Web Business Freedom

One of the most joyous times in life is finding something that makes you so happy, you gladly do it without fear or hesitation or worry. The ideas and the energy just seem to flow right through you. Suddenly, you’re writing. Or painting. Or acting. Or rebuilding cars. Whatever it is, you’ve found your Muse.

For weeks, or months, you’re pursing your dream. You feel more alive than ever. There’s the feeling that nothing can stop you.

Then suddenly, life happens. The bills are piling up, the rent’s due, the economy sucks, the kids have to eat. And it’s see ya later, Muse. So your dream gets deferred…again. The guitar goes back in the case. The novel is shelved, the paint brushes dry up. No more blog posts.

It happens to the best of us. Recently, it happened to a very talented friend of mine. Patrick McLean is an ace advertising copywriter, one of the best I’ve known. But it’s his day job, and unbeknownst to me, one that he had grown to really despise a few years ago.

That is, until he found his Muse. In short, he decided a few years ago to start a podcast, called The Seanachai. It’s a funny name that means a traditional Irish storyteller.

Without really knowing what he was doing, Patrick starting writing and recording these quirky stories, more for his own benefit than anything. And lo and behold, people starting listening. Thousands, in fact. He started getting mentioned in books about podcasting, winning awards and getting some plum radio interviews. He even got referenced in the Seanachai Wikipedia entry.

But the familiar roadblocks of life eventually came along, and the storytelling sputtered. Listeners started wondering what happened.

Well, I’m happy to say Patrick decided to get serious about storytelling again. And The Seanachai is being slowly reborn. As Patrick puts it, “I’m in a very different place with this than I was the first time around. The first time around it was an act of desperation. I was terribly, terribly frustrated. I felt like I had a lot of talent and exactly zero outlets. So I said, screw it. I’m going to do one of these audio pieces a week. And I didn’t care if anybody listens.”

This time around, he is looking at it seriously—not just as a creative outlet, but as a means to make money doing something he loves, and that his audience loves as well. Because really—whose brilliant idea was it that artists are supposed to starve their whole lives?

In the process of my launching Web Business Freedom and Patrick re-launching The Seanachai, we decided to help each other out, with ideas on how to grow his site and mine. When you’re in something for the long haul, the Buddy System pays rich dividends. It’s important to have someone to keep you honest, look over your shoulder and, every once in awhile, give you a swift kick in the pants. We’re all scared of the same stuff: running out of things to say, or looking back wondering why we allowed our dreams to escape in the mundane march of time.

Patrick and I sat down and recorded some thoughts this month in a podcast, and he posted them on The Seanachie along with his very compelling personal journey behind the site. I invite you to listen to A Conversation With A Friend. Better yet, subscribe to Patrick’s wonderful collection of eclectic musings.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/batega