Well… today is a bit different.
I want to pull back the curtain a little bit and share something more personal.
Here goes.
Up until recently, I’ve been busy planning an epic adventure for the fall that will combine two of my passions: Helping people with technology and bicycle travel. I was planning to cycle from Vancouver, BC to Los Angeles, CA and help as many small businesses out along the way as possible.
That is, until everything went wrong. I had a conversation with someone that dashed my hopes on the rocks. This got me thinking about how I should share some of this with you. You will see why as you read further.
You see, the conversation I had was with my boss. At my day job. For reasons unknown, the HR department decided to deny my leave request. Even though I had a plan approved by my boss and her boss. Even though everything was in place to ensure a smooth transition in and out.
I’ve been planning for this trip, making sure everything was in place for months. It's been my dream to do a bicycle tour for years. All to be declined by someone who doesn’t know me, the work that I do, or how important it was to me.
I had never felt so helpless. “If only I was my own boss, I could make the decision to go”. That is, until I made a stunning realization. My perspective has flipped 180 degrees. I simply realized that you are your own boss, no matter what. It doesn’t matter whether you run your own business and actually are the boss, or if you report to someone who reports to someone else and so on in a giant corporation. Each person can do exactly what they want, all of the time. Now, doing what you want doesn’t come without consequences. It may seem simple, but it’s something we forget 99% of the time. In life and business, there are simply choices and consequences. We all get to make them and take them every day.
Here are just a few examples of choices I’ve made in the past:
- Choice: Leaving my comfortable life and relationship to move to the most beautiful place on the east coast, northern Vermont
- Choice: Practicing Bikram Yoga at least 3 times per week (intense heat)
- Choice: Risking my good standing at a growing company to embark on an adventure that would be meaningful to me
- Choice: Giving up one of my favorite hobbies (songwriting) to have more time to work on my business
- Choice: Spending a sizable chunk of my savings to hire a coach who I know can get me where I want to go
I found myself having BIG paradigm shifts in my life and the way I look at my business. And I don’t think of it as the post-college wanderlust (I had that a few years ago).
What I didn’t tell you is that I made this business all about YOU!!
I’m serious.
As many of you have noticed, I am focusing on what YOU have told me that you would like to see me offer and address.
Hence, the surveys, the personal emails and Skype calls, the new free course on email list building, the guest posts all over the web, and the month-long partnerships with small businesses owners. This has always been about helping people say ‘yes’ to themselves by freeing them with technology.
There’s still more to come! I am always interested to know what you wish for me to provide, so keep the ideas coming!
But….(the infamous “But”)…
There is one REALLY BIG request you have made that I’ve been holding back on- for SINCE THE BEGINNING, despite many of your impassioned outcries.
I’m contemplating changing my mind and giving you what you’ve been asking for since, like, the beginning of the internet age.
But I’m nervous because it means sharing with you more of myself and my business than I have in the past.
And I’m also going to need your help.
Anyway, stay tuned until next time for that REALLY BIG request.
-Ethan Waldman, Cloud Coach
P.S. I’ll be back with more details in a couple of days. but until then, tell me in the comments: What’s a dream that you’ve always wanted to take action on?
