A quick status report with me is that I’m trying to do things on the side. I’ve ways to make this happen and will try them all. Another thing is that work is fine, I’m about to move to my house with my fiance and enjoying waking up every morning and seeing what I get accomplish.

However, it is a new month. I’ve given myself some goals that will help spring my year into new levels and such. I’ve been on this photography kick and will do something that will blow my mind away and just help me figure out what I want to do.

So, this month, my crazy goal is to learn everything I possibly can on my camera. This will be reflected by the photos that I take.

Later on this week or whenever I feel like doing it, I will put up some of the photos I’ve taken so far this year.

Related posts:

1. My Other Addiction: Photography! Why Photography? It is a good idea, for anyone,...
2. What Type of Photography is Right for My Business? I don’t want to do weddings. I don’t want to...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

The reason why this is big for me is because it will be a piece of my writing that I can show to the public. The novel rewrite will take some time and will go through many rewrites and look at by others. That is okay with me. But, this short story will be done by the end of February and will have a quick rewrite process.

I will give you more details of what it is I’m going to write as the month goes on.

It has been over a month since I’ve finished my novel. After writing the last couple of sentence, I realized that what I wrote was everything that I was feeling at the time. What I mean by that is that whatever I was going through I got it out on paper. Which to me, is the best way to handle your situations and problems.

I wonder what will I get from this particular writing experiment. I guess I will find out once I’m finish with the writing. I’ll write what I mean once I finish with this short story.

Related posts:

1. Update of Goals from the last month I have begun my long 4-day work week. I...
2. Goals for the Rest of the Month… In a couple of weeks I will be partaking...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I’m a picky individual and now that I’m starting to find my niche in this photography game of business, I’m realizing all of the areas that I just mentioned are people’s bread and butter, livelihood of providing themselves and family an income to survive and live off of. So, how do I get involved in the photography game when I don’t want to do what the majority of people are doing?

Lol, I don’t know yet. I’m still figuring that part out. For now, I like landscape, urban, travel, food, some portrait, product isn’t bad, macro, and abstract photography. The lesson here that I have to learn is that I can’t make somebody give me money on a skill they have no interest in or find value added to their respective need or want.

This is where I need to start, this is me defining my pitch to understand and get into the heads of my prospects.

Selling is the Key to Anything

So far, I’ve learned many key aspects of selling from Zig Ziglar. I’m still learning; however, it is a process that I’m finding out that I need tons of work to master.

My next order of operation is to continue to take photos in the areas of interest, redefine my pitch, talk to people who need me to find a solution to their needs and wants, and start looking for work that will generate some type of cash in the meantime. This year is all about me hustling to provide for myself and fiancee. This is the way I will get better at something I never fully pushed myself into doing.

On a side note: I’ve made some serious headway into my web design of the photography site. I hate coding, I’m shitty at it. But, sitting down and looking at what I had an issue with helped me to realize that I can do this. In the future I will be using another type of software where I can move boxes and colors around to make my websites, it is called Headway. I don’t need it right now, but will get it once I make more money. This site needs a makeover and I’m not going to pay 10 times the amount this software cost me last time I got a redesign.

Once the photography website is up, I’ll let everyone know. It is simple, minimalistic, and gets to the point. That is all that I want and to provide to my customers.

I have also learned that designing a website or doing anything else that doesn’t deal with generating clients is holding me back. I need to be smart with my time and do the things that will help me become the businessman.

Related posts:

1. My Other Addiction: Photography! Why Photography? It is a good idea, for anyone,...
2. On Business: My Brother is Kicking My Ass at Ecommerce It has been well over 2 months since I...
3. Business Idea Axed I am at the point of my life where I...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I Learned Something Last Year Reading One of My Favorite Writers

Most people wouldn’t consider Steve Martin much of a writer. I didn’t, until I read 3 of his books last year. The guy is just talented in all ways and I encourage people to give him a shot–as a writer–if you are not fond of his films. While I was reading his non-fiction work about becoming a comedian, the section that stuck out to me was, well actually there were a couple:

Practicing the passion- Steve worked his ass off without the much thought of making money from it. He did multiple stand-ups, changed his act, talk to many people, watched and copy, to an extent, his favorite comedians.

