Goal Update

I updated in less than a month--I'm so pleased with myself! Now I'll try to update every other week, and build up to posting weekly. Baby steps; that's the key.

For the past month I've been house/dog-sitting for a friend. Not being at home with access to internet has hindered my goal progression, but now that it's over I can more easily get the ball rolling.



As proof, today my roommate and I went to the local Rec Center to purchase a 6-month membership and then worked out. Nothing too special; just a half hour jog on the track but it's a start. To make it easier on myself, I'm going to keep my workout bag in my car along with my raquetball equipment. I'm going to experiment with a schedule and see what works best, since I have alternating work weeks. I'm most excited about trying out the Barre class during my off weeks, because it will help perfect my balance. I'm thinking right after work for my on weeks, but if my roommate can get off work early then perhaps I'll wait until I wake up in the afternoon to go with her.

For writing, during my house-sitting job I set aside a Saturday to work on my novel. While I didn't get a large amount of actual words written, I did get a chance to flesh out the speech of some of my characters. Next, part of my New Year's Resolution is to write every day, so I'm going to be experimenting with a specific word count over the next few days. I want to get into the habit and starting off small with a gradual increase sounds like the best option.

Business-wise, I haven't been able to do much other than a little research here and there during downtime at work. The good news is that my order of lye finally came in so once I'm on my off week I can make my first batch of homemade soap! I've decided to dedicate a few hours every day on my off weeks to my business. It's not up and running yet, but I can spend that time researching and practicing. This way when it comes time to actually make and ship the products I won't be struggling to adjust to the required schedule. I'm thinking 3-4 hr blocks? The great thing is that I can adjust the time to whatever suits me best for that day. I figure that generally I'll start at the same time, but I won't have to miss any social events because of it.

Unfortunately, actually starting the business has and will cost a decent amount of money. I'm hopeful that I can earn back what I spend at the beginning, but until then it won't be helping my finances. (I'm keeping track of all expenses to compare to future profit) So while I'm in the prepping stage, I'm going to update my SitterCity profile and try to get some babysitting jobs. I'm already donating plasma to help, but it'll be nice being around kids again. Yes it's trading time for money, but it's something.

I've been working on getting finance-savvy and what's stuck out the most to me is the difference between passive and active income. Active income is trading time for money, which is what everything thinks of when they think of making money. It's getting paid by the hour and you want to know the secret? No one gets rich that way. Passive income is like getting royalties. Since I want to be a writer, that's a great example. I put in a lot of work and effort into writing a story, but once it's finished, I basically sit back as the money comes pouring in (that's my hope!). Another example would be owning a unit and renting it out to people. You still have to put the initial work in, but after that you get paid for almost no effort at all.

If my Etsy business works, then I can have both an active and passive income, and I'll be able to pay my loans off sooner. I'm so excited for it! Again, if it doesn't work out that's okay, but I'd prefer it to work. The nice thing about this gamble is that even if it fails, I'll still have gained new skills and I can give my products away as gifts, so no big monetary loss there.

In other news, at the moment I'm reading through the book The Other 90%: How to Unlock Your Vast Untapped Potential for Leadership and Life by Robert Cooper. It's quite an empowering read and I'm eager to begin utilizing the challenges presented. Right now I'm only doing a read-through, but once I'm finished I'll go through it again and do all the exercises. I'll also do a concurrent read of Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey as an added bonus. I'll be sure to keep you posted!