Perseverance (Or, Succeeding Because You're Too Stubborn to Quit)

NOTE: This blog post is my entry in the 2008 Heart Kids Tweetathon, organized by Dr. Mani to help raise money for children with heart defects. His theme for this year's event is "Passion, Purpose, Persistence."

When I quit my day job in 2005 to live the luxurious life of a freelancer, I never imagined how difficult a life I was volunteering for. Instead of the sanity (and health insurance) that comes with a steady paycheck, I was opting to live by my wits. I was stubborn (or cavalier) enough to think that I could make at least as good a living on my own as I could from all the clients my day job had worked so hard to bring in and keep happy.

In short, I was wrong.

Not about the money part, but about how easy I thought it would be. I took the security of my salary, and the ease with which work fell into my lap, for granted. I spent the better part of two years struggling to make ends meet, paying credit cards with credit cards, and dressing five layers deep in the winter to save on heating bills.

I was a mess.

But I was also stubborn. I refused to blame anyone other than myself for my inability to live a comfortable life. (Well, at least in the end, after I tried a bunch of excuses and realized none of them were legit.) More than anything, I knew that what was separating me from success was my own attitude and motivation, not some karmic conspiracy to keep me down.

So I kept at it. I made new connections, pursued new clients, took chances. And, most importantly, I had support - from friends, from family, and from people who refused to let me sink too far to recover. (Perhaps not coincidentally, all of the business I currently enjoy comes from clients who were either acquaintances of mine or who recommended me to their friends.)

I'm not quite living the life of luxury yet, but I've also held fast to my promise to myself, that I would find a way to avoid having to work a 9-to-5 job again. I hated not having control over my own destiny -- and even though it took me several lean years to figure out exactly what kind of responsibility comes with that control, it's a lesson I wouldn't trade. In fact, I highly suggest it. There's no better way to learn what's inside you than to put yourself through incredible difficulties simply because you refuse to change your course without achieving success.

Just make sure you bundle up in the winter.

Photo by Evan Prodromou

I Haz Bin BlawgTagged?

I was evidently blog-tagged by Dr. Mani regarding the online experience. Having not blogged recently, this is a good opportunity to revisit the keyboard...

Onward:

1. How long have you been blogging?

A: I've been blogging since 2004, when I began by dabbling with a MySpace blog.

2. What inspired you to start a blog and who are your mentors?

A: It was an experiment at first, like most things I do online.

As for mentors, I think that's a presumptuous question, which infers that everyone must blog for a reason and actively seeks to emulate the style of someone else. For example, I may read Chris Brogan's and Seth Godin's blogs on occasion, but we paddle in different boats these days.

3. Are You trying to make money online, or just doing it for fun?

A: I'm trying to make money, period. Paying my rent and eating every day are great accomplishments. If I happen to make that money online, so be it.

Right now, I look at social media as a still-emerging market, so putting all of my eggs in that basket would be ludicrous. Then again, so would putting zero eggs in that basket.

And, rationally speaking, putting eggs in baskets never seemed like a sensible storage solution in the first place...

4. Tell me 3 things you LOVE about being online.

A1: Meeting a variety of people I wouldn't meet otherwise

A2: Consuming large and varied amounts of information

A3: Near-instantaneous feedback on new ideas, breaking news, and other benefits of being plugged into the collective subconscious

5. Tell me 3 things you STRUGGLE with in the online world.

A1: The relevance, permanence and unstable momentum of online relationships (and the movements created therein)

A2: Information overload, resulting in an inability to focus for long periods of time / parse the truly important information from the trivial or temporary

A3: The massive amount of groupthink, errant "wisdom of crowds," and general mediocrity associated with being plugged into the collective subconscious

******

Must I tag others? Fair enough. I tag Julia Roy, Tim Siedell (Bad Banana) and Locobone. Feel free to swap out questions with more relevant ones, if you're so inclined.