Jason Brubaker

Do you ever feel like you could be doing so much more with your life? When you started out, you dreamed big. Do you remember You woke up each day filled with excitement for the possibilities of tomorrow.

Then life happened. 

Days became weeks. Weeks became years. And now, decades…

Are You Living A Life Of Quiet Desperation?

Now you start each day with a wave of dread.

You’re going through the motions and grinding. You have a decent job and a family who loves you.

To most people, you look like a success. But you and I both know you’re on the brink of burnout and you’re bored.

You’re living a life of quiet desperation.

How did this happen?

Easy. You settled. You let yourself get comfortable. But how this happened is not important. What is important is the next chapter in your life.

By reading these words, you are about to take a new direction in life…

How do I know?

Because you are not alone. I’ve been there.

To help you, I’m going to share some useful tactics steps in real time so you can follow along… I don’t promise you fame and fortune and a new Ferarri. But what you’ll get from me is real…

So if you’d like more tactics like the article you just read, make sure you sign up for the most awesome newsletter you’ll ever read. (Actually, I’m a little biased. But I do think you’ll like the stuff I send you.)

Over the years, I’ve taken some calculated business risks that usually turned out okay. So you’d think I’d have some good strategies for overcoming fear. But I never anticipated how my idiot friends would surprise me on my bachelor party.

On the day of my party, my best man convinced me we were going golfing. We were in Las Vegas. And if you’ve never been, there is a nice golf course a few miles south of the strip, in front of a small airport. And it wasn’t until we drove past the golf course that I realized there would be no golf…

“Just kidding. We’re going sky diving.”

My friends didn’t seem the least bit concerned that I had a fear of heights. Or that the absolute last thing I ever wanted to do IN MY LIFE was jump out of a perfectly good airplane.

The Truth About Skydiving (And Overcoming Fear)

Now if you’ve never entered a skydiving facility before, the first thing you do is watch some terrible video that tells you literally, the top 10 ways you will most likely die. Then they make you get on a table, lift your legs to your chest and pretend you’re falling. That’s it. That’s the whole training. A video and a leg exercise.

Then the skydiving place makes you sign a waiver, which once again assures you that your parachute will probably fail and you will plummet 18,000 feet to your doom. All of which filled my mind with horrific imaginings of how my beautiful bride would be left alone, crying at the alter.

At this point, I was pissed. Any strategy for overcoming fear was replaced by an irrepressible desire to punch my best man in his stupid, idiot face. And while the memory is still a little fuzzy, I remember YELLING within earshot of a dozen other prospective skydivers.

“BACHELOR PARTY FAIL!”

Another buddy sort of pushed me outside and assured me that he also thought the idea of falling from an airplane was stupid. He said that him and I should just go back inside and wait it out.

But back inside, he was like: “Just kidding.”

Think about it. Those guys had months and months to mentally prepare for the jump. And I had like fifteen minutes to decide. At that moment, I had two choices:

— I could wait on the sidelines and miss out on a life changing, memorable experience.

— I could DECIDE to overcome fear and go for it.

The skydiving facility had already pegged me as “the terrified wimp” so when I turned in my fully executed waiver, they put me in tandem with the ex-special forces guy named Demetrius who I’m sure could pass as Jason Statham’s stunt double.

“Do not worry. I will not let you die today.”

Next thing you know we are 18,000 feet above the earth and Demetrius is telling me to put my legs out the door. Before I had a chance to protest, I was free falling.

Free falling to the earth (at approximately 120 miles per hour), I realized  three important lessons about overcoming fear:

1. Once you “go for it” crying and complaining (and screaming) is not going to help.

2. Time is limited. So find some way to enjoy the process.

3. When you achieve the goal, you wonder why you waited.

I would love to tell you that some aspect of my life profoundly changed that day. But I mostly realized that my friends are jerks who cannot be trusted. The good news is, there are more dude trips in our future and I’m already thinking up ways I can trick help my friends find new strategies for overcoming fear.

If you’d like to get past your own fears so you can start your online business, check out InfoMarketing101

When I was in college, I took a job selling spas at a local carnival so I could pay for classes. Having had no prior sales experience, the first few weeks on the job were tough. People go to carnivals to ride rides and eat ice cream. They don’t go to carnivals to buy ten-thousand dollar hot tubs…

I arrived early each morning to set up our booth. I armed myself with glossy brochures and made sure the hot tubs were spic-n-span. Then I spent the rest of the day enthusiastically demonstrating the value of our hot tubs. Many times people would feign interest, ask for a brochure and walk away. And you know what? I never heard from those people again. And I never made a sale.

Then one day, a co-worker took me aside. He was one of these old salts, from the old school of selling. And unlike me, he had dropped out of high school and never looked back. His lack of formal education didn’t matter. He was the top sales pro in the company and had the respect of everyone, including the owner. Suffice it to say, he knew a thing or two…

OLD GUY
You know why you ain’t selling?

ME
Nobody comes to a carnival to buy an expensive hot tub?

OLD GUY
No. That’s a negative belief. And it ain’t true. Most of us are selling fine. With your energy and enthusiasm, you could outsell everyone on this team, including me. But you got one problem. Out of all the people you talked to, never once did you ask someone to buy. If you don’t ask, you don’t get!

The advice was simple. Obvious. And profound.

From that moment forward, anytime someone showed the slightest interest in buying a spa, I asked for the sale. And you know what? Even though I heard the word “no” hundreds of times, I also heard the word “yes” enough times to make me one of the top producers. That summer I not only made enough money to pay for my classes, but I learned a lesson far more valuable than anything I leaned in college: If you don’t ask, you don’t get. 

Quitting your job may suck more than you think. This is a bummer because most folks teaching entrepreneurship will have you believe that turning your side hustle into a full time business is the best decision you can make… And maybe this is true for some people. But if you’re like me, you might find yourself asking self defeating questions like:

Am I doing the right thing? Am I wasting my life? Is this a joke?

Running a business is a mind game. Each day you’re faced with challenges both externally and internally. New competition pisses you off. Your website breaks. You miss sales goals. Taxes take a toll. And at 3 a.m. you find yourself unable to sleep, wondering if you actually have what it takes to make your business dreams a reality.

Quitting Your Job May Suck

Although quitting your job may suck more than you think, it’s good to remind yourself WHY you refuse to be a wage slave. For starters, a J.O.B. is an abbreviation for “just over broke.” And even when you make good money, job security is just an illusion. You could spend your entire youth loyal to an organization, and without notice your idiot boss can decide to fire you.

What would you do then?

When you’re running your own business, if you lose one customer, you can find TEN new customers and continually increase your income. Having these options creates much better “job security.” And unlike those days at the office where your coworkers waste time talking about the latest television show – your time will be much more productive. You will learn to continually assess each minute, always asking: “Is this the best use of my time right now?”

When it comes down to it, quitting your job to run your own business is not easy. But if you can stay the course long enough replace (and then triple) your income, it is well worth it. And if you take time to come up with a game-plan, running your own business can be a lot less risky than the alternative.