Passive Income Vs Active Income (Ultimate Beginner’s Guide)

by vanessa | Mar 23, 2022 | Blog, Entrepreneurs, Side-Hustles, Success

6 BRILLIANT wayS TO MASTER SELF-SABOTAGE

Here is a break down about passive income and active income

No matter how you make money, it falls into two categories. Passive income and active income. Thing is most people can’t tell the difference between the two and often they can easily mistake these two types of incomes. Passive income is investment that is achieved through past work that was done. This can be the course you paid for, the ebook you read, the affiliate link you clicked on. Often the work is done once and as a result the person earns income for work on a daily or monthly basis.

It depends on how much time they spent creating the product. Passive income is usually a result of digital products, but it can be earned in other ways as well, but that is the most common way to earn passive income. Active income is different though. Your job is a active income. You earn based on a salary. The harder you work, the more you make. That’s the big difference.

Why is it important to understand these two terms? Because they are so many ways to make money online. But most people have no idea because they don’t understand how passive or active income works. That’s why I created this blog post because before we get into the nitty gritty we need to understand the two categories of income. Once, you have an idea you will understand ways you can make money online. Let’s start.

Passive income (Explained)

When it comes to the top dogs of income it’s passive income. Why? We have limited time on our hands. If you ever wanted to know how people become wealthy it’s passive income. Unfortunately because many people don’t understand passive income they think it’s the illusive pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Often they assume people exaggerate so they don’t bother.

Passive income has so many advantages. The advantages outweigh all the disadvantages. Yes, passive income seems like a dream come true, but I would be misleading you if I didn’t tell you the uphill battle you will face. Everyone wants to make passive income. Unfortunately that makes it harder to make it. Competition is stiff. Not saying it’s like Hunger Games. But you will need to understand marketing and be well versed in self-discipline. Because it takes a lot to make this kind of income.

It’s worth it when you figure it out though, but it does require time. Unfortunately not everything is a given. If you also don’t know what you are doing you can get overwhelmed because of how many options they are when it comes to making passive income.

Also Related: How to Stop Comparing Yourself to Others

Why is passive income important

In this blog post, I list down all the passive income opportunities because they are so many. I will reserve that for another blog. But I do want you to know why passive income is more important than active income. They are limited number of hours in a day. We all know that. But more importantly you can’t duplicate yourself. So, time will always restrict you in terms of making money.

This is where passive income comes in. However, you need to understand that it takes time to build it. I learned an important fact from my father. Everything worthwhile takes time. So, the same applies here. It takes time to build passive income streams which ever you choose to do. But in the long term it is worth. You can be lying on a beach and earn money. But it won’t roll in if you don’t build something and work on selling it. The first $50 I earned online was through affiliate marketing. One of the most popular passive income streams. It was then that I saw the value passive income has.

Active Income (Explained)

Many of us are used to active income. Sometimes it is called residual income or earned income. This is income you earn from a salary, hourly wage or commission. You work for every dime. Now you can’t get rich with this kind of income, but that doesn’t take away it’s importance. Passive income takes time and often you need money in order for you to do passive income.

This is where active income comes in. It will help you to raise enough money for you to start building your passive income streams. They are reasons why people don’t start a business. Besides it taking time, they also don’t have enough money. This is where active income becomes advantageous. You can work so that you raise enough money to build your business.

Active income requires a lot of work as well because you are paying based on the hours you are working. So if you are working 10 hours per day, you calculate that. It depends on what you are doing. Though, if you don’t get a task for the month you don’t make money. If you don’t have a shift then you don’t get paid. You work and then get paid. Not once, but repeatedly.

Below are the main types of active income

Also Related: 7 Things Holding You Back in Life

1. Salary

Most people earn this kind of income. You are trading your year for an income. You go to work at 8am and come back at 5pm. It’s a consistent revenue stream because you know you can depend on money coming into your bank account at a certain time or month. You often go to college or university to earn this kind of income. Though, they are times when you can simply have just a qualification. That’s all you need to be eligible to earn a salary.

2. Hourly wage

Those who don’t have qualifications or are still in school can earn this kind of active income. You get paid by the hour. So if you work for five hours per day and make $15 per hour then that is how much you make per day. It is easier to get this kind of active income than a salary. You can work at a fast food restaurant, deliver food, work for a company like Uber and the list goes on to make this kind of money.

