Passion for Personal Finance, Business, Blogging or Anything ...

Recently, a close friend and co-worker told me that she bought a domain name and hosting service to start her very own blog. She is someone who has many interests and hobbies, many of them having to do with healthy living such as eating well, exercising and learning new things. I?m not sure what she plans to blog about, but I bet it will be about something she?s very passionate about. When I heard of her plans to do this, I reflected on if and how I may have influenced her to pursue it.

Over the past few years (mainly the past two), I have seen a change in myself. I?ve gotten more excited about things that interest me and that are good for me and less excited, in many cases flat out against, things that aren?t good for me. This is true for financial, health, career and personal aspects of my life. I?ve found that since I?ve started to become excited about things and have changed my life to reflect that excitement, others have taken notice and, in many cases, have started to become excited about those same things as well.

Let?s start with all of this personal finance jazz. Here are 7 positive changes I?ve made personally and professionally these past few years:

1. I started tracking my finances (first with Quicken online and later with Mint.com).
2. I started listening to Dave Ramsey, subscribed to his site, bought his book and got on his plan,? The 7 Baby Steps.
3. I got my butt out of $25,000 in debt with a $35,000 average salary in 2 1/2 years.
4. I?ve increased my income dramatically at work while gaining very valuable business, communication and leadership experience.
5. I?ve saved half of my income (after taxes) ever since becoming debt free not even a year and a half ago.
6. I quit smoking, started running (once in a while), stopped eating out and started cooking all of my meals at home and have been eating healthy.
7. I started this blog in December 2011, met some awesome fellow bloggers, joined the Yakezie Challenge, cut my Alexa rank down to 768,000 and falling, scored a PageRank 3, got my first paid advertising offer and have managed to get a fairly steady stream of traffic on my blog every day.

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My point of listing out my progress above is to follow up on each with how they have influenced my family and friends. Let me show you what I mean.

Personal Finance

Anyone who knew me before the past few years knew me as a spender. When I was a teenager, I had a fancy bicycle with all the bells and whistles. I had name brand clothes, watches and shoes. I couldn?t settle for mowing lawns with a crappy lawn mower, so I convinced my dad and grandpa to pitch in money to help me buy a shiny brand new riding lawn mower. After high school, my mom cosigned on a shiny new car for me that I bought?fancy chrome wheels for along with a remote starter, expensive stereo system and tinted windows. Even after college, I bought a nice new flat screen HDTV and a new top of the line computer. I always loved spending money on new toys.

So when I did the big Switch-A-Roo and quit spending money cold turkey, it was a shock to everyone who knew me. They didn?t think anything of it at first, but once I started making claims like, ?I plan to have my car loan of $15,000 paid off in 18 months?, they became a bit more interested in how exactly I was going to do that. Well, I showed them how it was possible. I cut my lifestyle big time, saved a bunch of money and wrote out a check, exactly when I said I would.

Those who saw me go from a broke spender, living the high life to someone who doesn?t buy anything unnecessary anymore and because of that is doing very well financially, took notice. They also became curious about this guy, Dave Ramsey, who supposedly talked me into doing it. My sister was one of those who took notice. As a result, her and her husband started listening to Dave Ramsey and took his class, Financial Peace University. They are now living on a budget and live their life using the envelope system. Doing so has enabled my sister to quit her job and stay at home with her two babies. Her and her husband live a frugal, but rich life on a budget, utilizing a new way of living they learned about after seeing the impact that cutting my lifestyle had on me.

At Work

I got lucky with being in the right place at the right time in regard to my job. It was the perfect fit for me coming out of college. I was interested in small business, studied entrepreneurial management in college and wanted to start my own business someday. I joined a small internet marketing company with 4 employees at the time and since have helped it grow from 4 to 38 employees not even 5 years later. We?ve moved locations twice, outgrowing every one and just bought our very own building.

Not only has our company done well these past 5 years, but I have done well too. I got excited about the opportunities available to me and it took off from there. Being able to figure out something that has never been figured out before excited me and motivated me to work very hard. Over the past few years, some of the people we?ve hired that I?ve had the pleasure of working with have noticed the excitement I had and became excited about those opportunities too. As a result, I?ve had quite a few co-workers tell me how they have been impacted by my passion to excel and make a difference in our company.

Eating Better, Exercising and Quitting Smoking

I started eating better for three reasons: 1. It?s cheaper than eating out, 2. Eating poorly gives me heartburn and 3. I wanted (and still do want) to get rid of my belly. When I?m at my family or friends? home I have suggested that we prepare something there vs. eating out. I do the same when friends/family members are over at my apartment. I?ve even shared some of my favorite recipes and vice versa. It?s fun, actually and I?ve noticed my friends and family eating in and cooking more as a result. Regarding exercising and not smoking, I?ve notice that my habits of doing so have caused some friends and family members to want to do the same as well.

Blogging

This brings me back to the beginning of this post. My friend and co-worker, who is starting a new blog about her passion because she saw how exciting starting this blog was for me. She?s not the only one I know who, because of me and my blog, is considering starting a blog about their passion. I?ve heard it from at least 5 people.

So, today?s insight is that no matter what your passion is, if you live it, people will notice, which may encourage them to give it a try as well or apply the energy you?re giving them to something they are excited about.

Have you ever picked something up because of the excitement you saw it bring to someone else? Leave a comment and tell us all about it!

Source: http://www.youngcheapliving.com/2012/03/04/passion-for-personal-finance-business-blogging-or-anything-really-can-be-contagious/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=passion-for-personal-finance-business-blogging-or-anything-really-can-be-contagious

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