So our software development careers hasn't been as lucrative as we first thought they would be when we began our journeys. Now what?

If you are a freelancer, and you're having trouble landing gigs, finding work, or you have trouble with being productive the unfortunate answer is this: iterate over what we have been doing already and examining what works.

Software development is much like manifestation, we must bump our head, over and over again until we figure out the formula. Today's economy works much the same -- we are learning a new way of doing business as a society. Positions used to give people the security they were after, and now much of that has disappeared from the tech industry. The rise of social media, and digital marketing has left us all as independents, free agents in search of our place.

We as people are businesses. The most very important of business. So, in the same way that a business brands itself, we must do the same. What does your brand say about you?

1. What is your personal brand?

2. What are your goals and dreams?

3. What are your opinions and values ---

   This all matters in today's global economy. So more than anything consistency must carry us when motivation fails. Which it will, always. Motivation runs out. Discipline is the key.

4. How disciplined are you? Can you hang in there when life throws 'hay-makers' at you. When you are blindsided by the everyday madness that is life? Or do you need a boss to handle the intricacies of daily business, and to worry about paying you? The freelance game is pretty much sink or swim -- a wonderful learning experience that actually hurts while you are in the middle of it.

   In fact, currently I am at the bottom of the trough -- the way I have been operating has not been effective and the market has told me so. So, what's the next move here for me?

Tough to answer in a short essay or post, but by building skills and focusing on the long term, it seems I may have missed some of the very important short term goals that are essential when you do not have savings to fall back on. Or credit.

Things for me are 'hand to mouth' right now, & very uncomfortable. Very much so. With a defiance I conjure up, from I don't know where, I continue forth un-deterred. The proverbial 'Fuck You' to my own struggles. In fact, I do not care at all how much this process will hurt -- this is what I am going to do. One way or the other. In one way, shape or form, I am going to build out a business: out of an idea, utilizing my software development skills and combined with the wisdom of 41 year I have gained, mix that with my own ingenuity and drive, discipline and my writing , and I am going to make it happen. And that's just the way it will be.

And you must have the same thought process in order to propel yourself forward when you meet with resistance.

Time is a funny thing to for all of us to experience. A minute can seem like forever from a certain perspective, and the years can move faster than you have ever imagined. Find your purpose, the reason you began to branch out on your own and utilize your skills, and harness it, improve upon your skill. And become unstoppable in your mind. Some will think of you as delusional. That is what success looks like before it happens. Become the kind of person who achieves what you are envisioning, and embody that.