Things Get Real – Jenny Blake September Update

I have a lot of respect for you, Location Rebel readers. Especially those of you right in the throes of side hustling and plotting your escape…watching others enter the fire pit before you with intense curiosity, wondering whether they’ll fail or succeed — and how.

Whenever I would run into ex-Googlers “in the wild” (waiting tables, starting their own businesses) I’d go through a few reactions:

• Squeal with glee for them that they did it! They’re living the dream!
• Ask with intense curiosity about how they were doing (Are you okay? Are you happy? Do you have any regrets? How are you feeding yourself?!)
• Wonder if I would ever have the guts to do the same thing.

This post is not about guts — we talked about that last time. This is about the belly of the location rebel beast: the bank account. It’s about what happens when the adrenaline and honeymoon phase of leaving your job ends, and the true hustle begins.

It’s time to start getting down and dirty. I mentioned above that I have a lot of respect for you, which means I want my posts here to be honest and real, not sugar-coated with a glossy veneer of SUCCESS! I feel successful no doubt, but I also feel disappointed in myself this month.

How $7,500 of income vanished before my eyes; aka get comfortable being uncomfortable

Here’s a run-down of how this month has fared (after breaking even in July):

• One night I went to bed with a knot in my stomach about how I’d pay my credit card bills. The outstanding balance was approaching $5K (buying my laptop, travel costs, moving, other business start-up costs, living and trying to stop spending like I was still at Google). I wrote on a post-it, “Make $5K.”
• The next day, in one hour, I had sold $5K of business between coaching and speaking. Hell yes! The universe loves me!
• The next week, it was gone. Cue trombone.
• I was asked to be a keynote speaker at a conference ($2,500), and the event got postponed. I had several coaching clients lined up who wanted to delay or cancel their engagements. Thankfully, I still had one $2K speaking gig left, scheduled for the end of August.
• That got cancelled a week later.
• And then I got a bill in the mail from COBRA for $2K that I owe retroactively in order to not have a lapse in coverage while I move to NYC and find new health insurance.

F**k.

But, as I’m writing this, I’m taking deep breaths, still relatively calm. I know that it’s going to be okay. I still wouldn’t go back on my decision to leave Google for one micro-second — these are just growing pains and I know that.

I also know that this is a building month — I’m getting ready to launch my own course, Make Sh*t Happen, in a few short weeks. If I sell out the 36 spots, I’ll be in great shape for Q4. I also feel like summer is particularly slow for coaching and speaking, and I will hopefully fare better on lining up more work for the Fall.

What can we all learn from this?

“Uncertainty is the only certainty there is, and knowing how to live with insecurity is the only security.”
–John Allen Paulos

You’ve got to get comfortable (or as close to comfortable as you can) riding the income uncertainty wave without freaking out.

As a solopreneur, especially in the beginning, you’ve got to get comfortable not knowing exactly where every dollar will come from and when. Work comes in, work gets canceled. You sell things and it works; you sell things and they flop. Developing semi-passive income streams takes time, and there’s nothing passive about the process.

Months like August are what contingency plans are for — I just don’t want to have another one like it. Or, if I do, I want to get smarter about how avoid it next time. I’m a little disappointed that I had to dip into my savings so soon, but such is life. I’m ready to work my ass off to make sure it doesn’t happen again — and that starts with things like my Make Sh*t Happen course that will diversify my income streams (assuming people sign-up when enrollment opens on Tuesday!).

For more lessons I’ve learned as a Location Rebel two months in, check-out:

• 20 Lessons from 2 Months of Solopreneurship (Part One)
• 20 Lessons from 2 Months of Solopreneurship (Part Two)

That’s it for now — looking forward to reporting back on my first ever course sale next month! I’m nervous as hell, but that’s how I know that I’m stretching far enough. Wish me luck and enrollees!