Davy Russell.com

“[Life is] like driving a car at night. You never see further than your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” - E. L. Doctorow

A year and a half ago, my life was certain. I was in a steady job, with a steady paycheck and for the first time in my life, I never had to worry about money. Unfortunately, it was the wrong path for me. I have always been an artist and could no longer ignore the nagging sense of purpose that I simply wasn’t living up to at a corporate day job.

As I was within a year of turning 30, I felt that my life could be so much more than working a day job while putting off my dreams. A year and a half later, my life is completely different. I left my job and moved from Vermont to Chicago. I am self employed. I earn a living doing what I love to do. How did I get here? The first thing I had to learn quickly was how to handle and embrace uncertainty. Learning to love uncertainty didn’t happen overnight, but I never imagined that I would actually begin to like not knowing what lies ahead.

How I Faced Uncertainty

Leaving my job and my only source of income brought a high level of uncertainty into my life. It brought a whole lot of anxiety too! On top of that, moving to a big city where I had no friends, family or connections added many more unknowns. Leaving my job and moving to Chicago would have felt terrifying if I hadn’t done my research first.

First of all, I had been honing my skills as a camera operator and videographer over the past few years in Vermont. I knew I had a reasonable chance at making money with my camera as I had been getting a few freelance gigs here and there. While the industry in Vermont is too tiny to support much film and video production, the industry in Chicago is larger, but not too large to make it impossibly difficult to break in. My research indicated that I could make things happen faster in Chicago than in more traditional production cities like Los Angeles or New York. Plus, Chicago was more affordable, which was a huge plus since I wanted to be a self employed freelancer. I had to be frugal and you could be frugal without being destitute in Chicago.

Secondly, I did have valuable, employable skills working as a project manager and provisioner for large telecommunications companies at my old job. My project management skills would translate to any other industry. One of my former clients I managed also had a large presence in Chicago which did give me a local connection, if even at a superficial level.

Thirdly, I had saved up a couple months of living expenses, so I had a cushion in the bank. My wife was completely on board with the move, too. I knew that if things didn’t work out in Chicago, I could always go back to Vermont. My old job would probably be there for me if I returned, and it would be easy to get back on my feet again.

My uncertain future didn’t feel as scary since I had a plan, a back up plan and an escape route. I used my imagination to create “artificial certainty”. Also, I knew that whatever happened, it would be an incredible learning experience. If I did quit my job and move to Chicago to pursue my passion and it didn’t work out and I had to return to a day job back in Vermont, I would have no regrets and would be better prepared for Plan B.

Freedom or Security

I’ve heard it said many times that you can either have freedom or security. I think that security is an illusion and that freedom is the only secure thing we have. Let’s take a look at security for a moment:

We all know that jobs are not secure. A steady paycheck is never secure. In fact, as an employee, you have absolutely no control over your job duties, your paycheck or your ongoing employment. On top of that, 40 years of working doesn’t necessarily secure your retirement. It doesn’t necessarily lead to financial security, either. It might feel like putting off risky dreams in order to have a secure paycheck is the reasonable (grown up) thing to do. In fact, it really is only an excuse for inaction. So many people justify years or decades of sitting in a cage of mediocrity with the fear of losing one’s paycheck and not being able to support their family. Never mind that the alternative is that pursuing your own path could provide a better life and future for you and your family!

On the other hand, I have found that freedom is more secure. Right now, I am in complete control over how much money I make. I can’t snap my fingers and instantly bring in a 6-figure income, but I now have the time, energy and motivation to make that happen in the next few years. I can’t guarantee that I will retire rich, but I have the time, energy and motivation to cultivate wealth that will pay off later in life.

Furthermore, I am free to choose my career direction. If I want to refocus my interests, or pursue a different direction in film and video production, I can. No more hoping for a promotion, jumping through hoops to impress higher ups and no more frustration that my day-to-day activities are not fully utilizing my skills and talents. Boredom is a thing of the past. I cannot tell you the last time I played Spider Solitaire!

One year and a half after leaving my job and moving to Chicago, my life is uncertain. My future is uncertain. I never know from month to month how I will pay the rent or put food on the table. But I’ve been doing this successfully these past 15 months! I am living a life that is much more fulfilled, peaceful and creative. I am much more happy and hopeful. I’ve never missed a rent payment or gone hungry.

