If there was you could take that recipe and turn yourself and your business into a gold mine. You’d have ridiculously amazing ideas, your mind would always be sharp, and you’d constantly be finding opportunities to grow.

Suddenly you’d no longer have to worry about the things you worry about now, like not having enough money or feeling blocked when you need your creativity to shine. You’d no longer feel unclear and unfocused. Your energy levels would be through the ceiling.

And while I’m pretty sure there are no exact recipes for success, I did come across an article that could very well be a damn good substitute for said recipe.

The 7 Habits of Great Small Business Owners

I can’t even remember how this article found its way to me, except that it did. It may not be an exact recipe, as in there are no “measurements” included, but it’s a clear outline for what it takes to achieve the level of success you’re looking for.

The article of course identifies some obvious habits, like being organized, planning ahead and nurturing relationships. But it mentioned one habit that I think is exactly what makes all the difference between major success and minor success. The authors of the article must agree because they listed this habit as numero uno:

Great small business owners take care of themselves.

The article goes on to explain:

“Smart small business owners recognize that having a sharp mind requires having a healthy body. Attention is paid to eating healthy and making time for physical exercise. What lesser business owners might see as overly indulgent behavior is seen by truly astute managers as necessary maintenance of their most crucial tool: their brain.”

I’d say this is even more true for creative small business owners (writers, designers, musicians, etc.).

Your brain (and body, and heart and soul) are the core source of your creativity. When you’re fueling yourself with healthy foods and habits, your creativity will perform at its peak.

But when you’re fueling your body with junk—aka: fast food, processed food, refined sugar, artificial ingredients—all you’re gonna get is junk. Junky thoughts, junky attitude, junky ideas.

Junk.

Yuck!

You don’t want junk. Junk is what blocks you. It’s what stops you from being the creative person you want to be.

So how do you embody these habits of great, smart, successful small business owners?

For starters, you read the rest of the 7 habits of great small business owners article on Forbes.com so you can familiarize yourself the with other six habits.

Then you make a commitment to honoring these habits—and most especially habit number one.

Take Charge Of Your Success

As the Forbes article mentioned, your brain is your most critical tool. Without it, you can’t do much.

And your brain requires certain things to function at its best. It needs healthy fats and Omega-3s and -6s. It needs a variety of mental stimuli to keep it challenged and strong.

Most of all, it needs your love and your support. It needs you to take good care of it, so that it can take good care of your business.

Here are some steps you can take to start honoring the habit of taking care of yourself:

• Get the Junk Out of Your Diet—it’s fine to indulge in some junk every now and again, but if your daily/weekly diet consists of things like Oreos, Lay’s potato chips, sugary cereal and Wonder Bread, it’s time to heave-ho. Those types of products are not food, they’re artificial crap that’s poisoning your brain and killing your creativity. 
• Start Eating Stuff That’s Good For You—fruit, vegetables, leafy greens, beans, nuts, whole grains. These things are real, whole food that gives your body nourishment.
• Increase the Fat—truth be told, your body needs fat. The good kind. Your brain cannot function fully without healthy fats. It needs them to fire on all cylinders. Healthy fats include foods like avocados, nuts and olive oil.
• Move Your Body—you don’t have to full-out exert yourself with exercise if you don’t want to, but you should include movement in your daily life. Movement can include anything from walking to yoga to dancing in your living room to some music. Exercise boosts endorphins in your body, which can improve your mood and help relieve stress.
• Get Some Support—no successful business owner operates entirely alone. They all have a team of people to support them. People like coaches, trainers and advisers. It’s easier to be successful when you have support standing in your corner, rooting for you and holding you accountable.

By taking amazing care of yourself on a daily basis, you’ll set into motion a habit that will carry you further toward success than you ever imagined possible.

If you’re ready to take your success to the next level, I invite you to join me for a free 30-minute Creative Unblocking session, where we’ll discover what’s holding you back from having what you want, and identify how you can start making habit #1 (taking care of yourself) a priority. Email me to claim your session: jennifer@inkybites.com. 

Image courtesy of Joe Shlabotnik 

The reason?

You’re scared. You’re unsure. You’re lacking focused ideas.

Your creative flow is just not where it needs to be.

So there you sit. Procrastinating away. Wishing inside that you could be different.

But here’s the thing—you can be whatever you want to be. Including a badass published writer.

You just gotta start nourishing the core source of your creativity—yourself.

When you nourish yourself—with food, routines, structure and creative tools—you’ll unlock creative magic.

Here are 5 ways you can begin to uncover the creativity that you desire:

1. Look At Your Food

When you eat junk, you feel like junk and that means you’re gonna have junky creative juices. Fact.

The good news is, you can do something about it immediately. Choose to eat something nourishing at your next meal.

Pick something delicious that’s also super good for you.

Then notice the difference in how you feel after. Notice the difference in your energy, your mindset.

Repeat at your next meal.

2. Get Into A Routine With Your Writing

It’s been said enough times now to be considered true: you need a writing routine. All successful writers have a routine of some kind.

Whether it’s daily writing or weekly writing or every-other-day writing, you need to build a consistent routine around it.

Pick a day, a word count or an amount of time and write. Then do it again the next day.

Soon enough you’ll have hundreds of writing hours and thousands of words built up.

