Leaving Work Behind

I Want You To Be a Part of Healthy Enough (And Pay You For It!)

Tom Ewer

N.B. I am no longer accepting applications for this role. Thanks!

In the middle of last year I initiated a huge change in my business by switching from freelancing to working with a team of writers to service my clients. It was perhaps the most impactful and beneficial thing I could have done for my business and myself at that time, and I’ve never regretted the decision.

Fast forward to just a couple of weeks ago and I made a similarly monumental decision. I was bogged down by the minutiae of six discrete projects and felt utterly overwhelmed. I had too much going on to dedicate myself properly to any one project and it felt like something had to give.

The most obvious candidate for the chopping blog was my “passion project,” Healthy Enough. Although I loved working on it, it has yet to make a penny and is the project least likely to make any real money in the coming months. I was getting close to a decision to letting go.

Fortunately, a huge shift in the way I looked at my long term involvement in my business put a stop to the notion of giving up on the Healthy Enough project. In this post I want to outline the huge mental shift I have experienced in the past few weeks and reveal a unique opportunity to became a huge part of Healthy Enough and get paid for it.

Defining a “Real” Business

A lot of people will tell you that freelancing isn’t a “real” business because it requires you to be present for money to be made. The hours you put in directly reflect the money you make.

While that is true, the implication that freelancing is just like employment is false. But that’s a topic for another day. My point is this: most people consider a “real” business to be one that does not require your ongoing involvement on the “ground level.” A real entrepreneur strategizes, creates and delegates — they rarely get involved in the minutiae of their business.

From 2011 to the middle of last year, I was heavily involved in the minutiae of my business. There was little that I didn’t do, and most of my income would’ve stopped flowing if I wasn’t showing up every day and doing the necessary work.

That began to change when I switched to delegating my freelance work. Now I work in an editorial capacity, and while I am still involved near the ground level, my editorial role requires relatively little of my time (perhaps 15-20 minutes per day on average).

It took me another six months or so to realize that I should apply the same approach to my business across the board.

How I Am Building a “Real” Business

So let’s go back to the impasse I was at just a few short weeks ago. Put simply, I had too much going on and I felt like something had to give. I was demotivated and struggling to commit myself to anything with any real vigor.

But then I was hit by the simple epiphany that I should do less and delegate more. If I could find people to help me fulfill all of my projects without me being so intrinsically involved, I could keep going with all of them.

This solution gave me an enormous boost. The cloud of demotivation that I had been working within suddenly lifted and I felt an enormous revival in my enthusiasm.

Having been working within this new environment for a couple of weeks, I have been delighted with my progress so far. Not only do I think that this new way of doing things is sustainable, I believe it will enable me to take on even more projects than I have on the go already.

There is of course a cash flow element to this — I need to pay the people who are doing work I would be doing — but I can get so much more done far quicker than I would on my own. I’m confident that this new approach will ultimately enable me to earn far more in the long run. Furthermore, I’m just so much more happy working in this fashion.

As a huge bonus, the more I delegate, the more I can pay other people. And the vast majority of people I work with are Leaving Work Behind readers. That is important to me; I love the idea of not only helping LWB readers with my content, but also helping them by hiring them.

And this is what brings me to the opportunity I want to present to you today.

Do You Want to Blog for Healthy Enough?

I have a lot of projects on the go and I don’t intend to slow down. With that in mind and in the spirit of my new approach to business, I don’t have the time to write content for Healthy Enough any more. So I’m looking for someone to take over that role for me.

In the long term I’m not just looking for someone to write content for the site — I want someone to make the blogging role for Healthy Enough theirs. I want them to feel part of (and contribute to) a project that will become much bigger than it presently is. And, of course, I also want to pay them for their time.

What does this mean in practical terms? Well, it’s important that I find the right person for the blog. They should be similar to me in terms of my outlook on health and fitness.

To give you an idea of who I’m looking for, head over to Healthy Enough now and read the home page and the About page.

In terms of content, I am looking for relatively short (think 400-800 words) pieces that focus on a single piece of action that someone can take to improve their health and fitness without compromising on their enjoyment of life. Here are a bunch of articles that I feel best epitomize the Healthy Enough vision:

I’m looking for someone who would be interested in writing 2-3 posts like the above every week. Beyond that, I would love for them to have an active interest in growing the blog and seeking to expand their involvement. I don’t just want someone who wants to write their piece and get on with other things — I’m looking for someone who is passionate about the Healthy Enough concept and wants to play a big part in the blog’s success.

If this sounds up your alley, please complete the following form:

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I look forward to hearing from you!

Am I About to Disappear?

If you’re wondering what my new approach means for Leaving Work Behind, let me reassure you that I’m not planning on disappearing from the blogosphere.

While my long term plans for LWB are to make it far more of an interactive community in which we can all learn from each others’ stories and experiences, I still intend to be a big part of that on the “front lines.”

As always, I welcome your comments and questions below!