Money wasn’t an issue until he couldn’t pay for his lifestyle- Steve started to make some money from his comedic act, but nothing to sustain a life of partying, women, traveling around the country, and whatever else he wanted to do. He knew he had to do something about it.

He gave himself an ultimatum- Steve was nearing the age of 30 and realized that his passion had to make him money or he had to do something else. He just wasn’t making enough money and had to be real with himself. I believe Steve gave himself 3 years or so to get paid.

He treated his passion like a business- He knew that he had to do change the way he viewed his passion, his profession. He knew that the line of work he was in was indeed a business and took those steps to make it work. I wish Steve would have went into more detail into how he thought about treating it like a business. Most artsy-people don’t think of their craft in that way and that is why they are ’struggling artist’ and can’t find a way to make any sustainable money from their passion.

Who Am I?

So, now we have little old me. A 28 year-old working during the day at a job that is teaching him management skills and to be a better person in general.

The job is working out great, I get my shit done. It is something I can do without thinking much about.

But, it isn’t my passion. I’ve said this many times before, this isn’t anything new.

I’ve made this goal/mission to become the businessman. I want to do it by photography. I will do it with writing too, but have a small portfolio and will take time for people to crave and lust over my work–it will happen, just have to be patient.

Why Photography as a Business?

I love photography. Lately, I’ve been thinking about it, reading it, practicing it, and focusing on making it a full-time business. That is what I want. That is the next step of my evolution. I feel that everyone has a way to express themselves and I’m lucky to know that I have two: writing and photography.

I see myself making money from photography, especially the way I want to do it.

But, But, But, … Realization Kicks In

…this damn word always comes into play when someone has an excuse or being real with themselves.

This passion is expensive. All of the gear I bought last year cost $3k+. And that is on the cheap, entry-level stuff. If I ever wanted to covet the 10 pound ‘radio-size’ camera many people have I have to spend 3 times that amount. That is besides the point.

I can’t continue to look myself in the mirror and do what I’m doing with my passion and, know deep-down inside of me–that I’m actually wasting my time. Well, it is okay for it to be a hobby, but I have to make that decision now. This year is all about putting myself out there more and pushing myself. Mainly to see if this dream can be a sustainable type of living that I can provide for me and my fiancee.

I’m Cocky, Yes, But…

Doing what I did last year has made me slightly cocky. Who would have imagine doing all that last year? I feel and know that I can do anything. The only thing in my way is myself. But adding a little of flare and excitement into the mix is what will challenge me even more.

Think about it. Saying to yourself that you want to become something. It deals with one of your passions. And now making a decision of constructing it to be a hobby or business; and this being the only year I have to make it one or the other drives me to want to prove myself that I can make money from it and still enjoy it.

So, that is what I’m going to do. This is how I plan to be more about it. I’m curious to see how this turns out.

Related posts:

1. My Other Addiction: Photography! Why Photography? It is a good idea, for anyone,...
2. The Big October Challenge(s) It has been a long time since I’ve written anything....
3. This Year’s Challenge is Difficult This challenge/goal this year is going to be rather difficult....

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Business is some hard shit, just like becoming the writer. The thing that made becoming a writer more focus-driven and planned out was that all I had to was to write. Once I started writing (which I’m still doing this year) everything became aligned and I started to figure out what I needed to do in order to get better.

Becoming the businessman is something that needs to be thought out and it is more about my character than what I’m selling. I have the product already: my skills as a photographer–but I’m lacking in the areas of selling my idea to other people. It is something that will be a battle but once I continue to put myself in those atmosphere and push myself to get better, I will see my potential growing.