3. Commissions

This type of active income stream helps you to make more money. It’s more profitable than the other two because it comes to the sales you make. They are some jobs where you can make commissions on top of your salary. You get this if you are in sales, events and even real estate. You make a percentage of the initial sale. So, it all comes to how much you sold a property or how much a client paid the company for a service.

4. Tips

If you are in the hospitality industry this is the active income you will earn. Tips are based on how much people want to give you. There’s no exact figure though it depends on where you work. For example, you are likely to make more money in tips if you work at a country club compared to a fast food restaurant. It all comes down to where you work.

5. Freelancing and consulting

If none of the above tickles your fancy and you want to be your own boss. You can do this one. Just like passive income streams this active income isn’t as easy as the others listed above. You need to market yourself well, but you can also start on freelancing sites like Fiverr or Guru or even 99Designs. It depends on what you want to do. You calculate your worth. You can earn anything from 6 to 7 figures doing this. They are people who became millionaires on Fiverr. So, the options are there, but it depends on how good you are.

When I was starting I did this and earned quite a bit of money from it as a result.

Which is better passive income or active income?

This depends on where you are in life. If you want to start a business, but are unsure how to do so you can start with freelancing or even the other active income opportunities. If you have time on your hand and even have more money, you can do try your hand at passive income. Each of these income types is worth it. It is worthy, but it all comes to you and your experience level.

I will say this though passive income is better than active income. For a lot of reasons. You make more money in the long run. You can also free up your time when you build the right systems. Even though it does take time it is worth it. So, even though it depends on where you are, you should be focusing on getting yourself ready to build passive income streams.

The great thing about passive income is that you can have numerous streams of income. With active income you have to pick one of two jobs depending on which active income stream you picked. If you have a salary than that will be challenging. The amount of money you make is limited by your hours. Passive income doesn’t have that. You can have seven to twenty-one different ways to make money.

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What is your major takeaway from this blog post? Comment below

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VANESSA

How You Define Success Can Make or Break You

by vanessa | Mar 1, 2022 | Blog, Entrepreneurs, personal development, Success

HOW YOU DEFINE SUCCESS CAN MAKE OR BREAK YOU

How do you define success? It can make or break you the way you define it.

When I was younger, the way I would define success wasn’t positive. It didn’t help me to grow or evolve. It took me a while to understand that the reason why I wasn’t growing, all came down to the way I would define success. Most of us define success as this linear line. There’s point D and we want to move to point A. A lot of us don’t realize that success isn’t linear. There isn’t a point system we need to tick to climb the success ladder. If that was the case than we all would be successful.

It is true that we need to follower those who are successful. They are also strategies that can help us become successful, but it isn’t that simple. Often, success takes different forms. They are people who become successful as a teenager or in their twenties or thirties. Then they are people who become successful at a much older age. Success isn’t about the destination, but the journey. How you define success can make or break you. It can build you up or push you down. Often, our mental gymnastics determine what happens next or what chess pieces move. That is why going into the new year you need to change how you define success.

Take it from me this is important. What I have learned is that when you change how you define success it changes your worldview and you grow much faster than if you keep to a rigid description of success.

The story you tell yourself

When I was in my early twenties, I saw success as a ladder that I needed to climb. This is how I would define success. I needed to tick boxes, here was the thing I didn’t understand what success was. I would watch MTV cribs and wish that one day that would be me. I wanted to be famous. I wanted my face to be plastered on magazine covers and to be interviewed. That is how I defined success. To me if people didn’t really know you then you weren’t successful. If you weren’t an A lister than no one really knew.

It was a rigid way of looking at success. I was interested in the glamor and that was what mattered. The more people knew me then I’d have made it. Here’s the thing this isn’t the right way to define success. This is way of defining success can break you because it pushes the notion that you need to be famous to be successful. That’s not true. They are a lot of famous people who don’t have money. Then they are successful people who aren’t as well-known as A lister but have a lot of money.

What story are you telling yourself? Why are you telling yourself this story? Yes, it’s important to understand the root of the story. Here’s mine. I was a late boomer. Always behind everyone else and I wanted to prove people wrong. I believed to do this I needed to be famous. That wasn’t the truth, I had nothing to prove, but I needed to discover that for myself first.

Your why

Successful people have a strong why. A reason why they want to do something. Being successful is just the reward. If you want to just be successful then you will never reach your goal. Even if you do it won’t feel rewarding. This is the wrong way to define success. It is the reason why so many influencers look unhappy or are depressed. They described success the wrong way. Have you ever watched celebrity interviews, I used to. I watched a lot of them. My favorite was the E True Hollywood Story. Every one of those that were interviewed would say they wanted to entertain people, make them laugh or cry.

