Has It Been a Month Already?
This is for those of you wondering how life has been for me since I quit the day gig to go full time as an author. My official last day was April 2nd. It's been over 30 days, here's what I've been up to.
Welp, I'm going to start with the reality checks that rolled in those first few days (*ahem*):
Started having minor car issues as in a sensor is starting to go out which activates the 'check engine light' randomly; the touch screen on my dash display doesn't work anymore; the back-up camera display works intermittently; the sun roof 'vent' setting doesn't work so opening the sun roof to vent could leave the roof open for leakage; one of the tires seems to be developing a slow leak.
Because I didn't get all the information regarding early distribution of my retirement account (which I did in order to pay off the majority of my debt prior to quitting the job), and I wasn't as on top of things when it came to past tax debt my (now ex) husband and I accumulated, this year, it appears I owe over seven grand in federal and state taxes.
Yeah...that last one hit hard. Hit hard enough that I began to second guess all of my life's decisions. I had a few other little hits ($200+ health insurance payments now for one) but those above were the biggies as they happened within the first ten days of my last day at work - and that last paycheck wasn't going to cover ANY of it.
In the midst of all that though, I settled into a daily routine that has produced:
a morning routine that includes meditation, exercise, and a healthy breakfast. Three big components of my life that I've struggled to incorporate into my adult life
a writing routine that's going to have me on track to finish ALL four of the books I've been putting off for the past six years
freedom to work around my insomnia, which has decreased dramatically by the way. In my before life, if I'd had only a couple of hours of sleep the night before, that next day at work would see me struggling to do the little things, but now, when I wake during the wee hours of the night, I don't fight to go back to sleep, I get up and do some writing, or I read, then when I feel sleepy again, I go back to bed unbothered that an alarm is going to off in just a few minutes. Subsequently, during the day, when I find myself exhausted by two o'clock in the afternoon, I take an hour nap. When I wake up, I'm refreshed and ready to get back to work.
When I think about the money, yes, I stress a bit. But not enough to want to go back to a 'traditional' job. I've fallen for all the entrepreneurial tropes - setting my own schedule, being productive to my standards, any money I earn goes into my bank account; I can't be fired for sleeping on the job and the break room is stocked with all the food I want to eat, no worrying about co-workers helping themselves to MY lunch either. It's most awesome.
I've given myself until the end of Q2 to make a real run at making some money. Ninety days isn't that long in the grand scheme of things. We're also talking about taking a 13-year old "business" from just a smidge over maybe three grand in revenue total over the last 13 years to bringing in up to five grand a month. It sounds (and sometimes feels) impossible.
Here's where being me comes in handy. That impossible feeling doesn't stop me from doing what I want to do. I'm weird that way.
So yeah, things look a bit daunting right now but I'm excited to be on my way. I invite you to subscribe - either here on the website or HERE on my YouTube channel - so you can roll with me as I make my way.
For a visual edition of this blog post, click HERE :-).
As always, thank you for stopping by.
Sending love & inspiration,
Dana