No one likes to think about recessions. They can range from unsettling to completely terrifying depending on your financial and job situation. But when you couple a economic worries with the current anxiety about COVID-19, things get a whole lot scarier. If you are still earning a paycheck, but are starting to realize that your personal economy isn’t as strong as you would like, read on for 6 things you can do to prepare your finances for COVID-19, even if everything else in your life seems out of control.
Check your monthly bills
One of the best and fastest ways to make yourself feel as if you have more control over things is to lower your monthly bills. I know what you are thinking: “Dude, we’re in a lockdown, I am NOT getting rid of Netflix to save $20 a month.” But what if you could lower your bills without getting rid of ANYTHING? A few years ago, I decided to check all of my monthly payments, even the ones I didn’t want to get rid of. It didn’t take more than a couple of hours, and I lowered my monthly bills by $50 without cancelling a single service. Add to that some of those “free trials” that I had forgotten to cancel before they started charging me, and I lowered my monthly bills by another $100 on services I didn’t even realize I was paying for!
Here’s the big thing. Even though it seems like a drag, you need to call EVERY service you pay for monthly. When I did this for the first time after my husband and I were married, I found out we were still subscribed to the DVD-by-mail service from Netflix. We loved Netflix, but hadn’t seen those DVDs in years. I found them, sent them back, and cancelled that part of the subscription. It only saved us $12/month. But when you add it up, we had probably spent over $100 for those 2 DVDs that we never. even. watched.
If going through your bills sounds like a great idea, but you don’t know where to start, I’ve totally got your back. I’ve created a Free 5 Day Found Money Challenge. It will take you step by step to help you find money you may not even realize you are spending, including word-for-word scripts to request special offers and lower your bills. What would it mean to you to pay $150 LESS per month for things you totally don’t even realize you are paying for? So click here if you are ready to find some money.
Create an emergency fund
Now that we’ve got you a little bit of room in the monthly budget, let’s move on to step 2. The most important thing that will help the average person weather a financial crisis is an emergency fund. However, an astonishing number of people don’t have any money in savings at all. So if you’re in that boat, you are not alone. Knowing you’re not the only one isn’t going to pay many bills, though, so let’s change that fast. If you’ve started lowering your bills with the 5 Day Found Money Challenge, you’re in a great place. Take the money you used to be spending, and start – or add to – your savings.
By opening a bank account at a totally separate bank
Maybe you have the best intentions to do this. Maybe you have even tried before and the money just seems to evaporate. If so, here is the step you’re missing. This money can’t be at your normal bank. You need to open a totally new account at a totally new bank.
“Why? Why would I do that?” you’re thinking. “That makes it such a hassle to get my money out.” Yes, folks. We have a winner. That is exactly the point. This is supposed to be where you KEEP money, emphasis on the KEEP. We don’t want it to be easy to get to. We want it to be possible to get to it, but definitely not easy.
Now that we’ve got that cleared up, here are the details. It can be a savings or a checking account, but it should be a FREE account. There are lots of no-frills accounts where you can just park money for free. As a matter of fact, a lot of banks will actually pay to to open an account, especially if you have some money to deposit when you open it. If you want to take the time to find a place where you can earn a couple hundred dollars for opening account, check out this link. Just be sure to read the fine print. And again, make sure that this new account isn’t costing you any of that hard earned money you just found.
Now figure out how much money you want to put aside each month, and set up an automatic transfer. This is the way my husband and I saved over $40,000 in a year. When I went back to teaching full time, I set up a separate account at a new bank. Then I had my ENTIRE paycheck deposited there. We never saw that money, so it didn’t get spent. And since we were used to living on his salary, we didn’t even notice. But that never would have happened if my paycheck had touched our joint account. It had to be separate.
How much should I save?
Honestly, as much as you can. Most experts recommend that a fully-funded emergency fund should be 3-6 months worth of expenses. If you’re starting from scratch it’s going to take quite a while to get there, so for now, get enough that you can sleep at night. Unless you have reason to believe you or your partner are going to lose your job, I would say no more than about 2 months expenses if you still have credit card debt.
Why not as much as possible? That’s a great question. The bottom line is no one can predict the future. But if you have high interest credit card debt, you are paying HUGE amounts of money in interest alone. So you don’t want to be sitting on a ton of cash at the same time you are paying 25% interest on credit cards.
