, baby loon hatch, first swim, first mosquito bite, you get the picture.

Daily cabin time is similarly unmarked by the clock. You get up when you are awakened. This can be by any number of things: the call of the loons,  an animal thief’s midnight disturbance at the bird feeder you forgot to bring in, the homely creaking of the floors under someone else’s feet, the aroma of fresh-brewed coffee, the sound of a hammer from the garage, the whine of a boat engine in the distance, the snapping and popping of farm-fresh eggs cooking for breakfast.

You do things when you want to do them at the cabin. You might interrupt a task to gaze out the window (“better than TV!”) at a couple deer in the yard. One time a red fox peered back in at Pete from the deck. You might decide to defer a task for the next day. Life up north in Minnesota meanders and ambles through the days and weeks. Breathing is easier. Cabin time is a great cure for the ailments of stress and obligation.

In the past two days, Pete has finished his first project: a wood duck house which is now mounted over the water a safe distance behind the loon pontoon. Wood duck chicks leap from their home (video), celebrating their maturity with joyous and awkward abandon. A water landing seems preferable. One of the marks of cabin time is we wait and see.

In this iPhone photo I quickly snapped just now in the late afternoon dusk, you can see the wooden house in the foreground, the loon pontoon just behind it and our pair of loons. This is about all the loon couple has been doing, although they have ventured onto the platform once or twice.

We’ll celebrate the egg(s) and the chick(s) if and when they arrive. The weeds you see in the photo will green up during the season and grow taller, providing more protection from marauding eagles (we’ve seen one swooping into the bay already), and other swimming varmints who would love nothing better than a tasty egg or even baby loon to munch on. Cabin time is unpredictable in that much of your entertainment is provided by nature.

For entertainment of a more worldly sort, there are old movies to watch, books to read, and “going into town” on an errand that might include happy hour at a local watering hole. We’ve been pretty lucky at meat raffles lately, so we were delighted to learn we could probably participate in one or another within a 35 mile radius on a daily basis. Last night we were lucky again; tonight we dine on ribeye steaks with morel butter made from mushrooms hunted by my husband downstate. Dinner time will be whenever they’re ready, and we’ll clear away the workspace to set things up to eat. A bowl of ice cream later, or maybe some popcorn sometime before bed. Cabin time is delineated by good eats.

At the cabin, you can stay up or not. A bedside lamp lit late casts a golden glow over the yard while the rest of the household sleeps. Stand at the window in the middle of the night and see other lamps in the distance – across the bay on the point, on the shore of the lake beyond – reassuringly reflected on the water. It’s quiet in northern Minnesota before all the summer people arrive. You can hear yourself think at the cabin.

Cabin time – similar to extended travel in which you look at your regular life from the outside in, as a spectator would a play comprised of multiple acts and scenes. These chances to be “away” can be just the nudge we need to make meaningful change, devise a plan, alter our course, revisit the possibilities, let things go.

Pete likes to say there is nothing more centering than sitting in the middle of the lake in a boat, casting a line out over and over again. The familiar, rhythmic rituals of cabin time are calming and centering, too. Things just have a way of working themselves out during cabin time.

Related articles

• The Lost Oar on Loon Lake (bigbasslakemi.wordpress.com)
• About Location Independence and Freedom (passingthru.com)
• About Our Loons and Their Pontoon (passingthru.com)
• Farm Fresh Eggs (passingthru.com)
• Putting in Our Loon Nesting Platform (passingthru.com)

Cabin Time is a post from: Passing Thru

Our townhouse dining room

When I feel overwhelmed in other areas of my life, my house reflects it. One of my friends says her closet mirrors her life. If her closet is clean and tidy, her life is, too. If your house looks like a tornado hit, it’s a safe bet there may be turmoil in relationships or intensity at work. When we’re exhausted by circumstances, we usually can’t muster the necessary energy for chores. If keeping things clean and organized at home is an ongoing challenge because of a fast-paced life, you can conquer!

