Getting ready to launch

In the business world, everyone is paid in two coins: cash and experience. Take the experience first; the cash will come later. – Harold Geneen

In a couple days I am going to officially start promoting my new web site/blog.  I am excited, nervous, ready.  Not exactly sure what will happen next.  I still have SO much to learn.   As the quote above discusses, I think the next few months will be about being paid in experience.  I will have to find my cash elsewhere for a few more months.  But I believe I am starting a path that will get me there.

Success in business requires training and discipline and hard work. But if you’re not frightened by these things, the opportunities are just as great today as they ever were. – David Rockefeller

The big question is, am I ready and willing to do the work.  Am I frightened by training, discipline and hard work or am I excited by the challenge and all there is to learn and do going forward?

The past month or so might suggest that I am more frightened than excited.  I have been working but I know I could be doing more and be more prepared for what I am about to do.  However, in my defense, it is summer and I have had 2 children at home with needs of their own.  Next week when everyone is back at school and I am home alone working all day the answer to this question will have to be faced.  Will I take action or continue coming up with excuses?

I had a couple people tell me that with this kind of business you just get it out there, get started.  Don't wait for it to be perfect, make it happen.  Start working, start promoting, start selling.  Tweak and improve as you go along and build a following.  I must admit, that is probably going to be my favorite part of this business.  I love to jump in with both feet and see what happens.  I love that I don't have to be perfect right from the start because I am not perfect.  My site, my writing, my business will never be perfect.  Just keep working, keep moving forward, keep learning.  Ready or not, here I come!

So not much to update from this past month.  I did throw one Stella & Dot open house in my home which went quite well.  I haven't had a chance to check my final totals but I think I made about $150 for a couple hours of work.  So worth it.  Other than that I have spent the month writing, working my job and being with my family.  It has been a wonderful month but I am very, very ready for school to start and the next attempt at making money to begin.

Project Completion

I am trying, trying, trying to create a business.  To start making money online.  To do...something!  Today I came across a great short article here in which the author talks about the Art of Completion.  YES, I need to complete a few tasks so I can get on with the work of making money.  Brilliant.  Then she totally inspires me with this idea regarding why I am not getting anything done:

This may not be an issue of procrastination. It could be that your completion muscles are not fully developed.

Hello.  My completion muscles are not fully developed.  I admit, I am more about the excitement of the idea than pushing through the details to complete the project.  I love to start, I struggle to complete.  My completion muscles are not fully developed.  Some days and in some areas I am not sure they have even started developing.  But overall I have completed enough things in my life that I must have something starting there.  I just need to keep working.

OK So muscle building.  You start out small, you are sore all the time and then slowly, over time, one day at a time, your muscles grow, you get stronger, fitter and look better.  And as the habit develops it becomes easier to continue to grow those muscles.  Or easier and less painful to maintain them once thy are there.

So the bottom line is that as I have sat at my desk the last couple afternoons feeling like I am in pain, feeling frustrated by what I am not accomplishing and don't know, it is all good.  I am doing something great.

I love feeling sore after a work out.  Love. It.  I know it is probably sick but I really feel like I am doing something, making a difference.  I have worked hard and it willl pay off.  I might move a little slower the rest of the day, or for the next few days, but I just see that as part of the fun.  (I know, I am sick.)

So starting today I am going to view feeling "sore" after an afternoon on my computer trying to build a web site, create content, learn internet marketing, and so much more, I will walk away feeling GREAT.  Still sore, still moving a little slow but doing something, learning and making it happen.  I am working toward completing a project and showing it off.

Pretty soon I will be a master project completer.  Finishing books, designing products ready to sell and so much more.  Goals accomplished.  Dreams fulfilled.

How are your completion muscles feeling today?

I think I am getting somewhere

To think is easy. To act is difficult. To act as one thinks is the most difficult. – Johann Wolfgang Von Goeth

 Here I am cruising along in my life.  I am slowly, ever so painfully slowly, starting to think I am going to learn and get a grip on this new job.  The good news is that I am busy each day and the 5ish hours I am trying to put in each morning just FLY by.  I always think that is a sign you are enjoying what you are doing.

As with my last job transition this one was a little overwhelming at first and I realized that I  needed to let my body adjust to the new information and work I was doing.  Luckily the first transition was the hardest, it only took a couple weeks to make the physical adjustment this time. 