Finding the right balance
One way around this Catch-22 is to set a certain amount for a starter emergency fund, and then switch to paying off debt. When all debt is covered, then you switch back and finish up the emergency fund. For me, I would have a lot of trouble sleeping at night if I didn’t have at least one month’s worth of expenses saved up. So maybe the logical thing to do is to focus on saving a one-month emergency fund, then paying off one credit card, then saving another month, and so on.
If you have read my series on Dave Ramsey’s Baby Steps, you’ll realize that this is contradicting his advice to save only $1000 and then pay off ALL debt before finishing the emergency fund. But there is a reason I don’t like that advice at this exact point in time. There is so much uncertainty right now. Nobody can predict what the next week will bring, much less the next month or even the next 2 months. In times of uncertainty, cash is king.
For example, what if someone in your family gets sick and racks up huge medical bills? Cash gives you options. So let’s get some options, in the bank, OK?
Pay off debt
OK, so you have decided to get an emergency fund saved up. And you’ve chosen an amount to start with, one that’s enough to let you sleep at night, but not take 6 months to save up. Now it’s time to kick the debt pay off into high gear. For this, definitely start with your smallest debt. Why? Because every debt that you pay off is one less payment you’ll have if you get laid off. Even a reduction of $50/month in minimum payments can reduce the stress and make the emergency fund go a little further.
So this is what you do. Make minimum payments on everything but your smallest debt, and pound that sucker. Pay it off as quickly as you possibly can. Put every extra penny toward paying off that first debt. When the littlest debt is paid off, take that minimum payment, add it to the payment on the 2nd littlest, and pound that one.
Once you’ve paid off a few debts, you might want to re-assess. Does your job seem stable, or is there trouble on the horizon? If it seems stable, you might want to stay the course. But if there is talk of a RIF at work, or if your partner’s job seems shaky, you might want to increase the emergency fund a little more before you pay off any more debt.
Create a side hustle – or two
It sounds crazy to do when you can’t leave your house, but there are always ways to make money if you keep your eyes open. They range from a few extra bucks to over $2000 a month. Some will pay off right away and others will take time to ramp up.
For a little extra money, try doing surveys online. If you want to make some serious cash think about what skills you already have and how you can make money with those. If you’d like to get the real scoop on VIPKID, you can check out my interview with a friend of mine here. She’s been doing VIPKID for almost a year and it really works for her. Another friend has built a successful indexing business and earns a full-time income from it. You can read more about that one in this blog post.
The best thing about a side hustle is that this it goes hand in hand with the others and will help them to go a lot faster if you do it right. Ay extra money you make gives you more money to put toward your emergency fund or your debt. The important thing here is not to spend much money setting it up. Times like these bring scammers out of the woodwork, so if somebody wants you to pay for the chance to make money, do some serious research before plunking down any of your money.
There is one SUPER important thing to remember here, though. Any money you make from a side hustle might not have taxes withheld, especially if it is a small business you start on your own. Make sure to put about 25% of that money back so Uncle Sam doesn’t surprise you with a big tax bill next April.
Update your skills
If you feel like your job isn’t as secure as you’d like it to be, getting a few new skills under your belt might be just as important as income. Focus on skills that would make you more valuable in your current job or more marketable if you needed to go job hunting. Computer skills are always a good bet, but if you are almost proficient in a foreign language, that might be a good choice, too.
Again, spending an arm and a leg isn’t a good choice. But you can get an absolute TON of learning for free online. Check out this list of the 10 best sites for FREE learning. Or this one for specific IT courses.
Choose and implement 1 new frugal habit
One of the things that trips a lot of us up when we want to reduce spending is feeling like we have to rein it all in at once. We rush in, slash like crazy, and then give it up after a week and a half because it’s just too overwhelming.
Let’s not do that, K? Instead, pick one item, JUST ONE in which you could make some cuts. Then create a plan. If you have been engaging in a lot of – um retail therapy – cutting that out would be a huge one. Maybe you’re ordering take out, but have plenty of time to cook now that you’re at home more. How about learning just 2 new recipes? Or if you’re already comfortable in the kitchen, maybe try your hand at freezer meals so you can avoid expensive take out when this is all over.
Again, don’t try to do it all. Choose one thing. Just one. And do it until it becomes easy.
