Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hi, my name is Julia, and I just joined this forum.  About 3-4 months ago I began to learn about internet marketing so I could strive for financial freedom.  As I became consumed in affiliate marketing (unsuccessfully), I grew further from my true goal which is to write and help women who have struggled in life as I had. I stopped two weeks ago to take a break, re-access my goals, and start building my dream in January.

 

I realized I don`t really have a plan and found myself getting stuck when it came to developing a plan. I found this site and forum with a lot of useful info on developing a life plan as well as a business plan, so I decided to join. I hope to learn a lot from being here and hopefully help others also.

Welcome Julia!  I`m glad you decided to join.  There are many brilliant entrepreneurs in our community (StartupNation and Michigan alike) that have tons of advice to share.

 

(and as a fellow Michigander...I know there`s no better time than the freezing winter to sit behind your computer, in your warm home, and focus on great things...  )

 

 

 

First I`m going to create my life plan, and then intregrate it into a business plan. The problem I`ve had in the past, and over the last few months is jumping in head first without writing down goals first.  Right now I just have ideas about what I would like to do, but I`m scattered and to be honest, have no idea what I`m doing.

 

That`s why I joined this forum. I`ve printed out the life plan and business plan and will start there.  I get a little stuck when attempting to build my website due to not having direction but also because I am hesitate to promote products, which is silly because if I don`t have something for people to buy, I can`t eventually have my own business where I`m financially free. I think I get stuck because perhaps I see others as me, someone who can`t afford to buy things, and I don`t want to be pushy.

 

The last three months have been a great learning experience. I`ve realized a few areas in my life that definitely need improving in order for me to succeed. Knowing where I`m taking my goals next being the top order of business. Believing in myself and seeing myself making money are other things that I need to work on.

 

The website I`m working on (hasn`t been made public yet) is thoughtsnfeelings.com.  I got it a month or so ago, with my husband. He was going to use it to have a recovery site for alcoholics. Only he`s not interested in it anymore and enrolled in school instead. So I have a website package that includes a forum, chat room, a store, and lots of other cool stuff. I figured thoughtnfeelings would work for my site for women since it`s our thoughts and feelings that can prevent us from fulfilling our dreams in life. That`s about as far as I`ve gotten so far.

 

Julia

 

I`ve always dreamed of having my own business. I imagine myself writing books, doing workshops, and helping people move past limitations in life to have their dreams become reality. I dream of not having to work outside the home, and travelling. I dream of some day having a horse and riding through the moutains.  I dream of growing more spiritually and reaching enlightment.

 

I used to dream about finding my storybook romance, only that dream came true for me two years ago. I was always told that was impossible, because it`s never like it is in fairy tales. But I held on to that dream, and it did happen. We have challenges as does all fairy tales, but it is as I dreamed of.

 

So I hold on to the other dreams and am working on making them reality also.

 

 

 

Ah, something else I need improving. And I think setting reasonable timescales is important. I used to set pretty unreasonable ones, and failed miserable. Then I just didn`t set any. And of course the dreams remained just dreams.

 

My husband is in a business class and gave me a copy of a goal setting sheet he has to work on. This will help me set more realistic goals for myself. This week I will work on my life plan that I got from this site. Hopefully doing that I will have more direction to begin my business plan.

 

I won`t be doing a lot between Christmas and New Year`s, although I can set some short term goals for starting in January.

 

Thanks for the thought provoking questions. This helps a lot.

Julia