As you know, I’m a freelance writer focusing on personal finance related posts.  What you may not know–although I address it from time to time–is that I also recently quit my day job (I am a professional but I’ll never admit what kind) to start my own business/practice/firm.

The Financial Blogger recently completed the Rat Race, an epic e-book, an amazing e-book that is now for sale for only $27.00 and that just might change your life.

I want to write a little about this book.  Not because I have been told to–in fact I hope I don’t get in trouble with the boss for writing about it.  But rather because I feel it’s an important work.  I know it changed my life.

The Rat Race

I was hired by TFB and Company to proofread and edit the Rat Race.  That’s right–any typos or grammatical errors in there are largely my fault.  Usually when I’m proofreading something, I’m all business.  But this time I kept getting engrossed by the text.  I had to remind myself to stay focused as a professional reader rather than a reader for pleasure.   When it was all said and done, I refunded some of the money due for my services, because I thought it would be unfair to get paid to read such a great work.

Why I Responded to the Rat Race

The Rat Race is the tale of humanity.  We all walk around with hopes and dreams.  But few of us break through the red tape and strive for something better.   There’s always an excuse to “wait until later.”  To “delay action.”  And to “give up on our dreams.”  I know because I’ve been there.

My whole goal in life was to start my own business.  But I kept putting it off because the timing wasn’t right.

“I have too many student loans.”

“But we just bought a house.”

And a number of other excuses would always be my way out of following my dreams.  The strange thing–and the Rat Race notes this–is that our friends and family are often all too quick to advise us not to follow our dreams.

Dream-killers are all around us, many of them friends rather than enemies.

It’s Not Easy Breaking Out of the Rat Race

As I’ve indicated here in prior posts, it’s not easy “Escaping the Rat Race.”  There will be times where you feel like you don’t have a single friend in the world.  There will be moments of intense self-doubt.  But every success story has had elements of failure.  Go Google failure quotes from famous people and you’ll understand that this is so.  Even Ted Turner is quoted to have said: “My entire life people have been doubting me.”

Conclusion 

If you’re serious about making a real change, the first thing you need to do is look inside and see if you’re ready for it.  If you are, then I would recommend shelling out the $27.00 to read Escaping the Rat Race Part 1.  If you do, it will be money well spent, and it could change your life forever.

And that’s just my objective opinion.

Getting the word out about your new product or service is one of the most important parts of starting a new business/endeavor.  Networking is one of the most effective (and cost effective) methods of advertising both you and your business.  At the same time, you’ll have to be careful in planning your networking activities.  You will have a limited amount of time and money to accomplish your networking goals.  This post will discuss Networking on a Budget.  By budget, I mean budgeting both time and money–as we’re often short on at least one or the other.    

Networking on a Budget, Tip #1 – Plan in Advance

And make the planning part of your networking.  Call up important people in your industry, and see if you can take them to lunch.  While there, ask them what activities they find useful and who you should talk to.  At the same time, you’ll be letting an important figure in your industry know that you exist and have a business.

You would be surprised how willing people are to help you, even in a bad economy.   If not, then they’re not worth having on your side in the first place.

Once you have an idea of the types of activities, clubs, charities, and other networking possibilities, you can figure out their cost and the budget.

Networking on a Budget, Tip #2: Make Effective Use of the Internet

The internet can really level the playing field between you and the larger companies.  If you utilize an effective website, use the internet to communicate with people who might otherwise be outside your current social reach, or blog regularly, you may be surprised at the results.  The best part about the internet is that it can be effectively utilized even with the smallest of budgets.

Networking on a Budget, Tip #3: Make Use Of Your Own/Natural Network

(Hopefully) There is no easier sell than to the people who really care about you: your family and friends.  Even if they might not have a direct need for your product or services, you might be surprised at just who they know.  Having a solid team of unpaid yet committed “cheerleaders” is quite a privilege.

Before going out and trying to network with strangers, make sure your extended natural network of family and friends is aware of your latest endeavor, and how passionate you are about it.  Give them an elevator pitch just like everyone else, so they can parrot it later on to potential customers.

Networking on a Budget Tip #4, Decide on Whether You Have Money or “Sweat Equity” to Offer

There are some networks that you can buy your way into.  Other networks require “sweat equity” for positive results.  Determine which asset you have more of, time or money.

