[Ian J]

When I was trying to decide whether or not to get out of the Army, I solicited my Dad for advice who retired from the Army after 33 years of service. I could stay in my current assignment for another a year before I'm eligible for deployment again, but I really felt the pull to get out. The conversation kind of went like this:

Me: "I'm thinking about getting out in the summer and..."
Dad: "Do it."
Me: "No, wait, you see there are lots of things to think about -"
Dad:"Uh, uh... do it."
Me: "But I could save -"
Dad: "No, just get out."

It took him 33 years to sort of figure out what he really wanted to do in life and he didn't want to see it take so long with me. He said all my planning and saving and thinking wasn't really that important.

"Do you really think you and Kris will be homeless, living in a box, Ian? Or do you think you'd be okay if you got out this summer."

Good point. I dropped my paperwork that day.

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As for your business ideas, I have watched Kris run her own business since her book came out and have the following observations:

- She is her own worst boss. Seriously, she works ALL the time.
- Networking is key. But heck, you already know that from this site! But its amazing who will help you if you just ask. Kris cold-emailed a lot of famous authors for help/ reviews and nearly all of them wrote back, and many of them offered help.
- Marketing is hard work if you are trying to do it on the cheap. It takes a lot of outside the box thinking to get your product out there. A great thing that worked for Kris is getting free advertising in the form of newspaper articles.
- Working for yourself and doing what you want seems to be rewarding as hell.

Good luck Kristie!