I had lunch with an old friend a couple of months back, probably right around when I started the blog, and we got to talking about starting a business and what not.
He works for a local Chamber of Commerce so he’s around entrepreneurs all the time. He told me about a presentation he participated in where the guy talked about figuring out what your day would look like when you’re in the middle of running your business.
This is a visualization exercise which is supposed to help you get closer to turning your dream business into a reality.
I’m all about trying new things and if it works for him, then why can’t it work for me?
My friend and I talked about all sorts of things (since we haven’t seen one another in 8ish years) but this part of the conversation stuck with me for some reason so let’s (finally) give it a try.
So what does my perfect day look like?
For starters, I no longer work at the bank! That means no more 30 minute commute each way, no having to shave everyday, and no more having to wear professional attire. What a relief!
So I wake up with my wife around 7 am. I take our Pug, Sabine, for a walk so my wife doesn’t have to have morning duty anymore. I then have breakfast (consisting of coffee and a strawberry-banana smoothie that my incredible wife makes for me.) My wife has to go to work so I kiss her good bye and tell her that I love her.
The house is quiet except for Sabine snoring away on the couch and I get to work at our dining room table. It’s not the most comfortable but it has a nice view into our front yard and the air blows right onto me.
I pop in my head phones and turn on Spotify. My wife texts me that she’s at work so my “work” day can now begin with me at ease.
My day will consist of the following: Research, Reach Out, and Write which I first touched base on in this post. The work load of each for the day will depend on what I have going on.
I’ll start each day with some Research to get me motivated to take on the day. This will last 30 minutes or so. That means I’ll read a book that inspires me, other blogs that I find interesting, or I look up something completely random that I find interesting. Exploring my curiosity will set the stage for a successful rest of the day.
Freshly inspired, I’ll get started on writing. I’ll shoot for at least 500 words which will take me about 30-45 minutes. The creative juices are flowing so I’ll start working on another article. An hour-hour and a half later, and I have 2 articles basically ready to go.
It’s mid-morning by now so it’s time to switch gears and start “Reach Out” until lunch. This includes reaching out to readers, other bloggers, and submitting proposals for freelance gigs.
After about 1.5-2 hours and it’s time to eat! I take about an hour to eat, play with Sabine, and bullshit (usually watch tv or something mindless.)
Around 1 pm and it’s back to work. Time for more Research to get inspired again. Once I’m good with that, it’s time to Write. I take about an hour and a half and I crank out 2 more awesome articles.
3 pm now and it’s time to have some coffee!
Time for more Reach Out until my wife gets home. I’ll have some proposals to go over and I’ll start to wind down for the day. Preparation starts for tomorrow and I start brainstorming ideas to write about in the morning.
My wife gets home and it’s time to power down the computer.
The work day is over and now it’s time to relax and enjoy life with my little family.
* * *
This was a tricky exercise to do. It really got me thinking but it helped me get closer to my goal. I feel better about how things are going. It’s a bit uncomfortable but I really recommend that you give this a try. I now know what my day will look like once I quit my job to and that’s a great feeling.
My day unfortunately doesn’t look anything like this right now but it gives me something to strive for. I can’t wait!
So now it’s your turn….what does your perfect day look like?
I must first apologize for not contributing much lately like I did in the past. My day job has been too crazy to write anything that involves thinking and at home I’ve been knocking out a project. In any case, my ‘dream’ self employed gig would be building/working on motorcycles. I’ve found that it hardly fits any of the information I constantly read about entrepreneurship because it’s a labor-based job. On my days off from my day job I’ve had the opportunity to play this game before… although theyre usually far from perfect. So I’ll average out the days where I’ve done what my future/hopeful gig would involve.
