Procrastination is a dirty word. People also use the word laziness when they see someone who’s procrastinating, and I suppose they’re right to some degree. Fear isn’t the only reason why someone is putting off doing what they should be doing.
As I’m writing this I’m sitting on a train heading into London. This would be a perfect time for me to do something other than writing this blog post. I mean, I have no internet, no one around me to distract me… I could be playing Angry Birds or wasting time playing some other stupid game on my phone.
But I’m not. I have iA Writer open on my MacBook Air and I’m typing away.
I use to be the master of procrastination. I slowly managed to change but it wasn’t easy.
Let me tell you my story and why I’m a self-proclaimed master of procrastination.
THE 9 YEAR PROCRASTINATION SPREE…
If you’re a regular reader you’ll know I love to travel. You know I want to get people to be location independence with their own online business so they can explore the world too. It has lots to offer!
My dream of travelling started back in 2005 when I left school. I had no desire to go to university. I was studying to become a personal trainer and my goal was to get a job on a cruise ship. What a perfect way of travelling!
That was until I heard of a guy called Corey Rudl. He taught people something called “Internet Marketing”.
Back in 2005 I’d never even thought about starting an online business. But I wanted to travel.
The idea of being able to run a business with just a laptop and an internet connection appealed to me greatly! I never wanted to work for someone. I thought about opening my own gym after I’d finished the “travel thing” on the cruise ships.
Being able to travel with a laptop and be anywhere in the world whilst still being able to afford the things I needed/wanted.
I purchased the course Corey Rudl was selling. Back then the didn’t get PDFs and Videos. Or at least it wasn’t as popular.
This course turned up a few weeks later. It was over 1,000 pages across two binders and a handful of booklets. There was a lot here! I didn’t even know where to begin.
I continued studying to become a personal trainer and the binders gathered dust.
FAST FORWARD TO 2011…
I had be working in a store as a manager for a couple years. Cruise ships, owning my own gym and being my own boss had fallen by the way side. I hadn’t even gone travelling.
I was miserable in my managerial position working for a food retailer so I left and ended up getting a job in a factory. I wanted to get started with creating an online business again.
I’d already put it off for 6 years…
I slowly learned how to build a websites, how to write blog posts, how to get traffic to the site and also made some great friends. The community I found is what kept me going when there was a massive learning curve.
I was still working in the factory at the time. Then 2012 one of the girls I worked with there went to China for 3 months. When she returned I asked her how she planned it out.
My desire to travel returned.
I went to the travel agency she recommended, STA Travel, that weekend and I ended up booking a one-way ticket to Bangkok, Thailand. Now I was going.
Again, the internet business fell to the side. I was just “playing business” because all I was doing was messing around with site designs, site layouts and purchasing random plugins.
Classic S.O.S, shiny object syndrome, right there.
I managed to sharpen my WordPress skills and helped many people with their own WordPress issues. But I still wasn’t making any money, getting any traffic or writing content regularly.
Things changed when I got to Australia.
I ended up working as a scuba diving instructor on the Great Barrier Reef and living in a town called Airlie Beach.
I met some amazing people. Senators of Argentina, special forces divers, backpackers from around the world and made some lifetime friends.
One guy who stood out for me was a guy named Rob. He was a VIP on the boat for the Queenland’s Tourism Agency. I took him for a dive and on the way out to the reef I sat down and asked him why he did. I wanted to know how this young guy was getting the VIP treatment.
You know what his answer was? He ran a travel blog that was very popular. The Queensland Tourism Agency paid for this trip just so he would write about it on his site.
WHAT!?! This was an actual thing! People were actually travelling the world because of something they were doing online.
In early 2014 I ended up working on a tiny little island in Fiji. I was the scuba diving manager. This was the dream… Living on a tiny little island surround by beautiful trees, beaches, beautiful girls in bikini’s left, right and centre, partying every evening AND I was being paid to scuba dive.
This was something I wanted to continue doing…
An online business would allow me to experience this more and more. ThatMarketingDude.com was reborn in late 2014 and I wanted to help others start their own businesses so they can travel too.
I had wasted 9 years not pulling the trigger and being serious about getting my business started. I had lots of friends running their own online businesses who knew I went travelling… They gave me the encouragement and the kick in the ass I needed to make this work.
Now I want to share my experiences with you guys. The ups and downs of getting a business off the ground. But more importantly I want to make sure you don’t waste 9 years.
I procrastinated for 9 years and I’m going to make sure you don’t do the same.
WHY ARE YOU PROCRASTINATING?
Maybe you have started your business already but you’re not seeing the results you want. The majority of you who have thought about starting an online business, to travel the world or not, haven’t even gotten started.
Why is that?
