#006: How I Took My Writing Biz to the Six-Figure Level (Pt. 1 of 2)

Welcome to the High Income Business Writing Podcast, helping you propel your writing business to a whole new level. And now, here's your host, Ed Gandia. Hey everyone, thanks for joining me for episode six of the High Income Business Writing Podcast. I am your host, Ed Gandia and this is the podcast for business writers and copywriters who want to take their writing businesses to the six figure level or the part time equivalent. You can find detailed show notes for this episode by going to b2b launcher.com episode six the number six. So if you're driving, jogging, or just somewhere where you just can't take notes, don't worry, I got your back. These are detailed notes that you can reference later at your convenience. Today I'm taking a departure from the types of shows that I've been doing since I launched this podcast and I'm going to be sharing with you my story. My story of how I stumbled into freelance writing and how I've turned freelance writing into a six figure business. Many of you who have followed me for a while know parts of the story, which I've shared in articles and video trainings. But I realized the other day that I've never shared my full story publicly. I'm constantly asked how I did this, how I've been able to grow my business to this level, and how I've done it successfully. So I figured I'd take some time to share my journey with you. Now this is going to be two parts. I'm going to do half today, half next week. And I'm not just going to just ramble on and tell you my story. I'm going to also highlight key lessons and turning points in this journey. My goal is to share both the successes and the struggles that I've endured. Every story is messy, guys, and I just want to give it all to you and show you the good, the bad, the ugly. So you see that this thing, you know, just wasn't picture perfect. This wasn't a movie. This is, you know, this story is a story of struggle, this story of success. And there are a lot of, there are a lot of messy parts in between. I'm also going to show you that any writer with solid skills can do this. And I hope my story illustrates this. And finally, I want to do this and share the story with you because I want to satisfy much of the curiosity out there about what I do day to day, how I spend my time, where my income comes from and so forth. These are questions I constantly get and I wanted to address them in this Format. So a good starting place for this is January 2003, and I'm enjoying a beer with one of my best friends. And I really don't remember a lot before this or how I came to this conclusion, but I do remember this is the first time I actually told someone that I wanted to either buy a business or start a business within the next five years. I wanted to become an entrepreneur. To give you an idea of where I was in my life at the moment. We had just had our first child and I just felt out of control, out of control in my own career, my own future. And I wanted to take charge. I wanted to start making my own decisions. I had recognized for a while at this point that I was just wired to do my own thing. Didn't know exactly what I would do, but I knew that I'd find the answer. And I just had this idea, you know what? Five years. Five years, I'll either launch something new or I'll buy an existing business from someone who wants to get rid of it and grow it. So out of nowhere, and I want to say it was maybe a month or so later, I get this letter in the mail. And some of you are familiar with it because AWAI American writers and artists was doing this promotion for several years for their copywriting program that started out with a headline, can you write a letter like this and find solutions again? Forced me to find my own way because I had to make numbers. So my first lesson here early on in my career was that every difficult situation had the seed of something great in it. Because honestly, at the time, even though I was not very pleased with the fact that I had to really grow everything myself and find my own leads and just work so hard, it was that challenge that forced me to grow, to find solutions to the problem. And it's these solutions that led me to writing. So when the idea, going back to this promotion that I'd gotten from AWAI for their copywriting course, when that idea landed on my lap, it seemed perfect. It was the best of both worlds. I can now have my own business, but one with no employees, little overhead, few headaches, it also offered something that was very important to me. The ability to avoid weekly travel. And the reason that was important to me is that even though I had been thrown into these very, very challenging sales territories, I had managed to make something out of it. I had managed to succeed, grow sales, grow my income. In the process, I had reached a six figure level. I was maintaining that level, doing very well financially. And fortunately, the Way sales works is the better you do, the more that is expected of you. You meet that expectation and then you're promoted and then you're given better territory. So it's kind of ironic. In order to do well in sales, you have to perform