An added bonus in pursuing my own path is that while the current recession woes have most people fearing for their homes, their jobs and their 401k’s, I have been able to sleep at night knowing that my future, and to an extent my income, is not affected by recessions, corporate down sizing and growing unemployment numbers. I am doing well right now. I am not rolling in money, but I’m eating well and paying the rent. I’ve had a few difficult months here and there, but I am surviving and thriving. I’ve had a positive cash flow month after month.

Living in the Present

The most profound benefit that I’ve noticed since embracing uncertainty is that I live my life much more focused in the present. This is a good place to be. Living in the moment leads to greater enjoyment of life. It promotes conscious decision making. I have found that living in the present while planning for the future brings security into my life.

I always struggled with living in the present. I was always future-focused and needed to know where I was going and exactly how to get there. My attention would forever be fixated on a future goal or achievement and I often tuned out and ignored my present situation if it was uncomfortable. Unfortunately, it is extremely difficult to enjoy life in this state of mind.

While I was starting my self employment journey, I would get caught up in worrying about the future. I would worry about making the right decisions at the right time. I’d worry about money, getting clients and finding enough business. I noticed this pattern of worry and realized that it was interfering with my ability to focus on what I should be doing to be successful. I was presented with a choice. I could devote all my energy to future-focused worry, or I could devote my energy and attention the the present. This shift in consciousness cleared the way for me to find clients, build my business and enjoy the freedom of my new life.

Getting into the drivers seat of my own life has sharply focused my attention on living in the present. I have seen worry and anxiety practically leave my life. I worry from time to time, but I always remember that I can either flee from uncertainty and embrace mediocrity, or I can learn to love uncertainty and embrace abundance.

Right now, I am loving the uncertainty and excited by the adventure of living the life I want.

I recently found a CareerBuilder.com survey where they polled 7,192 American workers about their saving habits. The statistics are alarming:

• 47% of polled are living paycheck to paycheck.
• 21% with salaries of $100,000 or more also live paycheck to paycheck.
• 25% have no savings.
• 40% feel that they need an extra $500 per month just to live comfortably.

I used to live paycheck to paycheck. It’s scary and it feels like a hopeless situation that is hard to escape from. It is possible if you are willing to embrace a few simple strategies to break the cycle.

Stop Spending Money

This is obvious, but seriously look at your spending habits and create a budget. Keep track of where your money goes. Most people will be surprised at how much money is spent on just coffee or soda a year. Reduce your spending on frivolous things. This might mean cutting back on eating out or you could take a drastic approach and eliminate Cable/Satellite TV, drop your cellphone plan or avoid going to restaurants altogether.

What you want to do is find a happy medium between cutting your expenses while still living a comfortable lifestyle. Your goal is to end the month with a POSITIVE cash flow instead of a “just barely made it” or worse, negative cash flow. For me, this meant taking a hard look at what was most important to keep in my lifestyle and purge all the remaining money traps.

Build Your Savings Account to $1,000 ASAP

Many people (myself included) make the mistake of using all of their extra money to pay down debt. If you do this without first having a sufficient savings account, you will forever remain in debt. When the car breaks down, the dog gets sick or you need to fly out of town on an emergency, you won’t have cash reserves and the unexpected expenses in life will end up on your credit card. Avoid becoming one of the many people who pay hundreds of dollars each month in credit card bills only to maintain a growing balance year after year.

Set a goal of building your savings account up to $1,000 as soon as possible. Go ahead and pay only the minimum payments on your credit cards and loans while you do this. Don’t worry about interest rates. You’ll just keep paying them if you always use your credit cards for unplanned expenses. Cut back on expenses, do side jobs or sell some items on eBay. Do whatever it takes to build your savings to $1,000. Also, be sure to set up a separate savings account instead of simply keeping a surplus in your checking account. It’s better to keep that money separate.

Once your savings account is at $1,000, commit to building it further. Set monthly savings goals and stick to them. I recommend that you try to always have enough in your savings to cover a major car repair, a plane ticket and an emergency vet bill all at once. It might take you some time to get there, but either of these emergencies cost less than $1,000 each and having that cash on hand means it stays off your credit card.

Prioritize Debt Reduction AFTER Building Savings

Once you have built your savings account to $1,000, work on reducing your debt. There is lots of advice on the web for becoming debt free. Strategies I’ve used included personal consolidation loans and balance transfer offers (be extremely careful with these). All the debt-moving and consolidation strategies mean nothing, however, unless you are committed to stop using your credit cards to pay for things.