If you have more time then money, then you can try volunteering to take on roles within the organization that will put you into contact with a lot of different people.  If your greater asset is the almighty dollar, then see what types of memberships could be valuable in raising your profile and connecting with your target audience.

Networking on a Budget Tip #5 – Don’t Just Participate–Lead

Leadership roles require you to participate regularly in an organization.  They also, by their very nature, put you into contact with a lot more people (and in a much less forced setting).  There’s no easier way to network than by having people come to you.

Finally, a leadership position gives you instant credibility.  The more you take on leadership roles, the quicker your profile will increase.

More importantly for this blog post, it will increase the rate at which everyone knows who you are, and what you do/your company has to offer.

Conclusion 

What are some of your additional tips for networking on a budget?  How long does it take for networking (if done correctly) to start developing consistent leads?  What are some of your networking success stories?

The other day I went over my parent’s house and told my mom about a serious career decision I had made.  My mother’s lips move: and an equal mix of negativity and concern spill out. I am transported to my youth, specifically, the time when I was eight years old and she told me not to climb the monkey bars. “They’re dangerous,” she said. I didn’t listen. But she was convinced I learned a lesson when just seconds later I fell and broke my wrist.

But even to this day, I’m not sure if I fell because they were dangerous, or if I failed because a kernel of doubt was planted in my brain.

The Past

I had a great childhood and wonderful parents. I was and am blessed. But even I can think of times, like the example above, where I was doubted. Where my dreams were met with negativity. Where a kernel of doubt was planted in my brain, making me question myself or my worth. I have no doubt these ancient memories affect who I am and how I react to different scenarios today.

The Present

Whether it be growing up with a negative parent, or being teased in the schoolyard,  these childhood memories were painful. But such dynamics still often exist well into adulthood. A friend who doesn’t believe in your dream project. A boss who tears you down or doubts your competency. A spouse who, in a moment of anger, points out one of your flaws.  And nothing is worse than thinking about the times you’ve been the one tearing down another’s dreams, even if you have the best of intentions.  At different times in our lives we are both victims and complicit.

How does your parent’s relationship with money affect your own? To what extent does your financial upbringing–usually learned on a subconcious rather than concious level–affect whether you will be a “spender” or a “saver?”

If your mother was entrepreneurial, to what extent will that provide freedom or confidence in your following a similar path? If your parents were pure 9 to 5ers, how will they react if you decide to quit your 9 to 5 and open your own business. Will they be supportive, or will they be planting a kernel of doubt–good natured though it may be–but still pushing you towards failure…

The Future

Our lives aren’t–even can’t–just be a snapshot. They must be a moving motion picture. I believe we carry our past with us, for better or worse, and that it colors are opportunities, financial patterns, and chance of success in pursuing entrepreneurial ventures.

At the same time, if we can learn to isolate negative memories–or at least accept their existence; then perhaps we are capable of moving beyond our subconscious limitations. The indelicate noise surrounding us and subtly attacking our hopes and dreams. I write often about the concept of “dream killers,” those that will speak or act for the purposes of making you not follow your dreams. I often define the concept as an exernal force or forces–usually in the form of those closest to us.

But of course, there is likely a bit of an internal dream killer inside all of us, lying in wait, and strengthened from the negative elements of our past.

This is not to say that we shouldn’t be afraid, because who hasn’t seen ambition lead to ruin. Every for sale or closing sign on a business started with a dream. Playing it safe is the default for most people for a reason. The fact that even the “safe” opportunities feel dangerous today may be besides the point.

Conclusion

Past failures and successes color our perception of ourselves and the world around us , but if they affect the outcome of our present or future, it is only because we allow them to.

Maybe you got “killed in the stock market” right out of college, and have since been afraid to invest. Perhaps your first business was a total failure. That’s alright, most people have a bad first experience with the stock market. Most people’s first businesses fail.

But in the end, it’s your ability to dust yourself off, and get back on the monkeybars, that really matters.

The above post was by Chris Thomas, owner of the online freelance writing and web-copy company, FreelancePF. Chris’s interest in personal finance stems from his leaving grad school with six figures in student loan debt. Aside from FreelancePF, Chris is working on a personal finance encyclopedia website/blog, called What Is Personal Finance? In his free time, Chris is an avid baseball fan.

