Hi! I'm Cat Lady, a 30 year old that's 19 months into working on my business (personal finance niche market, I have a radio show, book, online course, and am college/corporate trainer - I want to be one of the entrepreneurs that MJ maligns in TFM for making their riches not through the investment advice they give). Gross revenue total in that time is in the mid-$40,000 range (and I live on about $1,300 USD per month for context) but I spent about 6 months of that building up my reputation and platform.
That income seems like enough for me to live on but it's highly variable, and this brings us to the mindset issue I'm having: risk.
I seemingly can't give side jobs or say no to "fast cash" working on other people's businesses. Even when that means putting in 25-40 hours a week on other people's businesses before I get around to mine. I'm not as young as I once was and I ended up crashing hard trying to work 7 days a week, and I know I'm missing out on income possibilities because I don't have energy for more than ˜55-65 hours a week. At the same time, I like the "safety net" of having multiple income sources and I'm terrified that if I did only my business, I wouldn't make any money and run through my savings and never be able to find a slowlane job again.
As long as I've been doing this business, I've worked side jobs (this was also true when I had a FT slowlane job because I never like to rely on one source of income).
I get offered jobs regularly due to my wide social circle and the good economy. I worked as COO for a friend's 3-person tech business for about a year at ˜12 hrs/week, I was doing some freelance graphic design, and now I'm doing freelance data contracting for a corporation (SQL/Digital Asset Management mostly), and I also work a one-day-a-week $13/hr job at a boutique gym in order to learn about the business model and get free fancy workout classes.
I have about 7 months personal cash runway before I'd even have to touch the Roth IRA or 401K, but I'm very stuck in scarcity mode from years of living on non-profit income.
I am always paranoid that my own business won't be able to cover an emergency despite having an emergency fund and a fastlane millionaire live-in partner (we're financially separate though) who wouldn't let me end up destitute, obviously, if disaster struck. (I also have a low likelihood of a costly medical disaster because I hit my OOP Max in Feb each year thanks to my hella $$$ drug with co-pay assistance.)
I need help saying no to offers of more work and changing my mindset with the business.
How do you make yourself willing to accept risk? If you're neurotic and anxious like me, how do you help fix this?
I am worried that the corporation I am working for is going to offer me money, health insurance, and a steady 20 hours a week and I won't be able to convince myself to say no.
But I simply cannot burn the candle at both ends anymore (esp with my lovely stupid disease that limits my energy) working as many hours as I am doing, and I KNOW there's more my business could be doing with my full focus, and it's likely I could be making $2000-$5000 a month by the end of the year if I would give up other work, which would be enough to save half my income on my expense level.
Thanks for the time.
That income seems like enough for me to live on but it's highly variable, and this brings us to the mindset issue I'm having: risk.
I seemingly can't give side jobs or say no to "fast cash" working on other people's businesses. Even when that means putting in 25-40 hours a week on other people's businesses before I get around to mine. I'm not as young as I once was and I ended up crashing hard trying to work 7 days a week, and I know I'm missing out on income possibilities because I don't have energy for more than ˜55-65 hours a week. At the same time, I like the "safety net" of having multiple income sources and I'm terrified that if I did only my business, I wouldn't make any money and run through my savings and never be able to find a slowlane job again.
As long as I've been doing this business, I've worked side jobs (this was also true when I had a FT slowlane job because I never like to rely on one source of income).
I get offered jobs regularly due to my wide social circle and the good economy. I worked as COO for a friend's 3-person tech business for about a year at ˜12 hrs/week, I was doing some freelance graphic design, and now I'm doing freelance data contracting for a corporation (SQL/Digital Asset Management mostly), and I also work a one-day-a-week $13/hr job at a boutique gym in order to learn about the business model and get free fancy workout classes.
I have about 7 months personal cash runway before I'd even have to touch the Roth IRA or 401K, but I'm very stuck in scarcity mode from years of living on non-profit income.
I am always paranoid that my own business won't be able to cover an emergency despite having an emergency fund and a fastlane millionaire live-in partner (we're financially separate though) who wouldn't let me end up destitute, obviously, if disaster struck. (I also have a low likelihood of a costly medical disaster because I hit my OOP Max in Feb each year thanks to my hella $$$ drug with co-pay assistance.)
I need help saying no to offers of more work and changing my mindset with the business.
How do you make yourself willing to accept risk? If you're neurotic and anxious like me, how do you help fix this?
I am worried that the corporation I am working for is going to offer me money, health insurance, and a steady 20 hours a week and I won't be able to convince myself to say no.
But I simply cannot burn the candle at both ends anymore (esp with my lovely stupid disease that limits my energy) working as many hours as I am doing, and I KNOW there's more my business could be doing with my full focus, and it's likely I could be making $2000-$5000 a month by the end of the year if I would give up other work, which would be enough to save half my income on my expense level.
Thanks for the time.
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