Now on to the next part of my new work schedule plan, starting a business!  So I FINALLY feel like I am making some progress.  Because John is working so much this summer we decided that I could put all my checks for this summer into an account for me to use to start my business.  It is amazing how much easier and more confident you feel when you have a few hundred dollars to spend to hire people or purchase resources to help you accomplish your goal rather than sitting at the computer staring at it trying to accomplish something you are woefully under qualified to accomplish.  So I am working hard on creating a web site to launch in September.  It might be more like the last day of September but I decided I wanted an ambitious goal.  I hired a coach to help me get started and launch me in a direction.  Well spent money.  She actually runs a web site for a living right now and she said in the industry the philosphy is "go ugly early".  I had another friend who gave me similar advice with her "minimal viable product" advice.  Basically, Make it happen!  Just do it!  Get started and fix it as you go.  And, although you may not know this about me, that is totally how I roll.  Wonderful confirmation that I am heading in the right career direction. And the great thing about hiring people to help you with the stuff you don't know how to do is that you get to focus on the stuff you are excited about.  I have started writing content and am getting excited about marketing options.  Once I have everything in place this fall the real work begins.  But the possibility of making money also begins.

So where am I this month?

I opened a checking account for the business.  Technically just a personal account.  I still need to register as a business and file with the state.  Still considering what I will call the thing.

I have a Stella & Dot trunk show tomorrow night.  I am excited about it and am still enjoying it but have decided to simplify my goals.  I still really like how much money I can make at a trunk show.  Tomorrow I will work for about 2-3 hours and make between $50-$150 depending on the show.  Even at the low end good hourly pay.  My goal is to have at least one more trunk show in the next month and do a fall open house at the end of August in my own home.  I am thinking my main goal will be to have a fall and spring open house every year.  Just like we like to update our wardrobe every year we like to update our jewelry with the latest looks too.

I  haven't quite finished all the books on my shelf but pretty darn close.  I think by the weekend I will be ready for a new crop of books to inspire and inform me.

I am going to keep writing.  I want to have several weeks of content ready to go when I get started in September.  Might have to set aside a day just for writing.  It will be hard but somebody has to do it... I have lots of other ideas and seeing this one start to come together is making me think that I really might be able to create some of the other ideas as well.  But one thing at a time.  Launch a web site in September, get it running and THEN start thinking about product ideas and Christmas sales..
.

It is still hard work but once you are on the right path it is pretty fun.

I like thinking big. If you’re going to be thinking anything, you might as well think big. – Donald Trump

Justifying My Existence

A business has to be involving, it has to be fun, and it has to exercise your creative instincts. – Richard Branson

I have to say that as the 3rd week of working part time from home while also trying to earn some self employment income as begun, I haven't felt this good in a year!

Yet...I feel a little twitchy all day long.  I am constantly asking myself if I have justified my existence for the day.  Am I doing enough?  Have I worked enough?  DId I make enough money today?  Can I really allow myself to be enjoying this new work arrangement so much?  Will I really be making enough extra by fall to continue living in this much joy?

I am loving what I am doing work wise.  And it is fun to be working for a couple who are entrepreneurs, to watch them work and be inspired to go off and make it happen for myself as well.

But..

Fear.
Doubt.
Insecurity.
Uncertainty.
Fear.

Last night I was feeling particularly frustrated at my lack of progress and questioning if I was doing the right thing since it wasn't coming together as quickly as I had hoped.  But I had to remind myself that it takes time to get something started and build momentum.  It takes time to find your groove.  It takes time to find your right market.  And it takes a tough skin because you will make lots of mistakes and hear lots of "no" before the "yes'" add up to something you can live on.  I had to remind myself that this isn't going to be easy but it is going to be worth it.

So I pushed away those fears, doubts, insecurity and uncertainty and replaced them with...

Hope.
Belief.
Perseverance.
Confidence.
Certainty.

I started out this blog saying, "how hard can it be...?"  I am learning that it can be hard.  It is not for the faint of heart.  But if it means continuing to enjoy my job and career as much as I am enjoying it at the moment then it is definately worth the effort.

Plus, yesterday I got my first check for a writing job.  Yes, of course, I made a copy to frame.  It is the first of many checks both big and small that will come my way as I build a career and business doing something I love.