They didn’t start of just wanting to be successful. At least not the greats. It was about making people happy or giving them something to root for. Successful entrepreneurs all started with wanting to make the world better. I’m talking about those that make a difference. The ones who have given the world a solution or provided opportunities. They will last for a lifetime because their reason wasn’t monetary. We get the definition of success so wrong.

It isn’t about how much money you have in your bank account. That is a reward. It is about the solution or what you have given the world. How you define success can push you forward or back. It can build you up and change your worldview. So define success the right way. Your why is the link to how you define success. If your why is strong than you are bound to become successful because you are thinking about the bigger picture.

Bigger picture

When your why is strong than you can lean on a bigger picture. When I was younger, I had no idea what I wanted to be known for. I loved writing and I wasn’t too bad at it. But I also loved acting. Writing to me didn’t seem profitable, but I had no idea how to get into acting. I jumped from one thing to the next without any clear idea of how to get to where I wanted. Remember how you define success can also give you a plan. It can give you a bigger picture and the clearer your vision is the easier it is to plan your life.

My vision was blurry so many years I wandered trying to figure it out. That wasn’t easy. I followed every guru under the sun. Okay, maybe that is an exaggeration, but it felt like that was what happened. I tried a lot of things, but never came to fruition. I tried freelancing then ecommerce and I settled on blogging. It gave me a clear picture. I started seeing the bigger picture. How I could turn my blog into a machine. When you settle on one thing it is easier to understand where next you need to go. Most of us follow what every guru says. There is so much information out there that it is easy to get information overload. Here’s the thing, you got to focus on a few gurus because the more gurus you follow it won’t be easy to understand what route you should take.

That’s why it’s important that the way you define success takes in the bigger picture. This will motivate you and encourage you to keep going regardless of the obstacles in your way.

Also Related: 13 Habits of Self-Made Millionaires

Ups and downs

They are two roads in life. The busy highway that everyone takes. On this road you will see lots of sights and cars. It’s crowded so it often takes forever to get to your destination, but it does look like you will enjoy the journey. Then there’s the other road. This one people don’t travel on it a lot. It seems as if there’s no much to see. The road isn’t in good condition, they are a lot of pot holes and the grass isn’t luscious. But if you keep down on this road, you will see so much more. Sights and buildings that you won’t see on the other road.

This road is filled with more adventure. I’m guessing you see where I’m going. How you define success will also give you room to make mistakes? Because that is success. There’s no exact map. No exact route you should take. They are so many obstacles and road blocks. Success isn’t easy. Heck, it is one of the hardest things you will ever do. Starting your own business or doing something most people won’t isn’t easy. If it was then what would be the point? It would be as joyful as interesting or exciting. Success is all about the journey. The experiences you will go through just to get to the end of the rainbow. It’s never ending. There’s so much you will learn about yourself and life.

However you have to accept it has ups and downs. Even when you become successful, you will always have to tweak things. Most of us think it ends right there once you become successful. No. It isn’t that simple. You will be met with so many road blocks. But that is why it’s so worthwhile. How you define success matters?

How do you define success? Has the definition helped you or do you need to work on it. Let me known in the comments section.

KEEP P USHING

VANESSA

Formula for Success in Facing Female Entrepreneur Challenges

by vanessa | Sep 1, 2021 | Blog, Entrepreneurs, Success

FORMULA FOR SUCCESS IN FACING FEMALE ENTREPRENEUR CHALLENGES

Discover the simple formula for success when facing female entrepreneur challenges.

Entrepreneurship is saturated with men, but in the last twenty years, it has seen growth by 114%. As more women are becoming entrepreneurs. Women of color make 70% of that number. More and more women are deciding to start their own companies. Regardless of that, they are still major challenges that they face. These are female entrepreneur challenges that can be upsetting or difficult to swallow. There’s a simple for success that female entrepreneurs can use when facing challenges.

Often, women in history have been looked down on. If we were to pick up a history book we have seen this with female inventors, pilots, actresses, and musicians. Despite how far we have come as a society they are still challenges female entrepreneurs face. I was talking to a friend the other day and we joked about how many of our relatives see what we’re doing as mundane. She joked and said that it isn’t 1998. They are still societal norms that many female entrepreneurs challenge that many of us face. It can be taxing and overwhelming. Today we will talk about how female entrepreneurs can face these challenges. The formula to facing female entrepreneur challenges can be defied.

