Project Completion

I am trying, trying, trying to create a business.  To start making money online.  To do...something!  Today I came across a great short article here in which the author talks about the Art of Completion.  YES, I need to complete a few tasks so I can get on with the work of making money.  Brilliant.  Then she totally inspires me with this idea regarding why I am not getting anything done:

This may not be an issue of procrastination. It could be that your completion muscles are not fully developed.

Hello.  My completion muscles are not fully developed.  I admit, I am more about the excitement of the idea than pushing through the details to complete the project.  I love to start, I struggle to complete.  My completion muscles are not fully developed.  Some days and in some areas I am not sure they have even started developing.  But overall I have completed enough things in my life that I must have something starting there.  I just need to keep working.

OK So muscle building.  You start out small, you are sore all the time and then slowly, over time, one day at a time, your muscles grow, you get stronger, fitter and look better.  And as the habit develops it becomes easier to continue to grow those muscles.  Or easier and less painful to maintain them once thy are there.

So the bottom line is that as I have sat at my desk the last couple afternoons feeling like I am in pain, feeling frustrated by what I am not accomplishing and don't know, it is all good.  I am doing something great.

I love feeling sore after a work out.  Love. It.  I know it is probably sick but I really feel like I am doing something, making a difference.  I have worked hard and it willl pay off.  I might move a little slower the rest of the day, or for the next few days, but I just see that as part of the fun.  (I know, I am sick.)

So starting today I am going to view feeling "sore" after an afternoon on my computer trying to build a web site, create content, learn internet marketing, and so much more, I will walk away feeling GREAT.  Still sore, still moving a little slow but doing something, learning and making it happen.  I am working toward completing a project and showing it off.

Pretty soon I will be a master project completer.  Finishing books, designing products ready to sell and so much more.  Goals accomplished.  Dreams fulfilled.

How are your completion muscles feeling today?

I think I am getting somewhere

To think is easy. To act is difficult. To act as one thinks is the most difficult. – Johann Wolfgang Von Goeth

 Here I am cruising along in my life.  I am slowly, ever so painfully slowly, starting to think I am going to learn and get a grip on this new job.  The good news is that I am busy each day and the 5ish hours I am trying to put in each morning just FLY by.  I always think that is a sign you are enjoying what you are doing.

As with my last job transition this one was a little overwhelming at first and I realized that I  needed to let my body adjust to the new information and work I was doing.  Luckily the first transition was the hardest, it only took a couple weeks to make the physical adjustment this time. 

Now on to the next part of my new work schedule plan, starting a business!  So I FINALLY feel like I am making some progress.  Because John is working so much this summer we decided that I could put all my checks for this summer into an account for me to use to start my business.  It is amazing how much easier and more confident you feel when you have a few hundred dollars to spend to hire people or purchase resources to help you accomplish your goal rather than sitting at the computer staring at it trying to accomplish something you are woefully under qualified to accomplish.  So I am working hard on creating a web site to launch in September.  It might be more like the last day of September but I decided I wanted an ambitious goal.  I hired a coach to help me get started and launch me in a direction.  Well spent money.  She actually runs a web site for a living right now and she said in the industry the philosphy is "go ugly early".  I had another friend who gave me similar advice with her "minimal viable product" advice.  Basically, Make it happen!  Just do it!  Get started and fix it as you go.  And, although you may not know this about me, that is totally how I roll.  Wonderful confirmation that I am heading in the right career direction. And the great thing about hiring people to help you with the stuff you don't know how to do is that you get to focus on the stuff you are excited about.  I have started writing content and am getting excited about marketing options.  Once I have everything in place this fall the real work begins.  But the possibility of making money also begins.

So where am I this month?

I opened a checking account for the business.  Technically just a personal account.  I still need to register as a business and file with the state.  Still considering what I will call the thing.

I have a Stella & Dot trunk show tomorrow night.  I am excited about it and am still enjoying it but have decided to simplify my goals.  I still really like how much money I can make at a trunk show.  Tomorrow I will work for about 2-3 hours and make between $50-$150 depending on the show.  Even at the low end good hourly pay.  My goal is to have at least one more trunk show in the next month and do a fall open house at the end of August in my own home.  I am thinking my main goal will be to have a fall and spring open house every year.  Just like we like to update our wardrobe every year we like to update our jewelry with the latest looks too.

I  haven't quite finished all the books on my shelf but pretty darn close.  I think by the weekend I will be ready for a new crop of books to inspire and inform me.

I am going to keep writing.  I want to have several weeks of content ready to go when I get started in September.  Might have to set aside a day just for writing.  It will be hard but somebody has to do it... I have lots of other ideas and seeing this one start to come together is making me think that I really might be able to create some of the other ideas as well.  But one thing at a time.  Launch a web site in September, get it running and THEN start thinking about product ideas and Christmas sales..
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It is still hard work but once you are on the right path it is pretty fun.

I like thinking big. If you’re going to be thinking anything, you might as well think big. – Donald Trump