5 tweaks I made that more than tripled my solopreneur revenue in one year

Blog #141: 5 tweaks I made that more than tripled my solopreneur revenue in one year

Tea Gardens at Munnar, Kerala, India. Photo by Vivek Kumar on Unsplash

How I went from $32K to $100K with these five adjustments

Running a solopreneur business is challenging. Every challenge you overcome in your business often reflects an inner transformation that has taken place within you.

So if you are on this one-person business journey, you have my awe and respect. And if you are struggling to hit your revenue goals despite working on all cylinders, I know exactly how you feel.

I was three years into my freelance web design business and aspired to make my first $100K in annual revenue. However, I was barely making $32K for the year even while working nights and weekends. I wanted to hit my desired revenue goal but was struggling to move the needle in any substantial way.

It was obvious that there were key things that were not really working in my business. I needed to change those if I were ever to get out of my revenue stalemate.

That’s when I decided to take a closer look at how I was running things and make some hard decisions. If you are in a similar boat as a service-based online entrepreneur, solopreneur, or a one-person business wanting to break through your current income ceiling, I wrote this article for you.

In this article, I will share with you five things I adjusted that led to a breakthrough and finally delivered me a $100K annual revenue for my one-to-one web design business. Here’s a summary:

1. Cut down your offers to two

2. Stop doing custom quotes

3. Prime your consultation calls to convert leads into clients

4. Offer a no-brainer package option

5. Invest in a tool for easily getting paid and getting contracts e-signed

Let’s dive right in!

1. Cut down your offers to two

Not an easy task but highly profitable!

I had begun my freelance journey with ConvertKit email marketing services. And as my skills developed over the course of time, I began offering all kinds of services. For instance, I did project management, social media planning, email marketing for Mailchimp, Mailerlite, ConvertKit, tweaks, and updates on Squarespace along with my signature web design services. I was diluting my offers with things that I was capable of doing but with each new offer, a new workflow and system had to be developed. Managing all those systems created clutter and crowded out the area where I wanted to focus: Squarespace Web Design. Plus, I was also launching a couple of courses, had online workshops on offer, and was creating blog posts and videos for my YouTube channel.

That’s when I cut out all my offers down to two:

1. Squarespace Web Design Packages

2. Hourly Maintenance Packages for clients for whom I have already built a website

I decided to say no to any projects that did not fit into my two main offers, even if the clients were amazing and they were willing to pay my prices. I also put a pause on conducting online workshops and content creation to focus on this one $100K goal.

If you find your freelance business bringing in revenue but you are starting to feel stagnated, think of how you can streamline your offers. You may have to let go of your most popular offers if they are too time-consuming or do not bring in much revenue. Reduce your offers down to one or two main offers and see your revenue begin to skyrocket.

2. Stop doing custom quotes

This is a controversial one since many in the service-based industry rely on custom quotes. In my view, custom quotes are hugely time-consuming. My consult calls were often long and drawn out and then I would spend 3 to 4 hours preparing a customized quote. Half a day went into client acquisition and then often these specific clients would not choose to work with me.

I knew I had to change this. I decided to craft a couple of design packages where I would deliver a set number of deliverables which clients can choose from if these packages fit their needs. I would determine the time it would take to complete these tasks and how much I would feel good to get paid for it all.

This one decision saved me a ton of time and actually led to closing more projects as clients knew exactly what they were signing up for even before they met me on the call. My prices were transparently listed on my website. So regardless of what your net worth is, my packages don’t change based on your wallet size! I liked the democratic feeling of that and that’s how I would love to be treated by people I hire as well.

Consider creating custom quotes in your freelance business. Whether you are a copywriter or a graphic designer or a fitness coach offering 1 to 1 services, create attractive packages instead of doing custom quotes. Price them well and then blow your clients away with awesome value.

Take this approach for a test drive. If you don’t jive with it, you can always go back to custom quotes. But if you do it right, packages will change your business for the better and you will see an increase in time, flow, and revenue in your business.

3. Prime your consultation calls to convert leads into clients

One of the problems I faced was converting interested people into clients for my web design packages. I realized that these potential clients were faced with information overload during the hiring process. First, there are many designers to choose from and then each one has their own, often, complicated system. Then the client speaks to me and hears one more business model that they had to now understand in order to decide if we were a right fit. Often my consult calls would drag on for an hour or an hour and a half and still not help the client to make a decision. So I decided to change how I conducted the consultation calls.

