2012: The year of being an Entrepreneur

This year is going to be different. My husband, Amit, quit his job just before we went on our 5 week trip to Australia, and we have arrived back in Tel Aviv with both of us unemployed. Doesn’t that sound scary! Are you worried about us now? How we are going to make money without jobs?

Well we do have incomes. We are making money all by ourselves, without a boss telling us what to do.

I’m a freelance science communicator, and some lovely clients (and friends) are paying me to write about science for webpages and magazines, and I’m also doing some science editing.

I love the freedom of working from home for so many reasons: no commute into work, no tiny office with no windows, no pointless meetings, no boss. Instead I have my kitchen a few steps away, fresh air and sunlight through the windows, and so much freedom.

Amit has escaped from 15 years as a software programmer to run his photography business full time. He is taking his photography business to the next level and working hard to promote his services. Follow his work on Fly on the Wall.

Now we are the Photographer and Science Communicator, with no other day jobs. We are both sitting in our small apartment in the coolest city in the world making those things happen. But that is not all. We are creating new businesses in different areas, so we will not be relying on service provision for all our income. This is our Year of Entrepreneurship, where we will make our ideas a reality. It is our year of taking risks, jumping into the deep end, and seeing what we can really do with our time and brains and hands.

Write it down, make it happen

I was reading a newsletter for the guru of living without a boss, Barbara Winter, who wrote:

Henriette Anne Klauser explains what real power is activated by this simple act of writing. She says, "Writing down your dreams and aspirations is like hanging up a sign that says, 'Open for Business.' Putting it on paper alerts the part of your brain known as the Reticular Activating System (RAS) to join you in the play...The RAS is like a filtering system of the brain. Writing it down sets up the filter. Writing triggers the RAS, which in turn sends a signal to the cerebral cortex: 'Wake up! Pay attention! Don't miss this detail!" Once you write down a goal, your brain will be working overtime to see you get it and will alert you to the signs and signals that were there all along.

So I am writing this down. 2012 is our year of being entrepreneurs. And I’m inviting you on our journey. I’m going to write a blog post every week about our progress. I’ve written it down so it’s going to happen.

Now a question for you:
2012 is your year of ____?

Thanks to Selina Barker for her inspiration to give my year a theme.