Sloppy vs. neat, what’s really going on? I have changed over the years – when I was in my 20′s my mother actually offered to come be my housekeeper (for pay, mind you) because I was traveling for work all the time and my apartment was a pit. I declined, but things were so out of control I actually went out and bought new underwear instead of laundering what I had! When I was divorcing and returning to work with two young children, I was fortunate to have caring housekeepers who did our laundry and made yummy freezer meals on the day they came to clean. I was happy to pay them and they worked hard to get me into shape. We still laugh about the Spanish-accented admonishments and wagging fingers from these tiny, heaven-sent dervishes. “Betsida! You buy espunges! Doity, doity, no good!!!!”

Old knitting magazines - "someday" I might knit something from one?! Out they go!

While we all know plenty of people who have lots of stuff around, not everyone in that number actually has the resources – physical, financial and emotional – to deal with what they have. The more stuff you have to keep track of and take care of, the more complicated your life. Plus, all this stuff costs money to purchase, store and maintain! This can quickly escalate out of control: the TV show “Hoarders” is a horrifying example. Retailers like Organized Living are capitalizing on the tendency to accumulate things (but putting stuff in pretty, stackable bins doesn’t really solve the problem, does it?) I watched Candy Spelling‘s reality show about downsizing like I would a train wreck. Who downsizes into 16,500 square feet, much less pays $47 million for it? Obviously, this is a first world kind of issue.

Our guest room closet

So, more normal people like us? We must prioritize. What do we really want to be doing? Pete and I want to travel. Managing the big house, gardens, yard, and all the toys were at odds with that. We downsized specifically so we could literally lock the door and go away for as long as we want. Systems within our townhouse are pretty uncomplicated. It helps that our laundry room is upstairs where most of the dirty items originate. We’re still getting rid of stuff – every time we come back from a long trip, we realize we don’t need this or that. This time it was Pete’s giant tool chest with drawers filled with woodworking and repair tools. Sold to a young tradesman who was ecstatic to get it and everything inside it!

Pets – When our beloved Little Daisy passed last year we decided we would wait to get another dog. Instead, we play grandparents to doggy visitors when they need babysitting. Ongoing, there is nothing so wonderful as a pet, but there is also a chain reaction in terms of care, expense, and yes, the darlings, be they little or large, can make all kinds of mess we have to continually address.

Plants – One friend has come to terms with the negative aspects associated with her many indoor plants. She loves them, but realized after a recent emergency trip that preparing them for someone to take care of them was a process that was over the top! She has decided to replace live plants with high quality silks. This wouldn’t work for me, because I’d still be concerned about having to dust them. Instead, Pete and I have just a few plants and it’s not a big deal to keep them healthy and looking good. Nothing looks worse than uncared-for plants! Seeing them feels like a signal that other unseen things are neglected, too. And neglect doesn’t honor living things.

For me, thinking about what needs to be done is often more overwhelming than just getting in there and doing it. I can fret about a project to the point where I’ve magnified it into the stratosphere. Ongoing basis, several habits we’ve incorporated have really helped:

1. Clean as you go. Martha Stewart recommends this, and my brother the chef does it. I do it, and my husband does not. It can be challenging when your partner and/or others in the household are at odds with your “stuff style.” Seriously! My epitaph is going to be “Who will clean the sink now?” But the clean as you go habit works for creative spaces, offices, and living spaces. If you’re walking out of the room, take the empty drink glass, straighten the magazines and pillows, fold the lap blanket, etc. At the end of the workday, straighten the desk. Before you leave the bedroom in the morning, make the bed. Try not to leave unwashed dishes over night all the time. If you live with a “Gretel” as I laughingly call those who absent-mindedly leave a trail of items behind them, this tip can be a relationship-saver. Bless their hearts.

2. Don’t drape or drop. Clothes (or other items) can wind up hanging off exercise equipment, adorning chairs or piling up onother surfaces. Instead, install hooks in the closet that you can overload, or hang clothes, leashes, reusable shopping bags or purses on the backside of the door on the knob. Then you can at least close the door until you get things better organized.

