My Life After Retail

A few weeks ago I was listening to my favorite radio host, Colin Cowherd, and he had a segment comparing quality of life to ambition.  During the segment he was illustrating those individuals who are extremely ambitious and will do anything to “move up” in their occupation.  They will sacrifice location, loved ones, time, and anything else along the way just to get to the next level of employment.  He then went on to talk about those who desire a high quality of life but are not as ambitious.

It is very hard to want to move up quickly and still have a high quality of life.  I can honestly say I was Mr. Retail when I began my one and only full time job (I hope to never have a full time job again!).  I would go in on my days off, I would come in early and stay late.  When I got home I constantly thought about ways to increase profits.  When I wasn’t working I would take my girlfriend at the time to other retailers just to see what they were doing.  I sacrificed many quality aspects of my life in an attempt to move up quickly.  The most important qualities of life I sacrificed were relationships and time and I am glad I got out as quickly as I did.

With that being said I now realize that finding a happy medium between being ambitious and seeking a high quality of life is what is right for me.  As most of you know I am extremely excited and devoted to increasing the readership of Subprime Blogger.  With that, I have realized that more “excess” time and effort put into the website sometimes burns me out.  A few weeks ago I explained that I can usually get my work done in three hours a day.  Once I have completed my work I have the ability to do as I please.

I have created a fitness plan that allows me to do between three to four hours of fitness activities a day.  These activities include yoga, mountain and road biking, working out, cardio, and squash.  Obviously, with a significant amount of time, I can expand this list but as of right now this is where I stand and I absolutely love it.  By the end of the day my body is physically tired and my mind has not wandered in the ways it used to.  For me this is one of the many perks of being a professional blogger and I would not trade it for any job in the world.

Quality of life versus ambition is something that is hard for many young professionals.  It seems that after a few years of working hard many people understand that they cannot sacrifice everything in their life for their job.  Sometimes it is too little too late and I hope this has not happened to you and I hope it never will.  Take the time to call loved ones, take the time to go for a three mile run and most importantly take the time to find out the things in life that make you happy and do them as much as you can!

“Hold on loosely, but don’t let go; if you cling too tightly, you’re gonna lose control.”  As I was driving to campus the other day I heard this song and it made me realize that you cannot cling to anything in life too tightly without losing control. When it comes to finances, relationships, work, business, beliefs, health or any other aspects of life there has to be a happy medium that you have created.

Something that always comes up with I think of clinging too tightly is my personal investment portfolio.  When I was in college and a recent graduate I made sure that my real time ticker was always streaming with up to the second quotes on all the investments I owned.  I was so analytical about it that I actually talked myself out of some very profitable trades.  After getting a full time job I no longer had time to check my stocks every day.  I noticed that the less I analyzed my portfolio the better it performed.

I will never be the investor who just random picks stocks but I am convinced that I need to go with my gut instinct and just leave it at that.  In early 2005 I told all of my friends and family to buy gold under $600; luckily for me I made this purchase as well and I continue to hold it.  Over the course of the last five years I can document many stocks that I bought and sold too early because I was clinging too tightly.  I will continue to hold on loosely to my investment portfolio but I won’t let go!

I am sure many of you have had relationships that involved someone overbearing.  That individual could have been a mother or father, your significant other or even yourself.  You probably realized, after time, that the more you tried to make things better the harder they got.  I often use the analogy of holding a can of Coke when it comes to relationships.  If you hold the can too tight you are going to start crushing it but if you do not use enough strength you are going to let the can drop to the floor and all the Coke will spill out.  Once again, there must to be a happy medium in which you can hold the can comfortably and just move forward.

If you get in a situation in your life that involves thinking about something each and every day you might want to turn on the 38 Special song and realize that it would be a good idea to “hold on loosely, but don’t let go.”  Getting something off your mind and allowing yourself to refresh goes a long way in making mature, correct decisions.  Right now finances are a big concern for many people.  Dwelling on your finances each and every day is likely to just bring you down so take some time to yourself and enjoy your happiness list rather than thinking about your credit score.  With that in mind, don’t let go!  Eventually you will need to come back to your financial situation and clear things up but try to hold on loosely.

One of the most difficult things for entrepreneurs to do is take time off.  If you own a business you know the value and importance of growth.  It is also likely that you constantly have new ideas running through your head as to how you can continue to grow your company.  Most of the entrepreneurs and business owners I know have a very hard time not only taking time off but enjoying it.

A few days ago I wrote an article about my happiness list.  This list has helped me to enjoy the finer things in life; it has also allowed me to take the necessary time off and let my thoughts and ideas freshen up.  Getting burnt out at a young age is not an enjoyable feeling.  This happened to me at my previous job working in retail.  I am reminded of this with Black Friday coming up this week.  I truly hope all of you in retail keep your sanity over the next month because I know how hard it can be.

