 |
 |
 | ||
        |
 Whenever I'm asked what I do for a living, I'm tempted to ask, "How long do you have?" The answer to that question takes quite a bit of time and you might want to sit down and hear it over a cup of coffee. The timeline goes like this: television reporter, wife, bridal dressmaker, mother, non profit manager, entrepreneur, instructor, mentor, costume maker, Americorps literacy worker, Americorps administrative worker, tutor. Whew! I get tired just thinking about it myself!! The short answer is that I started out as a television reporter. High profile, right? Career of your dreams, right? I hated it!! Aside from the fact that I wasn't sophisticated enough to live away from my brand new husband, I really didn't enjoy covering the latest Friday night murder on the Mississippi Gulfcoast. When I quit a couple of years after my first and only job, I thought my mother (and quite a few other family members) would faint dead away. I was one of the first in the family and in my generation to graduate from college and actually have a career in something as high profile as television. To have left the job simply because I was not happy was amazing to some, although it made perfect sense to me. When it came right down to it, I didn't have the passion to stay. The long answer is that it's taken me years to build up the courage to go after what I've always wanted, which is a career in writing, and butting into other people's business. I'm asked for advice quite often, and when I'm not being asked directly, I look for the chance to be a yenta on blogs and networking sites. Everyone can use a helping hand from someone who's going through the same things. It makes them feel that they're not that crazy. My family and friends never really believed I'd become a television reporter. That's like winning an Olympic medal. Why should they believe I can be successful with my own website? They don't have to. All that matters is that I do. Of course, the decision to leave a paying job can be financially tough on the family. You start to deficit finance the minute you have kids and a house. Somehow you go from not spending unless you have to, to spending it because the children or the house needs it and you feel you have little choice. So it didn't take long to jump into that fiery furnace called "working at home". Primarily, I became a dressmaker specializing in bridal and formal wear. How did I know a skill I learned at my momma's knee would come in so handy one day? I set up shop in the dining room of our townhouse, put out some cards at the local fabric stores and got down to work. While I had a steady stream of customers, dressmaking is labor intensive, and one person can only sew so much and charge so much. While my clientele has expanded to include costumes, conventions and theatrical productions, I was always looking for a little something extra to bring in more money. My income was supplemental at best. How do you go about finding work at home? I wanted to stay at home with our children, and it's a decision my husband always supported, especially during those baby and toddler years. But what can you do at home in between the Disney Channel and potty training? The answer's easy, if you become an insomniac. Whoever created the infomercial format is certainly rich and should probably be spinning in a Hellish grave. How many millions of dollars have been tossed down a rat hole in the hope of making $5,000 working only part time from your kitchen table? I have looked into just about every type of work at home scheme you can think of. Since I can sew and do crafts, I looked at those companies first. You know, the ones where you assemble crafts like beads and dolls. The one thing they don't stress to you is that they can reject the item for any reason, so of course you won't get any money for it. This is of course after you've paid for the materials, money which you'll never see again. I passed on that golden opportunity. Then there are the dropshipping companies like SMC and Doba. These companies have warehouses filled with merchandise, and if you want to sell on Ebay, or set up your own website, for a fee they will ship the item for you and you take a percentage of the purchase price. Certainly more respectable, and the merchandise is nice, but if you can buy a fleece Dora blanket from Wal-mart for $9.95, why would your customers pay $14.95 plus shipping from "Bobby Jean's Hot Internet Deals"? Oh, and did I mention that groups like this have membership and monthly fees which allow you to get these great deals? I'm not saying it can't be successful, but the start up costs can be high and there's a lot of competition out there in cyberspace. But you need help. You need someone to help you make that first great leap into the world of having your own business. You need a MENTOR! Through an internet search I found SCORE, www.score.org. This non profit group works with the United States Small Business Administration and offers advice and resources to entrepreneurs and small business owners. It has 389 chapters and more than 10,000 volunteers, working and retired business owners, who help out people like us. You can search a database which will put you in touch with a mentor who will answer your questions by email. I've already done this and had three mentors contact me, usually within 24 hours. You can also find your local SCORE office and get an in person interview. That's my next move.
Staying at home is a priority for me, as is doing a job I can live with while making the money we need. All the while, I was hiding from the thing I knew I could do best because I didn't know how to go about achieving this. Well, now it's time to figure it out.
Home | Family | Work | Taking Care of You Advice | Good Things for You | My Better Half © 2008 Mom's Nag Pad. All rights reserved. |
|
| |
 |
 | |||