Found a new home!

3. How long has it been unused? When we returned from our last trip, I realized there were many clothing items in my closet I hadn’t worn within a two year period. While preparing them for charity pickup, I snapped a few photos with my iPhone and sent them to my daughter to see if there was anything she wanted. It will be nice to see her wearing one of my expensive sweaters. I’ve given other sweaters to a friend whose sister makes them into wonderful mittens. I wear a favorite sweater on my hands now!

4. Look for something quick you can do right now that will contribute to the whole. When I come downstairs from the home office upstairs to refill coffee or something, I do a quick kitchen cleanup while it’s brewing, or I wander into the living room and scan for anything that needs attention before I go back upstairs. Keeping things straight on an ongoing basis works for me.

Travel Ephemera - Organized by Destination

5. Hidden away and stored is not always best. Recently, I read that if you’re keeping things in cardboard boxes stored away in the attic or garage for sentimental reasons, you are not honoring their meaning or the things themselves. If these are truly treasured by you, they would be on display or you would be using them frequently. This got me thinking of what needs to be tackled next: the bins we have that are labeled “History” and “Mom’s Stuff,” my mother’s that is, and “Taxes – Non-current.” At least this stuff is all in plastic containers instead of dirty old cardboard, but do I really need to be keeping old photos of sepia-tinted people that we can’t identify?

If the house is really out of control, then you must tackle things in manageable bits. If you are mindful about bringing fewer things home and into the house – less retail therapy altogether, get rid of a pair of shoes before you buy another, establish firm usage rules (hasn’t been used or worn in a year, out it goes), etc. – you can really help yourself establish a new, uncluttered normal.

Seriously? Why did I wind up with two of these?

Do you have so much stuff that you don’t know what you have? This should be a clue. Recently, I reorganized my office bookcase. Yellowing newspapers in destination-based  binders weren’t relevant for future reference. Recycled! I discovered duplicates of magazines, and had years of knitting magazines in particular from which I hoped I would knit projects. Are you kidding? Wishful thinking! Out! For years, I kept two copies of, get this, the LP version of “Saturday Night Fever” with John Travolta on the cover. What?!! For investment purposes? LOL

Candy Spelling’s accumulation may be over the top, but to her credit, she is obsessively organized. On the show, she could find anything because she labeled and mapped her enormous storage area and catalogued each item. If you’re determined to keep a lot of stuff, you should commit to similar meticulous management strategies.

Stuff and activity is fun to have. In western society, the stuff we choose to keep, use and display, and the ways we choose to spend our time are all integral to our personal identity and how others perceive us. But when life gets cluttered, the physical clutter and chores mount up. Keeping things functioning efficiently in one arena allows for changing circumstances in another to be addressed without derailing your life altogether. For an analogous discussion, see our April, 2012 newsletter: Spring Cleaning: Clearing Inner Space.

Please! Share your thoughts in the comments.

P.S. Before I hit “Publish” on this post, I went downstairs to the kitchen to refill my coffee. While I was there, I added dishes to the dishwasher, stored breakfast leftovers in the refrigerator, emptied a vase of tulips past their prime, folded my favorite throw and straightened the pillows on the sectional, gathered cloth napkins off the counter, tossed a soda can into the recycling, started the dishwasher and headed back upstairs with items to be laundered. Total time elapsed: 6 minutes. Just enough for the coffee to cool down too much. Hahaha!

Related:

• How I Decorate Without Debt: Declutter, Condense, and Organize(debtfreedecorating.wordpress.com)

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• Effecting Stress Relief by Clearing Out the Clutter(savings.com)

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• Clutter, clutter everywhere… a housewife confession (thenewlywedwife.wordpress.com)

When Life is Cluttered, So is Your House is a post from: Passing Thru

• illustrate achievement in relation to our objectives
• identify areas and projects that could use attention
• spark strategic planning with a big picture emphasis (to build upon the valuable insights we gained from utilizing business coaching over a two year period)
• inspire you to incorporate similar efforts and objectives within your personal success blueprint

Want to get started with us? Read on . . .

