A lot has happened since my last post.

I no longer own my business. For the last few years I’ve been pretty unhappy with the lifestyle it afforded me. Not so much financially, but the fact that I had to work 7 days a week, lived in the wrong part of the country (for me), and that I’d already purchased a house in the Pacific Northwest (where I wanted to live), and then also purchased land on a lake close to my house.

Needless to say, I needed to figure out a way to get out of my situation and get moved.

It was time.

So, I found a family member who wanted to take over the business and I signed it over to them. I really had no money invested in the business at this point, and, though I could have tried to sell it, this situation allowed me to get out quickly and it also helped out my family member, too.

Surprisingly, within a month of looking for a job within a reasonable drive from my house and property, I landed a position that paid the same as I was making in my business. Though, I now get weekends off, work in an office shuffling papers all day, and even have paid vacation. Granted, it’s not a job I love. But, is there such a thing, really?

So, I’ve been at it now, relocated to my paid off home, able to enjoy my lakefront property (when it’s not raining that is) on the weekends, for going on 3 months. I’ve struggled a little to get my footing back into writing, though that struggle was going on long before I moved.

I’m on my own. That’s definitely a plus. No family members close by. No wife or children. No pets. It’s a bran new life and I’m loving the solitude and solace. Now if I could just win Publisher’s Clearing House!

Now, I’ve set upon a design that will hopefully set me in pursuit of my writing career goals, and my new teaching goals, with the long-term goal of escape from daily employment, where I can live and work from home, or from my lake property (maybe even eventually selling my house and move to the lake full-time).

Writing:

• I would like to work on my writing (primarily fiction) each weeknight. I can also take my laptop to work with me and put in a session at lunch if I can produce 1000 words or more in the 40 minutes I have.

Lectures:

• I’m just about finished with my first lecture series for Udemy. I’m not sure if it will get approved, and, if it does not, I’m not sure I want to work with them. If it does get approved, I’m looking at a goal of producing a new screencast lecture series each month (12 per year, more preferably), which will focus on my non-fiction subjects. I would like to tie in these videos with each fiction book, cross advertise them, along as use the platform for cross-marketing my fiction books.

My Aim:

• Since I’m not a natural born huckster, I think the best course for me is to take the next three years that I’m stuck working 40 hours a week (to pay off the property) and produce as many assets as I possibly can in the quickest time frame possible. I have weekends wide open. I have weekday evenings open, too. I can realistically sleep when I’m dead (or once the books and courses take off). There is literally nothing standing in my way at this point but me. I’m already living in paradise. I already own paradise. I have more fiction book ideas than I could ever write in a lifetime. Ditto for non-fiction lectures and books. I just need time, persistence and the wherewithal to make it happen.
• I’ve pretty much decided to focus on production for one year, and then once I have more assets, I can then focus some more time on marketing. But, I know I need to build marketing into the products themselves, so, it’s a trade off.
• I know there is no reason why I can’t do this and make a success. For Christ’s sake, I only need to produce $6000 / yr net to pay my expenses. If I make money on the side in those three years as I build a catalog, that money can go back into the business as marketing, or toward my property to pay it off sooner.
• I just need to start producing…..consistently.