Motivation is a tricky thing when you work for yourself and especially when you work from home. When you have a day job its pretty simple. You basically work for the paycheck. There is a certain time you have to show up and leave, so there’s not much thought that goes into it. But once you finally quit your day job it all changes. No one is telling you what or when to do things so it all comes down to your motivation. It’s the thing that gets you up in the morning and keeps you working at night when everyone else is relaxing or sleeping.
Everyone has the primary motivation to take care of themselves and their family, that is a given. But there has to be motivation beyond that. People are motivated by many other things. Money. Fame. Fear. For me the initial driving force to do what I’m doing was the ability to quit working for a company and be on my own. That simple dream drove me to put in long hours month after month. It finally happened and I quit my job. But now, almost 2 years later I can’t draw on that inspiration any more. What does keep me motivated now is the freedom. This may sound odd coming from a blogger who mostly writes about making money online, but money doesn’t motivate me at all anymore. Money is just some abstract number on a spreadsheet. It’s hard to get excited about that.
The freedom that I now have drives me to keep working. That is something I never want to lose. Being able to mountain bike, hike, or kayak every day is priceless to me. The lifestyle is the motivation. After having tasted the freedom that self employment provides, I hope to never have to work at a day job again. I don’t need a fancy sports car or giant mansion to tell me I have made it. The fact that I can do what I want, when I want is by far the most important measure of success to me. That is the best motivation I can think of.
What motivates you?
Chad,
I couldn’t agree more – the freedom is where it’s at.
I just wrote a blog post on this topic myself recently explaining my motivators…
http://www.nomorecompromise.com/its-not-just-about-the-money/
Richard
You’re right … been reading the 4-hour work week and he comes out and says something very similar. Having the freedom to take a trip when you want, work when you want, and get rewarded directly for your work, is how it should be.
Being tied to a desk for 8-10 hours a day 5 days a week, is complete opposite. They also put a price tag on your head saying you’re worth this much and no more.
Having lifetime goals/dreams can also help motivate you whatever they are
Yes – I enjoy the working aspect, because I work how I want to work. But the freedom aspect is awesome. There’s nothing like being able to go somewhere with the kids on a whim and not have to ask anyone for time off.
SO true.
The biggest part is the freedom. the freedom to spend time with the family. Freedom to travel, freedom to do what i want work when i want. Yes in general i mainly work more than 40 hours a week but it is on my time and my terms so it isn’t as much “work”.
Freedom. It is as simple as that. We have been self-employed since February 2006. And we haven’t looked back.
Money buys you a certain amount of freedom. You can get money working for the man. But you can’t get the kind of freedom working for the man that you get being an entrepreneur. So it takes more than money to have freedom.
Yes, working for ourselves is, at times, hard. But it only takes a second to do a reality check and we realize that it is worth it.
When we drive past out old place of employment, we think about how miserable we were working with the 1200+ other people. We literally get shivers when we drive by that place. And then we mention how thankful we are that we work for ourselves.
Freedom. There is no price you can put on that!
-Marshall
That is totally true about the drive by. If I ever need a reminder I just drive by my old office during work hours and I get the same shivers down my spine!!
My motivation is self-actualization. I want to push myself to the limit and see what I can achieve. To me money’s how I keep score of how I’m doing in the business.
Dude, that is a awesome way of looking at it!
Freedon is a huge motivator for me and I’m sure once I have children that will be the next motivator. You hit the nail on the head with this post, good job!
Great post, Chad, freedom is def whee it is at.
I can imagine after working for year at home, you would kind of get bored of it.
I will quit my job when I hit $10k profit a month. But I hit that target last month in July ($9678 to be exact). But really for now day job keeps me busy and happy. I get to learn a lot here on my day job. So for in the near future until I’m happy with my day job I’ll continue to work on affiliate marketing part time. I maybe sacrificing a lot of money thou but $10 profit a month for now keeps me happy too.
gee
niche-affiliate-marketing.com
Great Post Chad,
Truer words have never been spoken. I left my job in 2005 and have never looked back. Sure there have been problems, but they all have worked out in the end.
I admit, I’m in it for the money
Damn, you said it all. Freedom is my only motivation.
I would easily choose working for myself even if it meant making 1/2 as much as a job was offering to pay me. Of course that’s not the case as this business allows me to make much more than I could at a job but if it was reversed I would chose the freedom over the higher payday every time. You can’t put a pricetag on freedom.
I do love the freedom of (like today) getting up whenever and working whenever I want.
The large amount of money doesn’t hurt too
hahaha
Hey Chad,
Long time reader, first time poster…
I saw this post pop up on my RSS feeds since I’ve been in a slump just for today mainly because I have a lot of ideas in my head. Your headline made me wanna respond…
I think you nailed it on the head. Freedom is the most important thing…and I think I experienced it very well – Twice…
Ever since I was 18 I had my own company. At the time it was a Web Design company and then my biggest client offered me a job in California, which I accepted. 2 1/2 years after that, I got bored of making someone rich, and quit so I can start my own thing again, in Los Angeles. It was time to make the move…
So yeah, to go back – FREEDOM – that’s what drives me. Im working out more and doing things I don’t think I couldve done when I was employed at my last company…which was in the same industry we’re in….only now to find out that they recently went under…
As a sub-inspiration to what drives me, it’s also the little fear of me never working for anyone again….that I will try my best to make it happen with MY abilities and not work for a paycheck. I think that’s more rewarding than anything…
Keep up the good work on the blog…
-C
Traveling the world!! I’ve been able to travel for 3 years around the world (see pictures http://www.positionleap.com/gallery2).. It would have never been possible without affiliate marketing! I love this business