Self Employment — Another Little Panic

http://ijumped.net poppy

Woke up with that awful feeling of panic again.  Not the ship-sinking sort of emergency panic, but the dull ache of knowing that, despite some three months of research and work on my trial website, world-of-honey.com, I have still not got anywhere near earning any money.

Of course, a lot of advice about Internet Marketing, and about self employment in general, says you should focus not on money but on passion – do what you have a passion for; do what you are interested in.  Thinking like this is not all that easy though when you have the daily pressure of bills to pay.  Hence the little panic.

I have to step back a little at these times and think about the big plan.  I have had several forays into the world of self-employment, and they have all ended in my taking paid work for someone else, or at least an I.T. contract that has bailed me out financially.  This course of action was the result of the panic I am talking about here; a product of a mindset that made me fail in my self-employment efforts.

This time, I want so much for it to be different.  I want to persist with my ventures until I find a combination of things that works for me – and also pays the bills.  I have to be brave.  I have to be businessman-like.  I have to be professional.  I have to see the bigger picture – the long term.  I have to accept that there may be a period of a year or two during which I may not be able to pay my way.  I have to accept all this with good grace, with a smile, with the appearance that I know what I am doing.  Even if I don’t really know what I am doing at all, because the reality is that, like so many people starting out, I am learning largely by feeling my way, by doing.

I do find, though, that acting is better than thinking when it comes to dispersing a bout of panic. Producing an article, a web page, a little promo video, a blog entry!  It feels as if you are producing something, even if maybe that thing is not the best – at least you have something to show, at least you did not just sit on the bed crying.