Keep Moving Forward (Part 4)

There may come a time when what you have been doing as a stream of income is no longer enjoyable so it is time to move forward. We don't have to do the same thing forever and ever. Our tastes change and our circumstances and passions change. I no longer do my cleaning business because it was no longer an enjoyable thing for me. I still make and share my spices, curries, and gluten free mixes but only with a few. My main stream of income is my writing. I am passionate about writing and books and I started out by writing a book for young women who would be sent to my office looking for help because they didn't have money to put food on the table, or didn't know how to care for their families because many of them were still 'children' themselves. Some were overwhelmed with the responsibility of parenting and being married or in a partnership. So to help them I decided that I would write a manual for them which worked through all of those issues. It was a kind of a how-to book. It met with great success and I had people calling me asking me how they could get a copy. By word of mouth about the book I soon had dozens of orders for the book from all over Australia, New Zealand, and America. I didn't even have to advertise. That's how it started.

From there I went and did a Certificate IV in Professional Writing and Editing and loved it so much that I went on to do my Diploma and then my Bachelors Degree. This is all part of the development process. Each step of the process takes you closer to making your idea the best it can be. I have now written several books and write and edit for clients all over the world - including America, New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia, and South Africa. I absolutely love what I do. I am not stopping there though I am still developing it to offer more services. Over the years I have added in public speaking, ghost writing, editing, I teach writing classes twice a week in my community, I run writing workshops and retreats, and am currently trying to finish a series of children's e-books and picture story books. I am in the process of developing an online writing course...and so the list goes on. All this came from one central idea.

So what is your central idea? You will be amazed at how many other spin off ideas can come from that one main thought or idea. There are so many ways you can diversify your central idea of what it is that you love to do. This is why the mind mapping step is so important. When I sat down to do that step I found that one piece of paper wasn't enough - I covered a whole wall in butcher paper and filled it all in because there were so many ideas in my head.

Lets say for example that your central idea is that you love baking. You are really good at it to and often get praise for your baking from others. The baking is your central idea. Now on a piece of paper you could list things like - sell at markets, make an online store, visit local businesses, start a coffee van and sell the baking, approach local television and newspapers for a cooking spot, write a baking book, start a cafe but make it unique and different from all the others in your area, etc.

Dream BIG and imagine all that you could do and then make it happen. It really is not as hard as you think. Your gift truly IS your wealth. You just need to spend the time and effort developing it and running with it. It's a choice we all have to make.