Success in business requires training and discipline and hard work. But if you’re not frightened by these things, the opportunities are just as great today as they ever were. – David Rockefeller

Fresh Start

Yesterday was the last day of employment at the job I spent exactly 1 year working at full time.  After 17 years without a full time job, one year was plenty.   Part of me can't believe it was an entire year.  Part of me can't believe it was only a year.  The bottom line is that while there were positive aspects of me working full time, overall it did not work for our family.

So here I am.  Unemployed.

But only for today.

Monday I start a new job working 20-30 hours per week from home.  It was a dream situation that sort of fell in my lap at the perfect moment I needed it.  I had planned to continue working as an employee somewhere but assumed I would be out of the house.  I didn't imagine I would have an opportunity to work from home.  Balance home and work, move between them without having to get in my car and drive through traffic home.  I didn't imagine a scenario where I could get up at 6am and put in a couple hours in my pj's before getting Isabelle ready for school.  Setting my own schedule. Awesome.

I realize that right now I am sort of focused on the dream portion of working from home.  I try to remind myself daily that I will still be working.  I am being careful to continue guarding my schedule.  I haven't signed up for any new volunteer positions at church.  I haven't been planning a return to my favorite classes at the YMCA with my old friends.  I am still expecting the family to help out around the house and while I am not looking for as much child care as I would have expected to, I am still planning to have Isabelle out of the house a few days a week.

But still, I really think it will be great!

So first problem of starting my own business, not enough time, solved.  I am no longer out of the house and away from my personal life nearly 10 hours a day.  I have begun to re-integrate my work and home life into a balance I am more comfortable with.  And I have freed up hours each week to focus on my own business rather than someone else's.

Second problem...now what?  Well my son graduates from high school in less than 2 weeks and for now that is all my focus.  But during my extra work hours this month I am going to do a hand full of things.

• I am going to start making some Stella & Dot emails and phone calls.  I sort of had to toss that on the back burner for all of May but I need to re-energize this month.

• I am going to read.  I have a bunch of books on professional blogging, learning word press and working from home.  I also have a whole bunch of emails about running a web based business that I have been storing for future reading.  This is the month to research, learn and make plans.

• I am hoping to be writing for pay.  I have a line on a possible freelance writing job writing some training manuals.  It isn't glamorous but as far as I am concerned it is the New York Times.  I am just excited to be able to get paid to write.

• I am going to have coffee with people.  I have a handful of people I would love to talk with and hear their stories on starting a small business.  Can you tell I am an information accumulator?  And I have friends who I have missed over the past year.  Friends who have stuck with me even when I haven't been available for them.  I have taken more than I have given this past year and I look forward to giving back to them a little.

• I am going to file paperwork to have an official business to work from.  I have actually been toying with calling it "Melanie, Inc" but I don't think that will end up being the final name.  I do want it to be something simple and generic but personal that I can use for a variety of income ventures.

Well that is probably more than I can actually accomplish in a month while simultaneously learning a new job but when you think about 10 hours a day it really shouldn't be a problem at all.

Last month, despite only having 1 small trunk show I managed to make $54 for barely 2 hours of work.  It isn't much but with only 4 real truck shows I have already made enough to replace my initial investment.  From here forward it is all profit with Stella & Dot.

Looking forward to an exciting summer.

Farming

I used to be a homemaker.  Sort of.

I loved being a homemaker.  Loved being able to care for my family, help my kids discover their potential and reach for the top, help my husband with the details of his life so he could focus on his work and the tasks before him.  Be available for my friends when they were hurting, able to drop everything just to listen.

But I wasn't really a homemaker.  My husband was always self employed and I have always done his bookkeeping, we have owned rental property that fell to me to manage and I have sat on the board at our church as well as starting and leading various ministries.  I was very much working during those years I wasn't making any money.

One of the ideas that continually motivated me during those years is what I refer to as "the new family farm".  I am intrigued by the idea of the family farm.  Kids and parents working together to care for animals and produce a harvest.  Work together, play together, live and love together.  Creating a strong healthy family.  That is what I felt like we were doing during those years I was at home.  Our kids were part of our lives, our son helped us clean our commercial building each week emptying trash and vacuuming, we discussed business plans over dinner, I collected rent with a baby carrier under my arm and delivered drawings between grocery shopping and piano lessons.