very well in difficult situations and then you're given the better territories. At least that's how it works in many organizations. So that's exactly what was happening to me. I had thrived in many challenging territories, doing well financially. And I was being pushed into a different product, into a different territory that was going to require pretty much weekly travel, being away from my family every week. Now that would have meant a significant boost to my income. And I knew exactly what that would do to me. I knew that that would eventually end up being a treadmill where I would continually chase higher and higher income levels, which would create more responsibilities for me, more, more demands, which would create more income for me. And it would become a vicious cycle that would be very, very difficult to get out of. And then you get to a point where you just can't afford to quit. You're making so much money that you just kind of deal with the whole travel thing. And it's very, very difficult to just hit the reset button. So I spent most of 2003 studying the AWAI accelerated program for six figure copywriting. I bought the program, loved it, and it was right around October, November 2003, later on that year that I started prospecting for clients with Sales Letters. Sales Letters had already worked for me in my software business, in my sales career. So I went ahead and used that and I wrote copy on spec for night and go Conant for a postcard campaign. I never got anything out of it. They wouldn't call me back. And you know, bottom line is after a few months of sending out hundreds of letters, knocking on doors, I got nowhere. By February the following year, February 2004, I had landed a whopping 600 or $800 somewhere in that neighborhood in income. And I realized that knowing how to write great copy was just not going to cut it. I thought that, you know what, I'm formally trained, I've been doing this for a while myself. I can write great copy, I can write well. Clients should recognize that and hire me and had a big wake up call, realized that, you know what, it's not just about writing great copy or about being a great writer. You have to be very good at self promotion. So it's already assumed that you can write well. The important thing is knowing how to promote Yourself very well and very efficiently. I was great at selling my product at work, but I wasn't great at selling myself. And it's on my copywriting services. So I knew I needed help. And in February 2004, I hired a coach, Chris Marlow. Some of you are familiar with her. She was exactly what I needed at that moment. I work with her for three months and we created an action plan and she helped me position myself. She basically suggested I pick a niche. Now, for me, picking a niche and specializing in a target market made sense. And I say that, and we'll probably do another podcast on this very soon. I say this because this whole picking a niche thing has, I think, gotten a little too much attention. Think it's the right approach for everybody. But in my case, it made a lot of sense because of my experience, because of my years in sales and specifically in software sales. There was a great opportunity there. It just made a lot of sense to specialize in that industry. So, you know, there is a lesson here, and it's that just because it's a solo business, just because you're on your own and the cost of entry to start a freelance writing or freelance copywriting business is so low, it doesn't mean that you shouldn't invest in yourself, in your business. I see a lot of people do this. I think they're fooled by the fact that, gosh, I can get started with nothing, just a laptop and an Internet connection and that's it. I think that's a big mistake. I think just like in any business, there's a cost of entry. You just may not realize it. And sometimes we have to make investments in our business and in ourselves, and in my case, hiring Kris, that just because it's a solo business, just because you're on your own and the cost of end was huge. I mean, it was a turning point in my career. She knows this. I've told her many times. I've shared this with other people. It was exactly what I needed. It cost me a lot of money, but I have no doubt that without her help, I wouldn't be intrigued. To start a freelance writing or freelance copywriting business is solely where I am today. Now, the first client I started working with, Chris, I think it was March 1, actually. So I hired her in February. Took me about six months. It was right around August, September, that I landed that first client. So it took a while. And the good news is, though, once that first client came, the others started coming back to back. It seems like getting that first client is Often the hardest obstacle to overcome. Once you can get through that, it's almost like you're now in the game and things start happening. But the key is landing that first client, which can be a big struggle sometimes, you know. A lesson I want to point out here is looking back, it's very clear to me that the emotions, the beliefs, the energy and the confidence that you bring into your prospecting efforts will determine how quickly you start