While you are working on reducing and eliminating your debt, be sure to continue to build your savings.

Create a Profitable Hobby, Launch a Freelance Career or Small Business

The next step in freeing yourself from living paycheck to paycheck is to develop a profitable hobby or launch a small business. You will never get rich as an employee. You will never control how much money you make as long as you have a boss. As we all know from the latest news reports and personal experience, wages are dropping and the cost of living is rising. Besides, what happens when you loose your job? It’s best to have a side project or two that generates revenue and has the potential to be a full time business.

There are a lot of things you can do right now to generate cash if you need to. Offer your skills to businesses and individuals as a freelancer or private contractor. Start a small service business or create a product to sell. Whatever you do, don’t pay $49 to some Internet guy promising that you’ll be making a 6-figure income and driving a Ferrari in 30 days with his “can’t fail” online cash machine.

I left my day job in January 2008 to pursue freelance videography. I now earn most of my income from shooting video. I am currently working on additional projects that will generate revenue in the future. These include niche content websites, writing and creating paintings with my wife, among other things. If you subscribe to my blog or follow me on Twitter, you can find out more about how my “personal liberation” projects are coming along.

Embrace Frugality

Frugal living is a requirement if you want to stop living paycheck to paycheck. Frugality doesn’t mean you have to wear off-brand clothes. It’s doesn’t mean you have to eat rice and beans. You certainly do not have to be one of those people crawling under cars in parking lots looking for dropped change.

Frugal living is simply a ruthless approach to how you spend money. Hold off on big purchases until you can buy them with cash. Buy pre-owned instead of new. Live simply and enjoy your life. Watch less TV and actually LIVE your life and you’ll soon discover that you don’t really need or want a mega-screen TV and 400+ channels of cable TV. What a cost-savings right there!

The important thing is to remember that frugal living is a temporary strategy while you are building a bigger and better cash flow. It might feel like a sacrifice sometimes. It can also be liberating. You can always expand your lifestyle later, but it’s so much sweeter to do so when you don’t have to sweat and fret between paychecks.

Once you leave the 9-5 world, weekdays open up and you get the sense that time is an endless resource to finally drive your business to success. If you are not careful, your new found “free-time” will get swallowed up in minutiae and you’ll spend 20 hours a day in your home office without getting anything done. Here are some tips to keep you productive without working your tail off.

Defend Your Time

Many people who do not work from home have the mistaken assumption that those of us who do wake up at the crack of noon, sit out on our deck with a martini on Tuesday afternoons and get to play video games all day. The truth is that we often juggle an intense workload while working more hours for less pay than our employed peers. Some of your friends or family might think that because you work at home, you are always available.

Respect your time by defending it from interruptions. If you have a separate business phone, then you simply do not need to answer your home phone or even non-emergency calls to your cellphone while you are working. Try to avoid the temptation of checking personal E-Mail, stay off of Facebook and don’t fall into the time-wasting trap of running errands when you should be working. If you are that bored while running your business, then you made an unfortunate entrepreneurial choice and will hate your life in no time.

You wanted to leave the corporate world to experience the freedom of self employment, but in order to run a successful, solo venture, you should practice a solid business work ethic to make that happen. With that said…

…Take Time Off

The ability to pay rent and feed ourselves every month rests squarely on our shoulders. Especially when starting out, the crushing pressure of this fact is enough to instill a workaholic attitude where long, isolated days stretch into long, isolated nights toiling away in our home office.

A common habit for those of us who are doing something we truly love is to forget to take regular breaks. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve worked straight through lunch, spending an entire 10 hour day glued to my laptop. This is unhealthy and after just a short while, will affect productivity. Creativity and fresh ideas are not sustainable in a vacuum. You’re the boss. Get out there, enjoy life and allow yourself to be inspired with new ideas. Fresh ideas inspire productivity and provides new avenues for achieving success.

Always remember that your life is not your business, so be sure to take walks outside on sunny days. Meet a friend or lunch. Take 15-minute breaks throughout the day and get in a little physical exercise to keep the blood flowing. Take a half day. Take a day off. Take vacations. Quit every day at 5pm…or earlier!

