Jobs Make You Scared

It was July 2002 when I made the break from my "safe" world of employment to go full time on-line.

I'd secured a nice little contract to look after a members area of a popular web site. I had no idea as to what my income might be, but I was certain that my future lay online, rather than in the business I had run with my brother for the previous 10 years.

My brother is better at business than me. He has more focus, more maturty - maybe he's cleverer too. I admire him greatly and I am grateful that he chose me as a business partner all those years ago.

But, sometimes, circumstances conspire that mean that you have to take a leap pf faith.

I'd become interetsed in the online world and the opportunities it offered and so, when, in 2002, I was offered the chance to go full time into something that interested me greatly, I jumped in with both feet.

There was no safety net in case things went wrong.

A year or so later, things did go wrong.

Changes in the way the online credit card processing rules meant that I all but lost the income I was earning in running someone else's web site.

It took 10 weeks to find an alternative payment processor.

In that time, I was worried, as I had a fairly large mortgage, three young kids and a wife to support.

That was when I was introduced to the world of building surveying by a friend of my son's father, at football training one Saturday afternoon.

We spent a few weeks brainstorming some ideas and we now run a successful asbestos surveying company - a perfect combination of training and experience, plus a thorough understanding of Internet Marketing and purchaser behaviour.

The payment processing came back and the original members only website worked very well, providing me with a handsome income for the past 5 years.

Recently, I realised that the original thing I left the corporate world for had become a "job".

I was spending more and more time on it, handling customer service and technical issues often working until well past midnight.

I'd wale a 4and 5 am only to sit at my PC answering queries and looking for solutions to the issues that inevitably plague an online business.

The problem was, that it wasn't my business. I was just a sub-contractor. There was no ownership for me.

A few weeks back, I made a conscious decision to change things around.

I am part way through a very expensive house renovation that has literally eaten all of my spare cash and more!

That doesn't worry me.

What worries me is that I am suddenly vulnerable because I have come to rely on some steady money that comes from running someone else's online business. It's very good money.

So what do I do?

I don't know if this is brave or stupid, but I have significantly reduced the third party work and the income that comes from it.

I have put into place, three brand new development projects that will hopefully exceed the earnings of my previously "safe" income.

It's a risk I am taking when I am at the most financially vulnerable I have been in 15 years.

It could cost me every material possession I have, quite literally.

The fact is though, that I have total belief in what I am doing online. I'll be showing my plans and the new sites to readers of this blog very soon.

Why post this on my blog? Because I know that many of my visitors are in a similar position - maybe they want a 100% online and passive income, or they want to go it alone, but they are stuck in the rut called employment.

They are chained to the coat tails of someone else and their future is not 100% in their control.

For me, this is a new beginning. There is no safety net for me or my family this time.

All I have is belief.

If you're teetering on the edge of jumping from the relative safety of employment or a secure contract, watch this space - it will be an interesting ride and no doubt, there will be lots of hurdles to overcome

It's not as scary as you might think, as long as you have faith.

Drop by again, I hope to prove it to you very soon.