I’m back!

Perhaps, more than where I’ve been, the big question is: Have I achieved my goal of working from home by April 2011?

The answer is: YES and NO.

YES because…

I resigned from my regular job and started working from home on February 1, 2011 — my self-declared independence day.

It wasn’t how I expected things would turn out, but I considered it a goal achieved nonetheless.

In January, I talked with my boss and asked him if he would allow me to become a “talent” in our company. That simply meant, I’m still their employee and I’ll earn a regular salary every month but I won’t have to go to the office everyday.

The tradeoff was I had to take a huge paycut. Honestly, I was hesitant at first, my pay would be just enough to cover my share in the family expenses. There would be nothing left over for my personal expenses.

Thankfully, my hubby was very supportive. And I also realized my free time was worth more to me than money. So I accepted the deal and on January 31, I punched in the bundy clock for the very last time.

I was home every day of the week and had more time to spend with my kids, just what I wanted. But money was a little tight and hubby had to shoulder some of the expenses I usually take care of.

But I remained grateful for how things turned out. I always say, when you find yourself in a situation that did not exactly go your way, the right question to ask is:

What’s the opportunity in this?

I thought that with my reclaimed free time, I can actually have the opportunity to make more money.

And I was right.

By the end of February, I got offers for other talent jobs that more than made up for my paycut.

By April, I had already surpassed my target earnings of $1,000.

NO because…

One of my jobs (the highest paying one) requires me to report to the office around three times a week. That’s still a good deal considering I have the rest of the week off and I don’t have to punch in the bundy clock. I can leave when my work is done.

Besides, this job has been a tremendous learning experience for me. it challenges me every time. And that is very good in my book.

But one realization, I had last week was, I’m still an employee. I’m still working for other people. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. But I realized the ultimate goal is to be an entrepreneur, to be my own boss. And of course, to increase my income doing work that I enjoy.

So now that  I’ve accomplished this goal, I am setting a new one:

In an easy and relaxed manner, in a healthy and positive way, I am becoming a thriving online entrepreneur earning $3,000 a month while working from home.

The qualifier in the beginning was something I learned from the book “The Greatest Secret of All” by Marc Allen. Pretty good read and very motivating.

The plan

Since I am going to do this on top of my current job, I plan to keep things simple and focus on one strategy: I will continue working on my PLR store until I get it up and running.

I’ve written some packs previously that are ready to go and my site has already been set up. I just need to write a couple more packs and set them up in a shopping cart.

I am giving myself another six months which means I intend to accomplish this goal by October 1, 2011.

I will also continue blogging here about my progress and some things I learn along the way.

I’m actually excited to accomplish this new goal because this time I’m making it more specific. I’m confident that I can achieve it. But, if ever things don’t turn out exactly the way I want it, one thing I know for sure, it will be something better than what I wanted.

Thanks for stopping by and feel free to come along for the ride.