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Still Waiting For Your Retirement?

Do you ever look around the office at your peers thinking how did I end up here?

You maybe feel like there just doesn’t seem to be any end to this daily torture…

Maybe you just don’t really seem to fit in here that much either?

You just don’t quite seem to get this whole corporate thing but you’re too worried about trying to be part of the team so you just keep your head down and get on with your job?

Would it ever occur to you that you could spend your days at home with your family or hiking in the mountains or travelling the world?

You’ve maybe heard some of the hype about having your own online business that allows you to work from anywhere and still get paid on your terms and yet you still show up to work today because well, you’re not quite ready to take the leap and no idea what it really means to work online.

You understand it probably won’t be easy but still you see so many other young people in their 20’s and 30’s doing it so you wonder – why can’t I have a slice of that lifestyle?

Sure, there’s going to be some new skills to learn but if they can do it, why can’t you?!

Here’s 5 reasons most people get stuck in their job and don’t start living until they finally retire in their 60’s:

1) Most likely, you probably never really knew what you wanted to do as a career and always had a few different interests and passions in life. Do you still share those same passions today? Few people really ever dream of becoming an accountant when they’re still in school but hey, if that was you then cool, you probably feel pretty secure in your job right now?

2) You never considered putting any money aside when you started your career. Instead, you put money into a house, a car, maybe you were lucky to afford a couple of weeks off each year and you spent the money on a vacation but I’m sure the rest was spent on nights out and buying stuff you’ve maybe used once or twice and thrown away? Am I wrong? With little to no savings to fall back on, you don’t feel like you have much of a safety net so you’d much rather take the easy option and take whatever salary your boss decides to pay you for your efforts. But really, you know deep down, you’re worth more?

3) From childhood, we’re programmed to be good at maths, logic and reasoning, we’re taught to rely heavily on our left brain and we aren’t encouraged to use our right brain to fuel our creativity. Probably by the time you reached high school, your creative interests in music or art had been consumed with studying facts and figures just so you can pass your exams? Again, am I right? This is how we are taught to follow a process, the ‘factory’ way of working where we follow the rules and don’t question what we could build or create instead.

4) You’re bored and frustrated in your work, you feel like you don’t have any power to change anything in your workplace. You’ve maybe tried to suggest new ideas to your boss or to your colleagues but they don’t seem to listen or aren’t prepared to try anything new. You know you could probably find a better job somewhere else but you know the people here and you don’t really like the idea of starting over. Maybe you’re waiting for the day when your boss finally gets round to listening to what you’re suggesting and things start to change but I can almost guarantee that isn’t going to happen anytime soon.

5) Finally, and here’s the hardest pill to swallow, you spent all those years at University, blood, sweat and tears went into your final dissertation and after all those late nights studying for your exams, you finally passed and received your degree certificate. You then spent months interviewing for the best jobs, coming up against many rejections along the way until finally, you earned the prize, you got yourself a graduate job! And what a waste it would be to throw it away, right?

All that promise, all that work and you still find yourself struggling to pay the bills some months. So, you hang in there, hoping for that promotion, going home every night to your apartment, questioning if this is really what you’re life has become, lucky if you get the time to prepare a home-cooked meal, there’s still so much to do to organise for work the next day and before you know it you’re snoozing on the sofa in front of the TV.

So, what happened? You got trapped by the system: study hard, pass your exams, go to University, study hard, take on debt, pass your exams, find a good job to pay off your debt. Failure is not an option in the system! We learn to fear stepping outside of ur comfort zone in case we fail, we don’t like to be ridiculed by our peers and we don’t like to be labelled as a failure.

But here’s the thing, it’s your life. You have a choice! You can either stay strapped in to the daily grind and accept that you may live a long life and have the freedom to enjoy life when you retire or you can find a way to start building your dreams today and finally break free from the system and take control of your own destiny.

For those of you still reading, I know it may seem like there aren’t many options open to you right now. Trust me, I’ve been there, I worked in investment banking as a software developer before one day I finally woke up and decided it was time to take my life on a different path. It wasn’t easy and I didn’t really have anyone to look up to or guide me on what to do. I just knew, enough was enough, my life had to change.

I started remembering back to my youth and how much I’d enjoyed taking part in sport and coaching at summer camps during University. I started to question if there was a way I could return to doing something similar. This was when I started studying part-time to support my interests in fitness towards becoming a Personal Trainer.

Just before I finished my course, I started applying for jobs in the sports arena again and to my surprise was accepted to work on a summer camp, even though, I hadn’t formally worked in sports for 5 years by this time.

As soon as I received the news, I knew I had to seize the opportunity and as hard as it was to let go of my ‘career’, I haven’t looked back, going on to further my studies in more advanced anatomy and physiology while in the last year, developing and releasing a fitness and nutrition app to follow my passion for technology.