landing clients. I would have probably landed my first client sooner, but I was starting to doubt whether there were actually any freelance writing clients out there. Believe it or not, it just didn't seem real to me after trying for several months and not getting anywhere. So with that attitude, with this fear and doubt, guess what? That's exactly what I attracted. I attracted no clients. I could talk all day long about belief and why I need to keep the faith during this process, but I know that's not going to help you if you're not getting clients. So my suggestion and my advice is to go for quick wins. You need quick wins to feed your confidence and to help you see that this is real, that the opportunity is real. These wins don't have to be monumental. They just, you know, they could be a small client. It could be someone that was referred to you, a friend, a colleague, a relative. You know, for a couple hundred dollars, you're just writing some web copy for them. Whatever it is, it doesn't matter as long as there's payment involved. The key is it's a client and the win has to be good enough to show that. Just prove to you that you can do this, that this thing is real. So my takeaway there and my suggestion for those of you who are getting started is don't worry about goals. A year or two down the line, when you're getting started, have one goal and that goal is to land one paying client, regardless of the amount of that first project. Make that your absolute biggest goal, your only goal for now. Because once you do that, your attitude will start changing and the energy you bring in your prospecting will start changing. So it's very important that you focus on that. Alright, so here we are, it's fall 2004 and what's my plan? I mean, I still have my full time day job. I couldn't afford to quit. You know, again, we have a small child, I have a family, I'm the sole breadwinner. I had to be careful. I couldn't take a lot of risk. So my plan was to work my freelance business part time on the side until I'm ready to take the leap. And for me, being ready meant socking away a year's worth of living expenses, have some steady client work and the ability to secure affordable health insurance for me and my family. So that was a must. If I couldn't land, if I couldn't get health insurance at a reasonable cost, then this just wasn't going to happen because I was the only one who was going to provide it. My wife, again, she was a stay at home mom and I wasn't about to put my family at risk. So how did I land work? Well, it was a combination of things and this is really interesting. I found that I needed a few things working all at once in order to give me diversity in terms of my prospecting efforts. So I worked with Chris, Chris Marlow to create a direct mail campaign and I started with that and that generated a few leads and a few clients. Also I did some warm email prospecting. And for those of you not familiar with this concept, this is something that I've coined and essentially it's, you know, it's cold calling with email. It's just short, inviting personalized email messages to handpicked prospects to just designed to just generate a response. This is not designed to get a project. It's just something very quick, personalized. Say, hey, I noticed this about you. Here's what I do. I think I could help you depending on what you're doing in that area. Should we connect, should we talk? And so I started experimenting with this again. I had, this is a technique that I had also started doing back in my sales days earlier sales days. And I decided to go ahead and try it here again. Also did some networking at local prospect rich events and organizations. And specifically one of them, the Technology association of Georgia, was very good for me because it was a very prospect rich organization. What I decided to do is become very involved as a volunteer there. And that was huge. That was huge for me. In fact, one of my key clients came out of this and it was a company that I almost, gosh, I almost didn't land. And not because I messed up, because I almost didn't go to the event where I ended up meeting their VP of marketing. It was an event that I had committed to going to. But that morning I just didn't feel like going and I almost didn't go. But I said, you know what, let me just, I don't know, something told me, just go, just go. You've already committed to doing it. Just go and get through it. It was a home morning and I did. And I met the VP of marketing at this event and he said, you know what, give me your card. We have a need for a white paper writer. I'm gonna have my assistant call you. And I just thought, okay, he was just being nice. But I tell you what, they called me and they called me a few days later and I had an appointment and I got work and it was very important work because that's when I really started cranking with white papers. They taught me some things because of the white papers they were writing that served me for the rest of my writing career. So it's just amazing how something that I almost didn't go to just because I felt the nudge, I went ahead and went and it changed my business another way I landed a client was by tapping