A Guest Post by Terez Howard
Successful entrepreneurs asked that question. Youâve asked that question, and sometimes Iâm still asking that question.
An epiphany: it all goes back to gardening.
Let me explain. My brown thumb has kept me from killing another cactus and from watching seedlings waste away. But this year, I decided to give gardening a chance. Since itâs early in the gardening season, I donât know whether the fruits of my labor will produce anything edible or not. Iâm proud to say, though, that my green beans are towering and my spinach is plentiful.
What do you care, right?
Well, I did research, asked my friends for advice and jumped in. Thatâs what we do. We research how we can make a living as our own boss. We join forums, follow blogs and ask the experts to give us direction.
What happens after that?
DO SOMETHING. Donât get stuck as a professional student, always reading and studying but never graduating and starting a career. This might sound like lunacy coming from a blogger, but stop reading so many blogs and responding on so many forums. Take some time to build your own business, and donât let the possibility of failure to paralyze you. Some seeds will not germinate. Itâs part of business.
Iâm not going to give you an exhaustive list of how you can get started as a business owner. You can gorge yourself on a buffet of such information. All I want you to do is one thing that will lead you toward your goal. Of course, you have to know what your goal is first. Maybe you want to make an income selling an original fitness routine. Today, sign up with Twitter with the goal of giving your potential and future customers daily exercise tips. Itâs not much in the way of marketing, but itâs something.
With my garden, I knew that I wanted to pay $1 for a package of seeds and get 20 times that amount in produce. The end result motivated me to get started. This goes back to your business goals. If you know what you want to gain, then youâll be more likely to get moving. Write your goals down and keep them handy as a personal motivator. Post them in your workspace.
Oh, and the time is now. Time to get started on that garden!
Do you know your goal? What sort of garden is it?
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Terez Howard operates TheWriteBloggers, a professional blogging service which builds clientsâ authority status and net visibility. She regularly blogs at Freelance Writing Mamas . You’ll find her on Twitter @thewriteblogger
Thanks, Terez … you said it perfectly and with style.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
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I like your analogy of the garden. So often I have heard that we need to posterboard our goals and to see the direction that we are headed in. While may have been blogging for a long time now, I haven’t always done so with the best drive and focus as I should. Thank you for using the example of a garden. It is easier to achieve goals once you know what you are looking for.
Hi Stephanie,
It’s a great analogy that Terez used. She wrote this up beautifully.
I agree it’s always easy to find our goals when we have something to look for. 🙂
Hi Stepanie,
Goals are an important lynchpin to any strategy. They do just as you say, “set our direction and keep our focus.”
I garden and agree that gardens are a lot like blogs. In some ways they grow with their own direction, but we have to nurture them with care. 🙂
It is really not a easy task to make a living from online business.
Hi Calking Chi,
It is not a really easy task to make a living … until you understand the domain you’re working in and you love the people you’re doing the work for. 🙂 Finding that combination maybe the hardest part. But if we never get started at doing some little thing in one focused direction toward a real goal, we stand no chance at all. 🙂
Stephanie,
Goals are wonderful. They keep you focused and determined.
Calking Chi,
You’re right. Success doesn’t come easily. It takes endurance. Sometimes all you can do is roll with the punches. Other times, you have to adapt.
Liz and all,
This is my first garden, and it might not turn out like I hope. Business is unpredictable, and we can only do so much to make it a success. Our best efforts might turn into a flop. But they might bring in the largest yield we ever could’ve expected! We’ll never know unless we try.