The Curveballs in Life

 

I wasnâ??t sure what I was going to write about today but suddenly a received a curveballâ?¦and those are always good for conversation.

As you may or may not know I own several businesses and I have been trying to minimize those just as we have our material possessions, the money we spend, and the bills we have. I have four business licenses in the city of Paso Robles: 1) a painting company 2) a window washing company 3) photography (I totally suck but I thought what the hell) and 4) a consulting company that is for online strategy, content creation, and social media consulting.

My goal was to get rid of two of these licenses, which means shutting those businesses down but today I was presented with drama in the painting company which leads me to my new goalâ?¦getting rid of three business licenses. I have had the painting company since March of 2006 and it just is not fulfilling anymore and is even more difficult to try and maintain while being a work at home dad four days per week.

Working from home was a choice Annie and I made together and it is something I want to continue doing. So with a new goal in hand I start my quest of diligently looking to be able to make enough money online in order to close those other businesses and concentrate on one business and my son.

Itâ??s been an interesting road in the business world for me. Some days I feel like an utter failure and other days I feel like I have navigated my way through pretty darn well. I have never been afraid to start a businessâ?¦Iâ??ve started four and depending on the day you ask me they were each successful in some way, shape, or form. They each were fulfilling and sometimes stressful. They were and are each part of me and I didnâ??t think it would be hard to let go of them but it is. There seems to be a sentimental attachment on some level, aside from Sammy these have been like children to me.

I have wanted to start a new adventure for some time but Iâ??ve hung on to things because I felt (and still do feel) like youâ??re supposed to. If you start a painting company youâ??re supposed to spend the rest of your life being a painter, or if youâ??re working at a PR firm then youâ??re in PR for the rest of your life. At the core of my being I do not agree with this but Iâ??ve tried to do things the way society expects, and that makes me tired.

The adventure is fun payday loan faxless to me. We recently cut cable and have now lived a week or so without itâ?¦thatâ??s been a fun adventure. We started eating mostly paleo and having weird ass smoothies in the morning with kale in them. That too has been a fun adventure. In my mind â??livingâ? involves pushing yourself away from comfort, not all comfort but away from the comfort that promotes riding the hamster wheel. I feel the hamster wheel is anti-life but I know there are things we have to doâ?¦like make money, pay bills, and so on but I absolutely think we can do some of that on our own terms and not by some unwritten societal rules. I see people succeeding at it every single day.

I never in my life thought I would be a work at home dad but I am and itâ??s working. I never thought I would have a kid at 35 years old but I did and itâ??s working too. I never thought I was smart enough to create something that could make money to pay my bills, but I was and I do. The point is this, a curveball is not the end of the world at all, sure it may be stressful but at the end of the day that curveball can you lead you to a better place IF you react to it the right way.

So, a new adventure starts for me now. Trying to fully replace the income from my painting company with income from my online work (social media, content creation, writing, online strategy, research, etc.). Will I succeed? I donâ??t know but I will ride the wave and see where things take me. I would love to be able to make enough money doing this so I can concentrate more on Sammy and not always feel the pull of the painting company. Thatâ??s probably been the biggest issue, the painting company just pulls at me and since it is outside the house it causes some disturbances during the day for Sammy and I.

I would love to be more present for him and enjoy this relatively rare adventure of being a work at home dad. New chapters can be scary because it requires letting go in order to grab something new. The one thing I know is that I donâ??t want to have any regrets with my boy, but I also know I need to continue to carry my own weight in our household. It will take a little while to properly close the business but I will enjoy that adventure too. Itâ??s been a life changing and confidence boosting ride for me with my painting business and that, I donâ??t need to let go of.