Well for me it was a few things. The fear of not knowing what was doing to happen. Laziness… I spent my spare time playing Xbox and partying with my friends. I also wasn’t surrounding myself with like-minded people.
Are you scared of starting an online business? Are you started of not knowing what you’ll need to do? Are you scared of failing?
Well I was in the same position. This is what stopped me back in 2005. I was 17 and thought “what if I get arrested for not doing things legally?” “What if I don’t register my business properly?”
Legitimate excuses? Hell no! This was the bull shit I fed myself to justify not getting off my ass and doing something. The legality of business is easy to sort out when you first get started. Register yourself as a sole trader (or sole proprietor in the US I believe) and keep track of your spending within the business for your tax returns at the end of every year.
That’s it! The rest you can learn as you grow.
Don’t let something this small hold you back. If you end up doing it wrong to start with you’re not going to end up in jail. At most you’ll get a slap on the wrist and get shown how to do it properly.
Are you lazy? Be honest with yourself. I certainly was. I spent all my spare time either on the Xbox and socialising with friends. No necessarily bad things but if you’re wanting to start a business to change your life then you’re going to need to dedicate time to working on it.
It’s not going to build itself. You need to put in the effort to get it started. It’s not difficult.
I have a guide on building a website. What’s the bare minimum you’ll need for your site is all in there. The plugins I recommend and even how to set it up.
WordPress Complete Setup Guide
WordPress Complete Setup Guide
Are you the only person you know who’s thinking about starting a business online? It’s tough to stay motivated for most people if you have no one around you who have the same goals or desires as you.
Thankfully with the internet you can find 1,000’s of people who are trying to do the same thing. You can find forums, Facebook groups, Google + communities that’ll be full of people who are also trying to get started online.
With a little bit of hunting you’ll be able to surround yourself with people who’ll help you when times get tough.
Heck you can even shoot me a message. Anyone who signs up to my mailing list gets my personal email address so feel free to email me when you get stuck with anything.
Whatever your excuse is… It’s not good enough. Just take smaller steps.
TAKING SMALL STEPS
The majority of people who try starting something and fail have usually bitten off more than they can chew. The see all these other people who have gotten started online and think “man I can’t do this! This guy has 10,000 people he can email, he has a podcast, loads of YouTube videos and I don’t even know what hyperlinking is!”
Do you think they knew how to create a podcast when they first started? No. Do you think they had 10,000 people they could email when they first started? No.
Just focus on what you need to do to take that one small step. Figure out how to register a domain name. Then how to set up your hosting. Then installing WordPress onto your site. Then how to write your first blog post. Then your second. Don’t start off thinking “crap! I have to create a website will all this stuff on it and I don’t even know how to get a domain.”
Baby steps.
WHAT ARE YOUR NEXT STEPS FROM HERE?
The business excuse I hear is that people don’t have enough time or enough money to get started. This is not a good excuse if this is something you really want.
I know people who two small children who can do this. People who work 12 hour days 5–6 days a week can do this. You can do this. You just need to be committed.
Everyone can find an hour to work on this. Wake up an hour earlier, go to bed an hour later, stop playing on your Xbox for an hour… You’ll find an hour and that’s all you need.
Can you spare $100 per month? People who are serious can find $100 if they think about their current expenditure. Do you have cable TV? Are you partying every weekend? Are you a smoker? Cutting down on any of these for example will help you get closer to having $100 to invest in your business every month.
This is your life you’re changing. Location independence can be yours if you’re willing to put the work in now.
I have written a guide for this of you who haven’t gotten started yet. Maybe you have but you haven’t seen the results you wanted, then you might get some benefit from this guide too. It’s completely free and it will walk you through what you should do for the first 3 months with only one hour per day and $100 per month to invest.
The 90-Day Calendar!
The 90-Day Calendar!
At the end of the 3 months you’ll have a website that’s getting visitors, collecting emails of people who love what you’re doing and you may even have made a few dollars too.
All it takes is baby steps. Don’t focus on 2 years down the road. Focus on today and tomorrow. Don’t compare yourself to people who have been in business online for several years. Focus on socialising and helping the people that are coming to your website.
I don’t want you wasting any more time thinking about “what if” and just start doing something. If you’re really stuck and don’t know where to start then use my 3 month guide. You’ll have something to be proud of at the end.
I spent 9 years procrastinating. 9 years coming up with excuses as to why I wasn’t doing the things I knew I should have been doing. I still think about where I’d be if I started my online journey back in 2005.
I don’t regret anything though. I’ve found my purpose which is to help others gain financial freedom and location independence so they too can travel the world. I’m not wasting anymore time when each day I can help someone change their life.
I hope you’re the next person. Get started. No more excuses. Build something to be proud of one baby step at a time. Gain your freedom to travel and spend your time on what you want to do, not what you have to do for your 9 to 5.
Until next time guys!
