These days, most of my time is focused on building my business. To be completely honest, I should probably say “all” my time, except for cooking, eating, sleeping, grooming and the occasional date or happy hour. I don’t watch TV. I don’t go shopping at the mall.
Everyday, I wake up and I work.
A few weeks ago, one of my readers emailed me to ask me if I sleep. I chuckled a bit, because I get this question all the time. I’m grateful for the concern, and yes I do sleep. I even take naps during the day! I just use my awake time a bit differently than many people do, because I’m on a path to design the life I want for myself. I’m working to achieve financial freedom and be location independent. I want this to happen not “someday,” but within five years.
Remember my post from November about the four-hour workweek, lifestyle design and telling the universe what you want? These were my lofty goals:
- YES, I want to make a six figure income from doing what I love.
- YES, I want to be able to send my grandmother money every month to help her make ends meet.
- YES, I want to be able to afford to visit my family more often during the year.
- YES, I want to work less and have more time to explore my passions.
- YES, I want to be able to live in Paris during the summer and Hawaii during the winter.
- YES, I want to design the life of my dreams!
I wasn’t joking. And I realize that in order to reach these goals, it’s gonna take a lot from me in terms of focus, hard work and time. Granted, I don’t have a hubby or kids, so I still have more time than a lot of other women who are in the trenches of growing their businesses. The only person I have to take care of is myself. Which is a gift and a curse, right? On the one hand, I have fewer responsibilities . . . but on the other hand, there’s only one income in this household: mine. Some of my older friends tell me that being in my twenties is a great time to be starting out on my own and building wealth versus working for someone else. I agree, but there are a lot of other lessons no one really told me about business. Well, not just business, but the entire sort of mindset you have to have in order to be a successful entrepreneur and achieve financial freedom.
Freedom is hard work.
No, really. Being an entrepreneur is challenging enough. Sure, it’s great that I don’t have anybody’s boss breathing down my neck, but I have to be the one to motivate myself to do all the things that bring in business without anyone reminding me to: marketing, blogging, scheduling, etc. It’s exhausting and sometimes I look at my to-do list at the end of the day and wonder where the hours went. Here’s the thing about freedom. People always talk about how they want to be a millionaire (hell, put my name in that hat, too), but no one talks about how they want to work their ass off for five years to get there. Me? I’m putting the work in with the faith that the good stuff I’m putting out there in the universe is not just going to help people, but also going to create financial prosperity for me.
Freedom is lonely.
Yes. Oh, yes it is. There are very few people I can talk to about what building a business is like, especially an online business. No one understands (besides some of my fellow bloggers) how tough it is to share quality information on a regular basis and create products and services that people want to buy. Not to mention the pressure of waiting to see if they will or won’t take advantage of your stuff! Even most of my friends don’t know exactly what it is I do to earn money, and I’ve learned to be okay with that. We just talk about other topics when we hang out. But the stress of chasing a dream that very few people actually achieve? No one gets it. Very lonely.
But then, there are the amazing future benefits that I KNOW are possible despite the icky parts. The struggle and the sacrifice and the temporary stress are what keep most people from reaching their big, hairy audacious financial goals and ultimately living their ideal life.
But what if I told you that with a few years of hard work, you could have the life you’ve always dreamed of? That the success you yearn for is totally within your reach?
The life you want for yourself is absolutely available to you. No matter who you are, no matter where you live and no matter where you came from. But only if you want it bad enough. It will not come without hard work and focus and perseverance. No matter what you see in the magazines or on TV, there are no overnight successes. There is just you and the grind and the inevitable moment when it all comes together for you.
Freedom is priceless, yes. But it is not free.
happyblackwoman
happyblackwoman
happyblackwoman
happyblackwoman
I feel you on this. I love ‘The 4 Hour Workweek’ and the whole concept of lifestyle design and location independent living; but it is NOT easy. Gone are the days when I didn’t think a lick about work on weekends and holidays. Now it’s more like “weekends? holidays? what are those?” Even though I am “always on” I can still stand to be more focused. Freedom DOES come at a price.
Read my latest blog post…social business tip- you don’t have to be everywhere!
Rosetta, are you dancing around in my head? I just wrote a blog about this exact topic called: the Power of One. It’s lonely trying to do what everyone else thinks is impossible. You have to self motivate and get up when you rather lie down. There is rarely a day when I’m not around my computer trying to promote and build my brand. It’s exhausting. I do it because I want to sip cocktails on some island. I want to wake up in my bathrobe and pad to my home pc and voila; I’m at the office. I want to be free to do whatever the heck I want. That freedom comes at a price. Blending in and being part of the crowd never got anyone the life they want. To be recognized you have to stick out.
the Super Sistah
http://www.thesupersistah.wordpress.com
Hey Rosetta!
What a beautiful post! Your honesty is inspiring and I think a lot more people need to step out and admit this fact about entrepreneurship and lifestyle design. It’s an incredible amount of hard work, and it necessitates a significant amount of sacrifice. Not many people are willing to do what it takes, which is why most people don’t have the life they want – despite their desire.