This First Month of Business

I’m so anxious to get the website finished, which will be done in a couple of days weeks. But, there are some very important characteristics I need to work on that will sell myself even more, they are: to read material on selling and practice the craft; go out and meet people who will want to hire me for my skills as a photographer (this will be an on-going thing); take photos that are not in my apartment, this one is huge because most of the photos that I have taken have been there and this shows that I’m lazy and not diversifying my portfolio for the clientele I’m seeking; and continue to stay hungry and not get discourage of what is upon me.

The Challenge Through my Head

Again, hard as shit and something that is going to push myself to a place I haven’t ever been. I’m a lazy person and is natural for me to do things on my own and not worry about stepping out and finding work for myself. Writing is different because all I had to do was write and if I felt that I needed to get better at something, then I would ask around or seek out those areas of shittiness and get better.

I have to realize that this will take time and something that isn’t going to happen over night. As long as I start, take the steps that need to be taken, I will be fine. I have to trust in this way of doing things because it worked great for me last year.

I think the thing I’m anxious about is making that first buck. That is something that I’m craving more than anything. Just the thought of selling myself to somebody on the notion of my skills and expertise and them giving me a dollar for it is something that is fucken amazing. Besides, this will also get me one step closer to doing more of this on my own and leaving my corporate gig.

Related posts:

1. Making This Year Challenge A Little More Interesting: An Ultimatum I’ve made up my decision. Well, after talking to a...
2. The Big October Challenge(s) It has been a long time since I’ve written anything....
3. Body Cleansing/Workout Challenge Before my Birthday 7:30 in the morning on a Saturday isn’t wahat I...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

This year has been great and I learned so much about myself and what I can do if I set few goals and saw what happened. These are some of the highlights of my year.

1. No internet for 2 weeks.
2. Read a book in a day.
3. Did a crazy cardio challenge for a whole week.
4. Multiple times walking 29 flight of stairs (twice with 10lb ankle weights on each leg).
5. Went to California and enjoyed myself immensely.
6. Figured out my other passion: Photography!
7. Read 5 books in a month.
8. Did task/goals on my someday list.
9. Set my countdown to leave Corporate America.
10. I learn how to write better; also, my grammar improved so damn much.
11. Start a novel.
12. Wrote over 300,000 words.
13. Take a trip for the sole purpose of seeing how fucked up a city truly is (Detroit).
14. A 900-plus-mile road trip from Detroit to New York.
15. Saw how a small business is striving during a shitty economy.
16. Wrote for a full month in my novel (nearly 30k words of dedication).
17. Bought a house.
18. Proposed to my girlfriend!!!!! (She said yes).
19. Finished writing my first novel. (Wrote over 108k words! It is a pile of shit right now, but I’m the shit for completing this crazy challenge).
20. Wrote every single day of the year and will never stop doing so…

I also figured out many things about myself.

1. I’m an impatient person.
2. I work best with less goals.
3. I think way too fucken much and wish I can turn it off.
4. I go into loops of thought and don’t know how to stop thinking about what I don’t want to think about. (This one is weird, will explain once I figure out how to get out of my head).
5. I am an extreme type of person. My fiancée notice this when I was doing my crazy challenges.
6. I truly found myself. This is an on-going experience, but writing everyday gave me a chance to question everything about myself. In the beginning of the year, I wrote for 2 straight months of thoughts that were in my head. I was surprised by the information that was effecting the way I lived. I strongly recommend people to write for a couple of minutes a couple of days a week to have a clearer vision of what they want to do or struggling with.
7. I like walking. It is great exercise and very therapeutic. Besides laughing at all of the fat people running on the trail I frequently walk, I’m still amazed how better it is on my joints and how the weight disappears. Since I’m so much in my head, the walking helps me to not think (well, as little as possible) and gives me the opportunity to calm my thought, provoking ass down.

