Finding Inspiration In Others

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As a follow-up to my Thinking Big post, sometimes my biggest problem is motivation. When you don’t have a boss or deadlines breathing down your neck, it’s easy just to sit back and slack off. As all the gurus say, you should surround yourself with inspirational and like-minded people.

My main inspiration is my wife. She has a respected job she likes, and works very hard at it. She supported me when I decided to go back to school, even though I’m sure it brought her no small amount of anxiety. Other inspirations include my parents and all the self-made people I know that made a great life out of very little.

In addition, the internet has made inspiration a click away! Here are some online folks from whom I draw motivation (in no particular order):

Noah of OkDork – Noah is young, driven, and works at a startup. He’s also got his own businesses going on the side, probably more than the few I know of. He is the extrovert I wish I could be at times, and his positive energy is contagious. Just don’t ask him to do a Carnival 😉

Waiter (Anonymous) of WaiterRant – A full-time waiter that also writes a very popular blog on the side. This guy gives me perspective. His stories, while mostly humorous, deal with all layers of society, from filthy rich to homeless. I think his observations help me see through all the bull$%&# that surrounds us every day. He’s also turning his stories into a book.

Everyone who has kids – When I feel bad about not being productive, I try to imagine trying to do what I do and raise kids at the same time. I mean, I get annoyed at my dog when he bothers me during work asking for a walk! (He wants one right now too.) The ones I’ve read the longest include JLP of AllFinancialMatters and Nickel of FiveCentNickel. Newer ones include SingleMa of Single Ma’s Fabulous Financials and Claire of TiredButHappy. How do you do it?!

Other Entrepreneurs

Michael of RetireYoungAndWealthy – Mike is also tired of his day job, and seems to be focusing on websites, although he also does some real estate. He hasn’t quit yet, but he’s making consistent progress towards it.

Shaun of Shaun’s Real Estate Adventures – He also has a day job, but his real estate flipping adventures are a great read.

Jeffrey of SavingAdvice – I think he’s already self-employed, so maybe I need to ask him to be my mentor? Right now he’s trying to switch into all website revenue.

Darren of ProBlogger – His website name says it all. I believe he brings in well over $1,000 a day. I don’t actually read his site regularly, but from what I have heard what he brings to the table is drive. He takes blogging very seriously, and works long hours at it. I respect that.

Somehow, the idea of making websites primarily for money just does not appeal to me. If I wanted to just do something I felt was boring just to make a lot of money, there are tons of stuff I could have done. Investment Banking. Patent Law. Dentistry. Pharmaceutical Sales. I’ve already tried making another blog about something I’m less interested in, and well, I stank at it!

This is not to say that it’s not a perfectly fine job. It’s just not for me. What I really take away from each of these people is their entrepreneurial spirit, their drive to want something more than what they have now. Each of these people could be satisfied with the status quo, but they are not.

Ok, I’m turning into some cheesy motivational speaker. Ack!

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Comments

  1. Anonymous says

    hey this is pretty cool good things you get motivation from people…

  2. Great post! I look forward to posts from a bunch of blogs…It’s kind of neat…

    I hear you on kids…With my own dog, it’s already responsibility enough! I can’t imagine the amount of discipline raising a child would take…more so a single parent!

  3. damn J that was flattering. how much do i owe you for the compliment?

    noah;)
    okdork.com

  4. noah – The bill is in the mail, Net30 terms =)

  5. Jonathon,
    Hey, your blog is cool. I read the whole thing this weekend(so my wife probably hates you) but it was an inspiration to me and I bet to a lot of other readers. I felt inspired to start one in order to focus myself more on my planning(so now my wife willl probably love you?). I am just to disorganized with planning our finances

    One suggestion for a post is charitable donations in the form of securities. I read your posts in both Decembers about giving to charities. From a tax perspective, you really can’t beat it!

    .02

    lauda

  6. I love waiterrant. I just recently found it and it’s been a great read.

  7. You asked how I handle work plus parenting.

    1. My spouse does more than half the parenting because I work longer hours.
    2. My house is filthy.
    3. I don’t get much sleep. Hence the bog title.
    4. Parenting is harder but also more rewarding than anything else I have ever done. By far. Kinda gives you a reason to get up in the morning.

    PS. About your dream future–I love it. I hadn’t seen that post before. We’re living half your dream future. My spouse works 20 hours a week. I work 40. Only problem is we’re always a little strapped for cash.

  8. “Ok, I’m turning into some cheesy motivational speaker.” No, no you aren’t. Keep up the good posts, nothing cheesy about what you are writing.

  9. personal finance advice says

    Somehow missed this post earlier – not sure how much of a mentor I would make. It’s been a lot of trial and error and I assume it will be more of the same in the years to come.

    I think a big part of going the self employed route is getting over the fear of failing. If things don’t work out, there is nobody to blame but yourself. This can also motivate you quite a bit.

    It certainly helps to do what you like and as you pointed out, if you tried to do things purely for the money, you would likely fail. Take what you like to do and figure out how to make money from it.

    I have a bit of other motivation – since I live hald time in Japan and half time in the US, I needed to find something that I could do anywhere and the Internet and sites seemed like my best opportunity. I would never say that it was easy, but it’s been a lot of fun and the goal of getting both Nate and I getting a full time income from the sites is slowly coming closer to reality, but there is still a lot of work ahead.

    Stick with this blog and writing what you like and there will be a time you can do it full time if you want. From what I’ve seen, I should probably be asking you to be my mentor…

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