The idea to start reporting our progress came about while we were preparing our 2011 income taxes. It was actually fun to see the LLC’s first annual Profit & Loss report and Balance Sheet. Our numbers were pleasantly surprising! (Preparing the taxes themselves? Not so fun.)

This process is a departure from our comfort zone. It’s one thing to evangelize a lifestyle, and quite another to share how it’s really working. No, we won’t be sharing specific dollar amounts, but we will be sharing percentages and other data, and the conclusions and strategic planning that result.

These progress reports will have a loose categorical structure: sources of revenue, travel-related activities, pending projects and their potential (when possible due to confidentiality or other concerns) and strategic planning. We’ll also cover problem-solving and any creative solutions we’ve implemented in response to challenges or modifications we implemented in response to changing business conditions.

Does all this sound like too much gobbledy-gook for a lifestyle business? It really shouldn’t. If you’re in any type of business, this kind of accountability and strategic planning is vital. You can’t make progress if you stay inundated in the minutiae of the day-to-day. If you do, you’ll sacrifice overall awareness, which is crucial for the kind of creative thinking and strategic decision-making good executives do (and you’re the chief executive of your own career even if you’re an employee). This kind of strategic planning might be out of your comfort zone, but it’s possible our example might encourage you to take a bigger-picture approach. Let’s dive in!

Revenue Sources

Consulting: Our global franchise client projects include electronic marketing services to franchisees, regional and global franchise sales marketing and development, internal communications, social media services, franchisee mentoring and education. For other consulting clients we provide electronic and direct mail consulting services including list and project management, training, ideation and strategic mentoring. Overall revenue in this category is even with last year. Note: through all but the last two weeks of the second quarter last year, Pete was still working at his previous employer. There are seasonal aspects to our consulting client profiles that contribute to “sleepy” first quarters. We’re anticipating increased revenues during the remainder of the year due to this seasonality.

Melting Crayons Phone Case

Online Stores: We have multiple online stores with several produce on demand business partners, including Zazzle, Cafe Press, and Greeting Card Universe. Overall receipts in this category are up 165% for the first quarter when compared with last year. This is great progress!

Pete’s creative thinking has been to focus heavily on our Zazzle stores for several reasons: the commissions per item are higher and there is a greater range of products.

Bumper Sticker

His product creation methodologies have scaled: we now have over 27,000 products. Best selling items: iPhone and smartphone cases, political bumper stickers and embroidered caps for wedding party members.

Change of Address Card

Trending merchandise categories are seasonal: wedding, political (because of the election year). Our popular “We’ve Moved” card series continues to perform.

Our Zazzle-specific revenues are significantly up over last year (January +116%, February +192%, March +261). This is due in part because the items we are selling are more expensive, and we’re often selling them in multiples.

We are also selling many more items that Pete designed several years ago for the first time. This proves the residual nature of the Zazzle and other produce on demand business models: put the product up once and it’s forever available for purchase. This aspect fits our passive income objective to a “T”!

Rainbow Paws Pet Bowl

Zazzle is at the vanguard for new product categories, such as skins for electronic devices including phones, iPods and MP3 players, gaming gear, tablets and laptops. Zazzle has recently rolled out decorative ceramic jars, pitchers, tea pots and pet bowls, along with home decor items such as cloth napkins, toss pillows and placemats as well. This range of products is vastly diversified from when Pete started with Zazzle.

Publishing: Publishing revenue for the first quarter has no comparative as we didn’t monetize The Narcissist: A User’s Guide until June of last year. Revenues began to flow in a month later due to Lulu’s payment structure. The User’s Guide landing page routinely shows one of this site’s highest visitor counts per Google analytics, and narcissist-related search terms brought thousands of visits during the first quarter of this year. Sales remain steady for the Guide, even though it’s two years old. The User’s Guide Facebook page is active as well.