Defy societal norms

Let’s take the gloves off. When women reach a certain age many expect them to be married and have kids. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s what makes women special. Their ability to produce life. But even women with children seem to believe that they can’t have a family and build a business. They still live in a world where women must take care of the kids and the home. And that is. This is a female entrepreneur challenge. How do you defy societal norms in a world that still paints with white and black colors?

That’s why you have to defy societal norms. Amelia Earhart was told she couldn’t be an aviator because she was a woman. She laughed in their face. And proved them wrong. Marie Curie was told that she couldn’t be a physicist. Her male peers saw her as being ridiculous, how could she become a physicist, but she proved them wrong time and time again. Madam C.J Walker was the first female black entrepreneur in the U.S. She defied the societal norms. They will always be societal norms. People who believe you can’t do something because of A, B, or C. That’s the point. Restrictions are there to be broken. Every female entrepreneur challenge has to be broken to set a new precedent. That way you defy the odds and inspire the new generation.

Expect to change people’s view points

It has been drilled in our heads that women should be caretakers and that is it. But women are more than that. Society looks down on us. Female entrepreneurs are told that they should grow up because it’s ridiculous that they want to be entrepreneurs. Yet, there are more reasons to become an entrepreneur. Expect to wreck people’s expectations. Use that as an advantage. Use that as a point to push yourself further.

As a female entrepreneur, they are many challenges that I face. I grew up in a family of entrepreneurs. My father was an entrepreneur then my mother worked with my father for a few years. I saw they work side by side. I thought this was normal until I was older and realized it wasn’t. When I got older many of my relatives were more concerned about when I would get married than starting a company. At first, this angered me. I wanted to change the world. Make a difference. I wanted to inspire young girls to pursue their passions, but this was seen as a ridiculous notion.

What I have come to understand is everyone has their expectations. Men are the ones who start companies. But many women are realizing they want to change the world. They want to help make the world a better place. So, expect to wreck people’s expectations. Accept that and realize that you will need to prove why your dream matters. Not to anyone, but yourself. Because there will be a time you’ll question yourself. That’s inevitable. The only person you need to prove is yourself.

Fight

Fight for your dream. Fight to be taken seriously. Keep fighting to be heard because many will see your dream as ridiculous. My father told me when he was younger he didn’t know what he wanted to be. When I was twenty-two I had no idea what I wanted. Working for someone made me ill. I couldn’t stand the thought. I couldn’t stand working in a cubicle day in and day out. Or rather sitting in a cubicle. This is what many female entrepreneurs face. Female challenges will determine whether thrive or you don’t

You got to keep fighting. To push yourself past the expectations that have been set. Only then can you make it. Only then can you thrive. The difference between male and female entrepreneurs is that male entrepreneur’s fight for their dreams. Maybe, female entrepreneurs believe that fighting for their dreams is aggressive. Whatever reasons are there it seems a male trait. But that isn’t true. You have been fighting to prove you are good enough. To prove that you can make it. Women fought for the right to vote. They fought for the right to go to university.

As much as we progress, societal norms will always be there. They will always be that aunt who thinks that you pursuing entrepreneurship is a joke. The first female to receive a medical degree in the U.S was British physician Elizabeth Blackwell in 1849. Before then they were no female doctors. Fight for your dream because you decide how far you go.

Also Related: 6 Ways to Start Fighting for Your Dreams

Yearn to make a difference

What motivates or inspires you? For me, it was to make a difference. At the end of the day, entrepreneurship is all about making a difference and changing lives. Yearn to make a difference. Will female entrepreneur challenges change? Maybe or maybe not. No one knows because everyone has their set of expectations. But that shouldn’t stop you from going after what you want.

It shouldn’t stop you from pushing yourself to be the best. Only you can follow your dreams. Only you can change what you believe in. It’s important to believe in something greater than yourself because only then can defy the odds. What motivates you will push you past the ridicule, the societal norms, the heartaches, and negative beliefs. Think of anyone who did something great, they all had to defy the odds. They all had to go through hiccups and bumps to get where they are now. One person can change the world. One person can cultivate and inspire someone to follow their dreams.

Often we are told that’s impossible. But when you see someone else’s success that inspires you. You want to achieve what they have. Even if it seems impossible or unlikely. We all have dreams. Many of us have been too terrified to go after them because of people’s opinions. Female entrepreneur challenges can be daunting, but this should inspire you to keep going for what you want.