Get up at 630-7, make coffee and walk my dog. Kiss the wife as she leaves for work. I make something to eat for breakfast because I don’t want my stomach grumbling once I get started working. I walk out to my garage, open the garage door and pull some motorcycles out to make room to work in. I put on some upbeat music (usually ska) and get to it. I usually have an ongoing list of to-dos per bike and I try to stick to it without any order. There are usually tasks I have to leave for the weekend because the metal supply shop is closed by the time I get home or there are unusually long lines at the auto parts stores. So I’ll close up the garage and step out to pick up materials/parts I need and while I’m out pick up lunch or make something at home after I return and watch TV while I eat.
When I walk back into the garage I get back to it and keep knocking things off the list. There are always hiccups but having a lengthy to do list usually keeps me busy as I can just jump to something else that I can scratch off. I greet the wife when she gets home at 515PM and head back to the garage after we chit chat about the day for a few minutes. She’s really good about making dinner without me so I just keep working until it’s ready. I go in, eat, we talk for a bit, then head back out to finish off whatever I had going. In some cases, I’ll be done so I just go back to the garage to pick up, put my tools away, roll the bikes back in and lock up the garage.
I spend the rest of the evening with my wife to my left with my dog and cat sitting on or next to me.
Now, having a day job leaves me with the comfort that I can work in the garage when I’m up for it or when something needs to get done. If I was doing this full-time, with my anxiety raging that I NEED to make money, I would probably spend every second of the day working and promoting myself.
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Glad to have you around again. Hopefully work and your project have been successful!
Your perfect day was a lot like what we experienced when we had our shop. Being able to bill for labor is nice but often hits a snag when you have to wait for parts to arrive; especially if you have to get them from overseas. Hopefully you’re getting closer and closer to being able to make the motorcycle gig happen!
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Billing by the hour is very deceptive on paper. I’ve done the numbers over and over again but it does not account for real world events. My friend and I believe in charging cheaply in comparison to other shops around. In addition, customers want to know the final cost upfront rather than $45/hour. So we try to gauge a job’s time but each one is a little different so we either win or lose (mostly lose lol). By calculations of $45/hour, working 8 hours a day, working 5 days a week, that’s $1800/week. I’d be excited if that were a real life figure. It doesn’t account for the hours wasted that occur in a shop. Besides that, I’d be happy working 12 hours a day if it meant doing what I love and making more money. The demand for work comes in cycles (for me anyway). There are times when I have 4-6 projects back to back varying in amounts of work/pay. Once I get done on bike #4 (or 6), it just dries up and I have nothing for a few weeks. That’s the real issue that keeps me from taking this on full time.
So my current project has been paid for already. It had a set budget with my pay included and I’ve already collected it. The next project is pro-bono: it’s my brother’s bike. I have free reign (with one or two ‘musts’) with that one so it’ll definitely be exciting. After those two are done with I have 2 of my own I need to put together to sell. In those cases, there’s no income until I’ve spent money on said bike. So I’ve spent the cost of the bike plus all the parts I’m adding, replacing, etc and my pay will come after it’s all said and done.
I’m going to keep at it in hopes that it pans out someday. My friend is constantly trying to get me to join him in his operation but the insecurity of it keeps my ass planted in this desk chair. What if I leave my stable job where I collect a paycheck every 2 weeks and my health insurance is covered for my wife and I to follow my dream and 2 months in it dries up?
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Demand was something we found out about the hard way. We figured we could work on our own restorations when there wasn’t much demand but then we also found out that customers either want to work on restorations themselves or they want something custom which left us somewhere in the middle. We also tried selling apparel, helmets, jackets, etc which of course isn’t as labor-intensive to combat it. Cash flow was another issue because like you said, you don’t get paid really until the project is done/sold.
Just keep on grinding while you have your day job. I know it sucks everyday you go there but that paycheck every 2 weeks is nice. It is a lot of pressure so the longer, you can do both and learn and figure things out, the better. I’ve said that I want to be a paid writer but honestly if I had to do that starting tomorrow, I’d have no idea where the hell to start.
You and I will get there eventually and leaving our bullshit corporate jobs will be all the more sweeter!
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