| WORK AT HOME MOM |
Style-Hair-Magazine.com: A Case Study
A New Direction I attended a weekend seminar where I first heard two critical phrases that would shape my future... "Passive Income" and "Internet Marketing" In truth, neither one of them meant much to me at the time, but they struck a chord and I immediately knew that I'd found a new direction. That was when the idea to write an instructional hair book was born. There'd been so many times throughout my career when I'd tell my clients, as I was styling their hair, what I was doing and how they could achieve the same look on their own. After all, these people were walking billboards of my work and I wanted my talents justly displayed to the world. Word of mouth referrals became the driving force of my business, so much so, that I could no longer keep up with the demand and balance the other important elements of my life. As things were, I could only help one person at a time with my skills and advice... the person in my chair. So why not put all the information together and offer it as a book (or something)? I could reach an unlimited number of people, and I could earn money from my knowledge whether I was physically working or not. If I could set something like that in motion, I could earn money while I was asleep... or on vacation... or playing with my kids.
First Attempts at Freedom I began the arduous journey of learning about writing and publishing. The more I learned, the less I felt a passion for the project as I was busy jumping through hoops and trying to structure my ideas in a way that would appease a corporate publisher, and that was if my blood, sweat and tears produced a proposal that was even looked at.
My interest was never to immerse myself in the publishing world. I simply wanted to get the information to the people who wanted/needed it. To work on my own schedule and earn a good living from my knowledge. Having always been a bit of an idealist, I figured it was a reasonable goal, but the road I was traveling made my ideals seem a dismal possibility. So how then, would I bring my idea to fruition? Intuitively, I knew there must be a way, so I kept compiling information and searching for a way to "get it out there." Many kind people offered suggestions... "You could publish a newsletter online" someone suggested. Hmmm... that sounded interesting. So I began the research on how I'd go about that having zero technical knowledge and not a clue where to begin. I gathered all sorts of information and read through it all, my head swimming with the mish-mash of facts and a lump forming in my chest when I calculated the costs of all the different programs I'd need to buy to achieve this. The idea of publishing online was a good one, but the process seemed so far out of my realm of experience and resources that I found myself back at that discouraged place. The Ticket to Success! Then I met someone through a goal-setting forum who suggested I look at Site Build It!. She thought my idea would be a perfect topic for a website. So I surfed onto the SiteSell site and started reading. A spark of excitement ran through me as I devoured the information on how I could build a successful website using their program. Then I visited other successful SBI! sites and read their stories, feeling the encouragement from these complete strangers whose passion about their SBI! journeys was abundantly clear. It all became real to me. Being a person who lives and makes choices based on intuition, I knew this was the ticket. I knew it the first day I discovered SiteSell and immediately started brainstorming for a way to purchase the program. I didn't have the money to just buy it right off the bat, but I knew I'd find a way.
It took me almost a month before I was able to put in my order, which I did by phone, and I wondered if Janice, the lady who took my order, could sense my excitement through the phone lines. I wondered if she knew, like I did, that I would soon be one of their success stories. The Fruits of my Labour Six months after my site went live, I received an email from the Editor-In-Chief of a publishing house in New York wanting to know if I'd be interested in writing articles for their hair magazines.
It's been over a year now since I started my first website, which ranks within the top 1% of sites on the net and receives up to 1500 visitors per day. I now have a second site, and plans for a third before the summer of this year. I no longer work from home in the evenings and my income is constantly growing. Right now, it's double what I was making when I was standing behind a chair.
I do what needs to be done the most at any given time and the nature of website building is such that I can stop or take a break at any point and carry on when time allows. I can work in my pyjamas and fuzzy slippers and switch from work mode to mommy/caretaker to silly dance partner whenever the mood strikes.
It's funny to hear my husband tell people about my websites. When I initially announced to him that I was going to build a website and make money from it, he just nodded his head, thinking to himself "Sure, hun."
I feel so fortunate to be a part of it and I suppose I'd be considered "one of the lucky ones," living the best of both worlds... at home to raise my kids, giving them the gift of always being there for them, while running a successful business at the same time.
Michelle Schill |
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I snicker out loud now when I think about the pompous young guy who sat in my hair styling chair long ago and foolishly announced,
Five years later, after becoming a mom and moving my business to my home, I'd built a solid clientele, working in the evenings when my husband was home to look after the kids.
Now, I work when I want, anytime of day (or night). That's the beauty of working on your own time. A meal and a quick story, then some time for Mommy to work, then a snack and clean-up, and then a nap-time for the youngest, a movie for the oldest, throw in some laundry, and set to work for a few solid hours.
A wholehearted "Thank You" to SBI!. Perhaps it seems weird to thank a computer program, but Site Build It! is not some technically run corporate group with invisible leaders. It's really a down to earth company run by a fatherly CEO, bringing a global family of like-minded people together in success and freedom.