I implemented these changes:

1. Reduced the consult call to 30 minutes (if they wanted to chat more they could pay a consult fee)

2. Broke down my call into three main parts:
   a. the client’s problem/goal,
   b. info about my packages,
   c. getting booked, and next steps.

3. Changed how I presented my offer and added price anchoring to make it easy for clients to choose working with me

Having a structured consultation call has been a game-changer. If your calls are dragging on without clients deciding to hire you on the call, then you need to revise what you say on your consultation call.

To help you do just that, I have written out a minute-by-minute playbook of what you should say during your 30-minute complimentary call. I call it my 100K Consult Call Script and you can get it here — my gift to you.

Change your consult call structure, reduce the call down to half an hour, and present your offers using price anchoring. This will create a thrust in your airplane of a small business and your business will take off!

4. Offer a no-brainer package option

My design package at the time was priced at $3500 for a two-week website build for 5 pages. I was meeting a lot of clients who were just starting a new business for whom that was a high budget. Now my two-week design packages are at $9800 and may even be more by the time you read this. And yes, I enjoyed working on two-week websites. Clients were fun to work with and the website content was interesting to build.

But I didn’t like the feeling of turning away clients who clearly loved the idea of working with me, only if there was a better financial fit. However, I didn’t like the idea of reducing my prices on the two-week package for just those clients who could not afford my packages.

Enter: Website In A Day Package

Instead, I decided to reduce the time and deliverables. I came up with a Website In A Day package which I would deliver in a single day. It would only be a three-page website at US$1500 (later $1800) This pricing is likely more by the time you read this article or the package may no longer be on offer in the future).

Over time, I perfected this day-long design process. I made it super streamlined with me knowing every task that needs to get completed and by when. Clients loved the affordability and the fast turnaround aspect, plus they loved that they could get to work with me at a price point better suited for their new business.

This one offer was exactly what folks were looking for. In 2022, I booked 28 Websites In A Day which made for 42% of my annual revenue goal.

If you are a web designer or freelancer service-based business owner wanting to hit the $100K mark in your business, such a streamlined no-brainer package will help you get there.

5. Invest in a tool for easily getting paid and getting contracts e-signed

This one investment has had an immense ROI (return on investment) in my business because it made it super easy for clients to hire me. Before this app, I would send my clients a digital contract in one email from an app. Then I would send them a payment link or an invoice from another app. Clients would either sign the contract but not pay on time or pay but not have the contract signed on time. This caused unnecessary delays and confusion.

When I invested in Honeybook, this changed overnight. Honeybook have a brochure feature which I have not seen anywhere else: it allows you to send one email that has both the payment button as well as the e-contract for e-signature.

One. Single. Email.

I created a template for this which I would then customize for each new client project — so creating the contract and payment email would take about 20–30 minutes vs several hours before Honeybook.

Honeybook* (affiliate link) is just one example. There are other tools and if you find one you like, go for it. My point is: find a system/app that makes the hiring process easy for your clients so you can get to work and focus on the creative part of the design business.

On a side note, I do want to mention that I have always gotten paid in advance by my clients, either online or in person. Having the money question out of the way has opened up my creativity and focus so that during the project I am not worried about whether or not I will get paid. I highly recommend getting paid well before the project starts so you too can unleash your creativity and serve your clients in the best possible way. Clients have had no issues paying upfront, it’s only a mental hurdle in the mind of the freelancer that folks won’t want to do it. This is a topic for a whole other article but I wanted to mention it here briefly.

So there you are. Five changes that helped me hit my coveted goal and actually more than tripled my revenue from $32,171.30 in 2021 to $106,375.28 in 2022. I invite you to consider these changes in your business and see what happens:

1. Cut down your offers to two

2. Stop doing custom quotes

3. Prime your consultation calls to convert leads into clients

4. Offer a no-brainer package option

5. Invest in a tool for easily getting paid and getting contracts e-signed

Let me know in the comments how you would apply these 5 points and whether you have them implemented.

PS: For more tips and invites to trainings on how to grow your freelance online business, join the Abundant Creative Newsletter here.

Content Creation & Overcoming the Pressure For Excellence

Blog #140: Overcoming the Pressure For Excellence

Photo by Jr Korpa on Unsplash

Being an expert on a topic is great. And hopefully, you are on the journey to becoming good at whatever it is that you want to do.

But right now, if you don’t consider yourself an expert, let that not stop you from starting. How?

You do that using three specific ways of thinking that I will share in this article.

