Today is February 1, 2012. Not only is today about flipping over those calendars to the next month and doing a drumroll before seeing what the next picture or phrase or which cheerleader is going to be on the next month (or am I the only one that does that?). Today is a very serious day for me. A day of change.
As some of you may know, I own my own business, CSI Marketing Solutions, LLC. Also, as some of you may know, I have been working at an agency for about 18 months. This digital agency is voted best place to work just about every year and received hundreds of other awards a year. It truly is an amazing place to work. However, I have had a few opportunities come up over the past few weeks or months that requires a lot more of my time. So, I have made the decision, starting today, to go back to running my business full time.
Before making this decision, there were so many different things that went through my head. How am I going to pay rent? How am I going to make my car payment? How can I afford anything? And most importantly, how am I going to get health insurance? Then I started playing the what-if game. What if I don’t have enough clients and I don’t make enough money to pay my bills and then I lose everything I have. A good friend of mine said, “..you can’t play the what if game. For every negative what if you come up with, there’s a positive what if on the other side. So you can go all night on the what if’s.”
I also felt that by making this decision to be able to make my own hours I can get more things in life accomplished. For one, I can now go to the gym at lunch time or in the morning and begin to get back into shape and lose weight again. Next, I no longer have an hour long commute each way, so I can be home earlier and I can eat dinner and be ready for bed earlier. I can also spend more time being more involved in the DOC.
So, let me quickly get into the health insurance issue. I am entitled to COBRA for 18 months, and the costs of it are about 1/3 of what I thought it was going to be, so I am extremely happy about that.
So, that is where I am. Moral of the story? If you want something, do it. Stop thinking about it constantly and stressing about it and going back and forth. Weigh your options, and make the best choice for yourself.
Best of luck, my friend! Congrats on taking that step forward, and it’s awesome to hear that COBRA came out much less expensive than you’d thought. I’m contemplating a career-changing myself and really wanting to get into the health care/D-advocacy PR/marketing world, but haven’t been able to convince myself it’s the best time until opps arise. Paying the bils and everything is, of course, the biggest thing. Here’s to looking optimistically at the future and the road ahead! Successful vibes your way, Chris!
Super proud of you bro! Can’t wait to see you grow beyond what you’ve imagined!