As I wrote in a previous post, I recently left my job to start my own business.  The first few weeks have been exhilerating, liberating, and yes, often-times quite frightening.  I have also learned all about business-style Murphy’s Law.   Here is some advice from the first few weeks of my business, along with some personal anectodes to illustrate my experience thus far and what dangers lurk out there when starting a business.

You Will Underestimate the Expenses

Prior to starting my business, I had worked on my anticipated budget extensively.  I reviewed the anticipated start-up expenses over and over again.  I was convinced that the old adage “people always understimate startup costs” would not apply to my business.  Well…guess what…

I’m now $1,500 over-budget.  For a small business, with $5,000 startup costs overall, that’s significant.  Murphy’s Law came into play–and has hurt my ability to stick to a budget.  Here are some examples:

• I was counting on being able to use my MacBook Pro as the company computer.  Unfortunately, one piece of important software that I need does not run on a Mac.  Therefore, I had spring for a new laptop.  Even though I bought the cheapest new laptop I could find (around $330.00 including tax), that’s still a big expense I was not anticipating. 
• I destroyed some equipment while moving.
• Some items that I thought I could borrow from others did not pan out as expected.

Other times, I simply failed to accurately estimate the costs associated with a specific purchase.  I never realized it would be $25.00 per month for an extra telephone line.  Even worse, I am beginning to think I may need to hire a receptionist to be taken seriously in my field. 

Also, it’s only natural that we forget to include small expenses in our budget.   My budget had just about all the big-ticket items listed.  But I forget small things such as a stapler, staples, tape, and a wireless router.  These “small/inexpensive” items add up, and before you know it, you have spent hundreds or even thousands of dollars more than you initially expected to.

Things Will Go Wrong

My business is–like most professional businesses–very reliant on Word documents.  Which means the word processing (something to do with the formatting) issue that suddenly came about this week couldn’t have come at a worse time.  Spending hours on the telephone with”technical support’ is not how

 I invisioned spending my precious time during the start-up phase of my business.  Worst yet, the issue still isn’t fully resolved. 

Plenty of other issues have arisen as well.  Outside vendors have taken longer than anticipated or promised to help me get various systems in place.  Time sucks have occurred at almost every stage of the business.  Spending hours building furniture is a reality–but not something you think about when dreaming of your business.

Not Everyone Will Be Supportive

I understand that I am taking a huge risk in starting my own business.  I left a steady job, where I got paid a consistent paycheck each week and worked with fair and decent people.  That said, some people act as though I am questioning  their entire way of living.  Sometimes the digs will be focused on my relative youth.  Other times, the digs will be more general in nature.  Either way, the negativity from some friends, colleagues and family members is unexpected and not very helpful.  Although my network has overall been very supportive, stand ready for some unexpected neighsayers early on when starting a business. 

You’ll Be Your Own Worst Enemy

As you sit there, having turned your entire life upside down–and wondering if you made a huge mistake–you will likely start to doubt yourself.  You’ll become agitated over the telephone not ringing.  If you’re anything like me, you’ll likely envision yourself in a debtor’s prison or the like–or at the very least seen as a major failure.  Again, these negative thoughts are detrimental–and must be kept at bay before they negatively impact your business or chances of success. 

Conclusion

I can now say with great certainty that Murphy’s Law applies when starting a new business or company.  What else could one expect?  After all, it’s not easy to leave “The Rat Race.” 

Have you ever experience “Murphy’s Law”–Business Style?  How did you get through the initial start-up period–and all of its pitfalls? 

Hey everyone, staff writer Chris Thomas of FreelancePF here again.  This time to tell you the truth about why I’m a staff writer for other sites: i’s because I’m an online entrepreneurial failure.  I’ll admit it again: I’m a Failure.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always wanted to be an entrepreneur.  To have something all my own.  To either succeed or fail on my own terms.  I took a strange path towards “entrepreneurship”, as I didn’t start following my goals until the worst possible time–after seven years of higher education and more than $100,000 in student loan debt.

Blogging

It all started with a personal finance blog my wife and I started to detail our efforts at paying down our massive student loan debt.  It wasn’t generating any money–but it was ours, and it awoke the somewhat dormant feelings inside me of my entrepreneurial spirit. I learned everything I could about blogging and online business models.  I was desperate for more knowledge, and it seemed like the more I learned the more I realized how little I knew.  With time, I started making some progress.

