This post was first published on April 18, 2020 on my blog for The White Dog Collective - a Digital Marketing team I used to head.
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I never thought I’d ever say this, money being important cause of all the things it can do, but I can say now that I, a work-from-home consultant, turned down a very high paying project. It’s not a potentially high paying project, it’s a high paying project – The highest I’ve ever been offered to date that is.
Let me tell you why.
Little by Little
I believe that every level of growth you go through requires a different version of you. With this logic, there was, at one point, a version of you who knew what it wanted or at least knew what it needed to feel accomplished. Maybe that is still the version of you today but for most of us, that is not the case.
Let’s face it, not all the things we end up doing is something we were looking to be. We were often asked when we were kids: “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
In my elementary school classroom, a lot of kids answered that they wanted to be a doctor or a lawyer or whatnot. Personally, I wanted to be a politician but that’s another story entirely. You have to ask yourself though, how many of those kids really did get to become what they wanted or the even better question, how many of those kids stuck to the words they said that day?
As we grow older, the things we aim for go through change. What you wanted as a kid might not really be what you wanted to be as a pre-teen or an adolescent. You get exposed to different opinions and cultures and influences. You never really settle on one cause you are continuously growing as a person. There are points in your life however that make a lasting impact so much that it makes you want to shape your life around that goal.
When I reached college, I knew absolutely what I wanted.
I wanted to write.
I wanted to make stories. I loved immersing myself in the creative and publication process. Having been able to lead teams in this fashion at such an early age (I was in college when this happened), I thought to myself that hey, this can actually be a viable option for a career.
Then life got in the way.
We have all been there. You choose this one opportunity over another cause the immediate need for finances is higher. Small trade-offs; little compromises here and there. Mind you, for the most part, this happens slowly: piece by piece you sacrifice a little of yourself until you end up nowhere near where you wanted to be.
You fool yourself into thinking that, I get to do what I love every once in a while. But how often was that again?
You wake up one day telling yourself, this is not what you wanted but this is what I have to do so you stick with it. You set aside what that voice of doubt in your head and tell it to shut up for now, there will be plenty of time to draw, or write, or create that app you’ve had in your head since college.
You clock in your hours.
Time moves on: Days, Weeks, and Months. Then you run into an online course for that passion of yours. You let it pass, the voice comes back: “You were meant to do something else you know?”, “Later”, you answer back and this goes on and on.
One night, you find yourself awake in bed with nothing but your thoughts and that little voice in your head asking “What are you doing?” There will be no sleep that night.
At least I didn’t when I hit that wall.
Active Choices
You are always actively choosing what you want to do. You are never led to do anything. As human being, you have the innate mental faculty to decide whether or not something is beneficial for you.
I’d go back to my blog about Opportunity Costs right now (see here), but I’d be rehashing a previous blog and that’s just not me. Anyway – keep in mind that everything we do and every decision we make has a consequence. Hopefully, by the end of this blog, you’d have come to the realization that it’s not too late to pursue that passion of yours.
Lucky and Blessed
As for my case, I actually made a wrong decision when I began: I had no safety net. I was either going to make it or I was not. In some sense, I still am in that situation since a safety net for me equates to savings that would last us for a long time even if I do not work. One of my closest friends actually advised me against making that leap but my heart was too set in making this change that I wanted to brave it despite this obvious setback.
This is something I want you to take away if you are going to take anything from this piece: have a safety net before you make this change. I know I make it sound easy for one to switch careers but it takes a lot of effort, more than a little bit of luck, and the Lord’s provision to land a client that would help you grow and learn as you are earning.
Thankfully, as I was making this change – I came across my mentor in this industry. It may have been luck but I choose to think that it was more than that. It’s not every day you come across someone willing to share with you their knowledge and land you the writing gig you’ve been hoping for.
Keep These In Mind
In making this transition, much like in setting off on a long journey, you also have to make sure of other essentials. Here are a few more:
1. Make sure your “cup” is empty
You’ve probably encountered this line before; if you're in any orientation you’d hear someone say this phrase but what does it mean?
An empty cup means being open to new ideas and inputs. Throw away the things you have in your cup – the biases, the “I already know this” situation. These prevent you from gaining possibly valuable insight and information into a matter that a.) you might not have any valuable experience with or b.) situations that you already know but aren’t a complete expert on.
Who’s an expert anyway? That word is perhaps so bastardized these days. Things change and evolve as all things do.
Empty your cup. Not doing so prevents you from further growth.
2. You’re a brand, not an Employee
I’m really passionate about this one. Why? ‘Cause I’ve seen it in action so many times. You can call yourself whatever the client or the third party you’re associated with. That does not matter but if you don’t change the way you view yourself, you’re shooting yourself in the leg. Always remember that as a Work-From-Home Consultant that:
You are not the client’s employee.
You’re an entrepreneur and you are running a business.
Your expertise and time are your primary products.
You’re a brand.
In summary of these four, keep in mind that what you are doing is provide services for your client that they otherwise could get somewhere else or, that they can probably do themselves. In this case, you have to make sure you are really good in what you do or that you provide a value-add to your output.
This also means that you call the shots in terms of who you deal with and what you want to do.
We’ll talk more about this later.
3. Always be hustlin’
Money never stops. The cash flow is always there.
There are always people and companies out there that are in need of assistance. You just have to know where to look and how to approach them. Don’t be shy. Reach out and put your best foot forward.
I’ve said this before and I will say it again. Well, this is my wife’s line really but I feel compelled to share it with you guys: Good opportunities never disappear, they just get picked up by other people.
4. Know where you’re headed
What do you want to specialize in? We started this article on being asked what you want to do when you grow up. Now ask yourself, who do you want to be as you establish your Home-Based Consultancy practice?
You can be somebody who answers calls or makes calls for your clients.
You can also be someone who makes videos or edits videos for your clients.
You can choose to be someone who is specialized as a Virtual Assistant or an Online Instructor.
You can be like me and create content which basically means that I write like a lot: blogs, scripts, social media posts... name it, I've probably written it for a client.
The possibilities are endless and the good thing is you get to drive your own ship. You get to choose which of the hundreds, perhaps thousands of options you go with and you’re not limited with what you choose because you always have the opportunity to learn.
Stick with your Non-Negotiables
So yes, I turned down a high paying project. Let me put this in perspective for you.
I’ll be helping a real estate team with their phone calls and back-office tasks. And they’re a bi-lingual team using English and Spanish. It could have tripled or quadrupled my current income. It’s not nearly as high as other people get but it’s a good start.
I turned it down. Why?
I did that because quite simply, it’s not where I wanted to go. For one, the job would entail making phone calls and even if it’s a bi-lingual account that would allow me to practice my Spanish, the benefits outweigh the costs.
The last phone call I made as an agent was in 2011. The very last time was for a supervisory call as a manager back in 2016. I made a pact with myself that I will not take phone calls again. Don’t get me wrong, it takes skills for someone to answer phone calls. I just got tired of it.
I also turned it down because it was not what I am looking for. When I made this switch I told myself that I want to be a content creator and a copywriter. Taking that job would have compromised that for me and left me with less time to pursue what I was looking to specialize in.
I know I’m probably being too idealistic. We all have different circumstances and I do not want to brag about what I did. I just want to point out that as a new Work-From-Home Consultant, you call the shots on where your business goes.
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