If you are self-employed, the ability to work when and where you want is a huge benefit; at least for me. But at the same time, this flexibility can also cause quite a few problems. For instance, there is no boss telling you to get your work done. Generally speaking, the only motivation you have is that to make money and retain clients.
So how long is your workday? For me, this seems to fluctuate day in and day out. And at the same time, defining the length of my workday is never easy to do.
Take today for example. I started work on my first project of the day, a feature article, at 705 am. Four hours later, I have finished that project as well as many others. And guess what? This blog post is the last planned item that I have to complete today. This leaves me the option of doing several things until 5 o’clock rolls around.
First off, I could get started on my work for tomorrow. While I never like to do this, I will probably take an hour or so to get a head start. Another option, and the one that I have been taking advantage of, is to work on new business opportunities. As I have discussed, I am starting several new blogs that are taking up a lot of my time. But as long as I have several hours to work on them each afternoon, I should be able to keep up without any problems.
Of course, do not let these short workdays confuse you. Even though I have finished all my work today in four hours, there are other days when I work 10 hours or more; it all depends on my work load, as well as what I have going on in my life at any given time.
All in all, it is a great feeling to work half a day from time to time. But of course, being self-employed is not all fun and games. For as many half days that I work, there are just as many nighttime and weekend hours!Â
One of the biggest problems that I have when it comes to business is jumping ahead of myself. In other words, I want instant gratification. But as you well know, this is not the way that things work in the business world; at least not most of the time.
In the cases that I have been patient my businesses have flourished. The number one example of this is the resounding success of my freelance writing career. If I would have given up after the first month (when I made $52), who knows what type of job I would have at this time. The same thing holds true for this blog. Even though I am not getting loads of traffic, it is increasing steadily. And along with this my income is doing the same. I am hoping that in another few months things will be even better in both the areas of traffic and earnings.Â
It can be difficult to stick with a business opportunity when it is not working the way you had hoped. After all, who wants to waste time on something that may not end up a success? It is important to believe in your idea, and give it enough time to work out. Quitting takes all your problems and gets rid of them. But at the same time, quitting also gets rid of any chance you have of success. And if you are not set up for success you will have no chance of achieving it in the future.
How much time are you willing to devote to growing your business or blog? Make sure that you take enough time to give every opportunity your all. If you work on a business for a year and you do not see any results, it may be time to move on. But all in all, until you give each opportunity a fair shake, you will have no idea what could have come.
Since starting this blog, I have become well aware that StumbleUpon is a great service. After all, there are certain days when a post of mine gets Stumbled, which results in my traffic doubling at the very least. The question I have is: how do I know who is stumbling my content?
From checking out my stats it is easy to see what post has been stumbled, and how much traffic it has sent me. But more importantly, is there anyway for me to determine who did the stumbling? The reason I ask is that I would really like to return the favor if at all possible. I would hate to think that somebody has thought enough to recommend my posts time after time, but I do not even take the time to read their blog.
So, I ask: is there anyway for me to determine who is stumbling my posts? If there is no way of doing this, leave a comment or send an email letting me know who you are!
