“There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.”
Bruce Lee is a cultural icon known the world over, not only for his martial arts prowess, but also for many of his life philosophies. One such mantra is the one quoted above, reminding us of the pitfalls of stagnation. Especially in today’s society with the amazing potential of the Internet, there really are no limits to what you can achieve in your life.
If it were not for the web, I likely would not be able to enjoy my current career as a freelance writer. It is because I recognized the utter lack of limits in this vocational realm that I was able to do something about it. Trying to start a more traditional writing career through more conventional means would have been considerably more difficult.
One thing that I have recognized over these last few years a full-time freelance writer is that it is all too easy to hit a plateau. I started with just one client in the beginning, but the potential from this one client could only get me so far. In order to get past this initial threshold, I had to “go beyond” and seek out additional work. The “limit” on my freelance income was effectively increased by doing so.
Similarly, we are all bound by the restrictions of time. So, in order to overcome this obstacle and reach to get beyond the current plateau, I have attempted to start shift from services to products. This, along with blogging and other endeavors, can open up the channels for passive income. Again, the “limit” can be breached and surpassed.
Looking ahead, I may expand my brand further with speaking engagements and trying to extend my areas of expertise in new and exciting directions. It is only by taking these risks that we can “go beyond” the plateaus.
In your own life, what are you doing to surpass your own plateaus? Remember, even the sky isn’t the limit. Shoot for the stars and, even if you come up short, you might make it to the moon.
I guess it takes a huge dose of entrepreneur spirit to become a highly successful freelance writer.
Apart from the book you wrote with John Chow, are you creating other products that bring assive income? Or you have already those products?
You could argue that the blogs I run have some passive income, though that’s really minimal.
I’m slowly working on another project, but I have no real timeline for it yet.
Man, my mobile told me it’s 03:09 am in Vancouver!
I feel for you with the blog income. IT is nice that you have a small following that averages in the 200-300 range. To get passive income you really have to have a blog that has a large subscriber base like John Chow Dot Com. But to get that you need more than just a pretty face and a good idea for a blog.
Passive income was a new term for me though I’d long thought about the huge benefit of having it. I only learned this expression from one of Johh Chow’s ebooks.
I’m a translator, trading hours for dollars. I’ve worked for more than 10 years and I now believe my experience is good enough for some kind of books or a series of them. I’ve never dealt with people from the real-paper pubishing world and have no idea about how it runs in China. For me, getting my books published by some pubishing house is similar to getting my feet on the Moon!
Thanks to this Internet era, I can always use my blogs. I will seriously consider writing some really useful translation books I want to bring passive income!
One form of passive income that has been around for a long time are TV residuals. Once you do the show, or commercial you are always earning a small percentage. The same with music CD’s, singles, albums and plays on the radio. All of that is passive income.
It’s nice to be in a business that you can get passive income. Freelancing really doesn’t lend itself to that unless you write a book :-). Blogging will only gain you passive income that is worth it when you get a large enough subscriber base.
I find myself on plateaus quite often.
What I’m trying to do to excel further is set goals.
It’s a simple practice but i’ve never taken the time to do so.
Bruce Lee was unique in that he was always trying something different. He never believed in standing pat. He was always reading, learning, training, adding to what he already knew to make himself better.
Not a lot of people are like that. He was a rare individual.
Bruce Lee was a unique individual!
He knew that Wing Chun by itself was no match for some of the more advanced fighting techniques in the world.
He took that knowledge and studied different fighting styles such as boxing, judo, and wrestling to form a more advanced fighting style called, “Jeet Kune Do”.
He was the original mixed martial artist!