Stick with it. You get better the more you practice.

3. Find (Or Hire) Some Accountability

Holding yourself accountable for doing simple things, like cleaning your house or doing the laundry, can sometimes be a challenge for the inner procrastinator. Which means it’s harder to hold yourself accountable for getting more challenging things, like writing, done.

Sure, you want to do it. In theory it’s a great idea. You may have even tried setting a due date before.

But when the deadline arrived, there was no pressure for you to actually get the work done. So you skipped it and told yourself you would do it later.

Get yourself some real accountability, will ya!

Find a friend, a family member, a co-worker, a coach. Anyone who will hold you as perfectly capable of accomplishing your goal and be willing to call you on your excuses is the perfect person to be your accountability buddy (aka: Reliability Buddy).

One of my clients uses a financial punishment for his accountability. He sets an amount of money along with the goal he wants to accomplish. For example, he could make a goal to “Write an eBook by May 30 or pay $100 to a charity I don’t support.” Works for him.

Find what works for you and use it.

4. Create Some Structure In Your Writing

When you hear “structure,” you likely want to run in the other direction. Creative people hate the thought of being confined.

But here’s the thing, sometimes you need confinement to make your creativity shine. When you have certain parameters you have to work within, it forces you to really use your creative muscles. 

When you have a blank piece of paper and no set ideas or guidelines to work with, that’s when writer’s block creeps in. Lack of structure is the perfect environment for writer’s block.

Don’t let it happen to you. Create structure in your writing.

If you’re writing a novel, plan ahead of time using the principles of story structure and craft a masterpiece first draft. If you’re writing an eBook, let an outline be your guide to writing the perfect piece of nonfiction.

Think of structure as the support to your writing, the platform for your creativity to go wild. It’s just like the human body.

We all have a spine and bones, nerves, muscles, etc. as the “structure” for our bodies. But then on the outside we all look different.

Creativity has been used to make our outsides unique.

Same goes for your writing. Use structure as a platform for the creative dance of your story.

5. Creativity Tools Are Your Friends

You know those creativity tools I’m always talking about? Things like Morning Pages and Morning Meditations and journaling? I talk about them for a reason.

They work. If you’ll let them.

I know it seems risky, taking on a new creative practice without fully knowing if it will work for you. But isn’t it riskier to let your ideas and stories build up inside you without any chance of escape?

Yes, shit gets in the way of your writing. Life gets in the way. Your babysitter calls in sick. Your kid has a last-minute project for school. You’re exhausted by the end of the day. You have too many fears swirling in your head to ever take action.

These creativity tools will help melt that junk away. It will still be in your life, but it won’t be invading your mind. You’ll have clarity and focus, which will help your writing.

Just trust me on this one. 

Using the five creative unblocking shifts I’ve listed in this article, you can be on your way to having unlimited, on-cue creativity.

Share With Us

What’s one tip from this article you’re gonna hold yourself accountable for trying this week? 

Image courtesy of Michael Caven

A big thanks to those of you who stepped up to accept one of these sessions without even knowing what it was. You rock!

If you didn’t step up to claim your session because you weren’t sure if you needed one or if it was even right for you, I don’t blame ya.

So this week I thought I’d actually define what a Creative Unblocking session is.

Free Sessions: An Intro

OK, so there are two types of free sessions you’ll see me inviting people to via my blog, my social networks and my email newsletters. These sessions are:

1. Creative Unblocking 
2. Creative Kick-Start

These sessions are a way for me to connect with creative people who are committed to themselves, and they allow me to give back to the creative community what it has so graciously given me over the years.

These sessions for free…but I only schedule a few each week. First come, first served.

The two types of creative sessions are similar to each other, but differ in distinct ways:

Creative Unblocking Sessions

A Creative Unblocking session is a coaching call where I ask you a series of questions specifically designed to discover what your vision is for your creativity/writing, and to uncover what might be stopping you, slowing you down or preventing you from having what you want. This way you’ll know what to do next to move forward.

The questions will dig into everything that could potentially be blocking you, which can include things like stress, poor nutrition, lack of physical activity, fear, uncertainty, not knowing what to do, etc.

By the end of the session, you’ll have a clear picture of your creative blocks.

A Creative Unblocking session is for you if:

• You’re not writing or creating regularly, but want to be
• You’ve had a large length of time between now and the last time you wrote/created
• You have writer’s block or artist’s block
• You’re looking to clean up your health and wellness so you can have unstoppable creativity

Sessions last approximately 30 minutes and take place over Skype or Google+ Hangout.

Creative Kick-Start Session

A Creative Kick-Start session is a coaching call where I ask you a series of questions specifically designed to discover what your vision is for the writing/creative project you’re working on (or want to be working on), and to uncover what might be stopping you, slowing you down or preventing you from starting and completing your writing/creative project. This way you’ll know what to do next to move forward.

The questions will dig into everything that could be potentially stopping you from making your project a reality, like fear, uncertainty, lack of commitment, disorganization, distractions, etc.

By the end of the session you’ll have a clear picture of what’s stopping you from getting your project done.

A Creative Kick-Start session is for you if:

• You have a writing/creative project ( a novel, an eBook, a blog, etc) you want to start, but haven’t 
• You have a writing/creative project you’ve started, stopped working on and now want to finish (a novel, an eBook, a blog, etc)

Sessions last approximately 30 minutes and take place over Skype or Google+ Hangout.

