Life for myself doesn’t change very much day to day, week to week, month to month, and year to year. As the primary care giver to my children, I find myself busy dealing with day to day “crises” as well as taking care of our home. I also spend time with my role as the Mayor and an entrepreneur business owner of two businesses. In many respects, there is not a lot of time to think about change – the truth of the matter is that there is only barely enough time to get the minimums done.
But I had a moment that last week that shed light on the fact that it is time for a change. Looking in the mirror, I can see that I am getting a little older, and as I creep up to the ripe old age of thirty six, I realize that I can’t keep going on with my life like this. Sure, my role as caregiver still will be there and I need to put my family first, but things can no longer stay the same.
Why I am Here Now?
Before looking to the future and what needs to be done, it might help to fill in the blanks as to what got me to this point. As many of you know, I have been running some kind of online business in different forms since 2002, and the intention was that it would provide myself and my family with a passive income source that would allow us to make money no matter where we were or what we were doing. I have believed for a long time that it would be possible to dedicate most of my time each day to spend with my family, some to my business, and the rest with my wife. We all crave having enough time to do all those things that we love to do with those we love, and I thought that it was a worthwhile goal to strive for.
It wasn’t until the fall of 2011 where we finally were getting to the point where the goal that I had set back in 2002 was just about achieved. In fact, I can remember back then that we were a lot happier, less stressed out, and definitely upbeat about life. The long nights that I had put in for the two previous years were paying off, and it finally looked like we were going to achieve our dreams. I was pretty pumped back then and was looking forward to “retirement”. Twyla was finally on board and believed that we were going to attain the wild goal that I had set years before.
But then Disaster Struck
Around February 2012, Google made some changes that impacted my whole portfolio of sites. Within the span of three months, my income plummeted to less than 25% of what it had been a few months earlier. Stress set in, and so did depression. In fact, being blindsided like this so unexpectedly put my whole world into doubt and I shut down. I lost faith in my abilities to earn an income from home and for the first time in my life, I didn’t really know what to do.
The sad part of this situation is that I have pretty much been in this state for two years now. The business is still plugging along making money, but it is much smaller now – nearly 80% of my websites are gone. There have been times that I have really considered just throwing in the towel and walking away, but it is hard to let it go when you have poured your heart and soul into it. Some days I look at the business with excitement, some days with anger, and sometimes I just don’t even want to think about it. But it is always there, reminding me of what is possible, and deep down I believe it is still the ticket for me to achieve the goals I set so long ago: to free up my time so that I would have the ability to help others, spend time with family and live life.
The Phone Call that Changed Everything
One week ago today, I received a phone call from my father. We had been talking back and forth about upgrading their computer at home, but the talk changed from business to personal. He expressed concerns about my mother getting worn out and tired. They are accountants by trade, and he was worried that she wouldn’t be able to make it through another tax season. You see, he has been in a wheelchair for more than the ten years now, and while my mother has been able to take care of him and his needs, it has not been easy. When you consider that she has been working, taking care of the house and their huge yard, and honestly, she is running out of gas. I am sure she won’t appreciate me mentioning this here, but it is the truth.
I have been worried about them for a long time, but I had not realized how bad it was.
I Want to Help Them
I have always been someone that has helped those in need (or at least I try to). I am sure it comes from the Beaver Motto: “I promise to love God and to help take care of the world.” that was drilled into me as a child. The truth of the matter is that they have helped me out my entire life, and I would like to do the same. In order to do that, I need to have the time to do it. We started things off small by going to town last Friday and the kids and I cleaned their house because they were expecting company. I know that they would never ask for help, but they did need it. It also served as a good lesson to the kids: helping others is important.
My Commitment
While the phone call was a catalyst for change, without making a commitment and setting a goal, nothing will happen. I am committing to working harder each day on my business with the intention of it being able to support our family once again so that we have the time to help out others, specifically my parents and my wife’s parents. It is time for us to step up, and help out parents as they have helped us out our entire lives. We know the destination, but not necessarily how we will get there, but we will figure it out. The time for change is now.
Topics #change #commitment #goals
