Mind your own business and start earning five-figures a month

About 5 years ago, I was obsessed with everything I could read. I read every magazine, every blog and every social media update I could. I found interesting articles via Twitter that I’d add to my Evernote notebook filled with things to read. I’d open a new tab and send all the articles I couldn’t finish or read yet to OneTab. 

I’d favorite tweets, to read them later. I even had a ‘read later’ board on Pinterest. I saved articles on Facebook. I’d stuff my Chrome’s bookmarks full with things to read, to do. Basically, I felt ‘rushed’ a lot because I always had things to do or to digitally clean. But when people asked me ‘what are you so busy with’? I didn’t know what to say. How stupid does it sound: “this weekend I have to read three newspapers from last week, 230 bookmarks and 123 unread articles, that’s why I can’t do both dinner and lunch tomorrow sorry.“. Yep, sounds really stupid. So I started focusing on my own stuff. And I know, as a full-time blogger and journalist this sounds weird, but I completely stopped reading others blogs.

Cold turkey

I stopped reading the paper on a daily basis (less pressure). I still use OneTab, but it helps me focus on what I’m doing right now, instead of the fifteen tabs open. I’d still add ‘Finish Bloglovin'” to my to-do list because there were always more blogs to read. But eventually, I also gave that up thanks to traveling. When you travel, you have less access to wifi, and as a digital nomad, you have to work when you finally find wifi in the middle of nowhere. On the road I enjoy life and sporadically use wifi for work. And it feels great. In the beginning I didn’t missed the blogs, the long news articles or the magazines one bit. And I still don’t. When I have extra time (I mean, that never happens) I’ll read one or two blogs, but it’s not something on my to do list anymore.

Inspiration/life balance

And the funny thing? I felt more creative than ever. Apparently I just have it in me, thousands of ideas for projects and articles. I don’t need to read other magazines to stay creative. I seriously think now, that it made me less creative because I’d just do what everybody else was doing. I have more time to write, I write more and I feel more proud of what I’m doing, instead of always dissapointed that I didn’t finish my to-do list again. And that my digital life was so cluttered. And that I wasn’t updated on the newest startups and apps. Well, whatever. I learned that not actively searching for new things brings a lot of calmness in your life. And I love it. I read more (real) books now. I take nights off and enjoy full weekends on airplane mode. I stopped reading how to make life or my business better, because by now, I already had read everything there was to read. I grew my business income enormous. I now read about 5 blogs I truly love and that’s it and that’s fine. I still read articles via Pinterest but I read the immediately instead of saving them for later. I literally have so much time now I can basically work part-time and take weekends off! It’s amazing how much clarity it gives when you focus on yourself instead of what everybody else is doing. I tripled my income and found joy again in working for myself! Minding my own business made me more creative again, against all odds.

You don’t have to do it all alone

You don’t have to do it all alone. But I don’t believe reading EVERYTHING about that one topic will help you (the smart way). I suggest, you work with someone that’s better in that one thing, make a small investment and grab your time. Seriously it’s not worth it!

If you can have people do things for you that will take you more than a week to learn about, just invest in yourself and skip the reading! It will make you feel exhausted, rushed and you’ll feel less great because you’re doing something that’s not really up your alley. 

Mind your own business

So here’s my suggestion for you: clear out your open tabs. Find your focus. Hire a Virtual Assistant (even 1 hour a week will help!) Take a weekend and read everything you planned to read, and then throw all the paper out. Delete the links. And sure, you can even stop reading my blog if it helps. I will continue to help entrepreneurs reclaim their freedom so they can travel more and enjoy a more passive business because I know there will always be people who’re not ready to stop reading yet. And I read A LOT the past ten years, I bet that’s more than everybody else because I also had to professionally, in journalism school and I was always the type of girl that read magazines. So don’t feel discouraged if you just started a blog. People will read. Just don’t take it as far as I did. If you need more focus in your life, my productivity and overwhelm planners might help you. Good luck if we’re not meeting again! (Make sure you are subscribed to my newsletter to so we stay in touch!)

{ Also read: 100 tools to automate your business and blog like a boss | Automatically schedule your Pinterest pins with these 5 tools | Productivity myths that hold you back | Work smarter, not harder }

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• The business experience you need to succeed
• The tech tools essential for any digital nomad
• Why I want to stop traveling full-time
• Behind the scenes of a PR agency (+ office tour video on my revamped Youtube channel!)