Underneath the Surface
I have a desire. It’s a deep desire and one that I think that almost everyone has felt at some point in their life. It’s a feeling that might hit you for just a fleeting moment, but you recognize it the instant it happens. Most of the time you shrug it off and get on with your day.
It is the desire to make an impact in the world. To leave a positive legacy behind once you’re gone.
It hits me hard when I see someone else living at the peak of their being – struggling, working, desperately trying to make their personal dreams reality. When I see this, I’m inspired beyond belief to fulfill my own potential.
Even when it’s been a while since I’ve seen someone fulfilling their potential, the feeling is still there. It exists under the surface. A deep, underlying feeling of knowing-ness that I am capable of doing so much more.
Current Projects
I’m working on a project right now that is matching and could possibly exceed the salary I could earn if I was working a so-called “normal” job that I could get using my college degree. Honestly, it’s a project capable of earning six figures.
Here’s the catch. In my quest to develop alternative income sources, ones that are on my terms and are created by me, I find that I have a very hard time reconciling what I am doing with my ultimate mission.
Let’s say for the sake of the discussion that one of my income streams is essentially being paid to write targeted, niche reviews for online businesses. This is great – I can outsource the writing once the scale builds, and I can automate lots of the process. Of course, I’m acting as the mini-CEO of this small business model and overseeing the expansion, automation and any other strategic elements that need to be considered. This is amazing for a few reasons:
- I’ve found a way to create a good stream of income that provides a service people are willing to pay for.
- I’ve found a way that I don’t need to be involved in every bit of minutiae of the business, allowing me to focus on growth.
- I’ve figured out how to at least match the earning potential I could have gotten at a salaried position on my own.
Reflection
When I began writing this post, I was having trouble reconciling the project with my “overall” life mission. Now, as I reread this post and get ready to publish it, I realize that this is perfect training for my ultimate mission. I want to do something that can affect the world in a huge and positive way, so learning how to scale, automate, and run a business is essentially a primer on learning how to gain influence and get a message, product or service out into the world.
This isn’t my ultimate passion, but it’s a really fun, profitable, and interesting way to train for the future.
Founder / CEO of Epic Gardening. Gardener, business-builder, curious.