The Excellence Pressure & The Heavy Mental Cost
There is a real drive for excellence in our culture. Whether it is getting straight A’s, being multi-disciplinary or well-rounded in all subjects, and earning a high income, the emphasis on being really really good is tremendous. It comes from our parents, our friends, from pop culture and media at large. Some of it is also self-created, of course.

Although creating excellence in any field is a worthy aspiration, the pressure when not handled right starts killing our spirits and our creativity and unfortunately, also literally killing us. It can show up in being prone to illness, becoming unhealthy in our food intake, and postponing movement. It shows up in emotional distress and the inability to deal with setbacks we face in life such as heartbreak, job loss, or other types of hardships, and sadly, shows up as countless people of all ages succumb to the pressure that leads to suicide.*

The need to be good, nay, excellent at something even before one has begun is something I have felt every time I write a blog or Medium article. I feel it before I post on Linkedin or begin to create content for YouTube.

These are some thoughts that fly through my mind:

I am not an expert. This exact topic has been written about by people before. And they have written better pieces of work. Plus, they are Stanford or Harvard professors who have written books and taught the subject for decades.

So the conclusion I make is:

Whatever I say or write will be irrelevant, will not be excellent, and cannot be of value as a result. Thus, no one will watch it or read it. I should just give up, curl up in a ball, and go hide under a rock.

Yes, I know. It’s intense!

This is something I have often felt; far too often. I felt it before writing this article.

And I share this because there is a false sense of perfection that we feel the need to present to the outside world. How many times have you put your “game face” on right before a client call on Zoom, having just cried your face off a few minutes before? I have. Plenty of times.

While researching for this article, I came across this article in the New York Times* about the “practice of acting happy and self-assured even when sad or stressed”. The article presents this description of students on college campuses who feel the pressure to put up a positive front even when they are facing hardships:

”In 2003, Duke jolted academe with a report describing how its female students felt pressure to be “effortlessly perfect”: smart, accomplished, fit, beautiful and popular, all without visible effort. At Stanford, it’s called the Duck Syndrome. A duck appears to glide calmly across the water, while beneath the surface it frantically, relentlessly paddles.”

The Duck image says it all.

Translate the above to the pressure of perfection in writing and creating content and you get the point.

To break this chain of thought, I then, have to actively remind myself of a few very healthy, wholesome pieces of advice:

1. “What a terrible conclusion!”

First, “What a terrible conclusion!” This makes me laugh because it’s a line from one of my favorite SNL skits ( see 1.48 seconds into this clip or watch the whole 5 min! The Nuni’s (Natalie Portman) new boyfriend Geoff (Jason Sudeikis) asks whether Gorillas were killed to make the “hair chair” he is sitting on. Then the mom, Nuni (Maya Rudolph) responds, “What a terrible conclusion!” in the most funny way, at least to me. And it makes me laugh each time. My husband and I say this line to each other whenever we have a misunderstanding of some sort and we break into laughter.

This is a scene at our home: One of us says,” The cats look hungry. It seems that no one fed them.” To which one of us replies, ”What a terrible conclusion!” We both break out in laughter.

Okay, I digress.

So I remind myself that because I am not an expert or don’t have degrees or decades committed to the subject, doesn’t make my writing any less valuable. “That’s a terrible conclusion”, I say to myself. By that logic, no one would ever say a word or write a thing until they had already reached excellence. This of course doesn’t mean I don’t work towards excellence. But on the path to it, I can still be making a difference.

2. Make a Contribution to the Conversation

Denise Duffield Thomas of the Lucky Bitch books has a piece of advice that I want to share with you. She says to think about anything you are doing as “making a contribution” to the conversation. She is a money mindset author and coach. When she was starting out, she understood that there were other money experts out there like Suze Orman. But instead of letting that discourage her, she decided to contribute to the conversation of improving our money mindset - sharing her angle, her thoughts, her experiences.

I love that. Because now, with that kind of approach, the pressure is off. You are contributing to the conversation not necessarily having to be the last word on any topic.

3. Be an Enthusiast
Another way to think about it is how Gary Vee puts it: Be an enthusiast.

Create content and in doing so, show your enthusiasm about a topic, you get to learn about yourself and what you are curious about. Share your enthusiasm on the topic and you don’t have to be an expert.

Don’t claim to be an expert. Simply share your enthusiasm!

So whether you remind yourself of “what a terrible conclusion!” you are making when you count yourself out or to contribute to the conversation or be an enthusiast on a topic, remove the pressure on yourself that is stopping you from creating and bringing your gifts to our world.