You’re Invited

I would now officially like to invite you to join me for either a Creative Unblocking session or a Creative Kick-Start session (your choice, one per person). If you want to claim your free session, send me an email  (or jennifer@inkybites.com), and be sure to include the session type you’re choosing in the subject line.

I look forward to getting to know you!

Image courtesy of Frank Kovalchek

And while they’ve already taught me some profound stuff that I plan to take into my business and use in a serious way, there’s one thing I’ve learned so far that I think benefits not only me, but you as well.

On our first live group coaching call, Carey Peters mentioned something that I seriously need to do. She said:

“Let go of the expectation that you’re ever gonna get it all done”

Wow.

I mean, it seems like it’d be a no-duh kind of thing. I should already know that I’ll never get it all done.

But I didn’t know it. And I bet you don’t know it either.

We Take On So Much

As women in the world, we’re expected to do and be so many different things: friends, daughters, sisters, girlfriends, wives, employees, mothers, step-mothers, house cleaners, cooks, educators, creative writers, business owners…

It can get exhausting.

And at the end of the day, no matter how hard we try and no matter how “Superwoman” we think we are—we still can’t get it all done.

Ever.

So I agree with Carey… we need to let go of the expectation that we’ll ever get it all done.

Let go of the expectation that you’re ever gonna get it all done.

Let it go.

We Don’t Have to Get It All Done

If you really think about it, a lot of the things we do in life we do for two reasons:

• Obligation—we do things because we feel like we owe it to other people to do them (ex: cook dinner, clean the house, etc)
• Expectation—we do things because we feel like we’re expected to do them (ex: have kids, get married, buy a house, etc)

But when you spend your time doing things out of obligation or expectation, you don’t leave much room to do things out of love or passion. And it’s the things you love and are passionate about that you should be doing!

I have a better suggestion for all of us: since we can’t get it all done, we shouldn’t try.

Instead, we should focus our efforts on doing the things that are important to our lives and to our growth as creative people.

You should find the things in your life that you love to do and then do them as much as you can.

When you do stuff that you love, you’ll feel on top of the world. Even if you’re letting other less important things fall by the wayside.

For years I’ve been trying to balance way too much on one plate, and it’s getting to the point where I can’t do it anymore. I can’t keep half-assing all of my projects in hopes that something will take off. I’m spreading myself too thin trying to “get it all done,” and I realize that now.

Thanks to Carey’s wisdom and HolisticMBA, this year I’m making it my mission to spend more time doing things I love, and less time doing things I don’t love but only do because I “think I should.”

One of those things I love to do is support creative professionals who are on a mission themselves.

Right now I’m offering 5 free Creative Unblocking sessions. A Creative Unblocking session is a 30-minute one-on-one coaching call where I help you identify what’s blocking your creativity and what’s standing in the way of you getting what you want from your creative life, and then give you some suggestions to move past the block.

If you want one of these limited-time-only sessions, email me now: jennifer@inkybites.com. 

Image courtesy of Peter Harrison

Here’s a quick recap of all the posts, so you can go back and read the ones that you might have missed:

How To Write An eBook: From Idea to Launch (a 9-part series)

Part One: 8 Steps From Idea to Launch

Part Two: Finding the Perfect Topic

Part Three: Brainstorming the Details

Part Four: Create An Outline

Part Five: The Scariest Part of All

Part Six: Getting Your Draft Into Final Form

Part Seven: Pulling Your Team Together

Part Eight: Putting Together A Launch Plan

Part Nine: Launch Day!

Using the steps detailed in each of the posts in this series, you’ll be able to plan, write and launch your own eBook all by yourself. But if you want to go a step further, I have an invitation for you.

Write Your eBook In 90 Days

I’m gearing up to write my next eBook, and I’d like to invite you to write your eBook alongside me.

I know you have an idea buried inside you, you’re just not sure about the process. Or if you’ll actually have the self-discipline to sit down and do the work.

What I’m offering is the guidance, support and accountability you need to finally write your eBook.

You have ideas inside you. You have the tools you need to get the work done. All you need now is some motivation and the courage to take on the role of hero in your own writing life. 

Starting April 1, myself and 5 other dedicated writers will set off on a journey to plan, outline and write our eBooks in 90 days.

Will you be one of those writers? 

Image courtesy of Marcel Regimbald

It’s the day you’ve been writing toward for months now: launch day. The day your eBook will finally reach the hands of readers.

It’s time to blow this thing out of the water! Here are some things to keep in mind and prep for come launch day:

Launch Day Basics

There are some basic things you need to do to have a successful launch day, this includes:

• Clear your schedule for the entire day—unless what you have planned is launch-related, like an interview. 
• Expect that something will go wrong—when it does, don’t panic. Take lots of deep breaths and correct the problem however you can.
• Be available to field emails, answer questions, etc.
• Get up early—you’ve got a lot to do!
• Decide on your promo ahead of time—will you offer a discount for the first week your book is available? Will you include a bonus for purchasing your book? Decide on this ahead of time so you can build it into your launch plans.
• Set up all guest posts, blog tours and interviews ahead of time—don’t try doing this the week of launch. Most blogs have a two to three week lead time. Set these up during the planning phase of your launch so you’re ready to go the week your book comes out.