What have you learned today and how will you face female entrepreneur challenges? Comment below

KEEP PUSHING

VANESSA

Hands-Down Best Advice About Improving Productivity

by vanessa | Jun 30, 2021 | Entrepreneurs, personal development, Success

THE HANDS-DOWN BEST ADVICE about IMPROVING PRODUCTIVITY

Here is advice about improving productivity

Achieving your to-do list is euphoric. Knowing that you ticked it and finished strong for the day, week and month is sensational. This is all about advice about improving productivity. You feel as if you are on the top of the world, but when you don’t do this it is as if you hit a ton of bricks. Productivity is something we all want to achieve. We want it as bad as ice cream on a hot Summer day. Even though, we know that obsessing about it won’t help we still want to be know we achieved something.

Here’s the best hands-down advice on how to improve your productivity. As someone who struggled with productivity my advice will give you a peace of mind that will help you to understand how to improve. Often, when we are in the thick of a problem, it’s impossible for us to be subjective. That makes it harder to fix the problem and you will end up chasing your tail or rather going around in circles. In today’s blog post, let’s focus on eliminating that and finding solutions that work and prepare you. Most productivity advice doesn’t work because it doesn’t give you advice that you can use.

Let’s say you want to do mountain climbing. One of the first things you need to learn is how to do indoor climbing. Or let’s say you want to learn how to surf. The first thing you are taught is how to balance on your surf board. Not how to move it. No. How to balance. These simple techniques will help you navigate the complicated techniques later on. Foundation is so important when you are learning something. Keep reading. This is advice about improving productivity and will do that.

Slow your row

Do you remember the first time you learned how to swim? Do you remember how panicked you were? Did you sway your arms? Did you swallow water. When I first got into the water, I was given a floaty and given the best advice ever. When you panic, you sink. When you panic you will never learn how to swim. I am telling you the same thing. You want to improve your productivity then slow your row.

What this means is don’t stress. Overcomplicate the process. This is the best advice I can give you because we have a limited number of hours in a day. And when we stress we lose those important hours, minutes and seconds. Those minutes can be used to find solutions for your problems. Take a deep breath and step away from what you need to do for a few minutes. It doesn’t have to be long. Five minutes will suffice. Once, you do that. Take a few breaths. Calm your center. This will help you improve your productivity. Why because when you go back to the problem you will have a set of fresh eyes.

Fresh eyes give you a different perspective. Now, once you do this we can go to the meat of the solution. I promised you I would give you the hands-down best advice for productivity and I want to deliver on that. This advice is about improving your productivity and helping you not get overwhelmed.

Also Related: How to Stop Comparing Yourself to Others

Eat the frog first

Most productivity gurus will tell you that you should eat the frog first and that’s true. This will improve your productivity. What this means is work on the most taxing and difficult task first. When you do this you put the taxing task up front and have more time to do other things. In the morning, this is when I plan out my day and I also write because I can focus better.

The king to productivity is focus. When are you the most alert and focused? Is it in the morning, afternoon or late evening? Whenever it is use this as your time to focus on the hard tasks or most taxing. It will be rewarding to do this because you eliminate the time you will spend time on one project. There’s a big difference between your most focused time and when were your brain is struggling to keep up. When you are in your zone it can take you less than an hour to complete something compared to it taking longer. So, eat the frog first. This should be a part of your morning routine and work through as well. This is one of the best advice I can give you about improving your productivity,

Morning routine is your go-to

You might not be a morning person. Very few people are. Want to know a secret I wasn’t a morning person, but what changed my life was improving my morning routine. It’s the simple things that can push you. It’s also the simple things that can help you improve your productivity. Fix your morning routine. This looks different for different people. For me, it was waking up earlier.

Something happened, I started becoming more productive. I achieved more things in my day. No longer did I get frustrated about not achieving X, Y or Z. Waking up earlier improved my habits as well. This simple tweak helped me in so many ways. This is simple advice about improving productivity and it starts with your morning routine. Here’s how you can work on your morning.

Write your to-do list for the next day
Set your timer to wake up thirty minutes earlier
Go to bed thirty minutes earlier
Get ready for the day
Eat the frog first
Take a break
Now go down your to-do list

This is what you should work on when you are starting out. Now, with time you can wake up earlier, but you need to help your body get used to waking up earlier. If you are used to waking up at 6 am, it will be challenging to set your alarm clock at 5 am.

Also Related: 7 Things Holding You Back in Life

Use timers

Timers can help you improve your productivity. The best timer out there are the pomodoro technique timers. The pomodoro technique is a theory that states you should bulk your tasks into increments of twenty-five minutes. Between each of these increments you have five minute breaks. What this does is help you focus for twenty five minutes on the task behind.

