The Idea of Working From Home

The past month has been a little bit difficult for me.  The business that my husband and I have started is not taking off as well as I thought it would.  We get orders each month, but not enough to substitute my income.  I think there gets to be a point when you wonder how much more energy you should put into something.  The truth is, however, that I really enjoy making the baskets, and it is not something that I want to totally stop doing.  The reality is that the business alone right now is not going to be enough to financially support us, and honestly I do better at the business and enjoy it more when there is not all of the financial pressure. 

So then I was left with the question of what now? Do I go back to working in the mental health field which I know is not a good fit for me? Do I try to find a full time job doing something else at probably lesser pay? Do I continue in school?

I thought very seriously about going back into the mental health field, and then my husband said to me that he hated the idea of me going back to work at something I was so miserable at.  He said that he saw how each night I would come home from work and be so drained, and I never could just relax.  He validated what I already knew, but needed someone else to understand. 

By the start of last week, I still wasn't sure what I was going to do career wise. I made a decison, however, on Mother's Day that I wanted to be healthy enough by next Mother's Day to start trying to have a family of our own.  My husband and I decided to mostly cut out eating out, to start exercising more, and to really see where in our budget we could make cuts.  I got up the next morning and made breakfast.  We then went walking, and I made lunch. We started this great morning routine, and both of us have enjoyed it so much.  We have been swiming most days, and so much more quality time together. 

I shared that to say that it made me realize what I really wanted. I wanted time and flexibility.  I want to be able to get up every morning fix breakfast, exercise,spend time with my husband, eat lunch together, and even have time to clean on a consistent basis.

So I have decided to officially give working from a home a shot.  I have decided to stay in school. I have switched my major to accounting and I am going to work towards being able to sit for my CPA exam,so eventually I can prepare people's taxes at home.  I have also done a lot of research on legitimate at home jobs.  There are actually a lot of companies that hire people to work at home. 

Recently I have started doing some mystery shopping, and I have even tried some of the sites that pay people to take surveys. I wasn't sure how that would work out, but I got my first check in the mail last week for $26.00. That is not a lot,, but I didn't spend a lot of time feeling out surveys. 

I know that there are probably a lot of other people out there that want to work from home, earn some extra income, or just have some more flexibility. I am going to blog each week on what I am finding that works or doesn't work.  Let me know if you have any ideas or have found out anything that works for you.   I am super excited to see what all is out there. 

Remaining in discomfort

I set a goal last year of being able to work from home in 2012.  In February, with the support of my wonderful husband, I was able to quit my job.  Also in 2011, my husband and I started You Get Me Gifts a gift basket business specializing in custom gift baskets.  It has definitely been an interesting year.  My husband and I have this dream of both being able to work from home and raise a family.  It was our plan for me to stop working at my job, and then gradually build up our business or other sources of income from home. 

So here I am now beginning month four of working from home, and I am in that uncomfortable spot.  I feel like we are making progress, but I have no idea how far away I am from our destination.  The part of me that wants to know certainty wants to abandon ship and swim as quickly back to what I know which is an every two week paycheck.  But that also means swimming back to the life I didn’t really enjoy and when I get tired of it again (which I am sure I will) it means starting over. 

I am the type of person that likes to fast forward to the end of the movie before I watch the beginning.  If it is going to end sad, I would rather not watch it at all.  I am not the type of person that does well with situations that I could give a 110 percent, and in the end it still may not work out.  Or should I say not work out the way I want or expected it too.  So right now I look at my life and I see a lot of ???? and unknowns. 

The one thing I do know is that I don’t want to look back at my life and have a bunch of regrets.  I want to know that I went after the things that I really wanted, and didn’t quit when it got tough.  I honestly don’t know what the next year holds or even the next month, but I am going to swim around a little more and who knows  where I will end up. 