my network. So one of the best and longest running clients that I, that I've had and actually until last year, came from a friend of a friend. Almost didn't go to the event where I ended up meeting their VP of marketing. It was an event that I had committed. And you know, there's a big lesson there. Just take your friends out to lunch, to coffee, even if they're not in marketing and explain what you're doing. You know, just see if they know someone who might be able to use your services. Most of these aren't going to go anywhere. But I tell you, this particular lunch appointment with this friend, she was very well connected and I knew that she happened to be in marketing. Now she couldn't do anything for me directly, but she talked to a few people and she found someone who needed help and she referred me. And again, that became a long term client for me worth well over $100,000, I want to say, maybe even closer to $200,000 over seven years. I also did online networking, specifically very targeted forums such as software CEO.com because again, software was my specialty, my target market. And after about a year I started getting about one inquiry a month through search engine optimization. So I didn't get leads from search engines right away, but again it took about a year and I started getting one, maybe two a month sometimes. So I did get some clients from that. So it's a combination of factors. Now I'm often asked how did I juggle my launch with a demanding full time day job? Because again, I still had my day job and the job was very demanding. Basically this is a sales job. Again, it's a small company, high expectations, there's no budgets here for people who Just don't make numbers. In fact, if you didn't make your sales numbers, he just didn't last long. When I say long, I mean if you didn't make a quarterly sales number and you did it again the next quarter you'd be gone. I mean it was very clear, so very little room for error. I had growing sales quotas to meet. I had to be careful and to make it worse, I had to be careful with the types of prospects I reached out to. I couldn't in terms of my copywriting business, I couldn't use a big part of my professional network because I didn't want to risk my employer finding out about my side gig. I was very careful and ethical about about my time and how I used it. I worked nights and weekends. That's when I worked my part time gig. But I didn't want to go out of my way to let my employer know about this because I didn't want any doubts creeping in, especially if I had kind of a bad quarter. I didn't want him to think that it was because of my part time gig. So I decided to focus on doing an amazing job at work. My income was variable because I got a base salary, a modest base salary. Most of my income was commissions. So the better I did, the more I'd earn, which would mean reaching my savings goal faster. So believe me, I had plenty of incentives to do well in my day job. And yes, I'd handle inquiries if and when they came in. But I tried automating as much of it as possible and I'm talking about my freelance business inquiries. I developed standard response templates that I could just copy and paste and customize a little bit. And that way if I did get something during a day, I could handle it pretty easily without spending a lot of time and then work on it that evening a little bit more. Again, I worked nights, weekends basically 8 o' clock to 10, 11 o' clock at night once my son was in bed. I did pull several all nighters over the next couple of years and I worked weekends. I worked usually Saturdays from 6am until about noon or 1pm I try to keep Sundays free for my family. And you know, this was not easy guys, not easy at all. But once I started earning a thousand, $2,000 a month or so, I could see the light of the end of the tunnel. And it made that sacrifice a little bit better, a little bit more bearable. A key takeaway here is to focus on baby steps. You know, when you're in the situation it could seem, your goal can seem very far away. The goal of quitting your day job and doing this full time, it can seem very distant, sometimes even impossible. So when that you start to feel that way, just focus on the next step. You know, you can always take that next step, right? Just baby steps. The next one is easy. So focus on today only. Focus on, you know, this week. That's it. What can you do today, what can you do tomorrow? What can you do this week? Don't worry about, you know, next month or later this year, next year, forget it. In fact, I would say even focus on today only. What can you do today? What can you do today to advance towards your goal? And don't worry about your target day for quitting your day job. It's okay to set it as a goal, but stay focused on the next baby step. Stay focused on today now. Over the first gosh year or two years, I will tell you that not every client was great. Not every prospect that I came across was amazing. Some examples of some bad prospects and clients. Most of my first five or six clients were. Some of them were pretty bad. I wrote package copy for a potato chip company. Here I am, I'm trying to go after software companies. I got this inquiry