Next Year: Don’t know, we’ll just have to see…

Related posts:

1. Road Trip Discussed: 4 Days and Counting!!! When it came time to plan out this trip I...
2. Update of Goals from the last month I have begun my long 4-day work week. I...
3. The Trip to the East Coast: Detroit to New York…Solo Road Trip…All I Want to do is Get Lost… I have been thinking about this for some time....

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

There were many people in the tea house, most of them were hippie-like, eccentric young adults doing something on their macs. My night started well, I was making plenty of head-way with my photography website. I was able to make it have the look and feel of a simple design. I just have to spend a couple more hours with it to get it to the level that is presentable.

There were plenty of people coming and going, many talking about boyfriends or guys who acted weird. Some other ladies just talked about whatever, I wasn’t really paying attention to their conversation—it might have been too boring or I was in the flow of improving my website.

I had roughly an hour before I was going to get kicked out of the tea house and my laptop battery only had 9% or about 15 minutes left before I was force to drink all of the tea in the kettle. So I saw an extension cord near a young Asian woman, with her pretty mac that was nicely decorated with an array of colors that I couldn’t make out the design of. I asked her if I could plug in my cord (just thinking about that statement makes me laugh with the sexual innuendo). My cord wasn’t long enough so I had to move to the table right next to her (see, there it goes again).

Instantly, there was chatter.

She asked what I was doing. Working my website.

I asked her what she was doing. Playing games.

She asked what the website was about. I said photography.

Then we went back and forth with what other things each other liked, looked at each other’s photos, told her I was writing a novel, and then she went into a spill about how she is volunteering at a low-performing high school. For 3 years. She also told me that she once worked a job for a year and just hated it. She used my term to describe it—Mindless Monkey Shit!

I then asked her what she did most of the time. Watching television. I asked if she liked watching movies. She said that a movie requires full attention, the t.v. is for background noise while playing on the computer. She said she likes to paint, but lost interest. She said she had a problem finishing things; it was cool to know somebody who has the same problem I had. She’s been working on a mosaic for 3 years and simply got bored when the excitement turned into boredom.

I tried to think of ways to help her. I asked her what she liked to do more of. I asked her if she had anything that she looked forward to waking up to. I asked her if she felt lost. It was like I was talking to myself 5 years ago; however, she was admitting of being lost— which I felt was more than I was back than. I was in denial, she wasn’t at all. I admired that about her. She knew that she was lost, didn’t have any direction, and didn’t know how to get there.

I wished I would have spent a longer time helping her. I could have gave her a couple of task or fun assignments to do to get her mind thinking about her life and what she wanted to ultimately do. I wish I could be her life-coach and direct her through the path she organically flowed in.

I didn’t. I talked to her about my novel, I don’t even know if she noticed that it was about people like her. I tried to push her to tell me more about what she liked, a clue that will help me help her. But nothing. Her boyfriend came, we caught him up of the discussion, he asked a couple of questions and they left. They left as the night at the tea shop was ending. They left to start another day of wonder and without expectation—just the thought of that gets me excited even more.

I came to realize yesterday night that what I’m doing with my novel, this blog, photography, and whatever I decided to do is for others. I can reach people online and offline. I just have to instinctively trust myself.

Related posts:

1. November: 2 More Months to Go It has been a month since I’ve started my challenge...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I’ve been busy lately. It is something I don’t want to explain right now, but life is moving and I’m also doing what I can with the amount of time I have for this year.

Last week felt tremendous, I was able to get rid of my weight set and felt energize because of doing so. I want to continue to get rid of stuff and declutter my apartment, which will in turn declutter my life.