Travel Business Opportunity: PassingThruTravel, our travel search and booking site, continues to serve us two-fold via customer-booked travel and for our individual travel booking. This is part of World Ventures, a six year old network marketing company, which offers a DreamTrips wholesale vacation club membership. World Ventures has expanded to 19 countries, with over 20,000 DreamTrips members. Our individual team is in high growth mode as well, with over 22 members added since the first of the year. These are folks who have made the move out of their comfort zone to begin working their own Plan “B.”

We routinely feature current DreamTrips in our monthly email newsletter (subscribe here). With over 400 trips per year, as well as access to timeshare and villa vacation inventory, the DreamTrips membership sells itself. A new membership category for younger people aged 18 – 25, called DreamTrips U, is on fire. When they add the World Ventures business opportunity, the potential for offsetting education expenses and funding a better than entry-level lifestyle gets them excited.

Travel

We spent about 40% of our time during the first quarter of this year away from home, working and traveling. Beginning in January, we based ourselves in Hawaii on Maui and Kauai. We then spent a week in Michigan with family in February, and then several days in Nebraska for the Sandhill Crane migration. Utilizing methods you can learn from our Travel Resources list, we kept costs down quite well. Unsurprisingly, though, by comparison with last year they are up significantly. Still, it’s all part of the program and we wouldn’t have it any other way!

During our time in Michigan, we assisted a family member who is a classically-trained chef with his Plan “B” setup. Wow Your Food has its own growing Facebook page, Zazzle store and a website in progress that will showcase a lifetime of gourmet cooking skills in video, still photo and blog post formats.

Pending Projects

We’re excited about several pending projects we have in the hopper. Pete is finishing up an e-book, “How to Get Started on Zazzle,” which will be available in multiple formats very soon. This book mirrors the information we taught in a beginners-focused Zazzle seminar last November. Plans are to build upon this information toward more intermediate formats. These would encompass creative thinking and strategic planning for new and established entrepreneurs alike who wish to add this passive income component to their business repertoires.

There is one more e-book project in progress which is under wraps at the moment. This should round out our diversification strategy in this component of our business  pretty well for the first half of 2012.

Strategic Planning

Moving our business activities from the comfort zone of employment-subsidized revenue to complete independence required creative thinking for each stage. This kind of strategic planning is comprised of several elements: broad goals, specific objectives and then action steps for each objective.

When you have a revenue diversification goal, the corresponding objectives get complicated very quickly. When this first started happening with our business, I developed a task list spreadsheet to keep track of project categories in a column-based format. I also mapped out a flow chart of the inter-relationships each element of our business had. These are great tools for visual learners, and they often spark creative thinking. I like using the task list spreadsheet in particular as my dashboard, which provides status-at-a-glance. We know exactly where we have lots to do, and which areas are receiving less attention.

Checking our first quarter Profit and Loss and comparing it with last year shows revenue trending upward, always a good thing. But we still need to balance our diversity: we’ve got a number of sources, but some of them are still disproportionate in comparison with where we’d like them to be.

We are fortunate to have so many opportunities continually presenting themselves to us. Like many entrepreneurs, our primary comfort zone lies in start-up phase – we enjoy that initial infatuation with an idea and envisioning its potential. We’ve refined our recognition skills a bit to become a little more choosy now that we’ve settled into a more easily-described niche, so we’ve matured somewhat in that respect.

Troubleshooting

Looking at our first quarter results and comparing them with last year’s numbers yields a big change in overall expenses. The culprits? First there’s Hawaii, of course, which is an expensive proposition for older folks like us who like our creature comforts, no matter how skilled our travel hacking might be. Wouldn’t you like to stay in a room like the one we had at the Westin, pictured at right? That’s what they call the Heavenly Bed and the Heavenly Bath, folks. And it’ll cost you, but probably more than it cost us.

Advertising expenses are up as well, due to several online campaigns we are expensing in partnership with a client. While overall results are building as a result of these campaigns, no direct ROI is attributable to us. We’re watching this activity closely, and have temporarily suspended it while funding sources build up again.

