Day 1 - Choose Your Adventure

"Ugh!" I groan. Let's just get this over with. Some of you might know that I run a 1-on-1 Content Strategy Roadmap workshop to help small business owners build a customer-focused content strategy. I've taken at least 10 brands through my workshops and taught it as a masterclass to group coaching programs.

Why does this matter? Well, without missing a beat, I always start with the same speech:

"Every epic journey needs two things: a starting point and a destination. Whether it's Frodo taking the One Ring out of the Shire or Ned Stark leaving Winterfell for King's Landing; every adventure has a beginning and an end."

After that, I throw in a couple of heartwarming quotes:

"You can't really know where you are going until you know where you have been." - Maya Angelou

"Find out where you are at, where you are going, and build a plan to get there." - Robert Kiyosaki

And these quotes lead to the first three session questions:

1. Where are you?
2. What do you have?
3. Where are you going?

I've even have a workbook that dives much deeper into these questions. But here's the kicker: It's easier to ask these questions than to answer them.

It's day one of my 21-Day Freelancer Reset, and as I embark on this new adventure, it's time for the teacher to become the student.

Who Are You?

As a solopreneur, I am the brand. I have to market myself and convince people why I'm the best choice to solve their problems over someone else. That only works if I know myself—my strengths, flaws, likes, and charms.

What makes me valuable and what makes me a risky investment? Who am I as a solopreneur? What do I value? What are the lines I don't want to cross?

What do you have?

For this question, list all your skills, talents, attributes, and strengths. It might feel like you're starting with nothing, but you're not. We never truly start with nothing. Even babies are born into a family, a nation, a heritage, some DNA. Some have more than others, but we all start with supplies.

This is a question I've been mulling over these last few days.

I remember that Friday night when I realized my world was crumbling, I cried because

1. I was tired of failing, and
2. I didn't know if I had it in me to start from scratch again.

I imagined myself at the foot of this massive mountain with its peaks so high up I could only see clouds.

It honestly took me back to 2018 when I thought I had everything in the bag, that I would ride a cable car up the mountain in no time. Boy was I wrong. I quickly realized how competitive the freelance/work-from-home economy can be. As Chris Do likes to say, being good is the price of entry. Ticking the boxes on paper is how you get in the room. There are millions of people who are just as qualified and just as motivated as you, and for some even more so. It took me 30 years to learn that lesson, apparently.

I am at the foot of a mountain I've climbed before. Did I make it to the top? No, but the trail is familiar now. I know which rocks are slippery and what to expect.

Looking back, I had no social media presence, no followers, no idea what I was going to do. I didn't even think of googling how to get paid work at first. i was paralyzed by fear.

Now, this newsletter has over 9,000 subscribers. I have a tone of resources, videos, articles, podcasts, books. Some of them are mine and others are blueprints gleaned from experts in the industry.

• I have a post-graduate degree in my field.
• I still have a TEFL certificate (if push comes to shove).
• My online teaching accounts are still active.
• I have a network, contacts, opportunities.
• People who are willing to help me even if they've never met me.
• I have testimonials that make me sound amazing.
• I have enough portfolio pieces across so many industries that I could choose any niche under the sun.
• Google
• Confidence.
• A proven service with reasonable rates.
• I might be starting from scratch, but I'm not starting empty-handed.
• Fear no longer owns me.

I might be starting from scratch, but I'm not starting empty-handed.

Where am I going?

I hate this question, too. This is where 2018 me and 2023 me are on par. Neither of us wants to choose one adventure.

"If you chase two rabbits, you will not catch either one." - Proverb

Focus

On one

Course

Until

Successful

I'm currently rereading Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy and in it he discusses how vagueness prevents you from moving toward what you want in life.

I do know one thing. I want to work from anywhere. I don't want to build an agency. I don't want to manage a team or anything like that. I'd rather build a community than an agency. I want to help people along their adventures—people who, like my 30-year-old self, can't see their worth or a way forward. I want to teach and mentor and have in-person workshops again. As I'm typing this, it sounds like I want to climb a different peak than the one I was on before.

For now, though, I'm sticking to the familiar course that is freelancing. But this time I want to be a more focused, consistent, sustainable freelance business and a copywriter and LinkedIn marketing consultant.

And down the line, when the time comes, and I see the signs, I'll take a shot left and head for the summit of my choice.

And so it begins.