Clueless on What to Write

I don’t know what to write about right now. I’ve been busy with my novel and other important task that it is hard for me to come up with something to write. I remember when I was writing a couple of times a week, I usually could think of topics just by going to work or watching somebody on the bus, listening to a podcast, or whatever. But now my mind is all focused on the novel, well most of it is. I haven’t talked about the details of the novel; I don’t think that is important, well at least not right now. I usually talk about the struggles, challenges, and whatever type of feeling I’m going through. This whole challenge of writing everyday, and now completing a novel within the year is something that has pushed me to realize that I can do anything I want, I can make a goal or a thought come to existence.

How Does it Feel to Write Everyday?

It is a part of my routine, just like waking up, walking, seeing, smelling, going to work or sleeping. I usually write in the morning before I go to work, on the days I’m not at work I usually write a couple of hours after I wake up, even at times when it is the last thing I do for the day. These past couple of months have been devoted to writing my novel; but other times I spend writing a blog post, essay, my thoughts, or whatever I want to. I like the process and what I create after an hour’s worth of time. I love the fact that what I write can be used towards something else I’m doing in my life, which is exciting and lets me realize that spending an hour doing something productive everyday gets the momentum going into getting many task, assignments and goals done.

During Thanksgiving…

I chilled by eating scrumptious food, spending time with family and friends, playing catch-football with my nephew, brothers, and friends, and injuring my knee playing basketball. I don’t know if it was me thinking about all of the activities I have planned for the coming year and trying to figure out where the money was going to come from. When I thought of this very goal for the next year, I knew it was something I had to commit to, just like the writing goal.

I Plan to Become…

The Businessman that I have always wanted to become. I don’t know how I’m going to get there, which to me, is the most exciting part of this whole endeavor but ready for whatever comes my way. I written down a couple of possibilities and will tackle them in the coming weeks. What I will work on this week is to truly work on my finances and get that in predicable, routine order as much as possible.

None of this will take away from what I plan to do with my writing and novel– I just have to better use my time.

One More Month: The Most Important Month of the Year

This month will be tons of planning for the coming year, continuing to do what is working for me in all faucets of my life, finish strong with my novel and writing (which I plan to continue to write everyday for next year or just see how long I can go), eliminate bad habits (figure out where they are coming from and take steps to eliminate them), workout with a focus to shock my body as much as possible.

I Hope to Write Twice Per Week

I am going to end the year strong and write more in the blog. If my novel suffers, than I will decrease the blogging accordingly.

The main point for my blog is for others to see what I’m doing, learn from it, and do something with theirs. If I can’t make my own goals and dreams happen, then I’m simply full of shit and shouldn’t be listened to. Lets see how it turns out.

Related posts:

1. Goals for the Rest of the Month… In a couple of weeks I will be partaking...
2. November: 2 More Months to Go It has been a month since I’ve started my challenge...
3. Update of Goals from the last month I have begun my long 4-day work week. I...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

What Did I Learn From my Novel Writing?

However, I did realize that I have many loose ends in my writing. It is something that will take me the rest of the year to make my goal of getting it done by the end of the year. It is okay. I plan to also enter this writing competition and will need to edit a passage of my novel to make it contest ready. This step of editing and reediting is what I will be doing sometime next year with my whole book altogether. I’m looking forward to that moment and will see how I do with this particular task in the coming week.

What Did and Didn’t Get Completed

I didn’t complete all of my goals for last month. I didn’t finish my website for my photography business. I will work on getting that done this and also next week. I was able to upload most of my photos, now I need to incorporate a template website with what I have right now as a website. I also have to coordinate with my web host to get help of uploading the proper software onto the server. Once I finish with uploading all of my photos I will deal with making my website look presentable to my audience and people in general. This is actually one of the few times where I have fooled around with website design on my own–the process is fucken tedious, but well worth it.

Plans for This Month and Next

I will be starting a new workout plan this week. I will still keep up with my walking, however, I will input a workout plan from my girlfriend. Once that is establish I will input P90X. This month will be tricky, I will explain that soon, but I will have to still be diligent with transforming my body to something I’ve dream about from time to time. I might even provide a workout plan for people who want to lose some weight. I think that it is different than what people are used to and is super easy to implement in one’s daily routine.