I can say, without a doubt, that my hard work and dedication to my previous employer caused me to burn out very soon.  I feel as if I had been rewarded in some way that things would have been different but I never even got so much as a thank you.  Two and a half years of retail was the worst two and a half years of my life but it taught me many things.  One of the most important things it taught me is that everyone needs to take time off no matter how important their job is.

By simply taking some time off you will be very surprised at how anxious you are to get back to work.  One thing I always make sure to do is to extricate myself from my blog as much as possible while taking time off.  If I start to look at analytics or adsense there is no doubt that I will start thinking of how to grow the website.  I can do this at anytime so there is no need to do it during my time off.

With the holiday season coming up I urge all of you to take some time off.  If your boss complains or you feel you owe it to your company take a step back and look at the big picture.  Will things continue to run fine without you?  Most likely!  Will the entire business model break down with you taking a few extra hours or days off?  I seriously doubt it!  When looking back on my days in retail I wish I had taken many more days off; it would have made me a more enjoyable person to be around and would have allowed me to refresh my mind and entrepreneurial spirit much more.

Get out your happiness list and enjoy some of the activities that make you happy.  There is nothing wrong with taking some time off; you will be surprised at how much people will gravitate to you when you have a smile on your face and are at mental peace.

A few months ago I wrote an article about wasting time.  At that point I was still adapting to my new occupation and it took me a significant amount of time to complete the necessary steps to make my website profitable each day.  In all reality, I had to work between 8 and 12 hours a day to get my “work” done.  To be completely honest I was a little bit stressed out and felt I HAD to put that much work in to make the money I was making.

Today things are much different as I have successfully reduced the amount of time it takes me to do my “job” by at least one third.  I will give you an example with some fictitious numbers.  Prior to November it took me about 8 to 12 hours to make $100 a day (once again, fictitious numbers!).  If you do the math you can figure out that I was making about $10 an hour for my efforts.  This did not bother me at all as I had no boss and I could blog from anywhere I wanted in shorts and a t-shirt.

As I better understood how things operate my productivity greatly jumped.  With the help of some new software and a few friends I saw the time it took me to complete the necessary work greatly decrease.  Today it takes me approximately three hours a day to complete the same amount of work it took me ten hours a few months ago.  Instead of making about $10 an hour I am now up to about $30 an hour.

Making $30 an hour working from home is something many people would absolutely love.  Do not get me wrong, it is a wonderful opportunity and I am learning to cherish it greatly.  Only working three hours a day allows me to do many of the “fun” things I have always wanted to do.  Recently I decided to increase that workload to see if the revenue would increase as well.  If three hours a day makes me $100 a day surely six hours would net me $200 right?  Wrong!

After about two weeks of working very hard and, once again, being a little bit stressed out I found that working six hours a day only increased my revenue to about $115 to $120 a day.  This means that instead of $30 an hour I would be making $20 an hour.  After thinking about this and realizing how my stress level increased the decision to scale back my work was very easy.  In January or February I might consider increasing an hour or two a day but at this point it is just not worth it to me.

Working three hours a day from any location I desire is something that I must learn to cherish and accept.  Even though we would all like to increase our salary we must step back and look at the big picture.  I make a significant amount of money; more than enough to cover all my expenses and still invest a large amount each month.  I know that working for my own business means that I do not have a 401(k) or any type of retirement so I put away a large percentage of my paycheck in the investments of my choice (I have been quite successful picking investments!).

Now that I have realized that three hours of work a day is what it takes me to be happy I would urge you to step back and determine what amount of work makes you happy.  I know many of you do not have the opportunity to just tell your boss that you can get your job done in four hours.  What you can do is sit back and do some analysis.  Maybe you deserve a long lunch each day because you can complete your “job” in an hour less than you are scheduled.  Maybe you should reward your hard work with some conversation with other employees, if your boss allows it!

Being able to adjust the amount I work is one of the main reasons I decided to quit retail and create my own business.  I know that the amount of work I put in is a direct correlation to my compensation.  There are very few other occupations that can claim that.  Now it is time for me to get back to my happiness list as I have 13 free hours today to do as I please.

Over the last few weeks I have been trying to convince myself that I am happy but for some reason it has yet to sink in.  I truly believe if you have to say something out loud or convince someone of something, even yourself, then there is an issue at hand.  If you have to tell someone you love them over and over to reassure them then obviously you are not taking the necessary steps to show your affection.  The same is true in almost every aspect of life.  With that being the case I did an analysis of my life this morning.

