Afford Anything

Category: Launch a Biz

Written By Julia Kelly

How to Manage Two Successful Businesses (and Why One Wasn’t Enough)

In 2015, we ran a story about Julia Kelly, an entrepreneur who makes a six-figure income as a caricature artist.

Where is she now?

We decided to follow up her story. How sustainable is her business? How passive is her income?

Here’s Julia, with a follow-up in her own words. Take it away, Julia!

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The following is written by guest contributor Julia Kelly

When we left off, I was running JK Expressions and I was a couple of months away from finishing my degree. I was beyond excited to be done with my degree and focus on the business full time – I was pretty sure I would be living the dream!

I was in for a disappointment. About eight months after graduating and focusing on nothing but the business, it was hitting record revenues but I was dissatisfied, bored, unmotivated and thinking seriously about getting a “real” job.

I was confused. Everything looked great from the outside: I was my own boss, had a super flexible schedule, tons of time for hobbies, and good money.

What was the problem?

It probably would have worked for a lot of people — there’s tons of advantages to running a business like that:

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Written By Paula Pant

The eerie similarities between owning rental properties and running an online business

In June, I flew to Atlanta and toured a few of my rental units. This was the second visit I’ve made to these properties in four years.

During that visit, I met with my property manager and a few of my tenants, and I had lunch with my contractor. He and I met at a suburban Atlanta strip mall. 

We ordered a basket of spicy chicken wings and fries, then took out a water-logged spiral notebook and planned a $20,000 renovation.

Here’s what the early brainstormed edition of those plans looked like:

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Written By Paula Pant

“What I’ve Learned from Building an Eight-Figure Business” — an interview with Rand Fishkin

I’ve been following Rand Fishkin’s career for years. He has one of the best rags-to-not-quite-riches-yet stories I’ve heard.

Rand is a college dropout who spent his early 20s spiraling into a deep debt hole. His problems began when he tried to grow a marketing company but funded it in the worst way possible. He leased office space, rented booths at conferences, hired expensive contractors — and paid for everything with a personal credit card. Yikes.

His credit card debt ballooned to $150,000. He couldn’t make the minimum payments, so he defaulted. The late fees and penalty interest rates caused his debt to swell to more than $500,000.

Anyone else might have declared bankruptcy, but Rand stayed the course. He doubled down at work. He decided to specialize in a marketing niche, search engine optimization, which set him apart from the pack.

He brought new clients into his business. He developed internal tools to use for his clients, then started selling subscription-based access to this software.

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Written By Paula Pant

You Can’t Change History From the Middle of the Bell Curve

“If Elon Musk has asked people what they wanted, they would have said better gas mileage.

“But Elon never bothered asking. Because he knows he can’t change history from the middle of the bell curve. And he knows design by consensus, by definition, leads to average results.”

Last week I published a transcript of the speech I delivered at the World Domination Summit, in which I challenged people to be true to themselves despite the fact that others may not like it.

A few days later, WDS released the video of the speech. (I had no idea they were going to release it so soon! I thought it would take a couple months.)

It’s the most heartfelt talk I’ve ever given. It’s deeply personal, and it describes a philosophy I’ve been creating for years. I’d encourage you to watch it here:

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Written By Paula Pant

How to Live Louder than the Sound of ‘Should’

One month ago, I made a speech at the World Domination Summit in Portland about the importance of being yourself, even if this requires setting difficult boundaries or relinquishing your people-pleasing tendencies.

If you’re a creative entrepreneur, such as an artist, writer, musician, designer, craftsman, entrepreneur, or any other type of creator … this is advice you might not have heard before.

I argue that your best business move is to stop giving a sh*t about what other people think. Even your customers.

It’s a counterintuitive philosophy, one that runs contrary to the seemingly-benign “I want to help others” mindset that’s preached in the world of online entrepreneurship. I argue that your effect on others is outside of your control, so the best thing you can do is be yourself and let the chips fall where they may.

Bending over backwards to please others is inauthentic and, ultimately, ineffective. People will be served the most when they see a confident, strong person who is true to themself.

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Written By Paula Pant

How to Stop Talking Yourself Out of Your Dreams

I once asked my friend Monica: “What would you do for a living, if you could do anything in the world?”

I expected her to pause, but she knew the answer immediately.

“I’d open my own clothing boutique,” she said.

It was a fitting response (no pun intended). There’s a positive feedback loop between […]

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What if We Quit Setting Goals? (Seriously?)

It’s an old familiar hum:

Every January, we kickoff the calendar year with New Years Resolutions: lose 10 pounds, make smarter investments, create an extra $1,500 per month on the side.

Yet by February, we’ve returned to life as usual. The discarded New Years Resolution has become a tired cultural trope.

We blame ourselves […]

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Written By Paula Pant

The Tools I Use in My Quest for Peak Productivity

It’s 6:30 a.m., and I’m watching the sunrise over downtown Las Vegas.

The streets are empty. The last revelers have disappeared from the sidewalks and rooftops they occupied a few hours ago.

Anyone else awake in this town has stayed up all night.

 […]

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Written By Paula Pant

The Simple Habits That Make You Feel Invincible

How many days have you felt like this?

You toss and turn all night. Wake up groggy. Curse at the alarm.

You stumble through a morning fog. You’re drowsy, even after two cups of coffee. You stare at the computer screen feeling overwhelmed and unfocused. You get sucked into Email Hell. You spend the rest of […]

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