My son, who is learning internet marketing, accidentally deleted his WordPress installation while he was performing his first backup! Talk about a hard lesson. At first we thought that he had been hacked, but eventually he determined that it was due to a mistake he made in Fantastico while moving a sub-domain to a different folder. Just suffice it to say that multi-tasking is overrated.

Enter our web hosting company. I have a reseller account and my son has a hosting account with me. My reseller account is hosted through HostGator. While everything has gone well so far with my reseller account, you really don’t know how well until you have a problem.

With this problem, I found their service to be excellent.  I opened a ticket and they responded within a few hours (on Sunday) with instructions on how to request a restore.  The cost of the restore was $15 which my son was happy to pay. I entered the restore request last night and woke up this morning to find it done.

His website is up and working again like nothing ever happened.  My son has learned a valuable lesson. I have learned that HostGator truly does have good service.

Disclaimer: This blog post contains affiliate links that will provide compensation to our company if a purchase is made.

Last year was a dissapointment from an internet marketing perspective, although from a family and spiritual perspective it was a really good year. In 2009 I shut down my e-commerce business, but failed to clearance my inventory. I also subscribed to two internet marketing courses, but failed to keep up with the lessons. I just have to accept that 2009 was not the year for my online business or blogging.

2010 offers a fresh start and I believe it can work.

Here are my goals:

1. Set aside time each week to work on my business.
2. Limit the time I spend on things that distract.
3. Liquidate the remaining physical inventory from my e-commerce site.
4. Read the latest edition of The 4-Hour Workweek and apply the principles to my business.
5. Re-start one of the courses I subscribed to last year.
6. Start earning some income from affiliate marketing.

Now that I have written down my goals, it is time to start working!

The 4-Hour Workweek, Expanded and Updated

Timothy Ferriss. Crown 2009, Hardcover, 416 pages, $11.97

About a month and a half ago, I posted about roadblocks keeping me from starting a project.  As with things of this nature, it took longer than I anticipated to get past the roadblocks.  Once I cleared the major roadblock, a couple of other detours ensued.  Now that I am past those, I am ready to get going.

One other thing that has changed is the project I wanted to start.  I am putting that on hold to focus on something that will generate some quicker cash flow.  I still want to do that project, but my online business has bills to pay, now!

As an exercise in accountability, I am posting here my plans for the upcoming weeks and months.

1. This website needs a facelift.  I am going to update the look and better integrate with social media.
2. I am launching my first affiliate marketing site.
3. Create more affiliate marketing sites.
4. More consistent posting on all of my blogs.
5. Profit!!

As this is a blog about my journey to work from home, I will keep updating you on my progress and what I learn along the way.

I have a project that I want to do, in fact I am quite anxious to start it.  There is a problem though.  Yes, you guessed it!  A roadblock.  I won’t say exactly what the roadblock is, but here are some general characteristics to describe it.

1. It has a looming, non-negotiable, deadline.
2. It is not a quick thing.
3. I tried to outsource it but that didn’t work out.
4. It’s not the most fun thing to do.

Everyone hits these kind of roadblocks from time to time.  Here is how I am planning to break through it.

1. Make it a priority.
2. Break it into smaller pieces.
3. Set a schedule to complete the pieces.
4. Block out big chunks of time to get it done.
5. Set an earlier deadline than the real deadline.

Will I get it done?  I think so. YES!  Once it is out of the way, I can do that project that I am really looking forward to.  I guess that is point #6.  Reward myself for getting through this roadblock!

One last thing.  If you think this roadblock will come up again, plan for it next time.

One of my goals for working from home is to have more time with my family. Because of my decision to buy a farm in 2007, I have an 80-mile commute. My employer helped me out by allowing me to work remotely, one day a week. (I must say that they have been very open-minded and supportive!) Recently, I was able to expand that to two days a week. This is a real blessing to me as it eliminates almost 8 hours of drive time each week.

I have always been interested in managing virtual teams, since I went to a ProjectWorld conference in the late ’90s. At that conference I went to a workshop on managing distributed teams. My reason for attending was that I was beginning to manage a team of programmers in India to help with system maintenance and Y2K work. Now, I am the one who is a virtual/distributed (40% of the time) team member!

Two books I read, this past year, gave me encouragement to step out in this way: The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss and Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It: No Schedules, No Meetings, No Joke–the Simple Change That Can Make Your Job Terrific by Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson. The 4-Hour Workweek gave me some strategies for changing my work schedule to allow me to work remotely. Why Work Sucks gave me solid strategies for focusing the evaluation of my work on results (ROWE) and for dealing with negative comments that the authors termed “sludge.”

If you are looking to have more freedom in your work life – the freedom to get results, then I recommend that you read both books. My life now has better margin and control. It is intensely liberating, less stressful, and now has some margin. Most of all, it is already having a positive impact on my family life.

The 4-Hour Workweek

Timothy Ferriss. Crown 2007, Hardcover, 320 pages, $4.98

Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It

Cali Ressler. Portfolio Hardcover 2008, Hardcover, 224 pages, $2.99