In response to my email from yesterday about how I struggled (a lot) when I first started making a living online, one reader asked…
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How different are things for you today? I assume you don’t have many struggles these days
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Oh man, that made me laugh…
The idea that I don’t struggle is funny…
I mean I don’t have to eat rice and beans anymore when I have a bad month…
And I don’t have to live in a shitty basement apartment like I used to.
But I still have struggles…
The struggles have just changed.
For example…
Here’s a few things just from the last two weeks that I’ve struggled with…
– the video guy I hired to film my Email Experts event went M.I.A. and was holding all the recordings from the event hostage. He wouldn’t answer my texts, wouldn’t respond to my emails. I was freaking out because I have $150,000 worth of customers waiting on the recordings. And I’m also gonna do a launch to sell the recordings in a few weeks. So a lot of money was at stake. After two weeks of hanging in limbo, I finally was able to track the guy down through a mutual friend who managed to convince him to give me the raw video and audio files so I could use them (thank god)
– Over the last few weeks I’ve realized that due to the Crohn’s disease I have, my small intestine is not absorbing water properly. This is leaving me chronically dehydrated to the point that I need a nap twice a day just to get through the day. This has messed up so much stuff in my life from my work to focusing to being active. I’m trying a bunch of stuff like IV’s and electrolytes to manage it, but I still feel like shit on most days
– a relative (who I never talk to) reached out and asked if I could loan them $15,000. I know this person is in a bad spot financially, however I also know they’re god awful with money. So if I loan him the $15k, I might as well light it on fire, cause I’m never gonna see it again. This has turned into a big issue with other relatives texting me saying I “need to help him” and that it’s “my responsibility” since I have money (I don’t agree with any of that, but the issue is not going away and has caused me a good amount of stress over the last week).
– the dog rescue where I volunteer is in dire straights because they have a shitty leader who couldn’t run a hot dog stand, let alone an animal shelter for a major city like Austin. Everytime I’m there the dogs barely get out of their cages. Some of them are in a cage 23.5 hours out of the day. They’re lying in their own shit and piss all day long. It’s awful to watch. And as someone who loves dogs, I feel guilty that I can’t do more. And I’m extremely frustrated that the leadership is so incompetent. So this has been causing me a whole bunch of stress the last few weeks…
I could go on and on with this…
But you get the point.
I still struggle with shit.
And I still have stress.
It doesn’t matter how successful you are…
Or how much money you have…
The struggles never truly go away…
They just change.
I mean, the struggles I have now are a lot different from the struggles I had in 2004 when I could barely afford to eat at Chipotle.
But they’re still struggles.
It’s not like once you’re rich, all your problems go away.
That ain’t how it is.
So if you’re hoping that’s how it is…
You aren’t gonna be very happy once you reach the promised land.
Cause you’re still gonna have problems…
And you’re still gonna have stress…
It’ll just be different forms of stress and different problems than you’re used to.
So keep that in mind…
And be prepared for it.
– Justin
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