I just jumped in and the water feels good :)

    Last Friday I left my job to begin a new chapter in my life.  A chapter that I have been waiting on for quite some time.  I remember as a kid I dreamed of being a chef and opening my own restaurant.  As I grew older the type of place I wanted changed, but I always wanted to be my own boss.  If you had asked me several years ago if I saw myself having a gift basket business, I would have said no quickly.  Sometimes things unfold in front of us in a way we never would have expected.
   I know that some would say it is crazy to leave a job when your business has not yet taken off the ground, but sometimes waiting for the sign to jump is a few minutes too late.  I keep thinking about the swim class I took in college.  I could do every swim stroke, not perfectly by any means, but still I could do it, and I could float without any problems.  I made a C in that class, however, because I wouldn't jump.  I knew I would float to the top, but I was so scared of letting my feet leave the ground.  I wouldn't take the risk. Now at 33 I don't know if I would still jump in a pool unless maybe out of necessity, but I didn't want to let my life pass by without taking this risk. 
   So I have six months to make this happen.  Six months to build the business to the point that it will support my income. I know it won't be easy, but I am ready to take the risk.  I plan on blogging two-three times a week to share my progress and to pass on any tidbits I find out in regards to starting our (my husband and mine) own business.  So if your interested tag along :)
  

Homein2012: Dream in Sight

     I love the fall.  I love the way the air smells in the fall and the coolness in the breeze.  I am so tired of hot weather and I always seem to struggle in the summer to get much of anything accomplished.  This year, however, I had just way too much going to let the heat keep me from accomplishing things.  The next few months are going to be big months for You Get Me Gifts our basket and gift business.  On October 13th we officially launch our website and participate in the Maumelle Business Expo.  Then in November we will be participating in Dazzle Daze. 
     I have been trying to decide in what direction I wanted this blog to go.  What I have decided is that I want to it to be a blog about my journey to starting my own  business and being able to work from home.  Some days it will be just my own experiences and stories.  Other times it will be resources or information that I have come across that was helpful.  I am hoping that this blog will help others who have always dreamed of starting their own business. 
    More to come......

Moving Forward

The snow is piled high outside which made today the perfect day to move forward with my husband and mine plans to start businesses.  Today we bought domain names for our future websites which is an exciting step. 

As I have mentioned previously, I have wanted to start my own business for a long time.  The thing that I have always lacked is patience.  Unless by chance my power ball picks pull me through, it is unlikely that I will be able to quit my job anytime soon.  It is frustrating when you know what you want and know that it is just going to take time and there is nothing I can really do about that except keep moving.  That has been my stumbling block in the past.  I would focus so much on the time line that I would grow impatient and give up. 

This time I am determined to do things differently.  As I was going through the process of purchasing our domain names, there were lots of opportunities to upgrade, add additional things such as a .net and .org versions of the sites. As I excitedly clicked yes the $$ signs kept mounting up until I was staring at over $100 in fees.  There would have been a time when I would have tried to make it work with that amount thinking that was the only way I was going to get what I wanted quickly, but this time I thought a little more logically and thought about what I wanted to accomplish just for now.  I also consulted with my husband who is a wonderful partner and keeps me grounded.  What I wanted for today was to get the .com domain names registered and that is what I did.  I also utilized promotional codes and reached the godaddy website through my ebates account so I saved some money along the way. 

So for today I am moving forward or shall I say we are moving forward...and doing it in a way that won't leave us broke or feeling pressured to move quicker than we are ready to do. 

The start of a dream!

Ever since I can remember I have wanted to be my own boss.  As I have grown up and my personality has changed my vision of what type of business I want has also changed.  In reality, that vision is still developing.  I have decided, however, that it doesn't have to be fully developed in order to go after the overall goal.

So I have set a goal for myself to be able to work from home doing things that I enjoy by the end of 2012, and I have created this blog to track my experiences, obstacles, successes, and findings as I strive to reach this goal.  I am sure that there are a lot of people out there that have the same dream to start their own business, change careers, or just be able to work from home. 

I hope that in my quest to create the lifestyle and career that I want, I will help others reach their dreams and goals.