Love your writing, love your thinking, love your message. (Also loving your Business Ideal Litmus Test video.) Please keep at it. Your own business model is exceptional, and I'm just damn glad I had a chance to be in from the get-go. Your emails are a delight and the free material is excellent. Pretty soon you're going to have to start charging for stuff. And I'm sure you're going to make it worth every penny, seventeen times over.
Keep it up. You're doing a fantastic job.
~ Michael Fisher
Aaron Campbell
· 9 months ago
Hell Yeah, Clay. Me, I was up tossing and turning last night because my subcontractor has this super-cool thermal camera and blower door and I don't. I have been holding myself back, coward-style, telling myself I can't afford my own or he's so much more experienced than I. Eff that ish! I can find a way to get those tools and finally do the one-stop-shop without a sub (who scares certain clients away, and has to drive 100 miles to each gig). This little letter of yours was written for me, and I'm taking the plunge right effin now. Aaron Campbell in Seattle
Clay Collins
· 9 months ago
First, this story is awesome as hell. Especially since you're taking the plunge right now! This is inspiring.
Second did you write "Eff that ish?" and "right effin now"?! Bro, you know you can curse here, right?
--Clay
Mike
· 9 months ago
God I love this blog.
Clay Collins
· 9 months ago
God I love you for writing this.
physocal
· 9 months ago
This is AWESOME. Thank you for posting this article. Your point ....
"You know the thing you’ve been putting off the longest? That thing you’ve been procrastinated for the last 10 years? That’s the thing you need to start doing today. That’s the thing you need to start before going to bed tonight."
... is exactly what I am going to do, right after I hit "post comment"! :D
Clay Collins
· 9 months ago
this made my night. truly.
CarlNelson
· 9 months ago
I'll go with courageous "failure" and I think I often have.
That is sort of where I'm at right now. I have a fraction of the income I had six months ago, I have no stable home, I left behind a majority of belongings and I'm living a life I wouldn't have dreamed of a year ago.
While I'm not killing it money wise I am discovering a whole new way to live.
Clay Collins
· 9 months ago
Hi Carl... I'm really interested in your story. What are you up to these days?
At any rate, I'm sure you're an inspiration to a lot of people.
CarlNelson
· 9 months ago
I left NYC in November after being laid off from a marketing company and have been vagabonding through the U.S. teaching dance, writing a travelogue, working on a lifestyle design blog project, and learning as much as I can about living life on my own terms since.
There's a whole lot more to it, but that's a really quick summary.
solarlion
· 9 months ago
nice one! totally agree...
"Better to have lived one day as a lion, than a thousand as a sheep."
love the quote. Wish I had it when I was writing this post :-).
Derek
· 9 months ago
Clay, you hit it right on the head with this post.
Procrastination and fears kill our dreams. Thanks for the reminder!
Clay Collins
· 9 months ago
Everyone, check out this dude's site. It's great.
Andrew
· 9 months ago
Woke up at four this morning, head full of stuff needing doing. Read your post. Kick started the day. Thanks. Andrew
Clay Collins
· 9 months ago
Hey man, thank you!
Tim Kerr
· 9 months ago
Too much coffee is a goooood thing.
Clay Collins
· 9 months ago
Grr... except when it's 3:30 in the morning and you need to go to bed :-)
Susan Murphy
· 9 months ago
Just when I am about to start wondering why I jumped off the cliff and out on my own, just when I'm about to hit the panic button and retreat to the cozy confines of security and safety, you come along and kick my ass.
Thank you!
Clay Collins
· 9 months ago
Thanks for giving me ass kicking privileges, Susan :-)
Josephine in Brussels
· 9 months ago
It is true that we make choices every moment and that we are not carefull with the "now".
Lack of time? sorry - but then you need to check out better what you really do with all those minutes you get every day and decide what is important and what is not.
I belong to those who don't want to quit my work (it is ok. and quite challenging) - but I do know there are a lot of changes I can make the hours I'm not working....
Thanks for your post. Have you read Paulo Coelho?
Clay Collins
· 9 months ago
Nope, never read Paulo Coelho. Should I? Which book should I start with?
nskyers
· 9 months ago
Good grief man. Thank you.
Clay Collins
· 9 months ago
Hey man, thank you!
topseekrit
· 9 months ago
Wow! This is very timely, you hit home hard. I thought I was brave but yep I'm afraid of all those things you listed. I have failed at other entrepreneurial attempts and sometimes it can get discouraging especially when I have nothing to show for my efforts.
Now I need to re-evaluate the unlimited resources that are available to me.
Thanks!
Clay Collins
· 9 months ago
Hey man, those resources are around. You sometimes it's just hard to open our eyes and see them.
Joely Black
· 9 months ago
Worthy of a standing ovation. Seriously. It's magnificent stuff to see somebody calling it out right here.
Clay Collins
· 9 months ago
Joely, how the hell are you? It's been forever and a day. Sure hope you're well!
--Clay
Debbie
· 9 months ago
If it was socially acceptable I'd say "smoooch. I love you"
Clay Collins
· 9 months ago
Hey, I'll take a smooch any day.
Lisa
· 9 months ago
This is just what I needed to hear today, so thanks for saying it. It's so refreshing to hear someone speak honestly about what it takes to make your dreams happen, and at the same time is encouraging about facing fears. Thanks!
