Celebrating an Ecstatic Goodbye + 50% off Beyond Fear

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Most goodbyes are sad, but have you ever been dying to say, “So long, farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, goodbye”? “Ciao”? “Peace out”?

The last day of school before summer vacation comes to mind. The end of a bad relationship. Visiting your mother-in-law, if she’s that kind of mother-in-law. But nothing quite compares to quitting your job to run your own business.

It’s a year ago today that I gathered the last few things out of my office, took my name plate off the door, and walked out for the last time–a free woman. Woot!

(Here’s the secret most people won’t tell you: exciting = terrifying + awesome.)

Over the past year, I’ve done a lot and learned a lot, but it pretty much all boils down to working hard and overcoming fear.

• I had to face my fear of the unknown and my huge fear of going broke in order to quit my job at all.
• I had to get over my fear of talking to people and accepting help. I ended up interviewing nine rockstar bloggers for Beyond Fear. Each one had me quaking in my boots but turned out inspiring and exhilarating.
• I had to face my fear of failure over and over as I created and launched Beyond Fear, Getting Unstuck, and Reclaim Your Love.
• I also had to get over being afraid of not belonging and of people knowing I’m scared, vulnerable, and weak. Still working on that, like, every day.
• And let’s not forget, the fear of being too dorky and getting laughed at. That’s basically required if you’re a blogger. (I’m pretty sure you have to be a little odd for this to work.)

A few months ago, one of my friends asked my advice on quitting his job. I started to advise him to wait longer than I did and save a better cushion fund before quitting. Watching the savings dwindle while sales fail to fill the gap is extremely nerve-racking.

But as I listened to what I was saying, I realized that if I had it to do over again, I would not take my own advice. I’d still quit as soon as I possibly could, even if it meant more financial uncertainty. Having a better life sooner has been worth it a thousand times over.

After all, isn’t that my whole message? Forget the deferred-life plan. If you have 16,517 days left (as I did when I walked out), start using them to the utmost now! Today, I have 16,151, and I’m glad I didn’t waste any time.

I don’t know what the life of your dreams would look like, or what you need to get there, but I hope you’re on your way.

What I do know is I wouldn’t be living mine without you. Thank you very much for all of your support over the last year. I couldn’t have done this without you.

For most people, the number-one thing holding them back is fear. As a way of showing my gratitude and in celebration of my anniversary, Beyond Fear is 50% off through 11:59 pm tomorrow (Monday, July 23). Just use the coupon code FREEDOM. I’d love to see you use this to catapult yourself to your dream life, whatever that may be.

Beyond Fear

Dreams take hard work and facing down fear. Anyone can work hard. It’s fear that stops most people. Here’s to all of us getting a little closer to living our dreams.