The problem was, I couldn’t figure out how to monetize the blog.  Even when I started having a decent audience of 4,000-6,000 unique visitors each month (after only a few months of blogging), I couldn’t figure out how to make enough money for it to pay for itself, let alone generate extra cash.

One sad day I had an outstanding heating bill.  It was for $1,000 and was unexpected as I was a new homeowner.  I didn’t have enough money to pay it off because my money was all tied up in the home purchase.  I decided I had to sell the blog; my one remaining semi-liquid asset (and yes it’s sad if your blog is the most liquid asset you own), and for better or worse, I was lucky to do so and pay off that bill.

But I was also at a crossroads: I no longer had an online presence.  I had put in thousands of hours and only made a minimal one-time gain.  I was a failure.

Freelance Writing Business

I then decided to concentrate on FreelancePF, my new online freelance writing and copy business.  As you could see, I was heading further down the rabbit hole of online entrepreneurship, but also further away from a sustainable passive income source. I have been really lucky to have a diverse and loyal group of clients that I really enjoy working with, but I must write everrything myself to make money.

Think about the business model of the really successful online entrepreneurs:  They’re the guys and girls hiring someone like me to do some writing for them.  They’re the guys or girls that have learned how to monetize blogs and websites to make a substantial online income.  Conversely, most of my business has to be done by me and I will only get paid for the work I complete.  Although most of my business is repeat, and that is a great feeling and a point of pride;  still, something felt missing.  I guess the operative word would be scalability.

Despite limited success as an online copywriter/freelance writer, I found myself wanting to try my hand at something larger.  A “go for broke” kind of idea.

It hit my wife and I one day late last Spring.

Website

I had been searching for the perfect Mother’s Day Gift.  Unfortunately, most of the gift suggestion websites I came across had too many ideas.  I might as well have just walked into a mall.  They had all the categories and would even break things down into “personality types,” but then there would be tens, hundreds, or even thousands of options.

My wife and I have a personal philosophy of minimalism.  We believe that simplicity and minimalism are needed today when we are constantly bombarded with too many choices–most of them poor.  I talked over the gift problem with my wife and we saw a need–the need for a gift suggestion website that was different.

We started the project with gusto just a few short months ago.  So far, we’ve earned only $2.66 off Amazon referrals.  We’re trying to diversify because Amazon is shutting down its referral service in many states.

We still haven’t learned how to properly market the site.  We still haven’t learned how to properly monetize any site–even though the whole purpose of this site is, in many ways, monetization.

More uninspiring still, we have started a personal finance blog that now fails to draw even 1,000 unique visitors.  It feels like we’re moving backwards.  Again, it’s just further proof that I’m an online entrepreneur failure.

Why I’m Telling You About My Failure

I think there’s a few things to learn from my story(s) of failure.

One: always make sure you have a proper emergency fund.  We didn’t and it forced us to sell something quickly that was on an upward swing.  That’s never a strong bargaining position.

Two: Trying different things might be bad.  My entrepreneurial A.D.D., has probably been more of a detriment than a positive. I’m constantly searching for the next brilliant idea and losing hope after a few months of little or no success with my current ideas.

Three: It’s better to be the boss than the employee.  When you can make money from your own sites, then you’re in control.  When you have to search for clients like I do, then it’s not as pure a form of entrepreneurship (in my opinion).  However, it’s the best I can do and actually does generate some extra cash.

Four: Remember that even a failure like me earns around $500.00 extra a month from my side-job of writing for others.  I could earn a lot more if my day job didn’t require me to keep my jobs to a minimum.  There’s a million different ways to make money online, and if you can find one then you won’t be a total failure.

At the very worst you’ll be getting paid to write about failure like me, and there’s certainly worse things in the world.

Conclusion

Entrepreneurship really is a journey.  It takes lots of baby steps, and sometimes false starts before you get to where you need to be. May you’ll get there, and maybe you won’t.  But you won’t know if you don’t try.

I hope your entrepreneurial journey is life-altering and exhilarating.  And full of enough failures to teach you the road to success.

Best of luck in all your entrepreneurial ventures.  Both online and off.