Again, I’m sure you have a LOT more ways you could cut expenses, but pace yourself. This ain’t no sprint. It’s a marathon, Honey! Give yourself time to really solidify one frugal habit before you rush into another one. My suggestion would be to aim for no more than one new money-saving habit every 2-4 weeks. You want it to become so routine that it doesn’t takes almost no willpower at all to continue it. That way, when you add another habit, the first one doesn’t fall to the side.
Years ago I was involved with a Multi-level marketing company. It wasn’t a monetary success, and I never netted a penny, but I credit it with one of the most important and life-changing lessons I have ever experienced. Are you ready? Sitting down? Taking notes? Well, you probably don’t need to, because like most really transformational lessons, it is maddeningly simple. So what is it?
Your brain, like your body, is only as healthy as what you put in it.
Most of us know that you can’t eat fast food 10 times a week and gorge yourself on soft drinks if you want to have a strong, healthy body that can withstand sicknesses. However, very few of us realize that the same it true for our brains. Yes, I am telling you to brainwash yourself. Why? Because that crap you put in your brain is nasty, and it needs a good washing.
“Hold on,” you say. “I never watch dirty stuff. I would just not do that.” Well, I’m not talking about racy material, I’m talking about the trash that gets thrown at us all day long. Like, you know – the news. NCIS. Reality TV that highlights the very worst of human nature. And it doesn’t just come from the media. Teachers’ lounge talk, any one? Maybe your sister who can’t put three sentences together without complaining. It takes its toll, just like soft drinks and hamburgers.
How it started
When I was in the MLM, one of the things they were always pushing us to do was listen to a business-related CD every single day. (Of course, the profits for this particular MLM came more from the CDs than the products, so their motives weren’t exactly pure.) I wanted to be successful, so I did it. Now, I’ve told you that I never made a penny from that company, but that one habit was probably worth more money than I could have imagined.
Changing what I put into my brain has changed how I see my life. I would listen to something inspirational and it would drown out the little voices in my head that kept telling me I could never accomplish anything really great. I would listen to a story about someone who had it way worse than I did, but just kept going, and I would find the strength to make one more phone call, or set up one more meeting.
After three years, I realized that the MLM I was working with was simply not a quality company, and I should just cut my losses and persue other avenues. However, I couldn’t quit the CD’s. I kept them in my car. I listened to them instead of the radio. And my life kept getting better. I felt happier. I was more determined.
Saying Goodbye to SVU
Then I realized that if putting good stuff into my brain made me feel better and live better, maybe I should cut out some of the crap I’d been putting in my brain. I cut out the 24-hour news loop and only watched as much as I needed to. Then I started toying with giving up Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. It was my indulgence, my guilty pleasure. I kept arguing with myself. “It’s just a show. It’s not doing any harm. It’s just entertainment.” But I knew that,watching shows about the most depraved ways humans can abuse other humans, well, for me it just wasn’t healthy. So I quit. I missed it at first, but I replaced it with positive and inspirational messages.
Now, when I’m feeling down (usually because I’ve been on FB too much and am not following my own advice to keep it positive), I have 2 or 3 go-to videos on Youtube that I watch. I also have some favorite podcasts. No matter how down I am, putting something positive in my brain gives me a boost. Does it solve all my problems? No. I’m still sad sometimes, angry sometimes, and stressed quite often. (I do have three children, remember?) But a burst of positive puts the brakes on the overwhelm. I might be sad, but I don’t get hopeless. I might be stressed, but I don’t get panicked.
Your turn
I’ve posted links to some of my favorite Youtube videos, and in future posts, I’m going to highlight some incredible speakers and podcasts you might enjoy. You might not like them as much as I do because we have different personalities and different needs, but if you start searching, you’ll find your own. We are beyond lucky to live in an age when we can access whatever we want, almost whenever or wherever we want. So stop using the power of the universe to watch cat videos. Feed your brain. Give it the good stuff. I promise, you’ll thank you.
Podcasts I L-O-V-E
Since I’m an entrepreneurship and micro business junkie, mine will tend to be business focused, but they always make me feel better, more alive, and more capable. Check out Shannon Mattern’s Pep Talks for Side Hustlers, Marie Forleo’s MarieTV, and Amy Porterfield’s Online Marketing Made Easy. And please, please drop a comment below about your own favorites.
