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1) It Will Take A Long Time To Be Successful / 31,392 Hours To Overnight Success. 

Seconds turn into minutes, minutes turn into hours and hours into days. There is nothing we can do to stop this.   As soon as you accept that the only thing you can control is your own effort, you’ve empowered yourself and taken the first step.

Today is my 16th day of self-employment.  When I started my business http://trainhornsdelivered.com my dream was to have my business support me while traveling the world. While this dream remains, reality has also interjected itself into the equation.   Starting a business will be a lot more work than reading blogs and strategizing.  It requires mundane activities that seem to have zero effect on the present.  However if you keep putting one foot in from of the other you will start to see growth.

I’ve been working on my website for three years and seven months now and while I’m not traveling the world yet, I have been able to  quit my day job and devote myself full-time to my website.   I’m currently averaging about $1500 per month and while that’s not the type of income I was hoping to be earning at this point, the income manages to find its way into my bank account every month.

Don’t allow yourself to get caught up reading Techcrunch and thinking about new business ventures that you could take public and have a million dollar exit.  That is a dream that very few will ever achieve, however my level of success is obtainable for you.  The most important thing is that you get started now because time will continue to slide and you will find yourself going nowhere unless you take action.   “We must all suffer one of two things: the pains of discipline or the pain of regret and disappointment”.

2) Time Is Your Most Valuable Asset

I read a great book in college called Your Money or Your Life . In this book the author poses the question of what is more valuable to you: your money or your time.  Don’t answer this question with your mind; answer it with your personal-finance software. A quick reflection of your spending will show you which one you value more.  In this book the author describes keeping a simple wall chart with the left hand side representing dollars and the bottom representing months.   At the end of every month chart your expenses in red marker and your business income in green.  Your goal every month is to lessen the gap between the two. I use this strategy and find in very helpful in staying on course knowing that as soon as those two lines meet, I’m free.

It took me six months to make my first sale on my website.  When it happened it was the most amazing feeling I have ever had.  I had fallen asleep after a 12 hour day to wake up and find I made a $50 profit while I slept! I quickly showered and went back in for another 12 hour day. The whole day all I could think about was that I made $50 while I slept and now I was selling grouper sandwiches to tourists who treat me like an idiot.  By the end of the shift I had made $220 in tips but the passive $50 had way more value to me.   I just couldn’t stop thinking about that fact that $50 a day would be more than enough to allow me to be surfing in Costa Rica.

There is a great post I would like to share with you about a doctor and lifestyle business entrepreneur that had a conversation in Mexico. The entrepreneur explains to the doctor that he owns/runs website teaching people how to DJ.  He goes on to explain that his business is completely automated and the passive income comes in weather he works or not.   The doctor than asked him if he would like to trade positions.  The doctor explains how he made 2 million after taxes last year but he had to be in his office to earn it and he would rather make less and get to experience life as opposed to earning a higher income.  It is very important to realize it’s not always about the amount of money that you make but how you make that money. You can find the post here

3) Business Building For Retirement

The final thing I would like to talk about is building a business for retirement instead of saving for your retirement. To illustrate this point I would like to compare me to my father.   My dad’s goal per month income in retirement is $8000 a month.  My father is the hardest worker I know, however he is not a risk taker. So for his retirement scenario he needs to save roughly $1.92 million dollars.

Looking at that dollar figure is daunting.  Even for high income earners, reaching that level of savings is a heroic and monumental task. Not only do you have to gain the education and skills to earn a high enough income to save that much money, you have to have enough foresight and frugality to save the money as well.

Now looking at my situation earning $1500 per month I need to grow my business double up 2.5 times to reach the same goal.  I honestly believe it will be much easier for me to grow my business to $8000 from $1500 than it was to go from $0 to $1500.  There is an old running joke that says your first million is the hardest; applied to our situation I would say the first thousand is the hardest.

Now granted if we both reach our goal of $8000 per month he will still have $2 million in the bank whereas my business will only worth 200,000. However for me the choice is simple

Forget anyone who tells you that that building a lifestyle business will be easy. It is going to take a lot of work but if you want your freedom you have to go out and take it.  No one is going to come to your rescue, help you or give you cash to start your business.  The work needs to be put it by you, working independently, investing your time, money and effort.

About

My Name is Marc Galeazzi and I'm the owner of Train Horns Delivered. I wanted to start a blog about train horn kits and other awesome car and truck accessories as well as talk about what goes on behind the sense when running and e-commerce store. Find me on Google+ @ +Marc Patrick Galeazzi

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