from one of my direct mail campaigns that I had done way back about writing descriptive copy for the back of a potato chip company for the back of their snacks. $200 for just a few words. I took it and I wrote several of those. And you know what? Again, the way I saw it is this is more money for my savings goal. I got hired by this telecom service company to write, gosh, dozens of short bios for some of their people, their sales managers all over the world. That was painful. It was boring. I got a job to work with this very technical company writing some of their brochures and websites. It was just painful because honestly, I didn't understand what they did. And I wrote brochures for another company that wrote, that created a software that managed mainframe computers. I had no idea what this stuff was. I had to do a lot of research to just to understand the basics. And I even wrote a lead generation letter for a distant relative who was trying to break into consulting. You know, again, these were not the best clients. It wasn't the best money in many cases, but I had to. And this is it. I got a job to work with. Another key lesson here, I had to balance meeting my savings and experience goals with trying to go after ideal clients only. So instead of telling yourself that this project or this client is a waste of time or just not worth doing because of the low pay. Look at each opportunity as a stepping stone. It's very technical company writing some of their brochures and websites. I got it was just painful because I did honestly I didn't understand what they did and I wrote brochures for each. Use each of these opportunities to take you to the next step. So you know, for example, each project is a new sample, a new opportunity to learn something, learn how to deal with a special situation, learn how to tackle a specific aspect of running or managing or producing something. Just use that opportunity to learn to grow and to make you better for the next one. Because the next one might be just what you want or a little bit closer to what you want. So again, baby steps and just keeping perspective along the way. Alright, so I want to fat another company that wrote, that created a software that managed. Fast forward a bit to the fall of 2005 because by this point I was earning about 2 to 3,000 mainframe computers. I had no idea what this stuff was. I had now a month part time pretty consistently and I was basically taking all my after tax dollars and socking them away. They were all going in to do a lot of research to just understand the basics. And I even wrote a lead generation letter for a distant relative who was trying to break into savings to meet that savings goal. I was very, very busy. I was working at least four nights a week, definitely working Saturdays and I decided to take my boss out to lunch and just tell him what I was doing. I had to get it off my chest and I was doing well in my day job and I just knew that it was going to be okay. So I told him, I told him what I was doing and I promised him that I was giving him 100% that you know, this was not getting in my way of my job. I told him how I was handling it and you know what, he took it very well. He was very impressed. He's very encouraging and told me to just, you know, that's fine, do what you do, do what you have to do to consulting, you know, again, these are not the best clients. Make sure it doesn't get in the way of your, of your work. He said, I'm proud of you. This is, this is super early 2006. Things were getting really crazy for me by this point. I was definitely working four nights a week pulling some all nighters. I was doing. It wasn't the best money in many cases, but I had to and this is a Saturdays, many times all day Saturdays, all day Saturday and even some Sundays. Another key lesson here. I had to balance meeting my savings and experience goals with trying to go after. And fortunately things changed in my day job. My employer got acquired and by a much bigger company. This new company offered me to stay, which I did at first, but only ideal clients only. So instead of telling yourself that this project or this client is a waste of time because I wanted a way to cash in my stock options that I had with with this company. Once that was clear, once I knew that that the money was going to go into my checking account from those options, I knew it was my time. So I started the health insurance underwriting process because up until this point, there was no point in starting earlier and there was no point in applying way too early. So I knew I had to get it started. Everything went well, thank goodness, and that was really my last hurdle. I had reached my savings goal by that time. Health insurance was the only thing I needed to acquire and are just not worth doing because of the low pay. Look at each opportunity as a stepping stone. And that went through. I had a steady stream of clients and projects, which is another factor that use each of these opportunities to take you to needed to be in place before quitting my day job. And I was making enough part time that I knew that if I could just take it full time, if I had more time to work the business, I would be