This is a surefire way to remove the fear of not being perfect in what you are creating. Let there be typos. I have seen typos in best-selling New York Times books that had a team of editors and years of production time. Allow yourself to be human! This advice is for me as much as for anyone reading this article.

All of this will help you to create, innovate, and move forward. It will remove the hurdle of waiting until you are great at something.

Start now.

Do this now.

And the fruit of this process might just be you demonstrating excellence.

Share your experience with this in the comments. I would love to know what goes on your mind when it comes to creating.

PS: For more tips and invites to trainings on how to grow your freelance online business, join the Abundant Creative Newsletter here.

Sources:

Robinson Ph.D., Bryan. “Grappling With The Rise Of Work-Related Suicide During The Pandemic: How To Support Yourself And Fellow Coworkers.” Forbes, 5 Sept. 2020, https://www.forbes.com/sites/bryanrobinson/2020/09/05/grappling-with-the-rise-of-work-related-suicide-during-the-pandemic-how-to-support-yourself-and-fellow-coworkers/?sh=6aa65bf548d2 Retrieved on Feb 6th, 2024

Scelfo, Julie. “Suicide on Campus and the Pressure of Perfection.” The New York Times, 2 Aug. 2015, https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/02/education/edlife/stress-social-media-and-suicide-on-campus.html Retrieved Feb 6th, 2024

SNL. “The Art Dealers: Their Daughter’s New Boyfriend” YouTube, 1 Feb 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVqagvk7dLw

GaryVee. “A Rant That Will Destroy Your Imposter Syndrome On Social Media” YouTube, 9 Aug 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpVX4jJNu4k

24 Tools I Use To Run My Freelance Web Design Business

Blog #139: 24 Tools I Use To Run My Freelance Web Design Business

Photo by Gaelle Marcel on Unsplash

Recently, I reviewed all the tools that I use in my freelance web design business. I like to take an inventory from time to time to see where I can invest in tools that will help me simplify and streamline my business, and remove those that don’t serve me anymore.

In 2024, it turns out I currently use 24 tools to run my business and deliver my design packages. In today's article, I am breaking them into six categories so it’s easier to follow: client acquisition and communication, payments, design, organization and project management, legal, finances, taxes, admin, content production, and social media.

I. Client Acquisition and Communication

1. Zoom: Zoom for consult calls, and client communication during projects as well as webinars and paid workshops.

2. 9Designs/Squarespace Marketplace: This is my main source of client projects. Many new designers hesitate to go on a freelancer platform because of the fees they charge. But if you are not booked out or making the revenue goal you want, getting a profile set up on a platform like Upwork or others and diligently applying to jobs will make a huge difference. Remember it won’t be forever, just to get your foot into the door.

3. Squarespace (Hosting, Domain, Client intake, online presence): This is where I host my website, purchased my domain, and have an online presence. As a Squarespace web designer, this makes sense.

4. ConvertKit: This is my email marketing platform. Mailerlite is my second favorite as it is cheaper and delivers the key features that Convertkit delivers. But the user interface and ease of use of ConvertKit keep me there for now.

5. Google Workspace (for email): This is where I get my business email from.

6. Google Drive (for client content): I use Google Drive to receive all client content including text, images, logos, and links. They also fill out two questionnaires which are hosted on my website.

7. Keynote: I love using Keynote, mostly for presentation slides for my webinars or YouTube videos. I have also used Google Slides, which I may switch to in the future.

8. Pages: I love Pages for creating PDFs - such as my welcome package, finished website PDF, and my Bio/Testimonials PDF that I send to any new client inquiring about a project.

9. WeTransfer: If I am not sending a recording link of my website launch training on Zoom, I may send the entire video recording via WeTransfer.

10. Acuity Scheduling: This is the app that I got legacy pricing on as I was using it when Squarespace first acquired it. So I have all my consult calls on there. Calendly, and Whereby are my other alternatives.

11. Loom (for client communication): During my two-week design project workflow, I will often use Loom for presenting my design draft or asking a question to a client. This allows for more asynchronous communication and avoids lengthy meetings on Zoom.

12. Honeybook: This tool can be it’s own productivity app. But I primarily use it for sending a single email that has both the payment link and the contract in one. This has saved countless hours of back and forth and got me booked faster.

II. Payments

13. Stripe: Stripe is the tool I use for receiving payments for clients who book me directly via my website or if I have digital products or live paid workshops.

14. Paypal: Paypal is the payment processor that I use to get paid for my projects via 99Design. Squarespace integrates with both Stripe and Paypal, so if you create a product or service there, you can offer both options to your clients.