There are many aspects of my life that almost every American desires – no boss, no set schedule, I can earn money from anywhere on the planet, a solid income, healthy, young, energetic.  I could go on and on but once again I will be attempting to convince myself that I am happy and full of life.  Looking from an outside perspective many of my friends and family members feel as if I live the dream life.  In all reality, I probably do but I have not been enjoying it over the last few weeks and possibly even months.

I went through a few personal issues this summer and these issues seem to be hanging on to me.  I feel as if I am completely over this issue but, once again, I am trying to convince myself of that rather than just letting it happen.  I truly believe I have the potential to live the dream life but I need to allow it to happen rather than dwell on things that I cannot control.

Today I am going to start an activity that I think will help you to increase happiness.  There is an activity or event that we all love to do.  Even if you are severely depressed there are still things that you enjoy.  The one caveat to this activity is it has to be an activity that you can do even if someone in particular does not want to do it with you.  You cannot say “I love going out to a movie with my ex-girlfriend.”  This is not helping you at all because all you are going to do is dwell on how you are not with her anymore and you wish you could go to a movie with her.  Going to movies with friends is acceptable though.

With that being the only rule now we will move on to the activity.  Sit down with a pencil and paper or on your personal computer and write down every little thing you can think of that makes you happy.  At first it might be hard to think of some ideas but check your email, look at the bookmarks on your internet browser, skim over old notes or even just look at your dvr’d shows.  I am sure these activities will spark some of the interests in your life.

While thinking about the things that make you happy do not limit yourself.  If you once spent a summer in France and you will never forget it then that is something that makes you happy!  It might take you awhile to compile the list but it will definitely be worth it once it has been complete.  Below you are going to find my list and the things that make me happy no matter who is involved;

• Giving and receiving advice about life
• Watching Lost
• Long “presence” walks – walks where I am completely in the moment, no past and no future thoughts
• Stock market analysis, especially looking at historical stock charts
• Driving my 2009 Audi a4
• Reading history of financial markets
• Eating a new type of food or at a new restaurant
• Sprinting – I was a former college track athlete
• Working out
• Reading Muscle Media
• Watching water flow through a riverbed
• Catching any fish on a dry fly
• Having intelligent conversations with anyone who has the entrepreneurial spirit
• Watching funny movies – The Hangover is the greatest movie ever
• Playing Risk
• Sitting at Westover Barber Shop and enjoying the conversation
• Reuniting with long lost friends
• Smiling
• Laughing until it hurts
• Researching Financial security
• Enjoying College Football Saturdays in the Fall
• Being mentally challenged
• Learning to cook new dishes
• Sitting and enjoying nature from a distance
• Stretching my body through yoga
• Meditating

This is just the beginning of my list and I will continue to come back to it over time.  The list you create is not even close to being complete.  Each time you find something new that makes you happy make sure to add it to your list.  By creating a free blog on wordpress or blogspot it will make it very easy to keep this entry updated.  Make sure that you do not lose your happiness solely in one other person; especially for this activity.  We have all been through heartbreak and that will ruin the entire activity if you happen to go through it.

I would suggest that every single day you do at least one of the activities on this list.  If you want to find true happiness throughout your day make sure to do several of these activities.  Obviously you will not be able to do every single activity but try to get them all in over a months period of time.  Going through a 30 day happiness period never hurt anyone.

When you feel down or even slightly depressed you can come back to your happiness list and think about all the things that cheer you up.  Sometimes it just takes a little reassurance that life is beautiful but once we figure it out all aspects of our lives with reverberate with joy and excitement.

As an Internet entrepreneur I truly see the value of time.  Each and every day of my life I have to make decisions as to what I will do with my precious time.  Owning my own company allows me to do whatever I want.  If I want to take a day off and hang out with friends I can.  If I want to research for 16 hours a day I can.  If I want to get in my car and drive five hours to go fly fishing I can.  With that in mind I realize that the more valuable time I put into my business the more I will get out of it.

Living in Raleigh, NC, near three major universities, I have access to the ultimate group of individuals who know how to waste time – college students.  We all loved college because we went to class for 15 hours a week and the rest of the time we found entertainment.  I continue to have many friends in college and I could easily waste my days away much as they do; playing Wii or PS3, checking every profile known to man on Facebook and Twitter, drinking the nights and weekends away, or playing the dating scene with every college girl.

I am not going to lie, it greatly frustrates me to see my friends waste away the time that they do, especially my college friends.  I know I am wired a little bit differently but how can you spend hour upon hour without doing anything productive.  I guess we all define being productive in different ways but I refuse to believe that checking Facebook for five hours a day is being productive.  I have always made the statement, “if you would spend as much time monetizing something as you do wasting time you could be a millionaire.”

