Steve wrote -

(Please read the entire post because as you'll see, my thought process developed as I wrote. *g*)

> If you don't want to give up... then you
> have to find something that would motivate
> you.

Huh? I never send anything about giving up or being motivated. Maybe I didn't explain myself clearly so I'll try again. I work full time writing software 8 - 12 hours a day depending on what's happening with the project. So what? I'm sure plenty of other people on this board do similar things. Then I work another 2 - 4 hours per night, (depending on what time I get home), on "custom" software projects. From these "side" projects I earn fairly decent additional income. Writing software is time consuming. You probably know that. I'm sure designing web sites is similar. I've only done one and I'm having it redone by someone else. *g* Yup. I don't want to invest the time in redoing it. That's where I am. Here's where I want to be. I want to move away from the time intensive "custom" software so to do that I want to get passive income in place. There are only so many hours in the day and there are certain things I'm *not* willing to give up one of them being my family. (I already give up far too much time with them as it is but we've agreed that *some* time must be sacrificed to get to where we want to be.) The issue is finding the time to develop the "passive" products. It has nothing to do with the motivation.

> Do you just sleep less? *g* Remember too
> that most of us also need to give time to
> our families, communities, churches, etc.
> How do you make all of this work? It
> involves stepping outside your "comfort
> zone" and sacrificing some of the
> things you are pre-occupied with that are
> not making you money.

Well, maybe the difference between us is I'm not willing to give up everything like you apparently did. (That doesn't make either one of us bad. Just different.) Your statement "things you are pre-occupied with that are not making you money" got to me a bit. Everything is not about money. At least not to me. No. I don't have all I want. If I did, we wouldn't be having this discussion. But if you're miserable when you get there and there's no one to share it with, what was the point?

> Let's face it Rick. You already know this.
> You have been around long enough. You don't
> need me to tell you "how to"
> because you already know "how to."

Yes. I have been around awhile. And yes. I do know "how to". But my point in asking was to find out how others did it. You gave up A LOT. Fine. Maybe I'm crazy but I believe I can still get what I want and still maintain the relationships I cherish. I don't think it has to be all or nothing.

> You said "most of us also need" --
> in most cases we WANT those things; we don't
> NEED those things.

I disagree with that too. Try living for a few years with no human contact and see how long your survive. There have been studies where babies died because of the lack of human contact. So... do I NEED those things? Yes. Because they fill an important psychological need. Do I WANT them also? Yes. They fulfill me as a person. Is that "touchy feely"? Somewhat. Maybe I'm getting soft in my old age. *g*

> I wasn't going to talk about what motivated
> me to pay this price. What motivates each
> one of is different as we are all unique.
> But I'm sure some of you who are reading
> this will think I must be the biggest jerk
> alive for being willing to pay such a high
> price.

Nope. I don't think you're a jerk. Besides, it doesn't matter what I think. At least not about that. What matters is that you did it for your own reasons. And that you did it. You paid the price you thought was necessary. Was it worth it? Only you can answer that. I've paid some dues as well. Was the price I paid worth it? Well, some of what I'm currently doing would not have been possible had I not gone through those experiences.

> ...I got to ask "How bad do you want
> it?"

While I still say this is not about motivation, your closing statement has helped me focus on one thing. How bad *do* I want it? What boundaries should I put in place to getting there? Am I willing to spend a certain amount of time each day even if it means getting up a little earlier or going to bed a little later? What *is* the price I need to pay to accomplish this?

Even your post irritated me a bit at the beginning, thanks for pushing a bit. It made me think. I'm going to think about it some more.

Rick Smith, "The Net Guerrilla"