Plan Your Launch Day: A.M.

Use the morning of launch day to do the most important tasks related to the launch itself:

• Flip the switch—make your book sales page live and ready for purchases
• Test everything once more—you should have tested everything, like your buying and payment process, email follow ups, etc, ahead of launch day. But the morning of when you flip things to “live,” it’s always a good idea to test everything once more. (I didn’t do that during my original Badass Writers Bootcamp launch and it turned out the sign up process wasn’t working.)
• Focus on marketing and connecting—your book is officially launched, now it’s time to spread the word! Use social media, connect with your readers and market your book.

Plan Your Launch Day: P.M.

Once the morning is over, you’ll be through most of the craziness of the day (I said most). Next you’ll want to use your afternoon/evening to:

• Respond to emails—by this point in the day, you’ll likely have emails piling up that need to be responded to. Keep your focus on the launch and only respond to book-related emails (or really urgent emails that can’t wait).
• Continue to participate in whatever launch activities you planned—interviews, social media chats, webinars, etc.
• Do Giveaways of your book to keep the momentum going—You can do this via social media, your blog, other people’s blogs and also via your email newsletter list.

Post Launch Activities

Whew! Launch day is over. Now you can breathe and relax, right?

Not quite.

You have to keep the momentum going, and you do this by continuing to focus on promoting your book and yourself. Here are some ways to do that:

• Keep up with your marketing—writing guest posts, creating bonus content and other activities of that nature aren’t just for launch day. You need to do them weekly to keep building your audience and getting your book in front of new people.
• Manage your Amazon Author Page—if you’re selling your book through Kindle, you should update your Author Page from time-to-time (and if you don’t have an Author Page, set one up pronto!).
• Follow up with your buyers—send a personalized thank you email. Invite them to share their feedback. Ask them to write a review on your book’s Amazon page.

Writing, publishing and launching your eBook can be a fairly quick and fun process if you stay focused and dedicate yourself to getting it written.

Coming Next Tuesday: An opportunity to plan and write your eBook alongside me. There will only be 5 spots available for this three-month journey. If you’re interested, be sure to sign up for the InkyBites newsletter (if you’re not already). That’s where the announcement will be made first.

Finally we’ve arrived—the planning of your eBook launch. Feels like a long-time-coming, right?

You’ve been planning and writing and pulling together your team. Now it’s finally time to take the book you’ve created and send it out into the world.

But first there are some big questions you need to answer with regard to your eBook, such as:

• How will your market your book?
• How will you spread the word?
• When will you launch it? (I recommend a 3-4 week lead time)

You don’t just want to publish your book and blindly launch it (I’ve done this before, it’s not a smart idea). You need a plan of attack to make sure all the effort you’ve put in the last couple months is worth it.

Not having a marketing plan is the number one reason that eBooks (or even traditionally published books) fail. You as the author must stand behind your book 100% and take on the responsibility of making it successful.

Because unless you pay someone to do it for you, you’re on your own.

Yep—it all comes down to you.

Create A Plan

Having a plan will make a huge difference for your eBook launch. It will be the difference between knowing exactly what to do and when to do it, versus running around on launch week like a frazzled writer with no head.

Your plan doesn’t need to be complex, but it should be as solid as possible. Make sure to cover all angles and communication channels.

Your plan starts with answering the biggest question of all: When will launch day be?

Once you have a date in mind, then you can build the rest of your launch plan around it.

1. Grab Your Calendar

• Circle your launch date, highlight it, draw stars around it. Do something that makes your launch date stand out. This is your starting point. Everything you do from here on out works backwards from this date.
• Work Backwards from launch date to create a “lead up” plan. This includes all the pre-marketing and set up work you’ll need to do in order to launch on the day you’ve chosen.

2. Lead Up Work to Consider

• Posts on your blog leading up to launch day
• Guest posts on other blogs, scheduled around the week of launch day
• Email newsletters—you’ll want to prep people for the eBook release so they’re expecting it
• Traditional media—do you want to send a press release to your local newspaper? Is your book something the local TV station might be interested in?
• Freebie content—is there any content you can create to give away and generate more reach and interest? Maybe a special podcast or worksheets that go with the book?
• Sales page copywriting and testing—your book will need a sales page, both on your website and on whatever channels you use to sell it (Amazon, for example).
• Shopping cart set up—you’ll have to choose how you’ll sell your book. Do you want it to be available just on Kindle? Or do you also want to sell a PDF version on your website? (If so, you’ll need a service, like eJunkie).

Once you have your plan in place, then you can move onto the next step.

Create An Action List

Using your launch plan, you can now break things down into specific actions that you need to take. Create separate lists for each big task, if need be. Whatever helps you keep things organized and keep taking action.

For example, if decide that you want to set up a “blog book tour,” then you’ll have specific actions to take, like:

• Research blogs for book tour
• Contact blog editors to discuss opportunity
• Confirm blog tour dates and URLs
• Create content for each tour stop
• Etc.

Using your plan, create an action steps list. Then get moving on taking the actions on the list!

The final installment in this series is all about launch day/launch week and how to best tackle it (coming next week).

