Revealing my secret plan

When I boarded a plane for Korea just over a year ago, I had a few very simple goals in mind. These were:

  1. Make enough money to pay off some college debt, at least put a small dent in the total.
  2. Save some money if I don't spend too much paying off college debt.
  3. Totally immerse myself in a completely new culture.
  4. Activate my secret plan that I wouldn't dare tell my parents about.

I didn’t lay out too many specifics. I just wanted to get my feet on solid ground and start thinking about the rest of my life seriously because I figured that’s what you’re supposed to do when you’re all grown up.

What's this secret plan?

Well, it’s nothing monumental. I hope I didn’t build it up too much.

I still haven’t told my family and friends, only hinted around the idea a bit. So, Mom, Dad, in case you’re actually reading my blog…

I’m going to work online.

What I mean by this is that I’m not going to take a day job right when I come home. I’ll be attempting, I hope successfully, to make a living by working on the Web.

The secret plan has been to establish myself in some corner of the Web, actually the WordPress corner. Mostly, it was to build up an online presence. I feel like I’ve done that well enough in the past year.

I’m usually pretty upfront about what my plans are with friends and family, but a conversation I had with my dad almost two years ago made me seriously think about what it is that I want out of life and how I must go about achieving whatever it may be. I was a bit less mature and a bit more naive at the time, but I knew I needed to take a spin in the real world before getting any crazy ideas (i.e. working online).

I wanted to feel like I’ve established myself somewhat before any of my family or friends would take me seriously, before I could take myself seriously.

So, you want specifics, right?

Well, I’m not going to lay out all my plans in this one post for you. I just wanted to kind of make everything official — it’s a personal motivation technique. If I’m telling the world, I’m much more likely to see my plans through.

I will say that Theme Hybrid will be my top priority. That’s not going to change. Business has been going well enough there for me to feel comfortable with this announcement.

I have a couple of other projects lined up too. Announcements on those will come in due time.

The plan was to start the new year with my major career decision. I wanted to stay in Korea until December, but as I recently announced, that’s not going to happen. So, I’m adjusting the plan. That’s life.

I’m both excited and nervous, but I also feel like I’ve been blessed with good timing (I’ll talk about what I mean by “timing” later).

In a couple of days, I’ll be embarking upon a new journey — one that I hope you’ll stick around to help me through.