Keep pressing on girl! Your prize is not beyond you, but you already know that.
Appreciate your comment, Marlee! I think a lot of people who choose to become entrepreneurs are more the “glass half-full” types and may not want to talk about the negative aspects as much. But at least if folks know what to expect, they can handle the journey a bit better as it goes along.
You dream big, put in the work, effort, and sacrifice; all while patiently waiting for, as you so eloquently put it: “…the inevitable moment when it all comes together for you.” I mean, something has to give. Doesn’t it?. I guess that’s my biggest fear. Putting in soooo much, and then nothing becomes of it all. Not going to let fear stop me from trying though.
Rosetta, it may be lonely, but you are not alone!!! Everything you said is so true and I can relate to much of it! Thank you so much for sharing this.
I appreciate this post because I think a lot of people don’t talk about the flip side of lifestyle design. I wonder all the time if Tim Ferris is extra lonely. I think it’s a worthwhile pursuit, but I think it must take some time to adjust.
Yeah, I imagine Tim is quite lonely in terms of having peers in his business and even friends who understand his lifestyle. Something else I’ve noticed though, which I mentioned on Twitter the other day, was that there are FAR more white guys living the “internet lifestyle” (and writing about it) than there are women, let alone black women. Everything I know, for the most part I’ve learned from white men and it would be great to see other black women who have built online businesses as role models.
I think it is unrealistic for minorities who are interested in some of the lifestyles similar to Tim Ferris’ and others in the blogosphere to expect other minorties to be equally interested. And, it is not becuase those lifestyles are unique, new or conisdered odd. It’s not even because those lifestyles make a person somewhat lonely while they are in the building phase (and Black people, for example, tend to be a little more communal though dominant American culture focuses on individualism). Here is why.
Culturally, minorities, especially Black people have been playing “catch-up” to White Americans. Now whether this is good or bad is debatable. (I see it as complex and non-sensensical at times). Black wealth is nowhere near White wealth. Black college graduate counts (percentages, not raw numbers since we are a small part of the population) aren’t has high as White counts. Home ownership etc etc etc. Even how we measure statistics, White is always used as the “rubric” for excellence, when perhaps a good stat, not a “White stat” should be the goal.
Thus, Black Americans tend to work towards the standard of living, type of living, careers, types of homes lived in, cars, education, and location dependent style of life that Whites have had for generations. Abysmal poverty is only a few generations back. Thus, how likely is it for Black Americans, especially in Gen Y, X or baby boomers to want to skip over the “traditional” roads that they may have never experienced (or their parents) in the first place?
But, I agree with your view. I’d love to see more Black people pursuing different means of life. I think it is ok to skip over the traditional road even if several generations have not had that road like Whites have. Many Whites who bail to be location independent/expat etc. attended great schools and grew up in suburbs. They know stability enough to know they do not want it. If a minority does not know that, perhaps they may crave it first, before realizing that it’s not really that stable anyway (with the insane job market), and then can crave something else.
Everyone has to pursue their own roads. My road isn’t totally traditional or totally “off the wall” and I am persecuted as well. It will take time and maybe even generations before Black people realize that there is more than the static path to how life is. Some Black people already know this. Some know that we might not really have the time to “realize” this and have to adapt now. As the job market and economy changes, adaptation and change are things that will end up occurring by sheer force, not even choice.
Great blog, I like what you’re doing here and it is neat seeing a Black woman on an interesting path that is traditionally dominated by other people in the blogosphere. Cheers.
I thought I was the only one that felt this way! LOL Every single thing you mentioned sounds exactly like me. I’m just getting started and I am realizing how hard and lonely this stuff really is. I just put a status on my facebook page stating that how I feel lonely and have no one to talk to or relate to meaning I have no one that understands what I am going through when trying to build an online business.
Most of my friends are in college and that is NOT my dream and sometimes I feel left out of conversations or even criticize from for choosing my path. Some say I should get a real job and real education. They just don’t know that this is more work than taking college courses and working and 9 to 5 put together. I use to go to school full time, work part time and had a full time job and this beats all of that! LOL
Thank you for writing this post…Freedom isn’t free by any means and people need to become aware of that.
P.S. Tell me how you find time to date…I need some tips…my blog is now my boyfriend LOL
I got in an argument with a girl and she told me to talk to her when I got my degree. I told her to talk to me when she realized she’d spent $50k with no guarantee of employment or financial security. A “real job” and “real education”? What’s realer than running the company, being accountable, and rising and falling based on your own talent? I don’t even know what you do but I’m proud that you do it. and http://www.facebook.com/shayrunsthecity if you need more FB friends to vent to!
Thank you!!
I’m paying off debt now because I didn’t follow my first mind…I just did what everyone else wanted me to do but thank God there is always another chance to turn things around.
Thanks for the motivation!
Motivation and inspiration are truly two of your many (I’m sure) God given talents. So many of the things we consider priceless in life aren’t free – friendship, success, awesome children, meaningful intimate relations. All of these “priceless” commodities have to be invested in.
great post!!