Dabbl

              I had a vision recently. I was camping out in the mountains of Colorado for a couple of weeks with only one other companion. I don’t know how old I was. I don’t know where in the mountains. And I don’t know who my companion was. But I do know I was in the mountains, I was happy, and I was away from any distractions.

              I’ve always been attracted to the mountains. Maybe it comes from my upbringing where I spent a lot of time in the Adirondack Mountains in Upstate NY. Or maybe it comes from the numerous trips out to Colorado and Utah that left me in awe. Whatever the reason is, I want to go back. I want to experience the mountains again. But not just for a weekend here and there. I want to spend some serious time in the mountains camping out. I want to sleep in the trunk of my car, make breakfast over the fire, hike and be in nature all day, then get back to camp and cook a nice dinner over the fire. How do I get there?

              If I want to take a month (at most) off from life and spend that time camping out in the mountains, then I need to be financially independent. I’m not saying I have to be wealthy necessarily, but I want a good portion of my income at that time to be automated. This means that I would have my own store. Preferably it would be an ecommerce store where I have a listing of 2-3 products that I believe in. Once I have this and I know through time and steady demand that this idea works, then I will focus on automation. Automation can come at a price. One option is I could pay for a service to take care of my product. They would automate delivery, packing out, getting more supply, and customer service among other things. There are companies out there that do this, but it doesn’t come cheaply. The other option is to hire someone. In a way, it is still automation for me. However, I could hire someone a month or two in advance to the trip and show him/her the ropes. It could be a friend that is interested in learning how to side hustle or an enthusiastic intern that would attack it full time. With the hiring route, communication would be difficult if I was truly in the wilderness, so I would have to trust in the person I hire. Maybe I have my new hire send me one email per end of business day and list everything that happened, from good to bad. I may not be able to check it every day, but it would keep my employee accountable and when I do check it, it would give me peace of mind that my business is being taken care of.

              So, how do I get into the mountains? I can automate my business that allows me to be financially independent. How do I automate my business? I can pay for a service or hire an employee to show them what to do while I’m away. How do I get a business? I must find a product or two that I believe in and start building. How do I find products that I believe in? This is where any business book can’t help you. This is where you’re on your own. There’s a million and one business books on how to start and grow a business, but there’s nothing out there that will show you step one. The idea. Books and blogs will talk about you having an idea. But the true idea creation can’t be taught, told, or shown. That comes from you and only you. No one else can tell you what you believe in or what to center your business around?

              Even I can’t help you with how to pick a product. Obviously you want to have a product that you would use or know someone else that will use, but that doesn’t exactly help. Finding what to sell can be tough. It takes a ruthless effort to search through directories, top selling products, trending products, and so no. To be honest, I’ve had no luck here. I don’t want to be another drop shipper that is just selling the same thing as everyone else. I want to have a product(s) that is specific to my brand. A product that other people copy. Rather than a product that I copy from others.

              Dreaming is good. It shows where we want to go. For me, I want to go to the mountains. I want to spend time alone with nature and live out of my car. I want to cook over the fire, hike all day, and be surrounded by wildlife. But first, there are some crucial steps that must happen to make this possible. It is possible. It just takes that first step towards financial independence. It’s not an easy step. But once taken, the rest of the steps will start to present themselves and it will get easier and easier to know what to do.

              What’s your dream? And how will you get there?