Share With Us

How did you prep for the launch of your eBook?

Note: I’m an eJunkie affiliate. I’ll make some spare change if you decide to use eJunkie too and sign up through the link above. I’ve used them since 2010 and have no complaints!

Image courtesy of spykster

It was that mind-blowing.

Writer, Stefani Beckerman, really nailed it. Not because the information she presented was new, but because it was presented in a way that was new to my mind—and exactly what I needed to hear.

It was exactly what we all need to hear.

The article detailed the 10 steps necessary to become the most badass version of yourself, and some of the lines from it really took my breath away. They really made me stop to think.

Lines like:

“ Love who you are and let that be so powerful that you don’t seek any validation from others.”

And:

“First, commit to yourself. Know that your process is perfect for you. There is no one right way. Cultivate an unshakeable trust in your instincts and belief in yourself. Maintain the faith that an energy greater than you realize has your back.”

And:

“Let what scares you surface, and then pass through.”

The one that blew me away the most, thou, was this one:

“Hold the space for what you want to accomplish, drop expectations of the order it’s supposed to happen, and welcome how it IS happening.”

So often I find myself frustrated because things aren’t working the way I want or moving as quickly as I’d hoped. I tell myself that I need to be successful now, now, now.

But what I realized after reading that is this: things are happening. My dreams are coming true. A little at a time the puzzle pieces are falling into place.

Maybe not as fast as I want, but life is a long time. If I got everything I dream of tomorrow—what would be left to live for?

Right?

But so often we try to rush the process, we try to rush our success, instead of just enjoying the moment.

What I need to do now is love what is and be thankful for how it’s happening and the order the Universe is making it happen in.

In my mind reaching my dreams is a linear thing; I tell myself I know where I need to go next, etc. But when I force myself into a direction because I think it’s right, it usually ends up being wrong.

When I’ve taken time to listen to what the Universe is telling me (through journaling, prayer and meditation), that’s when I’ve found my true direction.

You owe it to yourself to check this article out: 10 Ways to Become Your Most Badass Self

Being a badass is about so many things, but in the end, it really boils down to one thing: knowing yourself and doing what works for you.

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How do those lines above resonate with you? Any insights to share? 

Image courtesy of Zawezome

What’s unfortunate is that all the sitting you’re doing could be slowly killing you.

Don’t believe me? Just check out this infographic for starters:

How Can You Combat This?

As a writer, you obviously are going to find yourself sitting down pretty often. That doesn’t have to be a death sentence for your health, though.

As I’m sure you noticed, there are quite a few suggestions in the infographic itself for how you can combat the damage long periods of sitting does on your body.

A few other ideas to help you are:

• Make sure you’re doing stretches that are specific to writers
• Take a Creativity Walk at least once a day
• Think about creating some kind of standing desk you can use to rotate with your sitting desk

My makeshift “standing desk”

I don’t have the space in my apartment right now for a standing desk (or any desk, for that matter), so what I do is use my laptop at the counter a few hours a day. I also take breaks once an hour and take my dog for short walks 2-3 times throughout the day.

I didn’t share that infographic with you to try and scare you (I don’t believe in scare tactics). I did it so you’d see how important it is to take good care of your body. The reason I love the above infographic so much is because it not only defines a problem, but it offers a solution.

That’s what I’m all about: solutions, actions steps, planning. Whatever helps you (and me) get our writing done.

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How do you plan to combat the health risks of sitting for so long?

So what’s a “writer-preneur?”

In my mind, it’s a lot more than just a writer who makes money from her writing. To me, a writer-preneur is a writer who has an entrepreneurial mindset and sees opportunity in using her creative gifts to earn an income.

I consider myself an entrepreneurial writer—I don’t just do freelance writing. I also earn money by using writing as the foundation to solve people’s problems (ex: eGuides, workshops with written content, coaching).

You can do the same thing.

You, too, can use your writing skills to create a business. You, too, can quit your lame day job so you can do something you love every single day.

Truth be told, the corporate workplace (or any workplace) is no place for a brilliant creative person, such as yourself. No, you need to be earning a living from your creative gifts.

Convincing you that it’s possible is probably the biggest challenge I’ll ever encounter. It’s unfortunate, but most creatives don’t believe they can earn a living doing the creative things they want to do, because society tells them they can’t.

But the thing is, there are tons and TONS of creative people out there who work for themselves and make a decent living.

Words Of Wisdom From A Master

A couple weeks ago I came across an article by the brilliant Steve Pavlina. Pavlina has been writing about personal development for years and helping people realize the value they hold inside them.

I’ve read his stuff before, but I had never read this one specific article. Yet it contained all the wisdom I needed to realize that I made the right choice in quitting my soul-sucking day job.

I’ve decided to reprint part of the article here (with permission from Pavlina’s uncopyright). I’ve added my commentary along with his, to try and show you exactly why it’s important for you to pursue your creative gifts as a way to earn money.

And that’s not to say you can’t have a job too, if you really want one. Some people get lucky and find a job that just fits them perfectly and they’re happy. But that’s still no reason not to also earn an income using your creative gifts.

Here’s the bulk of the text from the article by Steve Pavlina that you have to read right now: 10 Reasons You Should Never Get A Job (which I’m calling 10 Reasons You Should Be A Writer-preneur). It’s kind of long, but worth the read. [NOTE: Pavlina's text is in italics; my comments are in bold.]

