Working at Home and the fire is crackling
By Terri | April 8, 2008
Here on the central coast of California, we have strange seasons. If you are from any other part of the US, you probably think of summer as June, July and August, but you sure don’t want to come to the beach with shorts and bathing suits in June. We’re so laid back here even our summer comes late-September and October are the hottest months. So, here I am first week of April, curled up with my laptop by the fire and listening to the wind howling and bending the trees. I am so glad I don’t have to go to a
“job” today. If you dream of working by the fire, or anywhere you choose, sign up for my free “Bedtime Story” full of ideas on how to get started.
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Corporate Refugees
By Terri | April 5, 2008
I received a very exciting phone call yesterday and asked the client if I could share her story with my readers. She was more than happy to celebrate her new freedom publicly. I get a lot of referrals from previous clients, who were miserable in their corporate life and are now happily and successfully self employed, making a living doing what they love. Janet initially came to me through just such a referral. She first contacted me last fall, saying she felt like she was suffocating in her corporate position. The fabulous income, benefits and paid vacations and were just not worth the cost she paid in stress and poor health. When we talked about what she liked or dislike about her job, she realized that what she had loved in the early years was planning international events. It was thrilling when she was younger to travel to foreign countries and meet powerful people. But it had become stressful the more responsibility she took on. She didn’t ever get to explore and enjoy the cultures and sights because she was stuck on location facilitating events. And she always came home sick and exhausted. She was terrified to leave the job, had no idea what she could possibly do to earn as much and knew she didn’t want another JOB. Having spent 25 years working her way up, the view from the top was disappointing. When she called she told me she could work another 5 years and collect a nice pension but feared that if she stayed, she may not live to enjoy her retirement. I realized the first step was to help her overcome the fear of the unknown and plan an escape route. It sounds tough but it’s only scary if you jump off without a safety net. Our second session in December was all about working out how she could turn her interests into income. Being the compulsive idea generator that I am, within an hour Janet had more business options than she knew what to do with. Knowing that she loved the event planning, just not the travel, we developed a model for her to coach other event planners. I showed her several ways that she could sit in her home office and make more money than she had at her job by developing systems which would eventually lead to more free time. Well, she called last night from Tuscany and my first thought was, “Oh, no, she has gone back to doing the live events she hated.” But she actually called to tell me that now that she didn’t have to travel, she actually decided to take a month long Italian vacation. She did take her laptop along so that she could stay in touch with her virtual assistant who was administering the online coaching business. And she projected that by year end, her income would exceed her corporate earnings. It kind of reminded me of the stories my immigrant grandmother told me of how even though she was in danger in her native land, she feared the unknown of fleeing to safety. Her refugee stories were more dramatic, but the pain I hear from those trapped in unfulfilling jobs is very real and the relief they feel after escaping and finding their ideal livelihood is equally joyous. I’d love to hear your happy ending or help you plan your escape.
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Working at the Beach
By Terri | April 4, 2008
Working at the Beach
Wow, I always said my ideal job would be to get paid to spend the day at the beach. I just couldn’t get into the idea of selling hotdogs or rescuing surfers. I wouldn’t be a great employe either-I don’t like being told where to be-even if it is the beach. I guess I have the perfect boss-ME! Today was another clear, breezy day so I took my laptop down to the beach and worked on the agenda for my upcoming “Design your Ideal Livelihood “ workshop. (more on that later.) You know, it sure doesn’t feel like work. (don’t spread the word but sometimes I even take a quick nap. That’s one problem cubicle dwellers don’t have-the sound of the waves lulling them to sleep on the J.O.B.) And when I got home, guess what, I had made money while I napped! More orders for my new ebook.
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Teleclass, Tea, Crumpets and Podcasting
By Terri | April 3, 2008
OK, just kidding about the treats but they really were rocking over the pond last night. I listened to a wonderful teleclass hosted by Victoria Player, the “Online Marketing Coach”. She interviewed Sara Rouke, “the Audio Pod Artist” former BBC journalist and producer who shared simple tips to get FREE traffic and FREE publicity from podcasts while simultaneously attracting new customers online. This was the first in Victoria’s Concious Marketing Mastermind series. I can’t wait to hear more.
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Earning while we Play
By Terri | April 1, 2008
It is a beautiful day here on the coast and I just got back from an hour at the dog park. maybe that doesn’t sounds like a lot of fun to some of you but Lucy and I had a ball. (literally.) I sat on a bench threw a ball and chatted with a friend while our dogs fetched. And you know what? I didn’t feel the least bit guilty or like I was playing hooky. Because, I was making money. I knew I would get home to orders in my inbox. Oh, what a hard day at the office (dogpark.)
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The Power of a Mastermind
By Terri | March 22, 2008
Just incase it looks like all my Mastermind group and I did was play on the beach, eat out and pose for pictures, we actually spent 3 days very focused on our individual businesses. In addition to exchanging ideas, resources and brainstorming, a Mastermind is absolutely essential for solopreneurs working from home. When you love what you do and you are just so excited you want to talk about it all the time, your friends and family just don’t get it. Their eyes glaze over, either from boredom or because they have no idea what you are talking about. So it is absolutely vital to the success of your business and your wellbeing to have a close group of like-minded business owners who share your enthusiasm. You’ll find you really need someone whose opinion and knowledge you value to give you honest feedback and critique. I am so fortunate to be part of this brilliant group of international solo entrepreneurs. (from left in the “out ot dinner” photo, Lynn Burkholder, Tracy Needham, yours truly, Roxanne Pennington, Viki Viertel, Victoria Player and Carla Young. )
If you are not part of a Mastermind yet, it is something you really ought to consider doing to take your business up a rung. I will be launching my own Mastermind group later this year to help those of you who are just starting out to get your business up and running so that you can someday soon make money in while you sleep or vacation. More on that later.
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I love Passive Income
By Terri | March 22, 2008
I was just chatting with one of my “work-at-home online” buddies about how fortunate we are to have this option. Actually, most of us have this option, but not everyone recognizes it. What fun it is on a gorgeous day to take my VW Eurovan down to the beach, pop the top and take a nap to the sound of the waves. And then to head home and find I made money while I snoozed. I will admit, there are days when I bring my laptop and actually close the shades in the van so that it is nice and dark and I have no glare on the screen. (yes, on those days, I am working, but who doesn’t envy my office. ) My favorite, though is to go away on vacation and thanks to autoresponders, it still looks like I am working. Then, I get home and wow-there’s more money in my bank account. That’s what I call a “working vacation!” Speaking of working vacations, I recently spent a great week with my fabulous Mastermind group in beautiful Juno Beach, Florida.
Here we are working very hard on our laptop trying desperately not to be distracted by the amazing view
It wasn’t all work, though. Here we are taking a “wind break”.
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Working in my P.J.s
By Terri | March 15, 2008
One of the greatest benefits of working at home is not having to get dressed. I love pajamas. Since I make my living online, some days my only reason for getting dressed at all is to walk my little dog. (and truth be known, my neighbors do occassionally catch me out in my PJs. ) By the way, that’s my little Lucy, hanging over my shoulder in the photo above. That is pretty much how we spend our work day. She perches on the back of the sofa checking for typos. I do wish she spelled better, though. I haven’t always worked at home. A chronic illness as well as desire for passive income made me re-think the the whole idea of how I could make a great living, doing what I love and work whenever and wherever I felt like it. I did figure out how to work at home without having to buy into any scams or schemes but not without a lot of wasted time and money. It pretty much took a crises to get me to finally make the move to discover passive income Read the rest of this entry »
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