What The Hell am I Doing?

I've been really struggling with that questions a lot lately. Am I researching my new idea? Am I trying to plan some type of money making project to get by and build up a few bucks to put towards the new idea? Did I uncover a new and different (and really cool) idea while thinking through the money making idea? Am I trying to work through a home improvement project that has to get done? Am I trying to write this crazy blog? These are all things I need to be doing, but how?

Thus far I've been just slicing my time up a little at a time, but it just feels like I'm spinning my wheels. Feeling pretty frustrated, I recently read this post on Twitter by one of my followers, KirkTaylorCom, (follow Ed at twitter\KirkTaylorCom) that was like a huge reality kick in the butt!

Here is what KirkTaylorCom had to say:

What do you do to stay focused?

Distractions come from all directions, sometimes they appear as opportunities (they are for someone, but maybe not you) and other times it is something that gives pleasure for the short term. What do you do to combat these distractions?


Staying on focus is tough, even tougher the more successful that you get. You think that you can stray from the plan and have no worries doing so until you realize that your distraction just held you back. Distractions have just as much power when you are relaxed as when you were under the gun.

Focus allows you to say no to things that might make you money, but don’t contribute to the end game. How can you develop a sustainable plan if you are taking a turn every time you start moving forward? You might find a new channel you can do but if you don”t have the resources to do it all, then don’t! Pick your target and move towards that one. This is a major reason why entrepreneurs will continue to struggle with success. It is a major struggle for me as I reach towards being successful.

Sometimes we lose focus because of negative influences. That is when you have to make the decision to ignore those negative influences and focus on what you can impact. As you become more successful, the negative influences lose power. If they cause you to hesitate you loose the power. Keep moving forward.

...

KirkTaylorCom, your words are a huge reminder for me to grab the task as hand, focus, plan accordingly and execute and to keep the negative energy from sucking the life out of me. But no matter what, just keep moving forward!

In a previous post I mentioned that the David Allen's Getting Things Done system that I'm following is a work in progress. Well, I've determined that I need to get more disciplined with my weekly review and a bit more granular in my task creation by way of brainstorming my next action. This way I'll be able to weed out what will move the plan forward and what will not. As well, I need to stop being my own energy hog. I've found myself wallowing in "how am I going to do all this" for a while now. I'm usually a very positive person and pretty decisive, but as I've reflected on this I believe a bit of fear has crept in allowing the negativity to take hold. Reading through Ed's post and then actually writing about it has been very therapeutic. Focusing my thoughts while writing this post has actually helped to squelch some fear and provides some clarity. Now I need to capitalize on this momentum and plod ahead.

In the words of Larry the Cable Guy, I guess I just need to "Git 'er done!"

Creative Funding and Family

"Ok Joe, it's been a couple of weeks now and we still don't know what your idea is."

Well, I can't let the cat out of the bag just yet. Though my plan is to spend little to no money in the early stages of development, I still need to spend it. In addition to company structuring, idea protection in the form of a provisional patent are some costs that I must incur. Right now, I just don't have the money for this, but I want to continue to move forward. So what's next?

As I began to think through the overall idea as well as ways to make a few short term bucks, one of the biggest obstacles that came to mind was "how can I get support at home - i.e. get the wife to buy in?" Many guys are probably saying, "just do it and ask for forgiveness later." You see, the last time around and in my own way, I tried that. I thought I had her full support after sharing my plan. I even talked her into letting me use money we had earmarked for home improvements. Great, I had money and support - this will most definitely work. Right?

I can tell you, it didn't take very long for things to change. As time went on and as the funds dwindled, the support I thought I had turned ugly. Every decision I made and dollar I spent was questioned. "What the hell does she know? I know what's best." As well, basic family logistical support (i.e. cooking, kid pickup, errands, etc.) became a struggle every step of the way. "She needs to understand that I need to be available to see clients in the afternoon/evening." I became very resentful and bitter. Soon I took on the f*** it attitude and just started to do my own thing. That was a big help! What started out being a wonderful new experience full of exploration turned into a real emotional grind which actually took away from the real focus that was needed to succeed.

What did I learn? "Stop being an asshole!" I'm thinking that my passion, excitement, and determination was quite overbearing and that our discussions along the way were not discussions at all, but actually one way diatribes hell bent for getting the answer that I wanted to hear...a quiet "ok." As I look back, what I thought was tacit support was actually a huge amount of fear and frustration. Patty, if you're reading this - I'm truly sorry for putting you through that!

"Get back to the funding part, Joe!"

As our finances have been stressed, keeping the safety net of my day job is paramount. I need something on the side that I can do at home, I need to start small and I need to involve Patty. My first thought, "sell some kind of wood projects that I can make, online." Nope, I just don't have the time or the space to make stuff and sell it. I could sell crap around the house online, but even that with the searching, taking pictures, meeting someone that doesn't want to pay shipping...oh, I can't be bothered!

A reseller - some type of online store that can process orders while I sleep. Perfect! So after a bit of research I determined that wholesalers can be used to drop ship product to customers. Some even offer their own online store services. Well, which wholesaler do I choose? I've read there are a lot of for pay companies out there supposedly providing access to many wholesalers. I've also read there are a lot of scammers out there. Then I ran across Sunrise Wholesale Merchandise that are currently offering free membership. They also have a very reasonably priced loaded website program. To top it all off they have an A+ rating with the BBB.

Now I've just signed up with them and have yet to sell anything so I can't really tell you how they work, but here's my plan. I've already begun to talk to my wife about what type of products make sense to start with. We're going to pick just a select few items. My hope is to sell them on Craigslist and/or Ebay to first learn how the process works and to prove to both of us that it can be done. Then when the proceeds of those sales are high enough to cover the cost of the online store I'll pull the trigger. I'll then work towards driving traffic to the site. I actually have some ideas about this as well - stay tuned.

As time goes on the orders will continue and the coffers will begin to fill. When the proceeds from these sales are high enough to cover the costs of the original idea's company structure, provisional patent and business plan research etc., I'll move forward with them. Hopefully by keeping Patty in the loop and aware of my plan to only spend what we can cover, we can experience the exploration together.

So for now, this blog will be documenting an idea within an idea - let's see what happens!