It’s funny that when people reach a certain age, such as after graduating college, they assume it’s time to go out and get a job.  But like many things the masses do, just because everyone does it doesn’t mean it’s a good idea.  In fact, if you’re reasonably intelligent, getting a job is one of the worst things you can do to support yourself.  There are far better ways to make a living than selling yourself into indentured servitude.

Here are some reasons you should do everything in your power to avoid getting a job:

1. Income for dummies.

Getting a job and trading your time for money may seem like a good idea.  There’s only one problem with it.  It’s stupid!  It’s the stupidest way you can possibly generate income!  This is truly income for dummies.

Why is getting a job so dumb?  Because you only get paid when you’re working.  Don’t you see a problem with that, or have you been so thoroughly brainwashed into thinking it’s reasonable and intelligent to only earn income when you’re working?  Have you never considered that it might be better to be paid even when you’re not working?  Who taught you that you could only earn income while working?  Some other brainwashed employee perhaps?

Don’t you think your life would be much easier if you got paid while you were eating, sleeping, and playing with the kids too?  Why not get paid 24/7?  Get paid whether you work or not.  Don’t your plants grow even when you aren’t tending to them?  Why not your bank account?

Who cares how many hours you work?  Only a handful of people on this entire planet care how much time you spend at the office.  Most of us won’t even notice whether you work 6 hours a week or 60.  But if you have something of value to provide that matters to us, a number of us will be happy to pull out our wallets and pay you for it.  We don’t care about your time — we only care enough to pay for the value we receive.  Do you really care how long it took me to write this article?  Would you pay me twice as much if it took me 6 hours vs. only 3?

Non-dummies often start out on the traditional income for dummies path.  So don’t feel bad if you’re just now realizing you’ve been suckered.  Non-dummies eventually realize that trading time for money is indeed extremely dumb and that there must be a better way.  And of course there is a better way.  The key is to de-couple your value from your time.

Smart people build systems that generate income 24/7, especially passive income.  This can include starting a business, building a web site, becoming an investor, or generating royalty income from creative work.  The system delivers the ongoing value to people and generates income from it, and once it’s in motion, it runs continuously whether you tend to it or not.  From that moment on, the bulk of your time can be invested in increasing your income (by refining your system or spawning new ones) instead of merely maintaining your income.

This web site is an example of such a system.  At the time of this writing, it generates about $9000 a month in income for me (update: $40,000 a month as of 10/31/06), and it isn’t my only income stream either.  I write each article just once (fixed time investment), and people can extract value from them year after year.  The web server delivers the value, and other systems (most of which I didn’t even build and don’t even understand) collect income and deposit it automatically into my bank account.  It’s not perfectly passive, but I love writing and would do it for free anyway.  But of course it cost me a lot of money to launch this business, right?  Um, yeah, $9 is an awful lot these days (to register the domain name).  Everything after that was profit.

Sure it takes some upfront time and effort to design and implement your own income-generating systems.  But you don’t have to reinvent the wheel — feel free to use existing systems like ad networks and affiliate programs.  Once you get going, you won’t have to work so many hours to support yourself.  Wouldn’t it be nice to be out having dinner with your spouse, knowing that while you’re eating, you’re earning money?  If you want to keep working long hours because you enjoy it, go right ahead.  If you want to sit around doing nothing, feel free.  As long as your system continues delivering value to others, you’ll keep getting paid whether you’re working or not.

Your local bookstore is filled with books containing workable systems others have already designed, tested, and debugged.  Nobody is born knowing how to start a business or generate investment income, but you can easily learn it.  How long it takes you to figure it out is irrelevant because the time is going to pass anyway.  You might as well emerge at some future point as the owner of income-generating systems as opposed to a lifelong wage slave.  This isn’t all or nothing.  If your system only generates a few hundred dollars a month, that’s a significant step in the right direction.

You have creative gifts inside you. You’re a writer, a poet, a fiction writer, a designer, an artist, a musician, etc. Why let those gifts go to waste? Share them with the world! Let your gifts shine and make a living from it. You have talent. You have skills. Why waste them and succumb to a mediocre life doing work that you don’t love?

Do work you love every single day and get paid for it! There’s no reason for you not to.

2. Limited experience.

You might think it’s important to get a job to gain experience.  But that’s like saying you should play golf to get experience playing golf.  You gain experience from living, regardless of whether you have a job or not.  A job only gives you experience at that job, but you gain ”experience” doing just about anything, so that’s no real benefit at all.  Sit around doing nothing for a couple years, and you can call yourself an experienced meditator, philosopher, or politician.

The problem with getting experience from a job is that you usually just repeat the same limited experience over and over.  You learn a lot in the beginning and then stagnate.  This forces you to miss other experiences that would be much more valuable.  And if your limited skill set ever becomes obsolete, then your experience won’t be worth squat.  In fact, ask yourself what the experience you’re gaining right now will be worth in 20-30 years.  Will your job even exist then?

Consider this.  Which experience would you rather gain?  The knowledge of how to do a specific job really well — one that you can only monetize by trading your time for money – or the knowledge of how to enjoy financial abundance for the rest of your life without ever needing a job again?  Now I don’t know about you, but I’d rather have the latter experience.  That seems a lot more useful in the real world, wouldn’t you say?

