Over the last few days, I’ve been sharing my thoughts on the spirit of entrepreneurship, especially as it relates to making money from home.
For many of us, getting started is absolutely the hardest part. Finding something that you love enough and which you are willing to put in the hours into is a brainstorming process of Pros and Cons.
It seems that every successful mogul story I hear, there’s a kid who grew up knowing they were born for business, but where women entrepreneurs are concerned, it doesn’t have to be in your blood to succeed. One just has to be willing to work hard.
America is the land of opportunity, and at the core of it: excuses don’t apply.
Often, I reach out to my dear friend and designer, Joy, for help. Quite annoyingly (said with the utmost love and respect), she won’t just tell me the answer. She reminds me that I need to “fish.” From her tag line, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime,” she steps me through the specific process to find my own answers.
Some days, I admit, I reply, ” I just don’t want to fish,” but that honest response is what keeps many from ever realizing their dream.
Joy is a self made business woman. She taught herself all the “geeky” stuff that I just don’t understand. By learning html and coding, she has built a web design business that assists her family on their road to financial freedom. I often joke that I knew Joy, “When…” I knew Joy when she experimented on my blog. I knew Joy when she wasn’t in high demand, and now I celebrate Joy’s success, even though I have to pay for that. 🙂
Lisa shared her business story with me at our (in)courage beach weekend last year. It’s simplicity exhibits the American Dream coming to fruition. Six years ago, she began brainstorming ideas for work at home opportunities. She narrowed down her choices to either event planning or jewelry making. She has always loved to plan, so the thought of organizing wedding or parties seemed like a fit, but she also took a high school jewelry making class and thought it might be fun to do that as well.
She chose to learn the craft of hand stamped jewelry.
Please think about that, ladies!
She didn’t get quote up in needing the right “credentials,” or already knowing her trade. Lisa didn’t go to college or design school for jewelry making. She took a class in high school, remembered loving it, and decided to learn that skill herself thinking she’d sell a few pieces to make a little extra money. Now, six years later, she employees over 20 people. The growth of her business necessitated that her hubby leave his job and join her full time. I celebrate her success because Lisa is as genuine as it gets. Her success comes because she chose to take a risk, and the Lord is honoring her heart for Him.
I spent the weekend with precious Darlene. Darlene has a passion for beautiful spaces and things. She loves the challenge of creating beautiful rooms that also meet the needs of lifestyle, family, and reality! She has taken her love of design to create an interior decorator work at home opportunity. We talked some about trying to balance home and work, and have agreed, it’s a constant struggle. New subject. 🙂
Angela is someone you want as your new best friend. I was privileged to have her share her passion for creating something beautiful out of nothing at our Becoming Conference. (I am definitely having her back.) She loves to turn trash into treasure, just like me, but she actually sells her creations. They are that good. She never thought anyone would be interested in buying things, until she stepped out of her comfort zone and gave it a try.
Personally, my friend Toni has been an invaluable resource to me over the last few years, as she helped me navigate the world of professional blogging. She is a wonderful example of how by setting goals, being intentional with your time, and carving out an online space to share about the things you love, one can open up a avenue to create income.
Now, please don’t email asking how to start a blog to make money. I didn’t even have a clue I could make money from a blog for nearly one year after I started. I was passionate about encouraging women first, and honestly, I think that’s why it worked.
But, if you are curious about the topic, another good friend, Amy, carved her business niche by answering that very question. Whenever someone asks me, “How do I start a blog to make money?” I send them to Savvy Blogging and to Blogging with Amy . Amy decided to begin a new blog as an experiment in that very question, and has walked her readers through the process.
Whew – this post has gotten very long, yet I have many more women I was going to feature. I will do that another time because it’s inspirational to hear success stories and celebrate women, who are carving out ideas for creating additional work at home streams of income.
Please know this. It may be scary or risky, or you may feel that you don’t have anything to offer, but you do!! I hope you see the theme above – these are self made business women. They taught themselves.
Whether you are an amazing wordsmith, which lands you two book deals, a mom convicted about natural living, thereby encouraging other women in the journey, or someone who loves to bake and now sells her bread, there is a place for you in this entrepreneurial space.
About what are you passionate? What do you find yourself jabbering about to your friends. For me, it was creative ways to save money, and now that passion has spring boarded to a business.
Is there a way to get creative and make money doing that which you love? Is there something you’ve always wanted to learn?
Learn it, then turn it into your own business. Are you ready to write your own song?
I’d love for you to join me.
oh can’t wait to click on all these links. . and I would love to see you highlight more women like this
How encouraging to read all these stories! Anyone can truly “make it” by just working really hard and having a good idea. Thanks for the encouragement.
Hi, Jen! I’m one of those entreprenurial women too who started in this crazy blogging world, having no clue what I was doing & now almost 5 yrs. later, it is my fulltime job. I absolutely love what I’m doing too, sharing creativity, home decor inspiration, recipes, travel & more on my blog every week. I never dreamed my life would turn out this way, but I’m so grateful it has. This year, I can definitely say that I’m a full-time blogger, making enough to support myself & I can’t wait to see what the next year holds. I’m going to start a series on my blog too about my blogging journey & how I got where I am. Not getting rich, but richly rewarded, earning an income and loving every minute of this online world.
You know it. 🙂
P.S. You are one of those “other” ladies that I was planning on mentioning with Haven etc, but the post was getting SO long (one of my notorious down falls. 🙂
Jen. I. Love. You. It’s women like you who encourage the rest of us to be the person we are meant to be. Thank goodness for your blog so we can get a little of you everyday. Just so you know I have totally taken your advice and eat almost every meal by candlelight. My Lilly said her prayers the other night and thanked God for a family that “got to eat dinner together around the candles”!!! I wish you lived next door. Thank you dear friend!
Lots of love
Angela
These posts could not come at a better time for me, since I really need to pray and think more seriously about how I can best use the skills and abilities that the Lord has entrusted me with to better meet the financial needs of my family. It is so encouraging to know that other women are succeeding in providing for their families using their passions to meet a unique need in the business world. My biggest struggle is my physical limitation – dealing with chronic illness is exhausting on my best days, debilitating on my worst but my husband and I are committed to my role as keeper at home, to home education and to following God plan for our family. I would love to connect with another mom struggling with chronic illness who is using her unique gifts and abilities to produce an income at home!
Sweet Jen! I was just telling my hubby how much I enjoyed chatting with you, and that I needed to pop over to your blog to say hi and I miss you already! Goodness, how surprised I was to see Edie’s workroom, and your sweet words about my dream! Thank you, so very much.
But, back to why I stopped by: I wanted to thank you for sharing all of your wisdom with me. Not just blog wisdom, but life wisdom. I won’t forget your encouraging words from this year, and even from last year. You are a joy.
Hoping our paths will cross again quickly and soon.
With love from a fellow Relevant spirit!
– {darlene}