III. Design

15. Canva: Mostly for creating video clips, documents, and some graphics.

16. Picmonkey: I use Picmonkey for image alterations, enhancement and YouTube thumbnails

IV. Organization and Project Management

17. Notion: This is now my entire business operations. I have my goals, workflows, content creation, everything in Notion.

18. Milanote: Milanote is where my headquarters used to be. I have moved most of my things from Mila to Notion but still have some archives there which I would like to eventually move to Notion and have a single online headquarters.

(See also point 6). Google Drive: (Google Docs and folders for client content) Google Drive is mostly for clients to send me their content inside Google Docs and folders.

V. Legal, Finances, Taxes, Admin

19. Turbo Tax: I use Turbo Tax to pay my taxes.

(See also point 6) Google Drive (Finance Spreadsheet): This is where I track my income and expenses. I find it very encouraging to track income and potential income in here.

VI. Content Production and Social Media

20. QuickTime: Quicktime is what I use for recording my screen and also my face for YouTube tutorials.

21. iMovie: This is my editing software. I am keeping things simple with video editing. I may explore other options like Final Cut Pro or hire a video editor when things progress in my content creation branch of my business or for course creation.

22. YouTube: All my long-form videos are published on YouTube. This is part of my leveraged business model.

23. LinkedIn: Also part of my leveraged business model, LinkedIn is where I post short-form content and link it to my website.

24. Medium: Also part of my leveraged business model, Medium is where I post my long-form content and link it to my website.

These are all the paid and free tools I use in my one-to-one web design business. I have also used Upwork in the past for client acquisition and Teachable/Crowdcast for course hosting and webinars but I don’t use these anymore. I may have a section for courses and digital products here later when I grow that part of my business.

There you have it: six categories and 24 tools to grow and build my solopreneur online web design business. Post below in the comments any apps that are critical to your business or alternatives you think I should consider to those I am currently using.

PS: For more tips and invites to trainings on how to grow your freelance online business, join the Abundant Creative Newsletter here.

Cop-out or Commitment to 10X

Blog #138: Cop-out or Commitment to 10X

Photo by Rohan Reddy on Unsplash

What feels like a commitment to you, may look like a cop-out to others.

That’s what happened recently when I called off a new project even before it began.

The project was a new YouTube interview series where I would chat with web designers, freelancers, and content creators. The aim: to help freelancers build and grow their solopreneur business online.

It was exciting. Four people booked to be guests. But as it got closer to getting things organized, I felt this increasing unease. After a day of feeling a knot in my stomach, I called it off.

From the outside, this looks like a cop-out. I seem unreliable and flip-floppy in my decisions. But on the inside, this took courage. Courage not only to write that message to my guests but courage to stay committed to my Unique Ability.

I was committing to my Unique Ability.

What is “Unique Ability”?

At the start of this year, I learned deeply about this idea in the book, 10X is Easier than 2x by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy. They write that your Unique Ability is “where you have superior skills, where you’re intrinsically motivated and are energized and engaged, and it’s where you see a never-ending possibility for improvement.” It’s about becoming familiar and really clear about what you like and dislike and that your judgments about your experience are completely valid. It’s becoming open to your preferences and not letting other people’s opinions about what you do affect you.

”Unique Ability is qualitative and individual, it’s extremely unique value that only you can create…It’s a combination of a degree of skill as well as an extreme degree of uniqueness.” - Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy

It’s akin to what I have heard Oprah Winfrey in her talks and speeches mention repeatedly when she said, “I want to fulfill the highest, truest expression of myself as a human being.”

But as the authors write in the book, committing to one’s Unique Ability is the “hardest and most intense thing you will ever do.” It’s about taking inventory of where you are investing your time and what activities are taking up your mental bandwidth.

That takes courage. Saying no to invitations is hard. Choosing to work a 4-day week is not easy. Filling up your calendar with the most important items will lead to very little time remaining for anything else. And canceling projects you asked your guests to join, not just once, but twice, does feel awkward.

“I want to fulfill the highest, truest expression of myself as a human being.”

— Oprah

Facing One’s Ego

Sometimes you’ve got to face your past decisions. The first time I canceled the YouTube interview series was because I had already a very full schedule and I was trying to squeeze-in one more thing into my calendar. I could see that I was moving toward burnout very fast this way. So I dropped the project.

The second time I canceled the project was out of a renewed sense of self-awareness.