MK
· 9 months ago
Yes! Yes! Thank you for writing this blog again...now to get my ass in gear
Rolf F. Katzenberger
· 9 months ago
*bowing to you*
Em
· 9 months ago
I beg to differ! That post was written for me :)
I'm about to quit my day job, a nice and cushy gig that brings me more money than I've ever made, and spend the next few months traveling the US to find out where I really want to live. Once I find out where that is, I plan on making weird stuff to sustain myself. A lil bit of internet money. A lil bit of corporate money. And I guess something else, though I'm not sure what yet. I've always known I wasn't the suburban wife/mom thing, but I was always afraid to be the "unclaimed".
Fuck it (Clay said I could!), I'm doing it.
Dolfo in NY
· 9 months ago
Fantastic post. Take charge with your live, you've only got one!
Miguel de Luis
· 9 months ago
If somebody had ever told me that I would ever praise a post with strong words, I would have replied yeah and the Soviet Union is going to fall like that.
However, I'd like to say that, when you take risks, you can have the tough side of it. I was a lawyer, maybe young and not that experience, but I had survived the first years. Then I entered a Catholic seminary. Just in case, that means living in a Seminary, spending all my time there, so I had to close my office. Not exactly an easy thing to do.
Some years later I do not even consider myself Catholic anymore.
But... I felt fully alive, I did things I never thought I would be brave enough to do, like spending a summer with street children or, worse, helping in Mass with a cardinal -that makes your legs tremble if you are Catholic-: I learned philosophy, bits of theology, made my faith clear. Now I'm struggling to recover my position, finantially
but... I can say I'm living :)
Melissa
· 9 months ago
I could relate to this post on so many levels. I have just about every one of those fears. I've tried everything I know to get my business off the ground, but so far nothing is working. I'd be glad to work harder, but I don't know what else to do. I'll keep trying, naturally. In the meantime, I'm going to have to take a day job and just hope I get lucky and it is something I can be passionate about. I say that because I'm going to have to take the first offer I get -- due to the economy and being completely broke. My disability was cut off preemptively in December and I've had to drawn down on my savings to cover all my bills and expenses since then. My own business has had exactly ONE client. So embarrassing.....to be honest.
Jim Dodge
· 8 months ago
“Nothing has a stronger influence psychologically on their environment, and especially on their children, than the unlived lives of the parents” - Carl Jung
What really steams me is when people who say TGIF. Ah!!!!! Why be thankful for only 2 or 3 sevenths of your life!!!??? Find ANY (non schmucky) way out!!!
1rawgirl
· 8 months ago
ok, I am doing it tonight! I have already begun and you now have another loyal reader!
All Comments
Love your writing, love your thinking, love your message. (Also loving your Business Ideal Litmus Test video.) Please keep at it. Your own business model is exceptional, and I'm just damn glad I had a chance to be in from the get-go. Your emails are a delight and the free material is excellent. Pretty soon you're going to have to start charging for stuff. And I'm sure you're going to make it worth every penny, seventeen times over.
Keep it up. You're doing a fantastic job.
~ Michael Fisher
Aaron Campbell in Seattle
Second did you write "Eff that ish?" and "right effin now"?! Bro, you know you can curse here, right?
--Clay
"You know the thing you’ve been putting off the longest? That thing you’ve been procrastinated for the last 10 years? That’s the thing you need to start doing today. That’s the thing you need to start before going to bed tonight."
... is exactly what I am going to do, right after I hit "post comment"! :D
That is sort of where I'm at right now. I have a fraction of the income I had six months ago, I have no stable home, I left behind a majority of belongings and I'm living a life I wouldn't have dreamed of a year ago.
While I'm not killing it money wise I am discovering a whole new way to live.
At any rate, I'm sure you're an inspiration to a lot of people.
There's a whole lot more to it, but that's a really quick summary.
"Better to have lived one day as a lion, than a thousand as a sheep."
http://myspace.com/solarlion
Procrastination and fears kill our dreams. Thanks for the reminder!
Thank you!
Lack of time? sorry - but then you need to check out better what you really do with all those minutes you get every day and decide what is important and what is not.
I belong to those who don't want to quit my work (it is ok. and quite challenging) - but I do know there are a lot of
changes I can make the hours I'm not working....
Thanks for your post. Have you read Paulo Coelho?
Now I need to re-evaluate the unlimited resources that are available to me.
Thanks!
--Clay
I'm about to quit my day job, a nice and cushy gig that brings me more money than I've ever made, and spend the next few months traveling the US to find out where I really want to live. Once I find out where that is, I plan on making weird stuff to sustain myself. A lil bit of internet money. A lil bit of corporate money. And I guess something else, though I'm not sure what yet. I've always known I wasn't the suburban wife/mom thing, but I was always afraid to be the "unclaimed".
Fuck it (Clay said I could!), I'm doing it.
However, I'd like to say that, when you take risks, you can have the tough side of it. I was a lawyer, maybe young and not that experience, but I had survived the first years. Then I entered a Catholic seminary. Just in case, that means living in a Seminary, spending all my time there, so I had to close my office. Not exactly an easy thing to do.
Some years later I do not even consider myself Catholic anymore.
But... I felt fully alive, I did things I never thought I would be brave enough to do, like spending a summer with street children or, worse, helping in Mass with a cardinal -that makes your legs tremble if you are Catholic-: I learned philosophy, bits of theology, made my faith clear. Now I'm struggling to recover my position, finantially
but... I can say I'm living :)
What really steams me is when people who say TGIF. Ah!!!!! Why be thankful for only 2 or 3 sevenths of your life!!!??? Find ANY (non schmucky) way out!!!