This technique works so well because it looks at human behavior. Do you remember sitting down for a test and the teacher was timing you? Our brains start working over time because we are competitive by nature. Listening to the ticking of the timer will motivate you to concentrate and focus on what you need to accomplish. This will of course take time to get used to. A lot of successful people use timers to push them and motivate them. If you want to improve your productivity then follow this advice. Don’t overcomplicate the process by pushing yourself too far. We can only go so far and if you want to achieve more you will need to learn how to pace yourself. You can use the five minutes as a mini-break and to also look at what you want to achieve.

Stop the perfection round about

I can be a perfectionist and because of that I tend not to do things. If it can’t be perfect, then the world can’t see it. That is my train of thought. I am learning that perfectionism kills dreams, ambition and productivity. No such thing as perfection. Look around you, the world isn’t perfect. Nature is by definition, but not human invention.

Overwork your laptop it crashes. Elevators can stop working. Public transport and cars can breakdown. We can get burnouts. So, why do we believe that we should be perfect. We aren’t. So, this advice will improve your productivity. Why because you will work on something getting down rather than it being perfect. And this here is the key to productivity. Instead of you spending a week to complete a task it will take you a day or two days.

Productivity is all about how much you can do in a certain time frame. The longer you spend on one task, the less productive you are. This advice will help you improve productivity as long as you are willing on pushing perfection to the curb.

Have a birds view of your tasks

This advice will help you improve your productivity. It will help you manage your time and give you a boost of motivation. You need a birds view of your tasks. What this means is you should use a planner or calendar app. This will help you track your tasks easier. This changed the way I work on my tasks. It also helped me with productivity. I know all the things I need to work on and I can then decide when I should work on them.

When you do this you can then batch your tasks. I have a list of blog posts I need to write so what I have started doing is writing a blog post every day. The blog posts will last for two months. This frees up my time for the two months so I can do other things. Many people batch their content. Choosing to focus on other things. When you have a birds view of your tasks you will be able to have a clear progress report. Your progress report will help you understand where you are going wrong and how to improve. This will of course save you time and help you improve your productivity.

There are a lot of free planning apps that you can use to help you with this. One thing to note is that separate your tasks into sections. This will help you figure out what you need to do and then you down the list. For me, I separate my blog posts, YouTube posts and social media ideas into different sections. This will help you not get overwhelmed.

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How do you think this advice will improve your productivity? Comment below

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VANESSA

Shift Failure into Something Positive

by vanessa | Jun 30, 2021 | Entrepreneurs, motivation, personal development, Success

shift failure into something positive

This is how you shift failure into something positive

For failure there are two types of people. Those who handle it well and those who don’t. Many of us fall into the latter camp. Failure sucks. Working on something and it not working the way you want, stings. Pushing yourself and coming up with undesirable results can make you feel like a failure. It can push you into the corner and can cause everything to spiral out of control/

Very few people look at failure as a bridge to success. But it is. That’s why it’s important to shift failure into something positive. Why? Because if you don’t, that’s when fear settles in. Once that happens, it’s hard to push yourself back up. It’s difficult to face your fears because of the fear of failure or rejection. One thing I never thought would happen once I started my business was looking forward to failure. Who even does that? It’s crazy to imagine what life would be like. I’ve failed more times than I can count. I have had to work at something many times until I got it right. Learned new skills and sucked at those.

Something happened along the way. I sucked less. I improved. It pushed me and I became better. Therefore, this blog post will change your life. Well, because it will teach you to shift failure into something positive. That isn’t easy. But nothing is. One thing people will tell you is that you’ll never be successful if you don’t do A or B or C. You’ll never make it unless you do this. I’m here to tell you that shifting your perspective will change the way you look at life and the world.

Failure is the beginning and not the end

Stay with me. When you fail, it’s the beginning. It’s not the end. Remember, you got to shift failure into something positive. It starts with this. When you fail, pick yourself up. You tweak things up and move forward. Every successful person has failed in the beginning. The star tup companies that failed to garner traction. Blog posts or YouTube videos with no views. The marathon you lost. The promotion you didn’t get.

The mistakes you have made along the way. Many people give up when they don’t achieve what they want. They see it as the end of the road. X didn’t happen so I’m not good enough. They are seven billion people on the planet. More than half of that is on the internet. They are millions of blogs, YouTube channels and podcasts. Competition is stiff.