So you want out of teaching? Scratch that. You feel like your life will end if you have to teach for the rest of your career, but you see no way out financially. Maybe you have a spouse who works or another source of income, but you continue to teach because of a budget gap of $500. Or maybe $1000. What if you could earn extra money, pay off some bills, and between those two things close that gap? “But I don’t want to drive for Lyft or Uber,” you say. “And I do NOT want to open an in-home child care center or trade teaching for another rat race. I just want to retire, or stay home with my kids, or not have to teach.” You get the picture.
So get creative. Here are some ideas to get your income-creating ideas flowing. Not all of them will work for everyone, of course. However, there might be a gem in here to get you started. Or a gem that gives you exactly the idea you need to put your own unique talents to use and start your journey to freedom.
Extra space? Rent a room to a student
Have a spare bedroom or two? Enjoy meeting new people and learning about foreign cultures? Everyone has heard about AirBNB, and that’s one option. But there are others that no one seems to know about. For example, you could look into home stays for English Language Learners. Schools such as ELS language school, American Language Academy, and others have locations in over 40 US cities. Many of their students prefer staying with an English speaking person or family to further practice their developing skills. With only 1 spare bedroom, you could earn between $400-$600 per month. Also, don’t assume that there isn’t an English school near you just because you’ve never heard of it. My husband works only 10 minutes from an English school, and I lived here for 5 years before I knew that.
Use skills you already have to offer group classes
Use your special expertise and teaching skills to start a small educational or entertainment business – one that can grow. This is my personal favorite because it can be so many different things. I’m a foreign language teacher, so I offer enrichment Spanish classes at preschools. In a good location, I can bring in $400/month with minimal overhead and only about 8 hours of work. You could also offer group tutoring, ceramics painting, knitting or crocheting lessons, or computer instruction in your own home. Good with cars? Teach a basic car care class for women. Coach folks who want to improve their public speaking. If you use your imagination, the sky is the limit on this one. Just remember to begin with the end in mind. If you want to make money (and that is at least part of the goal, right?), you’ve got to structure it so you can earn some bucks. In other words, no one-on-one tutoring unless you are charging over $60/hr.
Love pets? Try pet sitting, dog walking, or doggie drop-ins. I never knew that there were people who would watch your pet in their own home until I was desperately searching for a kennel at the last minute. And as a pet owner, I’d much rather have my dog stay with a reliable person than shut in a dog run at a kennel. Sumiko, who has been hosting with rover.com since May of 2015, says, “The best part of hosting is getting to sample every breed imaginable as your pet, the companionship/playtime, and income. We’ve had some challenges with high energy dogs such as muddying the yard when it’s rained a while, dogs hopping baby gates in the house…but it’s not constant and you can restrict breeds, size…” Since the normal charge is over $20/night per pet, people who commit to building their clientele, can make over $1000/month once they are established.
Visiting the elderly
Not a fan of pets, but love people? Many people are looking for someone to stop in and check on an elderly relative or help them prepare a simple meal. Here, word of mouth is king, so talk to some folks you know at different houses of worship. They often know some people who need a helping hand, but not really nursing assistance yet – and they are more likely to trust you if you have a mutual friend. Alternately, you could contact senior centers or support groups for caregivers. The bonus here is that if you don’t want to pay for childcare, but your kids are reasonably well behaved, many older people see having children around as a bonus, not a drawback. Just be sure to spell out exactly what the expectations are and what you are comfortable doing beforehand. Light housekeeping? Help preparing meals? Or just a friendly person to chat with? Don’t be pressured into doing more than you are capable of. If you won’t give medications, state that up front and stick to your guns.
Search Engine Evaluation and other tasks
Work in search engine evaluation. Search engines use algorithms to rank the results they bring up. However, they also need actual humans to check those rankings. Leapforce, Appen, and other companies use people who can work from home to do just that. While it’s not a job with room for advancement, it is something that could be worked into an income of over $1000 per month. Some companies require that you pass a test, which by all accounts is challenging, but not impossible, if you have carefully studied the test materials. Another caution is that like any job that requires you to use your brain, there is a learning curve, and you will need to give yourself time to get to higher levels of earning.
(Insert YOUR idea here)
No, that wasn’t just a place-holder that I forgot to delete. It’s a reminder that your ability to think of side hustles or earn extra income is limited only by your imagination. So have we got you thinking that it might actually be possible for you to make the leap out of education? There is a lot to think about, and a lot of ways it can go wrong. If you want to make the switch out of teaching, but you are terrified to make the leap, click here for our free guide to the 4 biggest mistakes people make when leaving the classroom, and how to avoid each one.
