Photo Credit: christineknight
#1. I started my business with $200 disposable income and $18,500 of debt to my name.
#2: I failed #English at college. In fact, my teacher was surprised I'd even been allowed to take the course in the first place.
#3: Business doesn't come naturally to me. I never had a "#sidehustle" as a kid selling sweets or drinks. The closest I got to it was cleaning the house for $2 an hour to save up for an #Xbox.
#4: I'm easily distracted. I started writing this email five minutes ago and I've already checked my phone twice, made a cup of coffee and watched a video of a dog on a skateboard. (Totally worth it).
#5: I start hundreds of #projects and never finish them. I've bought fifteen domain names over the last four years. Freelance Writers School, Deutschified and my old portfolio are the only ones I've been able to focus on.
#6: I'm terrible at getting feedback. Whenever an editor gives me a negative comment, it tears me apart inside and I have to walk away from the computer.
#7: I wrote for two years barely editing any articles. I'd literally write them, read them once, then submit them. It got me into trouble A LOT of times.
#8: I don't care about money. Like, at all. My goal is to spend time with my family, friends and have enough that funds my life. Making $15,000 a month or being a millionaire just doesn't get me excited.
#9: My writing style stops me from getting a lot of jobs. I'm too informal and some people absolutely hate it.
#10: I've never gone viral. In three years of #writing I've never had an article get more than 4000 shares. There are new bloggers on Medium who have more shares than I do!
#11. I'm terrible at networking. I am probably the most poorly connected person in the world. No matter how many books I read or events I attend, I just can't "get it".
#12. I don't read a lot. I go through phases of reading five books in a month, and then nothing for six. Bad practice for a writer.
#13. My mental health stops me from working. Sometimes I slide into a "hole" and I can't write for two or three days at a time.
#14. I second guess myself. No matter what I'm writing, I'll rewrite it four times because I don't trust myself to get it right.
#15. I'm stupidly impatient and impulsive. It either needs to be done now, or I'm going to do it right now. I don't tend to think until afterwards.
#16. I'm the first person in my family to own their own business. Everyone else was full-time nine-to-five, and didn't even dare think about not having a stable monthly income.
#17. I'm unorganised. My office is assorted pieces of paper, dried out pens and mouldy coffee cups. Don't even talk to me about finding the right document at tax season!
#18. I rarely get to speak English. It's my mother tongue, but 75-80% of my daily conversations are in German. (I failed foreign languages at school, too).
My point is this...
If I can do it, you sure as hell can do it too.
I'm the last person on earth who should have started a freelance writing business. I should still be working in a shoe shop making $6 an hour.
The odds were never in my favour.
You're probably a smarter, more attractive, more patient, less lazy, better writer than I am.
All it takes to turn this writing thing into a success is a big enough reason WHY and a little bit of GRIT.
If you're driven to have a better life for yourself. If you really want to spend more time with your loved ones. If you're dying to pay your debts, travel the world or break out of your nine to five job, then you can do it.
You just have to turn up every day. Even if it's just for one hour.
Failure, rejection, being told your writing is shit. All of that is trivial when you zoom out and look at the big picture. When you look at who you really want to be.
I had a decision to make...
Do I stay here, stuck in my own personal hell? Working my dead end job in a scratchy red uniform selling shoes to people I don't care about, torn away from my family and friends. Wishing someone would come along and pay me to write.
Or do I get off my backside, take control and make the change myself?
I chose the latter...and I've never looked back.
I don't want to lie to you and tell you that the road ahead is easy. I don't want to sell you the dream of a laptop lifestyle that doesn't involve pain and sacrifice...
...but none of it compares to the pain of looking back in ten years time, when it's too late, and thinking, "What if?".
That's a future neither of us wants for you.