fine. All items basically were checked off in my plan, the next step. So you know, for example, each project is a new sample, a new opportunity. Now, strangely enough, the weekend before I was going to turn in my notice at work, I got cold feet. And I still remember when I talked to my wife about it, we were driving on the, we're on the way to the store and I just asked her if she thought I was making the right decision. And she, she had a great responsibility to learn something, learn how to deal with a special situation, learn how to tackle that. She said, you know, you need to revisit your reasons for going out on your own. You know, have those changed? And the answer was very simple. They hadn't changed. So, you know, the key takeaway here is when in doubt, always go back to your core reasons. The core reasons for echo specific aspect of running or managing or producing something. Just going down this path. What's your why? What I call your big why. You need to have a really big why. That's not just about the money. Because use that opportunity to learn, to grow and to make you better. Because when you do, when you have a very good, solid, fundamental reason for making this kind of switch, you'll push through the tough times and you'll have a real fundamental reason to get up every day and do your work. You know, guys, this is not easy. I hope, you know, I've given you an idea for the next one because the next one might be just what you want or a little bit closer to what you want. What I went through, you know, I've already shared my big reasons for doing this. Not only was I wired to do this, I knew this was right for me. I had to be somewhere. So again, baby steps and just can make my own decisions, chart my own course. But I wanted to have control over my schedule. I wanted to be home, I didn't want to travel. And you know, those reasons hadn't changed. So you know what, the next week I gave my two week notice. My boss was so happy for me, so proud for me. Keeping perspective along the way. All right, so I want to fast forward a bit to the fall of 2005 because by this point I was earning about 2 to 3,000. In fact, he even told me because we went out to lunch again. That's, you know, let's take this, let's take this out of the office. He told me how much he wished he had the same opportunity to go solo. He just really wanted it for himself as well. So June 1, 2006 was my first day as a full time freelancer and that was a month part time pretty consistently. And I was, and ironically I was slammed on day one because again, I had had, I had clients, I had work and you know, basically taking all my after tax dollars and socking them away, they were all going in there. So even though I, I took a few minutes that day to savor the victory, I found that the real joy came earlier. A key takeaway here that I wanted to point out is, you know, with any goal, but especially big goals, the value is not in the actual goal. The value is not in obtaining the goal. The value is in what you become in pursuit of that goal, the person you become. And that's a lesson I learned from the savings. To meet that savings goal, I was very, very busy. I was working at late motivational speaker Jim Rohn. Such a powerful statement, you know, here I am, I finally reached the summit. And in a way it was kind of anti climatic, least four nights a week, definitely working Saturdays. And I decided to take my, I had too much work to just kind of Take the day off and think about it and celebrate. But that's okay. You know, I did take a few minutes. I was patted myself on the back really the growth and the joy had come over the last 27 months and boss out to lunch and just tell him what I was doing. I had to get it off my chest. And in this journey actually even longer. If you go Back to earlier 2003 when I started studying copywriting formally, the last 27 months is really what where I got the value. It's the person that I became over that time and I was doing well in my day job and I just knew that it was going to be okay. So it did change. Okay, so I think I'm going to stop here because we're out of time and I'm going to continue the story next week in the next episode. And that's what I'm going to tell you about the year when I lost focus and my business nearly went under. And also I'll tell you about the unexpected victory that saved me later that same year. So stay tuned for that. You can again grab the detailed show notes for this episode@b2b. Launcher.com Episode 6 these are detailed notes that make great reference material, especially if you listen to the show in your car or somewhere where you just can't take notes. And I have a few quick announcements. I told him. I told him what I was doing. I promised him that I was giving him 100% that, you know, this was not getting in my way of my job. I told him so I'm going to be doing a free live master training class titled how to launch a profitable B2B writing business in 10 weeks or less. If you're a new or aspiring B2B or commercial writer, you don't want to miss this training. It's by far the most popular and well attended class I do all year. It's a con how I was handling it. And you know what? He took it very