I truly believe this to be the case and I will continue to believe it as I am living proof.  I am, by no means, a millionaire but I assure you that I am very successful and that will continue because I make very good use of my time.  Some people might call me obsessive/compulsive but I would call myself an entrepreneur.  Colin Cowherd, ESPN radio host, makes reference to those who have created wealth for themselves and how their minds are always going 100 mph.  I think my mind is not only going 100 mph, it is going that fast in four different directions.

This is a blessing and a curse all wrapped up in one.  I will be the first to admit that very few females in my life can handle my entrepreneurial spirit.  No matter where I go or what I do I always see the value in the things around me.  I truly believe that I could find a way to monetize shower curtains (let females put their favorite company’s symbols on it and sell it for $25; a Coach, Target, Juicy Couture and Dulce & Gabanna shower curtain, tell me that wouldn’t sell?!?).  These are the ideas I think of each and every minute of the day. For some reason most females want attention rather than me pointing out that advertising on umbrellas could make a killing.

I have learned that I am who I am and no matter what that is not going to change.  I will always believe that time wasted is money lost.  When you are sitting around on a weeknight watching television couldn’t you be thinking of the next great business model?  Do not get me wrong, I believe there is a time and place to spend with friends and family.  This does not mean that I will take every single week night to watch reruns of Friends and Sex and the City.  In all reality, the only show I consistently watch is one that makes me think the whole time (Lost), go figure!

I am not suggesting that you should take every minute of your day to figure out the next Ipod but I would suggest that you consider how much time you truly waste.  Was it worth it to check Facebook for two hours?  Was it worth it to watch the same Sopranos episode you have seen three times?  The next time you are sitting around thinking of something to do, think about what you absolutely love to do and consider ways to monetize it.  You never know, you might be able to make that your living.

Please return to My Life After Retail to get daily inspirational stories as well as historical accounts of the success of Subprime Blogger.

Being the smartest guy, or girl, in the room does not mean that you have the highest level of education or you get paid the most.  Statistics show that education and compensation have a strong correlation with intelligence but as with any statistical study there are outliers.  From my experience in retail, I found many outliers in this industry.  The industry rewards being a “puppet” and doing what you’re told rather than using your brain and challenging the system.

There is little doubt that almost all retailers have created and perfected a system over time.  There is solid proof, in financials,  that if things are done a specific way there will be specific results.  The problem is that the same actions get the same results and there is very little room for upside growth.  Albert Einstein is quoted as saying that “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

I can honestly say that for two and a half years I was forced to do the same things over and over again.  I would not consider myself a maverick by any stretch of the imagination but I do have a brain that functions.  Unfortunately, those above me had brains that functioned a little differently or possibly at a much slower pace .  Any time an idea was passed down from the corporate or district level my superiors made sure it was done.  The question “why?” was not allowed.  This is absolutely fine for anyone who has ZERO entrepreneurial spirit but not me.

Each and every time I was told to do a specific task I asked why and proposed a different path.  Even if my ideas made sense and provided more profit they were always shot down because that was “questioning the way it has always been done.”  Well, for all of the retail geniuses out there I present to you Google and Apple.; two companies that have made it a point to encourage their employees to think outside the box and try new things.  The last I heard those two companies were doing quite well unlike most retailers.

All of that aside, one of the main reasons that I finally decided to pursue Subprime Blogger and become an Internet entrepreunuer is because no matter who I talked to from my company I felt as if were faceless body.  Any time there was a corportate, district or store level meeting I consistently found faults in their ideas and the way they expressed those ideas.  No matter how inaccurate their data they refused to listen to reason.  As an entreprenur I always ask the three letter word that every boss hates……why?

After too many unanswered questions I decided to pursue a personal business.  I was working on Subprime Blogger for several months before I decided to leave my retail establishment.  Every day I worked on Subprime Blogger I got a little bit smarter and learned something new about the financial field or Internet marketing.  Every day I worked in a retail environment I felt like I was losing not only knowledge but time.  Very few people can say that their occupation challenges them every single day.  With Subprime Blogger I am challenged every day!  This is when I knew I had found my life’s dream.

There are countless reasons that blogging is an amazing occupation:

1. No Boss
2. No Schedule
3. No Dress Code
4. You can express your opinion at any time
5. It can be done anywhere with Internet acccess
6. Unlimited growth potential
7. You get compensated for the amount of work you do rather than a flat rate

This is just the beginning when it comes to the benefits of being a full time blogger; I will go over each of these perks in the coming months and explain how much of a luxury professional blogging is.  I know many of you out there are very unhappy with your job for many reasons.  My suggestion is to find something you absolutely love to do; something you love to do it so much that when you are laying in bed to go to sleep you want to get up and work even more.  When you find this activity, find a way to monetize it and you will live your life’s dream.

Please return to My Life After Retail to get daily inspirational stories as well as historical accounts of the success of Subprime Blogger.