Today is the 5th of May 2024. I sat down to start writing this piece on a Sunday evening, after a busy weekend with family. I am feeling inspired and energetic. I feel safe – for me, spirituality is knowing everything is OK. I wrote the last post in this series nearly 4 years ago. Reading the intro and the rest of that article one could imagine that I had reached a milestone. In a way I had but I was still half way up the mountain and no sight of the next base camp. The real truth is that I got divorced a couple of weeks later and stepped off Web Ink as a director, in fact, I continued only as a consultant for the year that followed.
I hit a rock wall. Hard.
I had been burned out for years and I was struggling to recover on a daily basis. My business partner was as solid as anyone could ask for but for my part I pretty much fell out the bottom. Dealing with mental health and everything that comes with a divorce was tough, I guess it was a reset and letting go of both my marriage and the business. I shrunk down to the smallest version of myself that I could. The first 3 months, from the 1st January 2021 to the 1st April, I stayed at a drug rehab facility. I had not relapsed but I realised I was in an incredibly vulnerable state and I needed to find safety, my friends helped me through that and got me on my feet again.
What does this have to do with being an entrepreneur? Well, being an entrepreneur is tightly bound to ones’ personal life. That is actually what I love about it. It is always about strategy and I am the resource. In order to move forward I have to have a plan and I have to be doing something meaningful to me. I love my job today more than I did when I first started. It is more exciting to me today than when I started. I am still a freelancer and I haven’t built a new business so it may not be entrepreneurial in the typical sense but the growth and distance I have covered in the last few years has been incredible.
Making money was never really my goal, it was more about having freedom and surviving. Now that I am established and making real money, it has become part of my goal. I finally paid off all my debt last year (2023) and I am in a comfortable place. I had always kept my expenses low and I still do, but now I can start to pay for the things / lifestyle I want and need.
I have 3 main retainer clients bringing the bulk of my income plus a couple of small retainer clients. I have a lot more work and pressure but I am able to handle it a lot better than before. A big part of my entrepreneurial journey has taken place within me. Doing “the work” to clear the psychological and emotional obstacles has allowed me to take care of myself. I am not only surviving but also living a life with meaning and purpose. I have work-life balance and I absolutely love the work that I do. I love witnessing myself evolving as a professional in this industry. I am still a web developer but I also bring a sense of ownership and initiative to the companies that I work with. I have extensive experience in organisational management, solution architecture, design, dealing with people, working within teams and mentoring others. I have a passion for physical wellbeing and a strong spiritual connection – these are things that are becoming more important to corporate companies (the progressive ones); there are still a lot of backward businesses and they will fall away, thankfully.
What is your 5 Year plan?
I don’t have anything in savings and my assets are negligible so my wealth building strategy is to generate value in equity and investments. At the age of 44 that gives me roughly 10 to 15 years to build my retirement. I have a life policy with income protection as well. This wasn’t the type of thing I was concerned about when I was younger but I have become more aware of my vulnerability as I’ve gotten older.
I currently have equity in a startup I have been working with for the last 5 years as well as 2 other solid retainers, that have potential for equity as well. My goal was to settle with a few good clients that I can build long term relationships with, which I have achieved. I am focused a lot more on service now than sales.
With more time and experience on my hands I am also leaning into a mentorship role across the board, I am flexing my ability to build people and teams. My vision on this is not 100% clear but I can see a big opportunity in this as a business model. Linked to this is my passion for optimisation, automation and efficiency, and I can see myself already playing a big role in guiding transformation in the businesses I work with.
Health and wellbeing is just as important to me as business. Part of my wealth strategy is longevity, physical fitness and emotional & mental wellbeing. I will never sacrifice my health for my business. I have managed to cut out all non-prescription drugs, alcohol & cigarettes and I am continually aware of my nutrition and health practices. Strong body, strong mind.
In summary, I am feeling stable – more than I have in a very long time. I have reached a milestone in my life, all the hard work (inside and outside) has paid off. Although it still continues the difference is that I can finally see the outer, material manifestation of the building I have done on the inside. For years I have struggled along without much outward sign of growth – well not to me anyway.
My spiritual practice is simply a daily prayer – “God, grant me only knowledge of your will for me and the power to carry that out.”. This is everything.