The challenge of the next 365 days

Yesterday, in less than 30 minutes, I was holding in a small paper box my new business cards. For the first time after many similar small paper boxes, I knew that these business cards will not need to be changed. Because this time, there is no way back to give up my little business plans and dreams.

One year ago, after some time of reflection and almost 12 months after I decided to give up my corporate business, I knew that travel and writing are the main things that make me happy, besides learning something new every day or learning how to cook or a new foreign language. 

The decision to start working for myself was not 100% selfish. Besides the guarantee of mental sanity, I was also giving myself the chance of being able to fully share everything I always wanted to share: ideas, encouragement, my passion. 

In the last 12 months, things moved steadily, although slowly and with not a few crisis moments. I am sure there will be more to come, as there are thousands of things to be learned in the next 10 days. But I know that whatever will happen, me and my travel blog, will be always around, trying to share experiences and cultural adventures. I also know that I will never give up writing and the work to my book projects. 

Is late in the night and although I should be up very early, I am contemplating tomorrow, one of the most important days of the year, when I should start - finally - behaving as a business woman responsible of her projects that should be presented, outlined and promoted. Meticulously, I set up my agenda and my main meetings, I have more or less ideas about the opportunities and I finally have my business cards to brand my blog. It is a new level and as for now, I have not the slightest idea how things will develop and what clear opportunities will arise. Persistence always helped me and not giving up my dreams and my true vocation brought me here, to this moment today, when I am fully responsible of my revenues and partly the future of my family. 

What will happen I cannot predict right now. Whatever the outcome, I am ready to learn and make corrections. In any case, I will keep doing what I enjoy, because there is no other way back. My black-and-white elegant business cards are the constant reminder of my future. Not yours, hers or other people's future. Mine, only mine. 

Book review: The $100 Startup

Isn't it that one of the most serious deterrents for setting up your own business is related to money, or rather the lack thereof? Well, if you are brave enough to have $100 available, do something smart and get a business licence or buy the supplies for delivering your first order.

The first thought of someone helping and consulting and writing about smart startups: 'If I needed money, I learned to think in terms of how I could get what I needed by making something and selling it, not by creating costs elsewhere or working for someone else'. Let's the party begin! It is a part of smart people, not only in love with what they are doing, but ready to share their experience with the community and to add value to the community. Even if you do your work with passion, you should not forget that this passion may offer a source of revenue for you, and eventually for your family. Hence, do not forget to evaluate the right price for your service. (This one of my mistakes when working as a freelancer, as I did not asked always for the right price for my work and sooner or later I accumulated a lot of frustration, despite making my employer happy due to the wonderful balance between quality and price). 

What you will learn while reading the $100 Startup is that you should never give up the dedication and the hard work, but that you can do it only for you. As we are living in the best time for businesses, thanks to the amazing development of mobile communications and Internet, it is easier to reach a decent - or more than decent - financial level, while on the road, portioning the time spent between family and the administration of a business. The book offers a lot of practical examples and thoughts by people on the startup boat for years and still on the right track. We can be happy easier than decades ago - the Internet as we know it is less than 20 years old - and it is a pitty not to use our full potential to be one of the happy members of the global startup nation. 

As someone working both as a freelancer and as a full time employee, this book was the perfect boost for a new start. I have a lot of ideas in my hectic mind and the desire for financial freedom and full enjoyment of my time was always there, but the more you read about other people in a similar situation succeeding, the more you would like to emulate them. 

No wonder why in the next days I will be not so active blogging. My brain is boiling startup ideas!