Lesson I Learned From Writing Business

If you are just starting out as a blogger, or have been thinking to make your first entrepreneurial move, chances are that you’re still fighting your inner doubts and fears about taking that big first step. There are lots of unanswered questions in your mind. You may even be waiting for the right time when everything will be in the right place. Unfortunately, that never happens in real world. If you ask me, the right time to start your own writing business is now!

 

1. Quit Your Job…..But Not Yet! I’m not asking you to quit your job today. It doesn’t work that way. But what I’m saying is that you should stop waiting for the right time and make the move now. Start laying out a plan of action. Give yourself some targets and deadlines. There are people out there who started out in much worse conditions. They had no job, no savings, no idea what they wanted out of life and no one to guide them. Yet, they were able to make a name for themselves in the blogosphere.                                                                                                                                                                       
2. Why Am I So Sure? Here’s Why! Now I’m no success story yet. I don’t earn as much as some of the big names out there. Nor do I have the expertise of some of these tech gurus. But what I can tell you from my own experience is that NOW is the time to make your move. How can I be so sure? Let me tell you a bit more about myself.                                                                                                                                                                                      
3. It’s All in Your Mind! An unfortunate but familiar sight in India recently I come from a country that is in the middle of one of the world’s most illogical wars. My country, India has lost more than 40,000 civilian lives over the last ten years in this senseless war. Our economy has touched unseen depths and our political leadership is as unstable as anywhere in the world. There are places in my country where there’s no electricity for up to 18 hours a day. There are regular political strikes and economic shutdowns that cause further havoc. Just the other day, a grenade was thrown at shops near my place. So stability of environment is something I am quite unaware of. Remember, all these factors impact the decisions that you make in your life. A stable and prospering environment not only gives a lot more opportunities to people but also helps them stay positive about their decisions. Coming back to some other hurdles in my path, English is not my first language (although I believe I’m pretty good at it). I’m sure you realize that most international clients are looking for native English speakers for their writing projects. I don’t blame them either. Another major hurdle is the payment mode. The most frequently used payment method, PayPal, does not work in my country.                                                                                                                                                                          
4. Have a Close Look at this Again! Let me sum up all these factors for you once again. 1) Living in a war zone 2) Chaotic law & order situation 3) Falling economy; no jobs 4) No electricity for up to 18 hours a day! 5) English not my mother tongue 6) Can’t use PayPal Despite all this, I still managed to not only start a full time career as a freelance writer but also managed to quit my day job for good. Again, I’m not yet making as much money as some of the leading writers out there. But that’s not the point. The point is simple.                                                                                    
5. If I, despite all these uncontrollable factors, can start my writing business and quit my job, then why can’t you do it? What I have come to realize through all this is that once you step out in the middle and start working your way through, you will learn lessons that no blogging expert can teach you. You will fall for sure. But don’t be afraid of that. Just get up start walking again. Making slow progress is much better than no progress. And you know what, progress is a slow process. You’ll rarely come across people who make it big instantly. That does happen though. But you can’t base your plans on exceptions.

What’s Your Advantage? 

 It’s all in the mind! Just think about it for a moment. You don’t have any of the problems I had. Okay, your economy might not be as good as it was a few years ago. But it’s nowhere near as bad as Pakistan’s. You are a native English speaker, you have all the payment gateways at your service and you have a much more stable law & order situation to give you peace of mind (I’m sure you don’t have bombs exploding outside your house) And the biggest advantage you have is that you are right there in the middle of action. Your clients are there in the US, Europe or Australia. Most of the times, they’re in the same country as you are. You don’t have to struggle to earn their trust. You don’t have to convince them that you are a genuine writer and not some Asian scam (I’ve gone through this one).
Time to Make a Move!

 Here’s the deal. The only reason you are still only thinking of starting your writing business is because you are waiting for the right time. It won’t come, trust me. The time is now! Give yourself a deadline. Make a rough plan of what you want to do and how you plan to get there. A rough sketch is all you need. You can’t be sure of everything at the start. Start making some moves and you’ll see how things start falling into place.