This isn’t to discourage you, but to encourage you. Did you know every day a blog, YouTube channel and podcast are launched? Yes. Every day. Did you know that most quit within three months? So. If you keep going, you’ll find the momentum and will make it. But if you can’t, you’ll give up.

Failure teaches you invaluable lessons

Every successful person has a story of triumph over their failures. That makes them human. It resonates with us. Our thoughts connect. “If they have failed, then I can do this,” that’s what we think. And many of them say I struggled so I know you can do this. We look up to them because of this. And we connect with them more.

Failure teaches you can get up. Once the storm has gone, then you can make it out of it. Shift failure into something positive. Name anyone you follow who has failed. Success isn’t defined by victory, but by failure turned into triumph. Once you overcome your failures, you can teach someone how to overcome it as well. Look at Amazon books, courses, blog posts and podcasts. Many of them describe how to overcome x or beat y. Yes, they talk about how to achieve Z. But many of them strive to make you overcome something in your life. Our failure teaches us invaluable lessons.

Give up control

Certain things are out of our control. The weather, for example. We accept that. We’re even prepared for it. What about the other stuff? You can’t control what people think about you. You can’t control failure or not making mistakes. None of us were born with a guidebook on how to beat the odds. As the saying goes, practice makes perfect. And that’s true. A beginner piano player doesn’t become a virtuoso overnight. A new entrepreneur who launches his company doesn’t become a millionaire in a month.

You don’t have control when you make it. You don’t have control over what mistakes you make and when you make them. Give up the idea you have control. As hard as it is. That’s the blessing in the journey. You learn and grow. You develop. This will change the way you look at yourself and life. Keep shifting failure into something positive. In the beginning it will be hard, but it won’t always be that way. Everything changes. It doesn’t remain the same.

Look at what’s in your control. The dedication you have. How much time you spend building your skills. Your productivity. How much money you invest? Your mindset. When you focus on what you can control, it takes away the pressure.

Keep going

This is one way to shift failure into something positive. You learn how to never give up. When you fail and get over the heartbreak, it strengthens you. Successful people aren’t stronger than all of us. They become it. Failure teaches them how to do it. It isn’t easy. To fail and to keep failing. It hearts. But that’s the joy of failure. Knowing that regardless of how many times you fail, that you will be successful at it.

I wrote a book in 2017 and published it. I failed. It didn’t get any traction. My goal of becoming a New York Times Best-Selling author obliterated. But I survived. Was it hard? Sure. It hurt. Yes. But every day it hurt less and less until it became a blip on a radar. No more did it feel as if it was this big thing? And here’s the thing, I failed because I didn’t do the things I hoped to achieve. And that’s why I’m telling it’s okay. Keep going. Keep moving.

Look back. Not with regret, but with a smile on your face. Failure didn’t destroy you. It didn’t crush your soul. You survived. You didn’t curl into a ball like how movies depict. No. You are a survivor. So, if survived then it isn’t as bad as you thought it would. Putting yourself out there. Is hard. That’s true, but it doesn’t have to be. It doesn’t have to be brutal or scary. Remember that you can do this, you just have to remember that you got this. One thing failure taught me is that it doesn’t have a hold on you unless you allow it to. Don’t wallow in the mistakes you’ve made. Because even when you learn from them, you will make new mistakes. And you will keep on making mistakes. That doesn’t stop. Human error exists because we are flawed. Did you know even with the many edits’ books go through; many still will have errors? Most books have at least five editors, then they will have a proof-reader. Yet, they will still be mistakes. The same can be said with movies. There’s no such thing as a perfect film. Yes, they are movies that are great, almost perfect.

You aren’t alone. Shift failure into something positive. Don’t expect perfection. Go for excellence instead.

How will you shift failure into something positive. Let me known in the comments section.

KEEP P USHING

VANESSA

How to Stop Chasing the Fake Image of Success

by vanessa | Jun 23, 2021 | Entrepreneurs, motivation, Success

How to stop chasing the fake image of success

This is how you stop chasing the fake image of success

We all have chased the fake image of success at some point in time. Every one has a unique assessment of what success is. Many of us don’t realize that this is a fake image of success. Society has led us think we understand what success is. What it means to become successful? As a child, I thought success was this elusive or esoteric quality that only a few people possessed. I believed that you had to be gifted to become successful. Many of us see successful people in this light.