well. He was very impressed. He's very encouraging and told me to just, you know, that's fine. Do what you do. Do what you have to do. Tent Rich two and a half hour class that includes live Q and A at the end. Seats are limited. I have 500 available seats with Gotowebinar and once they're taken, they're taken. I mean you can't get in after that. So make sure to register. This will not be recorded so you want to check it out today and save your seat. And you can do that by going to b2b launcher.commasterclass altogether again this is completely free. It's the most popular free content I deliver every year. So try to be there. Make sure it doesn't get in the way of your of your work, he said. I'm proud of you. This is, this is super early 2006. Things were getting really crazy for me at this point. If you enjoyed this episode I'd be very grateful if you shared it with friends. The easiest way to do that is to go to b2b launcher.com love this will pre populate a tweet for you which makes sharing the podcast a lot easier. Also it would mean a lot to me if you gave the show a quick rating or review on itunes and these easiest way to do that is just to go to B2B. I was definitely working four nights a week pulling some all nighters. I was doing launcher.com forward/itunes. The blue view and itunes button on that page will launch itunes and will take you straight to the show page where you can then leave Saturdays many times all day Saturdays, all day Saturday and even some Sundays. Star rating in a sentence or two if you'd like to so this brings us to the end of the episode. I am your host Ed Gambia. Thanks so much for listening and I hope you have an awesome day. The High Income Business Writing Podcast is a production of B2B business launcher. Learn more at B2B launcher.com and fortunately things changed in my day job. My employer got acquired by a much bigger company. This new company offered me to stay, which I did at first, but only because I wanted a way to cash in my stock options that I had with with this company. Once that was clear, once I knew that that the money was going to go into my checking account from those options, I knew it was my time. I started the health insurance underwriting process because up until this point there was no point in starting earlier and there was no point in applying way too early. So I knew I had to get it started. Everything went well, thank goodness, and that was really my last hurdle. I had reached my savings goal by that time. Health insurance was the only thing I needed to acquire and that went through. I had a steady stream of clients and projects, which is another factor that needed to be in place before quitting my day job. And I was making enough part time that I knew that if I could just take it full time, if I had more time to work the business, I would be fine. All items basically were checked off in my plan. Now, strangely enough, the weekend before I was going to turn in my notice at work. I got cold feet. And I still remember when I talked to my wife about it, we were driving, we're on the way to the store, and I just asked her if she thought I was making the right decision. And she had a great response to that. She said, you need to revisit your reasons for going out on your own. Have those changed? And the answer was very simple. They hadn't changed. So the key takeaway here is, when in doubt, always go back to your core reasons, the core reasons for going down this path. What's your why? What I call your big why. You need to have a really big why that's not just about the money. Because when you do, when you have a very good, solid, fundamental reason for making this kind of switch, you'll push through the tough times and you'll have a real fundamental reason to get up every day and do your work. You know, guys, this is not easy. I hope, you know, I've given you an idea of what I went through. You know, I've already shared my big reasons for doing this. Not only was I wired to do this, I knew this was right for me. I had to be somewhere where I could make my own decisions, chart my own course. But I wanted to have control over my schedule. I wanted to be home, I didn't want to travel. And, you know, those reasons hadn't changed. So you know what? The next week, I gave my two week notice. My boss was so happy for me, so proud for me. In fact, he even told me because we went out to lunch again. That's, you know, let's take this, let's take this out of the office. He told me how much he wished he had the same opportunity to go solo. He just really wanted it for himself as well. So June 1, 2006 was my first day as a full time freelancer. And ironically, I was slammed on day one because again, I had clients, I had work, and, you know, so even though I took a few minutes that day to savor the victory, I found that the real joy came earlier. A key takeaway here that I wanted to point out is with any goal, but especially big goals, the value is not in the actual goal. The value is not in obtaining the goal. The value is in what you become in pursuit of that goal, the person you become. That's a lesson I learned from the late motivational speaker Jim Rohn. Such a powerful statement. Here I am.