For nearly 10 years I put my heart and soul into my business. I worked each and every day whenever I could to grow something that could support our family, and for a while that is exactly what it did. I experienced satisfaction like I never before in my life and I was happy.
But disaster struck early 2012 with some Google updates that all but crippled my business. Losing thousands of dollars of monthly income overnight was a blow that I was not expecting. Try as I might, I was unable to resuscitate the business and slipped into depression. It was hard to see everything that I had worked so hard for evaporate in just a few short months. I had to restructure the business so that I could remain profitable, but it was only a stopgap to the eventual sinking of the websites that I counted on to support our family.
Deeply discouraged, I went back to providing content as a service as it was my backup plan in case my income stream ever dried up. While it might be good at it, it is not rewarding in the least. At the time, writing didn’t provide enough money to support our family, but it was enough to pay the hosting bills and expenses to keep the company alive. There were times that I felt like throwing in the towel, but it was hard to walk away from something I poured my life into for the better part of a decade.
Fast-forward four years from then to this moment in time. Things haven’t changed a lot except run fewer websites and offer more marketing services as a means to put extra money into our bank account. I have been working a job and though it provides the money we need to survive as a family, as an entrepreneur working a job kills your soul a little bit each day.
But I haven’t given up hope.
A couple weeks ago, my wife reminded me that I had promised her that we could retire by 40. With less than 2 1/2 years to go, working a job is not to get us to the point we need where we can be financially free enough to retire. While many people might count on pension to sustain them during retirement, being only 40 years old eliminates that as an option. In order for us to actually quit working, we need a source of passive income keep a roof over our head and provide the needed money for daily expenses.
We need to create successful businesses to support us during our retirement.
With time running out, it leaves me no choice but to let go of the defeat I had four years ago do what needs to be done to reboot the business. I have some ideas as to what I can do to get the ball rolling and get on the right path to retire by 40. It is not to be easy, my promise to you is that I will make it happen.
My question for you is this: have you ever had a business failure that crippled you? Did you recover?
Share your thoughts in the comment form below.
Topics #entrepreneur #life #retirement