The good news is, we did better in other expense areas than last year. Dues and subscriptions are down; office and legal expenses are way down from equipment purchases relating to our LLC start-up phase and move last year. Non-travel meals and entertainment are way down, as they should be. General administrative and ongoing office expenses have been reduced by half.

Still, we are going to have to continue to watch and plan for expenses carefully within the context of our revenue structure. As well, we’ll have a better idea of how our biggest revenue categories will scale this year with another quarter’s worth of data to review.

The best news is that we’ll add more revenue from pending projects to the mix in our second quarter 2012. These will settle into the passive income category with little else than monitoring required once they’re completed and launched. We can replicate this process over and over with additional projects throughout the life of our business, sustaining our location independence and providing more enjoyment.

All in all, not a bad start for the year! We’d love it if you’d share how you are doing with your personal and business objectives in the comments, and, as always, if we can help with anything, please don’t hesitate to ask!

Related articles

• The Purpose of a Plan……Continued (servicepointconsulting.wordpress.com)
• Lack of Strategic & Critical Thinking: Why Most Businesses Fail? (selfassemblysites.com)
• Strategic Thinking and Leadership (coachstationsteve.com)
• Strategic planning: Getting back to why you started your business in the first place (enmast.com)

Progress Report: Q1 2012 is a post from: Passing Thru

I was so excited to receive a Galley Proof copy of Becky’s book. I’d recommended another friend, Davina Haisell (you might remember this post about a lovely day Davina and I shared last year) to Becky when she needed an editor, and I was thrilled when they agreed to work together on this project. I’d heard bits and pieces from both Becky and Davina that the book was about UFOs and paranormal events, and I was ambivalent about the book, hoping it would be interesting and well-written. I needn’t have worried!

Becky is a former journalist who has lived an eclectic life, including a stint of homelessness which led to a riveting presentation at TED a couple of years ago (see the video in this post). After a period astray from her Southern Baptist upbringing, during which time she experimented with New Age philosophy and practice, she returned to the Bible in 2005. Drawing upon this background, as well as personal and journalistic experiences, Becky has woven a story that encompasses UFOs, transgenetic creatures, and alien abductions with Biblical scripture and prophecy in this, her first novel for an upcoming series.

Becky didn’t set out to write this book to prove anything about UFOs or to push a Christian agenda. Writing in a postscript, she reminds us that “every culture in the world” has recorded paranormal incidents of this nature:

The walls of many of the pyramids and monuments of Egypt depict UFOs, flying achines, astronauts, planetary systems and what are believed to be abductions. So do many petroglyphs in cultures around the world. In Revelations (Bible) the apostle Paul is “taken up” both physically and “spiritually” and transported to another place and time on at least two occasions.

While October Abduction is intended to entertain – and it certainly does, there are many more sites with information and evidence of UFOs and alien abduction. The unique twist to this book is the correlation between these paranormal events and the “great deception” of Satan, which is a Biblical prophecy involving unexplained phenomena, such as “terrifying visions and events in the heavens.”

I couldn’t put this book down. While I read, I found myself revisiting what I had been taught as a young Christian. I came to realize concepts such as the nephilim, Satan himself, what the imagery of the Garden of Eden might really refer to, and the concrete power of evil were not covered particularly well, even when I attended Bible study as an adult. Becky’s summary notes indicate she intended to “bring us to a point where we’re forced to confront our own ethics, beliefs and lives in light of the characters we get to know. Bloodline and the entire series of “The October Abduction of Thomas Martin,” raises ongoing questions about whether we are alone in the universe, who put us here, and why. . .”

Whether you’ve been blissfully unaware or skeptically dismissive of these things, you’re going to find yourself immersed in this book. Even now that I’ve finished it, I can’t stop thinking about this book and I can’t wait for the next one. That’s a reader outcome every writer dreams of accomplishing. Becky Blanton has done it. Get this book.