So here’s something for you to think about, if you could go back and connect with your passion again, where might your life take you?

Could that be something you’d like to explore? Would that potentially open the doors to a more fulfilling career?

Not sure? And even if you’re on board with the idea, you’re probably still questioning how you’re ever going to find the time and energy to make this happen?

Well, I’ve certainly been there more times than I care to admit!

Whenever I’m feeling overwhelmed about starting or taking the next step in my business, I always remind myself of why I want to do this and recall some important habits and rituals that help to stay focused.

These are the same habits that I used to transform my life over the past 5 years. By following these habits consistently, I was able to create the creativity and space in my life to focus on reconnecting with my passion with the energy and drive to follow through to complete some extra studies and start my business.

Now I’m finally living life on my terms, travelling, hiking, connecting with clients and friends around the world and earning from my laptop.

I would love to invite you to connect with me and I’ll be happy to share more information about any new programs or trainings I am currently offering to support you in building your business.

I can assure that you too can build an income in your spare time to ultimately give you the confidence and creativity to re-ignite your passion and fire your boss.

First, I encourage you to start reading some inspiring work by Gay Hendricks such as The Big Leap or Daniel Priestley’s Entrepreneur Revolution.

But if you’re feeling like it’s time to get started..?

Send me a message now or connect with me on LinkedIn for inspirational quotes and business updates about future courses and workshops.

See you on the other side!

The Road To Entrepreneurship

The road to becoming an entrepreneur can be long and winding with many up’s and down’s along the way. Maybe you can relate to some of these stages in the process…

Which stage are you at on your journey to becoming an entrepreneur?

1. Intimidation

When you first start dreaming about becoming an entrepreneur or quitting your day job, you think, “I can’t do that,” or, “I’m not ready for that yet.” It’s common, and applies to most everybody with even the slightest hint of self-doubt in their subconscious brain.

Overcoming this level of intimidation and fear is difficult even for strong-willed individuals, and for some, the intimidation persists long into actual business ownership.

As you grow more experienced as an entrepreneur, this intimidation will start fading away, holding less and less power over your decisions and direction.

2. Novelty

Novelty possesses some entrepreneurs during the planning phase, and others during the actual loss.

When you haven’t had time to see if the business will be successful or not, and you haven’t run into any major trials or tribulations, you can relish in the fact that you own your own business.

Simply being an entrepreneur in title is enough for you, and you’re thrilled to come to work every day because of it.

Again, for some people, novelty lasts throughout the course of entrepreneurship, but for most of us, the novelty fades after you start running into issues.

3. Overwhelm

Though some enter the world of business ownership knowing full well that it’s not all sitting back and collecting profits, most of us vastly underestimate the demands of entrepreneurship in full.

When you start to have cash flow issues, running into deadlines, losing employees, missing your sales projections and seeing major competitors rise to meet you, it’s natural to feel overwhelmed.

We’ve all felt overwhelmed as entrepreneurs — it’s part of the territory — but as you start overcoming those obstacles and overwhelming moments, it begins to have less power over you.

4. Rhythm

Whether you’re getting the hang of your first startup after a few months on the job or finally settling into your position as an entrepreneur in your third or fourth venture, as long as you stick with it, eventually you’ll fall into a nice groove.

You won’t be thrown by the obstacles and surprises that come your way.

You won’t be intimidated by new ground. You won’t fear failure as much.

Instead, you’ll go about your responsibilities with pride and confidence — though you’ll still be shaken by the occasional crisis.

5. Failure

Yes. Every entrepreneur fails.

Most of the super-successful entrepreneurs of the world got to where they are only after experiencing failure of past ventures.

Even entrepreneurs who got lucky with their first attempt failed in some small way toward the beginning of their careers.

No matter who you are, failure will rattle you — but it’s a stage that anyone can work past with the right attitude and enough commitment.

6. Rejuvenation

A rejuvenation stage comes after you’ve experienced failure and / or disillusionment.

You might have lost an entire business, or just one big client, but after a period of weeks or months, you start realizing that there’s no reason a single failure means you’re at the end of the road.

You start remembering why you got into entrepreneurship in the first place, and your love for business ownership starts to blossom again.

You might even start going through the stages above on a new cycle — from intimidation to rhythm, at least.

7. Temperance

Finally, after years of experience and multiple cycles of failure and rejuvenation, you’ll hit a kind of final stage, where all the little things unique to entrepreneurship start to feel less significant.

You’re not quite as excited as you used to be, but you’re also not as afraid or intimidated.

You take calculated risks, you see problems for what they are, and you experiment in bold new directions without hesitation.

You’re even-keeled and a true leader — exactly what any business needs.

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