Once you finally believe that it IS possible to make money from your writing (or art, design, etc), then you can start to find ways to monetize it while sharing your gifts with the world. 

And I’m not advocating that you become a money grubber who rips people off. Far from it. What I’m advocating is finally accepting the power you hold inside you, and finding ways to use your creative gifts to make money so you can get paid to do something you love, and be happy every single day. 

Living someone else’s life and working toward someone else’s dream is never going to make you feel as fulfilled as living your life and doing something you truly love will. Never. 

3. Lifelong domestication.

Getting a job is like enrolling in a human domestication program.  You learn how to be a good pet.

Look around you.  Really look.  What do you see?  Are these the surroundings of a free human being?  Or are you living in a cage for unconscious animals?  Have you fallen in love with the color beige?

How’s your obedience training coming along?  Does your master reward your good behavior?  Do you get disciplined if you fail to obey your master’s commands?

Is there any spark of free will left inside you?  Or has your conditioning made you a pet for life?

Humans are not meant to be raised in cages.  You poor thing…

Seriously! I don’t know who the fuck invented the corporate workplace but I’d like to slap him around a little bit. What sense does it make, especially this day and age, for people to be forced into long commutes and wasted time just to sit behind a desk and do a job they could easily (and better) do from home? 

With all the technology and connectivity we have today, we should be working in a way that makes sense! We should be earning our living based on the results we achieve, not on how much time we spend at the office. We should have freedom and control of our time. We should own our lives, not our employers.

As a writer-preneur, I own my life and my freedom. I’m in control of my time 100% of the time. And it feels fantastic.

4. Too many mouths to feed.

Employee income is the most heavily taxed there is.  In the USA you can expect that about half your salary will go to taxes.  The tax system is designed to disguise how much you’re really giving up because some of those taxes are paid by your employer, and some are deducted from your paycheck.  But you can bet that from your employer’s perspective, all of those taxes are considered part of your pay, as well as any other compensation you receive such as benefits.  Even the rent for the office space you consume is considered, so you must generate that much more value to cover it.  You might feel supported by your corporate environment, but keep in mind that you’re the one paying for it.

Another chunk of your income goes to owners and investors.  That’s a lot of mouths to feed.

It isn’t hard to understand why employees pay the most in taxes relative to their income.  After all, who has more control over the tax system?  Business owners and investors or employees?

You only get paid a fraction of the real value you generate.  Your real salary may be more than triple what you’re paid, but most of that money you’ll never see.  It goes straight into other people’s pockets.

What a generous person you are!

When you work your ass off, you deserve to see the direct benefit of it. When you work for a company, you don’t get that opportunity. You get a set salary, and when you help make more money for the company, you see nothing extra from it. Sometimes you don’t even get to take part in the project itself! (I’ve worked for so many companies where I did all the writing and marketing work on a project, but then didn’t get to be part of the “launch” events because I wasn’t a member of the leadership team.)

Screw that! Today I continue to work my ass off, and when my company makes more money or has a really big success, I see direct benefit of it. I not only earn more money, but I also get to be directly involved in helping people transform their lives. It’s the greatest feeling in the whole world. It’s an added benefit that I’m also getting paid.

5. Way too risky.

Many employees believe getting a job is the safest and most secure way to support themselves.

Morons.

Social conditioning is amazing.  It’s so good it can even make people believe the exact opposite of the truth.

Does putting yourself in a position where someone else can turn off all your income just by saying two words (“You’re fired”) sound like a safe and secure situation to you?  Does having only one income stream honestly sound more secure than having 10?

The idea that a job is the most secure way to generate income is just silly.  You can’t have security if you don’t have control, and employees have the least control of anyone.  If you’re an employee, then your real job title should be professional gambler.

You have no control over what happens to you in the corporate world (or any other job world). Your company can drop you tomorrow if the bottom line says it should and then you’re out on your ass with nothing. Take some damn control of your life! 

Whether or not you want to keep your job, you should still be finding ways to earn income from other places. The rich don’t typically get rich from one thing alone. Most celebrities and rich investors have several different streams of income. That way if one dries up, they’re not going broke because they have money coming in from other places.

It’s really risky and really stupid to only make money from one thing. I personally make my money from a variety of different things: workshops, coaching, freelance writing, freelance marketing projects, social media consulting, eGuides, etc. If one of those streams dries up, I have others to fall back on. I’m not totally screwed. Not like I would be if I had a day job as my only form of income.

6. Having an evil bovine master.

When you run into an idiot in the entrepreneurial world, you can turn around and head the other way.  When you run into an idiot in the corporate world, you have to turn around and say, “Sorry, boss.”

Did you know that the word boss comes from the Dutch word baas, which historically means master?  Another meaning of the word boss is “a cow or bovine.”  And in many video games, the boss is the evil dude that you have to kill at the end of a level.

So if your boss is really your evil bovine master, then what does that make you?  Nothing but a turd in the herd.

Who’s your daddy?

When I first started working for myself, I grabbed for whatever freelance gigs I could (since I quit my job cold-turkey without saving any money up first). But after a few months when I got back on my feet, I dropped the clients that I didn’t want to work with anymore. (Some of my first clients were the companies I used to work for.)

