Overview
Dear [accessally_user_firstname],
Thank you for joining our challenge. I hope you find it helpful.
Starting, building and running my own Larry Jacob Internet Marketing has been the absolute most challenging, worrisome, difficult, thrilling, nerve racking, exciting experience of my life…
and I love it.
I had always dreamed of going at it solo. I yearned for the day when I would:
- Say goodbye to the corporate world,
- Take full control of my career, and
- Get paid what I thought (and not what my boss thought) I was worth.
I started my business “on the side.” It started as effort get get some extra income. Then it gave me a lot of extra income. I kept this up for over two years.
Like you, I had responsibilities. Dropping a nice paying corporate job with all the benefits and starting my own wasn’t something I could just do without facing come consequences. I was coming up on 50, had two daughters in college, a mortgage to pay, financial responsibilities, you know the drill.
Then one December 11th morning (funny how you remember these dates), I was called in for an “unexpected” meeting and my job was no more. My employer of five years had had enough of me and it was their decision that we should part ways.
Honestly, I was kind of energized while at the same time in state of complete panic. My wife wasn’t nearly as excited. She grew up with a father that had retired from a corporate job after 30+ years. Her dad and I had always worked for companies with names you would easily recognize. Think IBM, Johnson and Johnson, Bank of America, KPMG,… Her security hung on those big names.
My wife’s biggest fear came through when I declared, “I’m going to give it a shot.” I throttled my then side business into my new “day job” and that was the beginning of an interesting time for both of us.
To say we both struggled with my decision would be a major understatement. As exciting as controlling the fate of my career was, it also meant it was ALL ON ME. Sure I was aiming a increasing my income, but that didn’t come right away. It put a really big strain our marriage of almost 30 years. The number of times we were “short that month” and the discussion turned to “when are you going to get a real job” are too high to count.
Did I mentioned that starting your own business is a major challenge??
As time went by she (and me too) became more convince that this experiment of mine was becoming the new permanent day job. Success came much slower than I expected and we struggle in all ways imaginable. Fast forward several years and you know, we figured it out. Does the business have it’s up and downs? You bet. Does it sometimes feel like you are on a roller coaster without a seat belt? Yes to that too. Would I have it any other way? Not a chance.
This program started as a journaling exercise I use to regain my sanity. I was going off the deep end both emotionally and spiritually. My business was taking me over and something needs to change. Taking out my journal and writing in the morning was that something.
After writing for several months, I was in a better place. It was working for me. I had a few people review it. and they thought it was pretty good. This collection of daily write-ups, reflections, meditations, do’s and don’ts, vignettes, or whatever you want to call them were valuable.
I’ve since organized them into the following categories:
- Mental or Emotional Health
- Your Legacy or Finding Meaning in Your Life
- Relationships
- Personal Challenges
- Practical Issues
Then I attached a, “Thought for the day” to help reader reflect on it and use it as their daily theme.
That’s what led up to this challenge.
You’ll be getting an email daily linking you to the day’s message. As you would expect, there are 49 of these. My hope is you can gain from this challenge some resemblance of sanity. We all need that whether we are running our own business or not. By that I mean I hope it can help you stay on the right course and help you work efficiently toward the goals you have set for yourself.
Best regards,?
President and founder