Life. It’ll get you. Just when you think you have it all figured out, you get a curve ball. So I admit I have gotten distracted. I’m going to bring you up to date on life and business, even though it’s going to mean a serving of humble pie for me. It’s not all bad. As a matter of fact, some of it is downright awesome. However, some of it is admitting that the online French class I invested so much time in has kind of ground to a halt, and I just don’t have the energy to fight the tech and face my mistakes at this exact moment. And part of it is admitting that I still struggle with my old nemesis – biting off more than I can chew.
First, an update on the French. I did complete and launch the beta of my free French course. There were some really strong positives and some really big negatives, as well.
Online French class struggles
On the negative side. I didn’t get a commitment from people that they would complete the class and report back to me what they liked and what they didn’t, so a lot of them didn’t complete the course. Worse, I got very little useful feedback. I was really disappointed by that.
Second, the tech just wasn’t fun. I really did work at it, but some of it I never did figure out. I don’t think I’m ever going to love tech.
Third, after making the French class a MAJOR priority for almost 6 weeks solid, after it launched, I just didn’t want to deal with it again at all. I was so drained by fighting with the tech and making deadlines, and communicating with people who had tech issues, that I shut down. I really haven’t even touched it for 3 weeks, even though I have several re-works I need to do.
And perhaps the hardest thing is something I wasn’t expecting at all. Impostor sydrome. “Who are you,” my brain says, “to think you can create an online course that people are willing to pay for when there are so many other people doing the same thing, not to mention apps that teach language?” I don’t usually struggle with impostor syndrome. While I’m not conceited, I’m real. I admit that I’m not perfect, but I also allow myself some credit where I really rock. And I really rock at teaching languages. But somehow my self-confidence has taken a real hit lately, and I’m not sure why.
And Successes
But it wasn’t all bad. I actually built an online course. WHOA! Let me say that again. I, Jill Wiley, created an online course entirely on my own. I wrote it, filmed it, organized it, and uploaded it. WOW! For me, that is huge.
And while I was building it, I was learning. I was learning what did and didn’t work in more areas than I can really count: tech, presentation, marketing, and much more. I made a crap-ton of mistakes, but I try to be like Anne of Green Gables (my favorite literary character ever!) who says, “I never do the same wrong thing twice.” I might make the same mistake more than once, but not much more, so I’ve learned a lot about what I need to improve, and I’m going to do that.
Finally, I received permission to use an animated short in my paid content. I won’t go into all the details here, but basically, I finally had to wad up my courage and text – yes, text – a person I had never met and ask permission to use her work and how much she would charge. The response was a win-win. She said that the content was free to use, as long as I included credit to her, and I gave her some tips on how to learn Spanish. We both left the exchange feeling a lot happier, I think.
I’ve spent the morning planning for the next 6 months and now I’m waiting for my kids’ dental appointments to be over, hoping my computer charge will let me get a little more written.
And I have to admit, I’m kind of terrified. For the past 6 weeks or so, I’ve been working to create my first online course: Fun French 101. It’s a free 4 week course that will allow me to get used to the tech I need to use, start a mailing list, and figure out what people do and don’t like about the current design of the course.
So here is the lowdown on my struggles and my successes.
Struggles
Struggle #1:
Just doing the work. When you have three kids, it’s hard to carve out the time to get much done, especially when you have to record videos that require a relatively quiet house.
Struggle #2:
Video quality. The quality of my videos kind of stinks – a lot. Because this is a free beta course and I know it won’t bring in any money for a while, I have spent my money only on the necessary software, and NONE on lighting or stuff like that. I do have a $20 microphone that I purchased earlier, but that’s it. So I’m really disappointed with how plain (and unflattering) they look. But do you know what? It’s not going to stop me. And 5 years from now, when I am able to produce some really nice videos, the old ones (from now) will make a great “You can do it!” story.
