"Nothing changes, if, nothing changes"

[Westaus]

Hi All

I have been wanting to write this for some time and now the time has finally come. A little history first, I have been employed constantly for the past 25 years in good positions that have had plenty of benefits, such as flying around the world business class, to places such as Sweden, USA, Morocco, Langkawi, NZ and all over Aus, eating at the finest restaurants, staying at the best hotels, working from home for the past 10 years and earning a pretty good wage to go with it.

With all of this life was pretty good, but like most things life has a way of throwing you off course for reasons, some which don't seem apparent at the time. From all of this good life I was not happy, the job, the work, the managers it just was not all it was cracked up to be and I found myself getting stale, lazy and generally not much fun to be around. So about 12 months ago I decided I wanted to make a change, but how ?

Initially I rang around to a few contacts that I have made over the years looking for various openings or jobs, I even went for a couple of jobs, got offered one but turned it down due to not being able to get the package right and the other I was second pick, oh well. A lot of people were saying this is happening and that is about to come up soon, but nothing ever happened and I ended up getting frustrated with them. So I came to the conclusion, it was up to me.

Once I had come to this conclusion it was a case of what could I do, what do I want to do and so on. The first thing for me was to do something, didn't have to be anything big but start something and FINISH it. Too many unfinished projects, so this is where the prospectors mapping course came about. As you know that was held and while it was only a small turnout the actual achievement was huge to me. From little things, big things grow. Good name of a song ?

That was just a part of it, I have quit my job, and started my own company. I am starting in the new year as my own boss with my own approach and hopefully with my experience will come some success. The company is registered, the domain has been secured, the company car has been purchased and I am ready to go. I know for a lot of you this would seem trivial but for those of us that have been slaves to the wheel and the system and wish they could do it, well as I said in the title, Nothing changes, if, nothing changes !

Watch this space more details to come, best of luck to everyone out there. I want to thank you all for making the forum a great place, and may you all enjoy and have a wonderful holiday, Christmas and New Year.

Cheers

Westaus :lol:

 

[Sandta]

All the best wishes
This sphilosophy applies to so much in life ...
Change is often very difficult , for fear of the unknown
Its much easier to keep doing what your doing ... Even when you know its wrong( for whatever reason)

 

[Metamorphic]

Go hard or go home.....life is short and its better to die on your feet than live on your knees!

My best wishes to you Westaus, you will do it mate!

 

[Westaus]

Thanks all, exactly my thoughts as well. I can cruise along or make something happen. It's not like someone comes along and says here you go have this !

Another quote that stuck with me and was by someone that you would not expect but it really resonated with me.

"Opportunities looks a lot like hard work"

Ashton Kusher teen awards, the other parts make pretty good sense as well. Certainly made me think about making rather than just living -

[video=480,360]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNXwKGZHmDc[/video]

 

[Ungybungyboh]

Go hard mate, chase those dreams!!

In process of picking up roots and moving to an unknown and totally new role myself.......

IT Security Sales in Sydney>>>>>Wildlife keeper in FNQ (hopefully)...

Cant wait for lifes next adventure, just like you!!

 

[stoyve]

Opportunity knocks to those who can hear.
All the best westaus in your next faze in life,
We look forwar to your progress reports in the future.,
The journey is what you make of it and remember,
"Wherever you go, there you are"
Cheers steve
(Sorry for all the cliches)

 

[dwt]

well done Westaus, all the best mate

 

[Prospector B]

Well done Westaus! It sounds like a very exciting time of your life.

 

[MJB]

good luck with it Westaus...great attitude to have...you may have taught me a thing or two

 

[ProspectorPete]

Well done Westaus, you're taking the opportunity that most people would be too scared to take through fear of failure and the unknown, it's people like yourself that make those decisions in life that are most rewarded, good luck with it and merry Christmas and safe new year to all.

 

[Redfin]

Good onya mate, don't die wondering.

below is a section of the cover of a book Mrs Redfin and I wrote some years back and sums up our attitude.

For the last 25 years people constantly commenting on how lucky we are to have so much time off, to go the places we do etc.
Well it isn't luck, we chose to do that, just like others choose to work 5 or 6 days a week.
Good luck, with your attitude you are already winning.

 

[Ramjet]

Well done for making the decision to change your life. Best of luck with your new venture.
Merry Christmas and a very good new yearto you.

Cheers

Ramjet

 

[HeadsUp]

Yeah i wish.

I am sick of making millions in other peoples pockets

but i didnt yet see the space to create a plan to change it.....

