A Year Without Paychecks, Part 2

After spending 1264 words in this post examining the paycheck mentality that I found in myself hidden deep under the surface, I feel I still haven’t told the whole truth of my year since I quit my corporate job at the end of last September. That post was like reviewing myself from the current vintage point and didn’t really describe what it was like to live this year. So here is my follow-up.
(Photo by Michael Dawes)

How blogging changed my life

The first step was blogging. I tell you, blogging is dangerous. On September 9^th, 2007, I started a blog called Gratitude Magic (it’s gone now. Gratitude Magic was mostly about the Law of Attraction, and I wanted to focus more about entrepreneurship, so I started this Yes to Me in February. I didn’t know how to do the transition, so I closed Gratitude Magic. Sorry.)

In mid September last year, I wrote a post titled “What Can I Give to the World?” Here is the whole post:

What I give determines what I get. This is the basic of Law of Attraction. Send out good vibes, and good things echo back to me.

I am thinking about my job. I do well as admin, managing my boss’s calendar, making travel arrangements, processing passport and visa applications, managing corporate identity program, administering corporate credit card programs, supervising housekeepers, and so on. But is this the best I can give?

I feel I have higher values I can give. Currently, I am helping only the people in my company in certain defined ways. If, however, I can inspire more people with my writing, assisting them to have better life, I serve the world better! I feel better by giving more, and surely I receive more from the Universe.

And yes, I have grown to believe my writing is worth to be shared.

When I truly believe “What I give determines what I get,” the opportunity to give becomes a gift. It is like being given the opportunity to invest in a fund that is guaranteed to yield big. So thank you for reading this blog!

Gee, I wasn’t very good at writing back then, huh? I had a good idea, but the writing was so underdeveloped. Anyhow, I had the aspiration to serve bigger audience with my special gifts – or what I thought to be my gifts. Again, my gifts were not well developed yet at the time – I’m still working on them – but I took them seriously. This is important.

You may have great talents, God-given gifts, but until you yourself take them seriously and use them, they are just there.

I still don’t make my living from writing. But writing is an important part of my current business and its marketing. And I do inspire more and more people to have better life – that is the point of my Akashic Record Reading.

How I jumped

Now this is something I can’t recommend to others but I did it myself anyway: I took the leap of faith and quit my corporate job without real plans.

At the same time, I moved to Oregon. I pretty much hibernated during the winter. Sure, I was blogging faithfully, and was trying many things to build my business. But nothing much was happening. There were mornings I woke up and wondered what to do. Occasionally, I thought of looking for temp jobs. Then I thought why the heck I would get another admin job in Oregon – if that was what I wanted to do, I didn’t need to quit. Duh.

I’m going to skip the details of how I started my life coaching business and then my soul reading service because you probably don’t relate to these specific details. Maybe you are interested in starting other kinds of businesses, and that is great – I love diversity. My point here is simple.

Sooner or later, you’ve got to take actions.

Again, I think it is a better idea to prepare better than I did. But there is a point you just have to jump. Naomi Dunford used the analogy of having a baby. You can never be 100% ready, for a baby or for your ittybiz.

Sense of service is empowering.

Looking back, I think my sense of service helped me a lot. If I quit my job thinking, “This job sucks. I hate my job and my boss. There must be a better way to make money.”, I don’t think I could go through the down time during the winter to spring. But I really believed I had something to offer to more people. Of course I still believe this today, even more so than back then.

The reason I blog on this Yes to Me is to encourage those of you who may be at a similar point of life that I was a year ago. Maybe you sense there is more to life. Maybe you want to pursue what you love to do but feel hesitant. Maybe you want to connect with other like-minded people for support and inspiration. You are all welcome.

Or maybe you already have your small business. What have you learned? Share with us!

BTW the tagline of Gratitude Magic was “Uncover Your Magical Power Within”. Now I’m updating the tagline of this blog to “Nurture The Entrepreneurial Spirit Within”. Hmm . . . do you think this is some kind of reincarnation?

I’m happy and proud that I lasted a whole year, and counting. Let me know what you are seeking in life and what you expect to read in this blog.