Struggle #3:
Tech. OH. MY. GOD. I am SO not a tech person. I’ve had to learn video recording and editing, as well as a WordPress plugin that is not always as intuitive as I think it should be. But I’ve kind of come to peace with tech. I’ve always told myself that I’m not good with tech. However, I don’t think that’s true. I think tech is like math. No one is inherently “good” or “bad” with math OR tech. It’s just that some people have spent more time doing it than others. And when you spend more time doing it, you get better at it. I’m already so very, very proud that I found a work-around that fixed a glitch on my course page. I was inserting a picture, and for some reason, no matter what I tried it showed up twice. I could NOT get the second one to disappear. So I inserted the image as a “cover” instead and low and behold, only one image. Win for me! So let me rephrase that first sentence. I am SO not a tech person – YET! But I will be.
Successes
Success #1:
Doing it scared. I feel so very out of my league. But I’m not going to stop. Because everyone has to start somewhere. And I firmly believe that anything worth doing is worth doing badly – until you can do it well. I’m not going to be good at this for a while. But it is definitely worth doing. So I’m going to do it the best I can, even if that’s not super great.
Success #2:
I am totally rocking the WordPress plugin. (Well, relatively speaking. Compared to when I started.) See Challenge #3 above for my awesome “I found a work-around that worked!” story.
Success #3:
Right now, I am on track to launch my beta right on schedule. And if I stick to my plan, I will have evey single lesson completely uploaded one day before the course opens. Wish me luck and NO sick kids!
Other: Expenses
Here is the current breakdown of what I have spent this month:
We all want big wins. Run a marathon. Write a book. Break $100K in income in your business. And we often hear talk about BHAGs (Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals) and how setting an audacious goal will push us to achieve more. If you shoot at nothing, you’ll hit it everytime, right? So you’d better shoot for something amazing.
Except, NO.
Those big, frightening audacious goals might actually make you LESS likely to finish your goal! What?
Amy Porterfield for the win
OK, I’m going to take a quick sidetrip here and recommend one of my favorite podcasts to you. Amy Porterfield’s “Online Marketing Made Easy” Podcast is not just about online marketing. It is full of not just marketing stuff and not just online hacks. It’s about running a business and being a person.
So anyway, I was listening to one of her episodes a week or so ago, and I thought, “I’ve just got to share this one.” She was interviewing Jon Acuff whose latest book is Finish: Give yourself the Gift of Done. It follows Start: Punch Fear in the Face, Escape Average, and Do Work that Matters and a couple of others that look good, but I haven’t had time to read yet.
What REALLY helps you finish
So for this book, Acuff actually did research on what helps people finish projects – tough projects like writing a book or losing weight. What he found was that people are actually MORE likely to stick with their project if they set a goal, then cut it in half. The example he gives is losing weight. People who set a goal of losing 10 pounds, then lost 8 were discouraged. However, the people who cut their goal in half, were thrilled. They had totally slammed that goal. And as Acuff said, “I’m more interested in your long-term success than your short term success.”
Starting a business is great. But what I really want for you is to have a viable business that still works with your personal life 5, 10, or 20 years from now. Getting to stay home with your kids for a year is nice, but I don’t want you to have to go back to teaching before you feel ready simply because your finances dictate it.
What it looks like in your life
That’s why I encourage you to take it one step at a time. Don’t implement 5 frugal habits all at once. Choose one and do that until you make it a habit. Then choose another one. Don’t try to give up your morning coffee, prepare all your meals at home, pack lunches, quit going to the movies, and start shopping at consignment shops all in the same week. It will all come crumbling down, and you’ll create an image of yourself as a loser in your own mind. Instead, cultivate an image of yourself as a winner by giving yourself SMALL wins.
In the income building area, this means that maybe that big, hairy audacious goal isn’t what you need. Maybe what you need is to set a realistic goal, then cut it in half. Maybe instead of saying, “This year I want to go from $0 to $20,000 in revenue,” you honor all the work that goes into a business before you ever make a penny, and say, “You know, I’m going to celebrate EVERY time I make $1000. And my goal is to make $8000 this year.” You know, $8,000 isn’t chump change.
It’s not easy for me, either.
Of all the things I have shared with you, I think this is the hardest concept for me. I want to do it ALL. PERFECTLY. TODAY. And then get even better tomorrow. So right now, I have limited myself to one goal for my blog. My goal is to post every week for three months. That’s it. By the time you read this it will probably be a year or so from when I am writing it. Why? Because I don’t have any readers yet. Nope, not even one. But my goal isn’t to get readers right now. It’s to post content that will help my readers. So that when they come, they will find not one or two blog posts that help them, but 20 or 30. And because they find quality content, they will come back again. And again. And again. And – God willing – their lives will change for the better.
