By John Irvin
When I started out as a “full-time writer,” I signed up for Upwork.com and Wealthy Affiliates. W.A. helped me start my first website. I had no idea what I was doing then—looking back, I see the direction I could have gone.
Funny how you can always look back with 20/20 vision.
But I now see the whole first year and a half for what it was.
Exploration.
I was finding myself you might say. Exploring the avenues of freelance writing, proofreading, copyediting, etc.
Reading a couple books on being a writer—such as: Make Money As A Freelance Writer–I found the life of a freelance writer is nothing but cold pitching a 100 times every single day. Sadly, that’s not really in me.
Then came the scammers—the thieves, the perverts, the liars. Yeah, I have to state it here. Half of those who offered jobs, either via Upwork or email, were scams. I learned a lot for those experiences though.
After that year and a half was over, I ended my subscription and my freelance website closed out a month later.
It took a few months before I found someone to help me start from scratch—I was now focusing on my own books, mine alone. So I need an author website.
That’s when I found Joanna Penn at the TheCreativePenn.com (Check her out if you’re an author looking for freedom!) She is literally stocked with information and podcasts and everything I needed to begin my Author-Entrepreneur Career!
I signed on,
got the first free book as the incentive for that, loved it so much I’ve been collecting the rest of the Author Career series since. Only one or two books left!
Getting my website up and running was easy with her help, the video guide she shares at her site aided me for the most part. Yes, there is room for you to explore on your own. I did that, I’m still learning a few tricks to it, but I like where I’m at. Yes, I know, I’ll change my mind later and want to change up something on the site—but that’s normal.
Since that new day about a year ago now, I know what my career goal is and what I am now. I am 100% an authorpreneur. Do I have other side hustles? Yes! There is one quote I read, Every millionaire has at least 7 sources of income.
Now, my goal isn’t to be a millionaire—although that would always be amazing—but rather to be financially independent. Passive income is where it is at!
Passive income is basically “Money flowing in while you sleep.” It’s scalable income. Non-scalable income is you trading your time for money. That’s your every-day 9-5 normal job. That will get you nowhere.
Here’s a great starter on ideas for Passive incomes: Passive Income Freedom. I’ll be sharing others as well on the subject in the near future.
Along with my affiliate blog, I also have my books—each book is a passive income source. So, eventually, I’ll be reaching my independence goal.
Whatever your dream job is, I believe you can do it. Through trial and error or through the help of others who’ve been where you’re at, whatever your way is. Wherever your journey leads you, never ever give up. Keep going.
Every one of us has been given a mountain or two in our lives to show they can be moved.
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