Related articles

• ETs, UFOs and the Psychology of Belief (epages.wordpress.com)
• What is the Truth about Alien Abductions – UFO Abductions (epages.wordpress.com)
• The Great Deception (moanti.wordpress.com)

Book Review of The October Abduction of Thomas Martin: Bloodline is a post from: Passing Thru

(Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

An athlete needs good hustle. Your successful side hustle needs good hustle, too, whether it’s intended to earn extra money, achieve secondary career goals, or transition into a main gig for greater independence.

When Pete and I decided to embark on our Plan “B” career goals, we set up several side hustles. Our previous work experience hadn’t really prepared us for what we needed to do to earn extra money. But we did plan for lots of dedicated activity: good hustle which we intended would eventually transition our work into a location-independent lifestyle. While Pete continued work as Director of Marketing for a wildlife non-profit and I worked in my gift basket business, we added considerable good hustle with freelance consulting work, online stores, blogging, and a travel-based business opportunity. These were ambitious plans, and we knew the only way our team of two would succeed with these new career goals was with focus and determination.

Launching a side hustle is easier than sustaining one.  Working on what is essentially a second job with few initial rewards and no guarantees are not the sort of career goals many of us have been conditioned to make. Yet, good hustle encompasses this reverse conditioning which conventional wisdom warns against. There’s very little payoff when you begin any sort of entrepreneurial endeavor, and there’s always the chance there won’t be any later. Many well-meaning naysayers will continually bring up this risk. Good hustle in your side hustle requires you ignore them.

Hustle (TV series) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Here’s how you put good hustle into your side hustle:

Objective #1: Visualize. Your side hustle can be a tool that helps you accomplish location independence, more passive or residual income, or even early retirement. Go into it with a positive outlook and be open to opportunities and possibilities.

Objective #2: “Keep your eyes on the prize.” Just as an athlete will practice and drill on a daily basis, you’ll need to keep daily priorities in alignment. Make sure you’re spending time appropriately. Consider a daily quota for yourself so you can measure your output. Good hustle depends upon commitment, as well as extreme focus.

Objective #3: Prioritize and strategize. You do this by evaluating your current circumstances vs. where you want to be. For example, if you want to quit your job, how long will it take to achieve the necessary level of side hustle income for you to afford it? Can you realign your expenses in order to accomplish it sooner? Keeping a strategic focus will levitate your side hustle from just a way to earn extra money into a long-range vehicle that supports your overall goals.

Sustaining your side hustle is imperative if you’re ever going to achieve an Escape from Cubicle Nation. Pamela Slim, who wrote this call-to-arms, knows that “more substantial businesses can and do emerge from side hustles.” Those that consistently earn extra money are the ones must achieve sufficient momentum to make the break. But many people are unprepared for the time and effort this takes.

We took several years to transition our side hustles into complete work-life integration. We began this blog, for example, in 2008. Not long after, we started our group of online stores. When they began to earn extra money, we got excited, and this motivated us to keep working. Our other activities have taken longer to come to fruition.

Even with the best intentions, converting a side hustle into a reliable earning machine can be a daunting proposition. We’ve seen many people talk about getting started only to make a very short-term effort. They kick the tires and take a test drive, but they don’t take the car home much less drive it for a several months or a few years.

Even a short period of time with disappointing results can seem like a reason  to quit. But this rarely a get rich quick proposition. Be in it for the long haul. Dedicating a specific amount of your time each day or week to your side hustle, resisting the temptations of distraction or procrastination, keeping a positive attitude, and evaluating and adjusting your cumulative results will lead you where you want to be.

Related articles

• Making Money Online: Be the Tortoise Not the Hare (PassingThru)
• How to Make Money Doing Side Hustles (ehow Money)
• Looking to Launch a Side Hustle? Here’s What You’re Really In For (Brazen Careerist)
• Reader Story: Turning a Side Hustle into Self Employment (Forbes)
• From @ScottKirsner: “Side hustles: Equity trader Lee Schneider on his mobile retail start-up, bGreen” (bgreenlifestyle.com)
• Why You Should Launch a Side Gig Now (money.usnews.com)

Career Goals: Side Hustle Your Way Into Independence is a post from: Passing Thru