With the industrial revolution came a separation in family life.  Now we all have our own thing, parents and kids, and then we come back together in the evenings to compare notes and take care of the family details.  Having done it this past year I can say that while I continue to feel involved in my families life it isn't the same as shared experiences and frankly, it is exhausting.  There are good and bad in everything but given the choice I would rather work with my family.

So my number one motivation as I go forward is to bring my family back together.  This is what drives me.

What drives you?

If the family were a boat, it would be a canoe that makes no progress unless everyone paddles.

LETTY COTTIN POGREBIN, Family and Politics

The Next Big Step

A man should never neglect his family for business. – Walt Disney

Well, I did it.  I quit my job.  Now to find another one...

Actually this is something my husband and I have been discussing for a few months.  He is in school full time but still makes more than double what I make working part time.  And as we have talked over the winter we have found that while there have been several good things about my transition back to full time work, there has been a lot that really hasn't worked.  After talking about what we needed and what our goals were we realized that what I really need is a part time job.  The long term goal is still to be fully self employed but for now I still need to work a little.

What we have decided is that I need more schedule flexibility.  I  need to be able to get our daughter off the bus in the afternoons.  John is leaving work sometimes 2 hours earlier than he would need to so I can stay at my job and make less than half his hourly rate.  And although he is also taking a full load of classes he ends up making dinner every night and doing a fair number of household chores.  While I have re-taken some of the housework in recent months as the transition back to work has become more comfortable, the bottom line is that with lunch and commute I am out of the house nearly 10 hours a day and the last thing I want to do when I get home is clean the bathroom.  In my tiny amount of free time between work and spending time with my family I am trying and failing to start a business.  With all that it was clear we needed to try something else.

Last fall I had been listening to a series on internet marketing that I stopped as my life has gotten too full but, one of  the interesting things he suggested had to do with when to quit your job.  He basically said that while it might make sense to wait until you can replace your income plus to quit your job, he actually suggests you quit when you have replaced maybe 2/3 of your income or less.  He argues you will make more when you can fully commit to the business.  I sure hope he is right.

I had hoped to be able to stay at my current job on a part time basis but they didn't want to do that.  It is a little scary to realize I am going to have to job search but exciting as well.  And we timed this for when John was finished with classes and his summer construction schedule has already started filling up.  So if I do nothing but the business all summer long we will be fine.  No need to panic until about mid August.  And who knows, maybe by mid August I will be humming along enough to not need a part time job.

I did briefly email with a friend who is a very successful entrepreneur.  One of the things he said was that this is not a "get rich quick" scheme.  It could take a year or more before I can take money out of a business.  While I am aware that building a business takes time it was a good reminder of why I am pursuing the things I am in the order I am.  I need to make money now and I want to build a business for later.  So I am starting by pursuing things like writing or Stella & Dot that put money in my pocket today while researching and considering ideas that will set me up to make money in the future as well.  Active and passive income.  In the classic "Rich Dad" series he talks about the difference between a business owner and a self employed person.  One makes money even when you aren't working and one is dependent upon you to make money.  I guess for now I am self employed but long term I want to be a business owner.

We all have to start somewhere.  And June 1st I launch into this business world with a new level of commitment.  In the mean time I am going to just try to make May a little better than April.

• I do have 3 Stella and Dot shows on my calendar that I am hoping will all be successful and earn me that prize they are offering again this month as well as putting a few hundred dollars in my pocket.  
• I am going to try to do a little reading.  Education needs to be a key going forward.  I picked up a book called "Selling 101" by Zig Ziglar.  It is a small condensed book, quick read.  Just what I can handle these days.  And since Zig is a well established authority on the subject I thought he would be a good place to start.  My friend also recommended several other books that I will hit the library for and let you know if I find any gems.
• My writing project has gone off to the business partners for review and I expect lots of slashes and re-writes in my future.

In the mean time I am encouraged that although April wasn't the successful month I had hoped for I did actually make $125 in commission on my sales during about 3-1/2 hours of work.  More than I am making in 3-1/2 hours at my current job and a lot more fun and family friendly.

If it really was a no-brainer to make it on your own in business there’d be millions of no-brained, harebrained, and otherwise dubiously brained individuals quitting their day jobs and hanging out their own shingles. Nobody would be left to round out the workforce and execute the business plan. – Bill Rancic