"As you develop your Unique Ability...You'll stop forcing yourself to do anything you don't want to do. You'll accept and live by what psychologists call pull motivation, rather than push motivation. When you're pulled by what you want and what excites you, that's freedom and intrinsic motivation. You'll no longer operate based on need, but want." - Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy

After taking time to reflect on my goals, I realized that starting the interview series was based on a need, not a true desire or want. I was giving in to this idea that creating a YouTube interview series is something I "should" do because I heard or read somewhere that this is a great way to build an audience and grow my business. Although I was excited about meeting the guests and asking them questions, the whole logistics of conducting the series, editing, and putting it all together was something that had begun to drain me. Sure, I can outsource all of that but the project as a whole was making me feel out of my element. I started to get this feeling that I should dye my hair, buy new makeup, and change who I essentially am so I can be “good enough” to host the show!

Changing myself to be “good enough”! Phew! These are all signs that I was embarking on this project because of some idea that was not inherently mine. It was not an authentic desire driving me forward. It came from a feeling that I “should do” this. And that is not healthy or wholesome.

Questions You Can Ask Yourself When Making Decisions

If you are faced with a decision and don’t quite know which path to take, ask yourself these questions. Then assess if a project or a decision is something you want to embark on and if it’s helping you towards your 10x goals.

1. Is this in alignment with my Unique Ability?

2. Is this something that is fun, enjoyable, or inspiring?

3. Will this project help me explore the edge of my 20%?

Letting Go is Part of Embracing The 20%

One of the ideas in the book is about letting go of the 80% to focus on the 20%. This 20% is the edge where you take what you are really good at and get even better. It’s connected to going 10x which is an ongoing process of increasing the quality and decreasing the quantity of what you do. The 20% of everything you do is where the magic lies, allowing you to focus on the 10x goals, and that requires you to focus on fewer things than many.

Letting go more and more of the 80% that takes up your time is essential if you want to go 10x. This doesn’t necessarily mean eliminating it altogether, of course; it can mean delegating to a new hire or automating the tasks. But it is also about letting go of that which is not serving your 10x goals.

Committing to Your Unique Ability

As I read the chapter on Unique Ability in the book, I realized that if I am not enjoying the things I am doing in my business, then I shouldn’t be doing them. Either eliminate or delegate. As soon as I made the decision to call off the interview series, a knot in my stomach seemingly released. I felt at ease. I felt free.

Diving deeper into what inspires me, I realize that what I truly want to do is write and share ideas, insights, and strategies that can help online entrepreneurs and freelancers succeed. It’s not making YouTube interview videos unless I can tap into it from a true desire that brings joy and excitement and I am open to that happening at a later time.

Letting go of something you’ve started is okay. Even if it seems to others as wishy-washy behavior. You are allowed to re-commit to your most important priorities, to your 10x goals, to your Unique Ability. What others think of how you commit your time is none of your business!

I am committing to my Unique Ability.

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PS: If you are on LinkedIn, I invite you to ​connect with me​ there for more conversations and connections. If you want more tips and invites to trainings on how to grow your freelance online business, join the Abundant Creative Newsletter here.

I don’t Own A Toaster

Blog #137: I don’t own a toaster.

I don't own a toaster.

I don't own it because I like my kitchen counter free of appliances. In fact, I like my kitchen counter with nothing on it - wide, empty, and clear like watching the ocean from the shore!

I make my toast in the oven.

When people come to my home and I make them breakfast, I use my oven to make them toast. They comment, "Wow, you don't own even $10 toaster?"

And I smile with peace. I have the $10 to buy a toaster but I choose not to.

These are the kinds of choices my hubby and I make on the regular. They don't fit the norm but they fit our sense of a "rich life" to borrow Ramit Sethi's phrase.

From time to time, I find myself making decisions based on other people's expectations or the unspoken rules of society and I have to remind myself to find my authentic preference. It's not easy. But I practice with small things like the toaster!

What choices could you make in your life that are truly motivated by your personal preference, point of view, and values out of inner alignment? What ideas, practices, and values can you let go of that don't bring forth your truest, most authentic self?

I'll leave you with this quote which has inspired me today:

“Wealth has little to do with how much you earn and a lot to do with how you live. One of the simplest ways to grow wealthier is pushing to detach yourself from peer pressure and care less about what people think of how you live.”

— MORGAN HOUSEL

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PS: If you are on LinkedIn, I invite you to ​connect with me​ there for more conversations and connections. If you want more tips and invites to trainings on how to grow your freelance online business, join the Abundant Creative Newsletter here.