There comes a time in one’s life when one decides to quit faffing around and get serious.

Whether it’s to actually get paid for writing, to make a living selling your product, whatever it is, or promote your business to your profession (all three of which I’m doing right now…) or to just declare yourself and make that dream of yours happen.

When one fully recognizes that the social media publicity one has built has a finite life… like, only as long as their algorithms work in your favour… like, only as long as they’re still on the web… like, maybe they’ll just not send your posts to anyone but your close friends… I could go on, but I think you get my drift.

It bothered me. I was feeling powerless at the idea that all these years of work:  writing, editing, building portable horse stocks, a vet practice, being a mum, (you name it, I’ve spent a lot of time doing it all, as a solo mum with two boys from 18 mos and five years old…), could end in nothing if I depended on what’ I’ve been building.

I could whine, I could rant, but what’s the point? I had to face it. I’d rather swim than sink. I had to think of something different, look outside the square.

SO what can you do about it? What am I doing about it?

 

It’s a big side-hustle for some of us, I’d say probably most of us. There is the partner, then there are the kids, the dogs, the horses, the farm… and oh, I almost forgot, the day job.

What’s a little day job?  Insignificant? Well, it’s still needed to pay the bills until this empire is built. Whatever empire that is.

And now I’m about to tell you to take more time.

Nuts, eh?

 

Well, it depends upon what you see as your potential outcome.

How big you’re prepared to dream.

SO, a friend of Matt’s, and now mine, was here a little over a year ago.  He’s a very spiritual fencing master (Medieval and otherwise) from the UK, Finland, and, I suspect, a lot of other places. 

He’s also been writing books about his hobby–NO, his JOB… The hobby he’s turned into a profession. And done a darn good job of it. Here’s his latest book…

And he didn’t create it by just sitting around when he wasn’t teaching a class.

He’s been writing, researching, and writing some more.

Oh, and he’s just completed a PhD as well, with two littlies and a wife… and traveling around the world teaching.

He’s taught himself what he needed to know about building an empire where he is in control of who-buys-what.

I wanted to know how.

I was lucky he was willing to tell me.

I wrote it all down (yes, in my abysmal handwriting),

bit the bullet,

and got started.

 

It’s taken me a while, but in the process, I’ve…

1-built a decent website, (well, as I usually overdo things, that first one was four websites in one, but don’t go there.  I’ve just split off two of them and built a new website for https://equistillstocks.com and https://bmevc.co.nz  this past week), all with the help of a free 5-day website challenge. It’s free, but I’d suggest you get the $19.00 upgrade, it’s worth it on all kinds of levels.

Our websites are Bluehost-hosted , WordPress.org sites, (not WordPress.com, which are too limiting) as recommended by the 5-day challenge. The plan we bought includes 24/7 phone tech support. Brilliant.

Theme Foundry, the company which makes and supports the Make and Make Plus theme which I used with WordPress (again, recommended by the 5-day challenge) offers extremely useful email support. The CSS I’ve gotten from them… I can’t say enough good things about them, either. I then…

 

2-swallowed my panic at the $30/month price tag on ConvertKit, the email management for creators program I now love… and that make it so easy. Seriously easy, once you figure out how to do their forms.  The 5-day challenge walks you through it, too. This lets you create good looking messages to your people, doesn’t duplicate your mailing list members, and lets you use the same single list with tags to attribute them to your different groups. You can you run all of your businesses through one place, and is amazing. And this month they’re letting you try it for FREE for a month! Good time to give it a go!

Next, I …

3-subscribed to Gumroad, which I’ll use to sell books on my website… It’s next on the agenda. I’ll tell you about it after I’ve used it for awhile!  There are even some other helpful companies listed in my Resources tab here.

 

4-And, it’s all happening!  So where does this leave you? Are you ready to jump?  Dip in a toe? Nothing?

It’s your life, but for those who want to get stuck in, I’ve made it simple.

It’s all in that Resources tab.

Do you dare to touch it?

 

The Free 5-Day Challenge, Bluehost, ConvertKit, etc., etc. They’re all in there. Some are affiliate links, which mean if you buy them, I get paid a little for advertising for them. I’d rather we little people get something out of their advertising budget than some big conglomerate.

Especially when I love the product.

And that’s the only time I’ll promote one. Those of you who know me understand this. In my vet life as well as my writing and promo life.

 

So go on, get that toe wet, and maybe, just maybe, you’ll soon dive in!  Come on in, the water’s fine!

So now it’s your turn!  What have you found that’s making a difference to your reaching for or attaining your goals?

What do you think of the ones I’ve put out there?

Let me know!

xx

L