And while at the time I was very appreciative of the work, I eventually decided that I wanted to only work with people/companies who are doing good in the world. The companies I used to work for definitely weren’t. So I said goodbye and now all of my clients are people/companies doing good in the world. That helps me sleep at night.

When you’re a self-employed creative you get to choose who you work with on a daily basis. When one person isn’t working out, you say goodbye and move on. When you’re in the corporate world, you don’t get that luxury. 

7. Begging for money.

When you want to increase your income, do you have to sit up and beg your master for more money?  Does it feel good to be thrown some extra Scooby Snacks now and then?

Or are you free to decide how much you get paid without needing anyone’s permission but your own?

If you have a business and one customer says “no” to you, you simply say “next.”

When you create your own sources of income using your creative gifts, you get to decide how much you’re worth. You name the price based on the value you bring people. There’s so much you have to offer the world, why not shine your light and stop begging for money from your employer? 

8. An inbred social life.

Many people treat their jobs as their primary social outlet.  They hang out with the same people working in the same field.  Such incestuous relations are social dead ends.  An exciting day includes deep conversations about the company’s switch from Sparkletts to Arrowhead, the delay of Microsoft’s latest operating system, and the unexpected delivery of more Bic pens.  Consider what it would be like to go outside and talk to strangers.  Ooooh… scary!  Better stay inside where it’s safe.

If one of your co-slaves gets sold to another master, do you lose a friend?  If you work in a male-dominated field, does that mean you never get to talk to women above the rank of receptionist?  Why not decide for yourself whom to socialize with instead of letting your master decide for you?  Believe it or not, there are locations on this planet where free people congregate.  Just be wary of those jobless folk — they’re a crazy bunch!

Rumor has it you’ll only be as successful as the 5 people you spend the most time with. And if you’re spending most of your time with a bunch of corporate slaves, well, I guess you know what that says about your success.

You need to branch out and spend time with other creative people. And not just creative people, but writer-preneurs specifically. Start spending time with people like that and you’ll start to see success is not very far out of reach.

9. Loss of freedom.

It takes a lot of effort to tame a human being into an employee.  The first thing you have to do is break the human’s independent will.  A good way to do this is to give them a weighty policy manual filled with nonsensical rules and regulations.  This leads the new employee to become more obedient, fearing that s/he could be disciplined at any minute for something incomprehensible.  Thus, the employee will likely conclude it’s safest to simply obey the master’s commands without question.  Stir in some office politics for good measure, and we’ve got a freshly minted mind slave.

As part of their obedience training, employees must be taught how to dress, talk, move, and so on.  We can’t very well have employees thinking for themselves, now can we?  That would ruin everything.

God forbid you should put a plant on your desk when it’s against the company policy.  Oh no, it’s the end of the world!  Cindy has a plant on her desk!  Summon the enforcers!  Send Cindy back for another round of sterility training!

Free human beings think such rules and regulations are silly of course.  The only policy they need is:  “Be smart.  Be nice.  Do what you love.  Have fun.”

You have a brain–use it damn it! Stop letting the media and society and your job tell you who to be and how to live.

Think for yourself for a change. Does any of the crap you’ve been taught to believe even resonate with you anymore? Or do you feel like a phony most days, trying to blend in with the rest of the sheep when you’re actually bright neon yellow on the inside? 

That’s how I always felt. I felt like I was under-utilized and held back in every job I’ve ever had. I was ready to make shit happen, and corporate rules, regulations and bullshit held me back from ever having the chance to complete a project and see it through to success.

Now I not only come up with ideas for the projects I work on (and choose the ones I want to work on), but I also get to create them, see them through to the end and watch them become successful over time. I wouldn’t give that up for any job in the world.

10. Becoming a coward.

Have you noticed that employed people have an almost endless capacity to whine about problems at their companies?  But they don’t really want solutions – they just want to vent and make excuses why it’s all someone else’s fault.  It’s as if getting a job somehow drains all the free will out of people and turns them into spineless cowards.  If you can’t call your boss a jerk now and then without fear of getting fired, you’re no longer free.  You’ve become your master’s property.

When you work around cowards all day long, don’t you think it’s going to rub off on you?  Of course it will.  It’s only a matter of time before you sacrifice the noblest parts of your humanity on the altar of fear:  first courage… then honesty… then honor and integrity… and finally your independent will.  You sold your humanity for nothing but an illusion.  And now your greatest fear is discovering the truth of what you’ve become.

I don’t care how badly you’ve been beaten down.  It is never too late to regain your courage.  Never!

Do you actually enjoy complaining? Does it make you feel good to put yourself in a negative space for so many hours every day, five days a week, 52 weeks a year? 

When I was working a day job, my life was a negative complaining mess. I spent my entire 8 hour work day either complaining to my coworkers or listening to them complain to me. It was exhausting! And I was over it. 

Today I can’t even think of the last time I complained about anything. Which is a huge shift from where I was a year ago. My life now is about gratitude and being so thankful for this amazing life I’ve created, because I was brave enough to trust myself and trust the creative gifts that I’ve been given.

Still want a job?

NOTE: The link in the text above to the Job Escape Kit is an affiliate link. 

Image courtesy of katsrcool