Information Overload

When I first started to look for alternative income opportunities, I definitely felt overwhelmed by the information provided on the internet. Looking into all the possibilities of launching an online company was terrifying in so many ways. Where do you begin, what do you do, what do you want to sell? How do you know what to do if you don't know what to ask?

So began my search for an online business. But the more I researched and surfed, the more overwhelmed I became. So many choices, too many choices. I finally read an article on the internet about how paralyzing it can be when you become overwhelmed with choices and in this instance with knowledge. With the rise of the internet and the extensive information on every subject matter, it's difficult to maneuver through the pages and links of information. My mind ran in circles and I couldn't think straight.

Finally, I decided I just needed to do something (advice provided in a daily newsletter that I signed up for called "Early to Rise"). I'm not recommending this website and all the offers and promotions they provide in their newsletter, but I do get some pearls of wisdom from them from time to time. I connect intuitively with the reasoning. It's better to do something and learn from any mistakes or successes made than to not do anything and learn nothing.

With that input, I decided to purchase a money making system called NicheBlueprint. It's expensive and since my purchase of this system in November, it's costed me close to $2k to set up a website. The basis of this system is to research a niche that gets enough traffic but has less competition. They suggest using Market Samurai to check online traffic and competition. If you follow their direction, you will end up with a niche that has a minimum traffic of 500 searches per day and less than 50,000 website competition. The product has 9 modules and each module provides instructions on how to research a niche, find a domain name, set up a hosting site, set up your website, get traffic etc.

Since I've been working full time and taking care of a family, I've had little time to dedicate to this project. I started in November. At this stage, I've set up a hosting site with a domain name, found a niche, and began calling wholesalers. I have yet to do the following before launching the site:

1. establish dropship wholesale accounts
2. finish setting up the website to include products, taxes, return policies, etc.
3. setup paypal and credit card on the website
4. and SEO planning

Today, I feel completely overwhelmed. Even though I try to remember that in order to get past this feeling, I need to focus on what to do, it's a difficult task while working full time. Even though I'm getting laid off, I continue to feel a duty towards the company to complete the projects assigned to me and leave on good standing. In the meantime, it's time consuming to research wholesalers and call them about dropshipping. Regardless of my awareness of the paraylzying effects of "Information Overload" it still happens to me at least once a week.

I'm also terrible at processing things quickly. Sometimes it will take me a good day to realize that I'm paralyzed in Information Overload before I recognize it and put in the steps to pull out of it. Writing my thoughts here helps to expedite that processing time. I had set out a date to launch my website on May 1st. I am pushing to maintain my target launch date, but we will see if it can be done.

The Pink Slip

Image by rutthenut via Flickr

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Last month I was called into my Senior Director's office and quietly told that I was be 1 out of 30 employees (this round) to be laid off due to the economy. It was Monday, April 23, 2009.

I had a tip off from a coworker that Friday about a potential layoff. When I received a meeting invite from my Senior Director Sunday evening I knew. When I finally heard the words, my emotions ranged from the feeling of being kicked in the gut to later, relief that this job would be over. The Universe was forcing my hand. I'm legally trained (aka lawyer) and negotiate contracts for large companies. But face it, who loves to read and negotiate the minute boring details of contracts? I didn't hate my job, but I didn't love it either. After 10 years in the industry, I was good at it and made a very decent living. But like most people, I looked forward to Fridays and detested Mondays.

After the birth of my daughter, it got worse. I wanted to work at home. I wanted to be with my daughter. I didn't want to drop her off at daycare for 10 hours and spend 2 hours picking her up, feeding, bathing and then putting her to sleep. Where was the joy in parenthood when all you have are 2 hours a workday? All the things I wanted to do with her, now that she's older: (i) going to the parks; (ii) taking her to the zoo, museums, and exploratoriums.... is only possible during the weekends. But the weekends are about catching up on sleep, when you can, and running all the errands you couldn't do on the weekdays.

My mind started to wander. How could I make enough money to stay at home and be with my daughter? I had to start a business at home, online. I make a 6 figure salary. Starting an online business would require a lot of time and education. Something I had very little of. So when I received my notice, it was a calling from the Universe telling me that this was my opportunity to get out of the corporate world and create a career to balance the time I needed to be with my daughter. This blog documents that journey ....