Personal Time is Key for The Rest of the Year

Now I’m about to stop writing and get on the task that I have upon me. I have noticed that if I write less in the blog, I get more things accomplish and feel better about my life. I still believe that I need to cut more out of my life. I need to give more time to activities that I care about and also give myself some alone time to collect my thoughts and to recharge for whatever I want to do.

I don’t have a specific agenda for the rest of the year. Just to get my novel done, continue to workout, and to get my photography website and my learning of the skill done. Those 3 activities will keep me busy and look forward completing them.

Related posts:

1. The Big October Challenge(s) It has been a long time since I’ve written anything....
2. December: The Last Month of the Year I actually wrote this post over a week ago. I...
3. 2nd Quarter Review and What I’m Planning This post was written 2 months ago and have been...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

It has been well over 2 months since I have started my business experiment. Each day that passes by I get a clearer view of the next step with it. The post isn’t about me and the struggles I’m having to sell vintage wear (4), but about my bro, so here it is.

I didn’t think I would be saying this, but my youngest brother is kicking my ass at the ecommerce business of etsy.com. I don’t know how to explain it, but it is actually bitter-sweet at the same time. When I started, he was at 40 or so sells. I told him that I would catch him in no time—now he is well over 100 and making over a sell a day.

I didn’t know if he truly had it in him, I have been the one talking about business and expressing what I’ve done in the past, but just sitting back and watching him operate is quite amazing.

What He Does

My brother, Ese, promotes his site through the actual site, facebook, flickr and twitter. He even has a website that redirects everything back to his etsy website. He response to email almost instantly, ships his orders through the help of paypal and the post office, and emails the confirmation to his buyers as soon as the sell is complete. He didn’t read any business books or blogs, he doesn’t have a degree in the subject, and was forced to do it because my dad got tired of watching him play WOW (World of Warcraft).

He Doesn’t Even Know That He His Hustling…

Like I said earlier, he didn’t know how to get started, but through trial and error, he is making it workout. I don’t know what his typical schedule is daily, but he usually puts up 2 shoes, checks online to see if he sold anything the day before, mails off his order at the post office, and uses the rest of the day to attend to music classes at the local community college and play WOW.

The boy is hustling his way to success and doesn’t even think much about it. He comes up with better ways to do things by looking at other people or just trying something new. He continues to give me pointers and use the same lessons I see online that I’ve read before.

When you are hustling, you don’t know how the situations are usually done or how they will turn out. To me that is the funniest part, because I will be using all of my creativity to make something out of nothing. This usually works best when I’m passionate about the subject at hand. I haven’t asked my brother but I wonder if he is passionate about selling shoes online. He is probably passionate about making money and doing what he wants with it. He is probably happy that my father is slowly getting off his back to produce and be productive. But, nonetheless, he looks more happy than the past and still following his own dreams to do something with music, even though people tell him that there isn’t anything in the field.

He Will Make A Lot of Money in The Next Couple of Months

Now is the time the weather is changing, people just spend for the fuck of it, and usually when people are buying stuff, which includes footwear. I know the economy sucks, but it seems like that doesn’t even matter in his case. The winter time is where more and more women spend their money to individualize themselves and the best way to do so is a vintage garment or shoe that doesn’t look like everything else that is out there. He has all of the shoes and boots a woman would like to buy from (I still think my dad gives him the better products) and with a selection well over 300, he will be a busy man.

So this is a shout-out to my brother, who, didn’t know what he was getting himself into, and now beating the shit out of his older brother, who, talks a good game about running a business!

Related posts:

1. Ecommerce, it has begun. It has begun, I have set up the account,...
2. Business Experiment Has Begun: Etsy.com I am officially in business! After nearly two weeks...
3. Business Idea Axed I am at the point of my life where I...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.