Rediscover a Hobby

Launching a side business while employed full time usually means that you have to let go of enjoyable hobbies. There simply isn’t enough time in the day to do everything you want to do. Now that the day job is out of the way, be sure to rediscover an old hobby or start a new one. Give yourself a reason to quit at 5pm every day. Give yourself something fun to look forward to on the weekends, otherwise you’ll spend all day Saturday and Sunday toiling away in your home office…alone. What’s the point!

Enjoy the freedom of being your own boss. Give yourself permission to pursue activities outside of your business that spark your passion. Check off things from your life list. Actively engage yourself in living your dreams instead of simply running your business. How does this enhance productivity? You’ll be full of energy, passion and new ideas that will make you a better, well-rounded, more productive (profitable) person. You’ll also reduce the risk of burnout.

More Productivity Tips for the Newly Self Employed

Never agree to charge less than you are worth. If you don’t respect the value of your product or services, neither will your customers and clients. You will instead trap yourself in the cycle of working harder and longer hours for less pay.

Also, don’t undercut your competitors. Instead, find ways to outshine them on the value you provide. Starbucks launched a wildly successful business not by having the cheapest coffee, but by differentiating themselves from the competition through providing a product with higher value.

Don’t be afraid to outsource. Once you’ve got a steady cash flow coming in, focus your efforts on growing your business. Hire a housekeeper, find a personal assistant or outsource low-yield efforts that do not directly generate leads, products or revenue.

What is the best way to ensure you run your business in the most productive, profitable way without working 100 hours a week? Read these five tips for supercharging your productivity by becoming an early riser, batching tasks, limiting distraction and following the principles of a deceased Italian economist.

If you are short on time but big on ambition, here are 5 easy ways to supercharge your producitvity and get more done in your already crowded day.

1 - Wake Up Earlier

I know, I know! Just hear me out. I am not a morning person so I would not recommend this if I didn’t try it first-hand and saw how great it worked. Last fall, I was juggling a temporary job with a deadline-driven freelance editing project. My time was squeezed for sure. I noticed a pattern with my day, though, that helped me finish both the job and the editing assignment on time. I simply started waking up at 5:00 AM. That gave me a solid 3 hours of uninterrupted work in the morning. I would go to bed earlier at night. My evenings are not productive anyway as I am usually too low on energy from a busy day to start anything creative. Plus, the distraction of having my wife home made it hard to concentrate in the evenings. By going to bed earlier and sleeping through the unproductive late-evening hours and moving them to the beginning of my day, I literally “discovered” an extra 21 productive, distraction-free hours a week! Since that experiment, I’ve continued to wake up earlier in the morning.

2 - Never Check E-Mail In The Morning

Checking E-Mail first thing in the morning is a time-suck. Reading messages fragments your thinking, distracts you from important tasks and weighs on your mind with pending obligations and requests throughout the day. It is best to first check off a couple important items from your to-do list before you check your E-Mail. I have found that checking E-Mail twice a day, once at 11:00 AM and the second time at 4:00 PM works well. You might also try avoiding E-Mail until after lunch. If the anxiety of an unattended inbox bothers you, simply use an autoresponder to communicate your E-Mail schedule to clients, coworkers and your boss.

3 - Batch Your Tasks

Batching is a highly effective time-management strategy. Your productivity is affected every time you switch gears and change tasks. Instead of doing everything every day, try scheduling certain tasks less frequently. For example, instead of paying bills as you receive them, check your due dates and only touch invoices twice a month. The E-Mail strategy above is a perfect example of batching since you are only touching it twice a day instead of all day long as each message hits your inbox.

4 - 80-20 Your To-Do List

An Italian economist, Vilfredo Pareto, noted that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population. The Pareto Principle or 80-20 Rule would later be used in a business context to suggest that 80% of sales comes from 20% of clients. You can take this even further: 80% of your results/revenue are generated by 20% of your efforts. This number isn’t set in stone either. Your ratio might be 75/25 or 90/10.