:|

 

[Westaus]

Oh WOW I feel so humbled by your responses and support. I am also really pleased to see I may have even inspired a few to have a think about their own situations, I do hope this is something that can be expanded and worked on to form a plan and then action.

Good to see a few have already done this and started to do something they want, rather than doing the normal. Best of luck and please keep us all informed of your progresses.

I found it interesting when telling people I had decided to leave my work and do something for myself, that almost all of them were envious, if that is the right word, but it was fear that stopped them progressing or even thinking further about any change. There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting a steady job and security, I know the missus is right down this alley. Worked in her first job for 20 years, had few years off and now worked in the current role for the past 7 years. So change is something she is uncomfortable with, probably why she stuck with me so long !

For those that are looking to do something my advise is the KISS principle, yeah I know that's what everyone says. However it is true if you can break everything down to the smallest part and just work on that the overall task does not seem so daunting. As example this is how I worked out what I needed to do in the most basic form. This is how the first year planning was formulated, after year 1 it should have a strong turnover and steady income. Not accountant accurate but used as a guide to the process -

I am selling a consumable (product x) and each person in the industries selected use $1,000 of this item per year as an average.
I make 50% on the sale (exclude GST etc for simplicity) so for $1,000 I make $500 - running costs of 25% = NP $375 ~
If I want to make $100,000 in wages = $100K / $375 = 267 just using Nett Profit as an example
If each company in the areas targeted have on average 10 employees, I need 26.7 companies.
Breaking it down further that means I need to find a new business every 2 weeks which meets the criteria.
Average number of sales calls per week = 15 if you work on 10% success should give 1.5 per fortnight or 39 accounts PA

So when working out a goal for the year I can easily then break that down by month and then by day and so on. My quick glance goals looks like this -

50 Accounts for the year
Average account turnover $12K PA
15 Sales calls per week

KISS

Cheers

Westaus

 

[Keith]

It would appear you have thought long & hard about your business, it sounds like a feasible plan. I hope it works & remember, the harder you work the luckier you get! Good luck!
I believe it is better to look back on memories than regrets so go for it!

 

[nuggetino]

Sounds a great change your making in your life Westaus and I think you are in an eviable position because it takes courage to make a big life change. Wish you all the best in your business venture and thanks for sharing a little about your life and advice

 

[Westaus]

Just a quick update and thanks to the new comments. I had a meeting today with a couple of key manufacturers and it looks all good for an account with them in the new year. So a couple of new and innovative items are now added to the stock list. One of them I have got in at an early level so hopefully I can create a nice niche for this. A lot of these will be of interest for the Prospecting community as well, which is not my primary market, but if it can help you all at some point then that is great.

As a side note I was talking to a local business owner, and we got onto what I was doing and he said come in when I am up and running and he will be happy to buy from me. So not getting ahead of myself but looks like I have a customer now as well lol don't worry I will not be posting every new customer.

Thanks again,

Westaus

 

[kemjak57]

Good luck Westaus, Very inspirational! I was quite impressed by Ashton Kutcher's speech. It would be great to see things like that more often as talks like that tend to give you a little more hope. I have a 21 year old son who has some dreams for his life which I am confident he will see realised. I also have an 18 year old daughter who has a great work ethic. She isn't sure what career she wants to take but hard workers will do well in life.Thankfully they both display attributes that Kutcher spoke of. Thanks for your posts, I am better off having read them. All the very best, Rick

 

[Westaus]

Hi All

Best wishes for 2015 I hope everyone enjoyed their time and I see that some are brave and getting out there in the Aussie heat.

I just wanted to add a small update for anyone interested. The business has started at least my involvement full time. January is building the foundations. I have secured some very good suppliers and top products. The benefit of this is that a lot of my products are designed to assist the prospecting community in both education and general bush safety. I look forward to letting you all know about this in more detail soon.

Not using this as a sales post however I will have products varied from Defibrillators-pic (Fully Automatic) to Safety Glasses, First Aid kits (4WD, Snake etc) and Hydration products (Sqwincher). So if anyone is looking for something please drop me a line.

The motto of all my products are "Buy once, buy well"

I look forward to adding details and assisting the wider community, I am also looking at the site sponsorship as well to make it easier for areas and information to be kept. Once I start getting some money in. It is all going out at the moment

I hope I haven't pushed the rules too far.

 

[Ryan1981]

Keep big target goals in mind, But also make small goals as well, Dont forget to reward your achievements even the small ones, ie registering your company, your first sale ect.
When each goal is met, take note of what youve been through and give yourself a minute to acknowledge how far you have come.

Every bump in the road that has pasted, makes the person who and what they are today.

Well done mate,and all the best for 2015
Cheers
Ryan