I’ve been supporting myself now, for a while, of of the income I earn from writing and helping others.   It’s been an utter blast.  And I’m gonna get better at both.   It’s early in the journey.  I’d be doing incredible if not for poking a stick in the IRS’s eye in 1998 and again in 2003.   Them there payments bite.  Those jerks don’t miss a trick.

But, I’ve learned a lot about social media, both good and bad, in my sojourn to a third career.   I’m learning about myself, my family, and I’m about 3 heartbeats away from doing something cool.  I’m reluctant to talk about it though. 

I’ve learned that it’s not hard to win in this game–and that winning is so stupid.   There  Like anything else, it’s hard to manage yourself, but this game is winnable and beatable, even in a ‘down’ economy.  Since you’ve exppanded the market, there are no shortage of people that you can help, and no shortage of ways for them to find you and vice versa.  The bar for competence is set so low.   There is also naked, moronic greed from people trying to siphon the energy out of Realtors/Brokers and their ilk.  Showing up is indeed most of the effort needed to make a huge splash in media 2.0.

Do You Want To Be Rich, Famous, Popular or Free?

I’m learning that you must direct your energies to one of a few mutually exclusive goals:  You can be rich, famous, or cool and that’s what most people go after.  I’m not after any of that.   Not needing the approbation of others is about the most freeing idea you can get.  I used to really seek to be ‘cool/famous’ and I guess there’s some part of me that still does.  

But really, truly, I wanna be free.   I want to be no man’s bitch, to be out from under the thumbscrew of the IRS, and to be able to live cheaply, travel, and have adventure and exhilaration.

I’m 32.  That’s young, kids, and I feel young again (in small part thanks to Scott), and I can’t see any reason to enter the corporate world.  I want to live free or die.  Really–I have to win this war, because I can’t imagine the plan B.  I can’t imagine a dull and flavorless life as a kept citizen.

A decade ago a friend’s dad said I was going to go broke and be rich.  Right now, I’m centered on freedom–cash minimal living while getting a good return.  I’ve been a little rich and a little broke at various times, and it’s time to swing the pendulum back; the reason it’s different is because I have increased my capacity for boredom, and a lot of stuff is boredom.

So it’s time to get free.

I’m not gonna eschew rich, famous or popular, but I’m not seeking it.  Free is the what I’m after, and the #1 thing I gotta do is quash my need to be popular.  Quash my own need for the approbation of the mediocre.   Greg told me privately (well, sorta privately, since he likes to include others in conversations that I start) that I’m simultaneously at war with and in the thrall of ‘stylish losers.’

He was about 1/4 right, which isn’t horrible.  I care overmuch about getting SOME people to like me more than I should, but I never cared about drawing the ire of idiots.   I just shouldn’t care about who approves of me as long as I’m accomplishing my goals.  Seek ye first.

More later.  Time to battle. 

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And incase y’all aren’t looking at what I’m looking at:

Duct Tape Marketing Blog: Cheap Gas Makes You Lazy.  Subscribe to that feed! 

Men With Pens:  Generally good, sometimes great.  This is one of the great times that keep ‘em on my reader.  This confirms stuff I know, and do, and the ethos that I live.