When you have limited time in your day to get things done, applying the 80-20 Rule to your to-do list is the best way to maximize your efforts. It also allows you to weed out unimportant tasks forcing you to focus your efforts on the 20% of things you do that generates results: revenue, sales, signed contracts, content for your website or blog, artistic output (paintings, sculpture), etc…

Let’s look at a sample blogger’s to-do list with 5 items on it:

1 - Do Laundry
2 - Check website traffic stats
3 - Tweak blog color scheme to something prettier
4 - Write 2 posts for blog
5 - Tidy up desk

If you had only one hour in your day to do any of the items on this list, the 80-20 principle would suggest you choose item #4. Writing 2 blog posts is that 20% of your effort that will generate results for your blog (content, page views, revenue). While the other four items on your list still need to be done, you’ll never launch a business by prioritizing an empty laundry hamper or knowing up-to-the-minute traffic stats for your blog. Find a way to batch the remaining tasks and complete them at a time when your schedule has more room.

5 - Block Time and Set Aggressive Due Dates

Blocking time is an effective strategy for getting things done. Set aside an hour or two to complete a task. Be sure to also set an aggressive deadline. Working within an open-ended block of time in which to complete something is a sure way to take twice as long to finish or not finish at all. This is one of the reasons why the average employee wastes 2 hours of each day slacking off. The 8-hour workday lends itself to the illusion of having “all day to get things done”. In reality, having 8-hours in which to get your work done promotes procrastination and poor time-management tactics. It’s better to break your day down into 1 or 2 hour blocks of time and set a hard, self-imposed deadline. Don’t give yourself until the end of the day to complete a task, give yourself until 10:00 AM!

The above time management strategies have served me well, especially when I was juggling a full-time job as well as a side-business, marriage and social life. My next post will focus on increasing productivity when you have “all the time in the world” when you are self employed.

There is a major difference between those who are arachnophobes and the rest of the world who simply dislike spiders. Of course, there’s those crazy types that actually like spiders.

I am an arachnophobe and so my nature is to dislike spiders, but it goes much further than that. We arachnophobes live in a world where spiders lurk behind every corner. They lie in wait on the ceiling over the couch or the bed waiting for just the right moment to dangle inches from our faces on their sticky, silky threads. They lurk among the papers of my cluttered desk, and when I least expect it, they’ll charge across my keyboard like a streaker at a football game. I can’t clean out a basement, garage or closet without keeping a watchful, nervous eye out for anything that creeps or crawls or scurries on eight legs. My nightly routine before going to bed consists of scanning the corners of my bedroom ceiling and checking around the window frames for spiders. This routine has become such a part of my subconscious that I don’t even realize I’m doing it. My wife gives me an inquisitive look on occasion wondering what the hell I’m looking for.

Now I know it’s silly to be terrified of spiders. While I’m in the grips of paralyzing terror, uncontrollable shivering and the sensation that I have a thousand spiders crawling on me, I know my fear is downright ridiculous. I used to feel that there was absolutely nothing I could do and would have to live my life this way. My greatest fear was about what would happen if I was driving my car and a spider ran across my steering wheel.

When I got the chance to meet a coworker’s pet tarantula a couple years ago, I hesitantly agreed to go look at it. What I didn’t realize until I was at his cubicle was that he was holding the thing in his hands. I looked around at my other coworkers who were gathered around with smiles on their faces. They knew about my arachnophobia. I knew what was going on. It was time to face my fear. (Never tell friends, family or coworkers what you’re afraid of. They WILL use it against you someday!)

I could have freaked out and ran back to my desk. But I didn’t want to. I actually wanted to hold this spider that was almost the size of my hand, and feel the exhilaration of facing my fear. I asked my coworker if I could let it crawl across my hands.

My coworker gently placed his hands next to mine and the spider (I don’t remember what her name was) slowly crept from his hands to mine. My knees were shaking. My body was stiff. I was breathing hard and fast. The only thing I can remember was watching intently as the tarantula slowly made it’s way across my outstretched, right hand and crossing over onto my left hand. It’s feet were sticky. It was lighter than it looked. After a few seconds, I frantically told my coworker to take the spider.

I couldn’t bring myself to pet her, but I was proud of my accomplishment. It’s a little thing. Not the greatest achievement of my life. But I’m proud of the way I forced myself to have the experience of facing my fear without taking the easy route and chickening out. I had more to gain from the experience of handling a tarantula and more to loose from simply giving into fear.

While my tarantula experience has not completely cured my fear of spiders, I learned that I do have a choice in how I deal with fears, even irrational ones. I can either choose to grow and face my fears or I can refuse to grow and hold myself back from having a better life. The easy path leads to stagnation, but the hard one opens up new possibilities.

Are your fears holding you back? Is it time to make the decision to face your terror and grow?