I grew up in a home of entrepreneurs.
Yes, my dad and three brothers have always been their own bosses. In fact, I can’t ever remember a time when they weren’t knee deep in creating. As a little girl, I recall business plans, sticky notes, brainstorming sessions, celebrations and tears.
The Spirit of Entrepreneurship is more than just creating new money streams, it’s “creating” in every sense of the word. It’s taking creativity, initiative, and risk to pioneer change.
I’ve spent the last two years on this blog sharing unique and creative ways to save money. As a regular reader, you walk with me hand in hand as I take you on my lifestyle of frugality, but the bottom line is that while saving money can drastically cut the bottom line of our expenses, creating new money and increasing our income (even if it’s just a little bit each month) is what ultimately can change our financial footprint.
For many of us, we want to stop reading right now because we feel there’s no way that we can make more money. We don’t know how. We don’t have enough time. We don’t have any entrepreneurial spirit in you. We have little kids under toe.
Stick with me over the next few days, and let’s squelch the “don’ts” and let your mind wander to the “what if’s.”
What if I had money to pay cash for a family cruise? What if I could pay off this debt and feel such a huge burden lifted? What if I could share with that neighbor who’s in dire financial need because I have a little extra this month? What if I could provide the grocery budget money every month?
These few posts aren’t going to be about owning your own business. I hope to give concrete suggestions of ways to start bringing additional income into your home, or at least start your brainstorming process.
I am living proof that it can be done.
I am a stay at home, home school mom who now provides additional income for her family. What started out of necessity is now additional income that comes not just through the blog, but by incorporating multiple streams of small income from various outlets. I have helped re-establish our emergency fund, and have been working on building up our “no debt for college” fund.
I want you to begin dreaming your own “What If’s.”
We’re going to brainstorm your passions- those hobbies or things that you love to talk about. They may not be skills you are “good at” right now, but just things that get you excited.
The spirit of entrepreneurship doesn’t happen over night. It comes from hours and hours of perseverance, dedication and resolve.
Let’s start getting excited.
If you had $100 extra dollars each month, what would you do with it? How about $500? $1000?
(Catch up on all the 31 Days of Balancing Beauty and a Budget here.)
As a stay-at-home mom I have always felt the need to contribute financially to our family in some way. Recently I’ve taken a huge risk and started a small business locally selling what I create. We’ve started setting small goals to save toward with the tiny bit of extra money coming in. We desperately need a new camera, but we’ve always tried to be debt free and didn’t feel it was a necessary thing to put on a credit card…so we’ve been borrowing my mom’s until we can save enough. We’re almost there! Can’t wait to read more of these posts!
I’m excited to see where you take us the next few days! If I had any extra $$ each month, it would go towards debt since we’re the the Snowball part of the DR plan right now. But after that, I am hoping to celebrate with a family vacation after getting our emergency fund back together.
looking forward to the next few days . . .creativity, initiative, and risk are in my DNA. I will make sure to come back.
As a person who already knows all the frugal tricks and depends on them to make ends meet, I totally agree with this idea. I’m just always stumped on how to make it happen with little to no initial investment. I’m looking forward to learning more.
I am a stay at home mom, mother of 4 and just recently relocated from Maine to Florida. We left our huge home, husbands heating business and an apple orchard so my husband could pursue a different career and try to rebuild a debt free life. We were (and still are) very financially strapped. The cost of living in Maine was ridiculous and we were going farther and farther into debt trying to keep the orchard going, paying taxes and so on. We decided a change was necessary. We are really enjoying it here in Florida, only problem, he is in training and will probably not be bringing in any income for at least 12 months (we sold a majority of our stuff to make the move). I would love to be able to bring in any income (a full time job outside of the home would not be feasable for me, daycare costs, husbands crazy hours, etc.). I have some ideas, but don’t know where to get started. I really don’t have the money for an initial investment and we pray everyday for the courage and strength to make something happen. I really look forward to your ongoing posts and thank you so much for your frugal ideas, they have helped out a lot.
can’t wait to see what you have to say- I am also a stay-at-home mom who would like to contribute to some “extra” money without jeopardizing the reason I am staying at home!!! I have started a small craft business sewing items mainly for children but it is slow going and taking a lot of time and the initial investment of the needed supplies. I have sold a fair amount but am looking for ways to market my product.
Looking forward to your insights!
Hi Jen!
I have so many things I’d like to do! I want us to get out of debt (again), and build our emergency fund so we can STAY out of debt! I’d like to be able to afford to drink raw milk all the time! We want to be more free to be able to give generously when people we know have needs and really be used by God in that way. I’d also love to save up for a family vacation, go camping and see some of the U.S.
I am so excited for the next few days. I love your site and learning how to be frugal. I’ve always been frugal but your site has greatly helped me. We are trying to get to debt free living and trying to grow our emergency fund, but some days it is hard. I work part-time, but I always look toward other ways I can make an income. I had a small wedding planning business going but found our state is not really a state to make this work. I always have thought about doing crafts and selling them, but never have.
P.S. I bought three (barely worn) name brand shirts at Goodwill for $8 thanks to you. 🙂
I am excited about this series! I have only relatively recently starting thinking about income differently than directly getting paid for the number of hours you work. My father had a struggling business when I was very young, and so I’ve always thought of creating your own business as ‘bad’ and risky, and working a standard job as the ‘good’ way to earn money.
This post really speaks to my heart! I am a stay-at-home mom and part-time family portrait photographer, and it’s so rewarding to be able to bring in a little money, be able to do so on a flexible schedule, and capture beautiful family memories for my clients. For now, I believe this is the position God has put me in and it makes me happy. I hope all your readers can figure out how to ENJOY making that “little bit extra!”
Very much looking forward to reading the coming posts.
What a great idea for a series! I have a very strong entrepreneurial spirit but my husband is not so much of a risk taker. I think part of it is that my dad was a dreamer and entrepreneur and his dad was had a very steady job as a Navy nurse. That being said, we’ve encouraged this spirit in our children and all of them, except the 2 yo, have “businesses” – lawn mowing, sewing, selling eggs, stripping copper and doing odd jobs.
With my husband being under or unemployed for the last 3 years it has forced him to stretch outside of his comfort zone. We’re in the process of setting up an etsy store and looking at other streams of income. It’s very exciting.
There’s a great book titled “The Other 8 Hours” and it is very motivational about using the hours you are not at your regular job or sleeping. There are a few curse words, but I think the message is motivational enough to overlook them.
I would like to consider myself an aspiring entrepreneur! I have lots of ideas, and have started my blog. Not making any money yet, but I already have a full time job and am taking it slow. I hope that two years from now, I will have things up and running and some steady streams coming in.
I’m so glad I found you! I really need this. My husband has his own contracting business. Things have been tough juggling it all and money has been very tight (to say the least) for longer than we would like! It’s been a huge challenge. I am a stay home mom and would love to help bring some $ in, but being a mom is 1st, so i don’t want to have a traditional job that won’t allow me to be with my kids when they need me. I would love to bring in enough $ to at least cover the groceries each month. I am looking forward to hearing what you have to share on this topic and I’m going to do some poking around your site….been seeking God for wisdom and i am happy I was led here. 🙂
Hi I just found your site and I’m loving it! I lost my job back in February of this year and God has been opening door ever since! I’ve been redoing furniture and selling it and created extra income for my family as well as stay home with my 2 year old son. Now I’ve decided to start a business and I know God is faithful to bless it. I’m enjoying all the information on your site and look forward to getting new ideas!
God Bless!
Love “money” posts!!!