History shows us that we have always viewed the successful, rich or famous as better than us. Even though a lot has changed, our perception of wealth hasn’t. Those who don’t have it will always want it. Many of us view the world through a telescope. The world of the successful is too far out there for us to reach. That’s because we hold onto a fake image of success. My university professor once said that everyone has a perception of what success is. Maybe for you it’s being able to pay for mortgage, having thousands of followers, starting a business or getting awarded for an achievement.

These are big wins. Impressive even. We all crave that. Thinking that it is what it means to be successful. Here’s the unrelenting truth. As impressive as those wins are for some it isn’t enough. We watch successful people and see metrics they’ve achieved. A conclusion is drawn that this is what it means to be successful. We rely on the fake image of success. Choosing not to look too deep. Afraid that we might not like what we see.

Comparison trap

What does success look like to you? Is it financial freedom? Numerous opportunities. Social media followers. What is success look like to you? Many of us can’t answer that question. Because we rely on what society says it is. Films and tv shows portray success and we want to live like our characters. We hear success stories and we want that. Overnight success stories either inspire or demotivate us. We wonder if we will ever achieve that.

There has to be something special about that person. How did they make it with $0. Questions surround us. This is where the comparison starts. Social media is our Achilles heel. I used to compare myself to my friends on social media. They were living the life while I had no clue what the future held. I believed I would be happier if I was living the life they were. All lies. Until you start chasing your dreams you won’t realize what it takes to be successful. Then you realize everyone’s journey is different. The road is either curved or straight. Their circumstances are different.

Stop chasing the fake image of success. What you see often isn’t the reality. What people want you to see sometimes isn’t true. That’s hard to swallow. But it’s true. You have to figure out what success means to you. Research on it and figure out how you can achieve it.

Also Related: How to Stop Comparing Yourself to Others?

Growth mindset

The fake image of success doesn’t last. True success is all about a growth mindset. Creating opportunity where there was none. They are a lot of ways to make money, but none of them are sustainable. Often, these money making methods can cause mayhem instead of success. You need to have a growth mindset to truly become successful.

What this means is you need to work on yourself. You build yourself up. People with growth mindset understand that success is a journey and not a destination. That is what many of us consider success. We see it as a destination. A end goal to achieve, but success is the result of actions we have taken. For example, starting a business is a action. Financial freedom is the end-result of the action you took. Many of us have to alter our perception of success and what it means to us. The journey to becoming successful is filled with road blocks. Finding ways to solving the problems you encounter is how you become successful.

There are a lot of people who have money, but have no idea how to solve their problems. This is a fake image of success. As I said this isn’t sustainable.

Set backs empower you

The fake image of success sets a narrative that there are no set backs. True success is painful. They are numerous set backs. You are pushed down time and time again. You lose sleep, time and money trying to follow success clues. Remember success leaves clues. And that is what you do. You pay thousands of dollars on courses, books and programs. All to become successful.

It’s hard. Stressful. Painful. But it’s worth it. You can’t become successful without going through set backs. These set backs will empower you. Make you see things differently and it will help you solve problems. Every set back can be used as a turning point. In 2016, I hired people to help me build a website. That website failed. Two years I taught myself how to do it myself. People started paying me to help them build their website. That was my first turning point. What do your set backs teach you? Use that to empower and push you forward. The fake image of success will tell you set backs will stop you from becoming successful. This isn’t true. Set backs actually help you to grow a lot faster.

Also Related: 13 Habits of Self-Made Millionaires

No get rich schemes

The fake image of success has held you back for far too long. There’s no substitute for work. Many of us are looking for ways to make money without the heartache or the pain of pushing yourself. True success builds you up. It changes the way you look at the world. Success has changed it’s approach. Now it is all about servitude. But you won’t know this if you don’t work on it.

Starting something new creates changes in you that you never considered. Your habits shift as you work on your dreams. You start to wake up early. Chase your dreams with more vigor. Become more confidant as you realize you want more. Though you wanting more is also about making a difference. You relish in that. Those interested in get rich schemes never become successful. They are people who make money from it, but that doesn’t last. There’s a right way to do things and a wrong way. How many blogs are they on how to make money from get rich schemes? Not everyone makes money from it. But they are people who do. But you won’t make any difference and you can’t replicate your results. That means you have to start from scratch.

When you try to become successful the wrong way it won’t change you. New habits won’t form. Your mindset won’t change. Therefore, it will be a struggle to build yourself back up. This the problem with the fake image of success.

How will you stop chasing the fake image of success? Let me known in the comments section.

KEEP P USHING

VANESSA

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