The short of it: I've been working at home for over seven years, have managed to carve out enough business to support our family and have a little on the side, and I want to share all that I've learned with other moms.
The long of it: I got married right out of high school. We moved into a tiny house, had our first child, and things were, to put it mildly, tough. We had no idea what we were doing. We had no real education at the time to speak of. Even worse, DH had always worked in residential construction, and while he earned a decent living when there was work, there often was no work to be found.
I had decided long before our first child was born that I wanted to find something I could do from home. Unfortunately, every work at home "job" I found ended up being a scam. So, I started going to school online for website development with plans to freelance. One day, while at the library looking for computer programming books, I stumbled upon a book called The Well Fed Writer. It totally changed the game for me. I read it from cover to cover in one day, and just like that, I had made up my mind that I was going to be a copywriter.
For those who don't know (and most probably don't), The Well Fed Writer details how to start a commercial writing business. Or, in other words, how to get started writing marketing copy for businesses and organizations. I had always dreamed of being a writer, and commercial writing seemed like a good way to earn some income until I became the next Stephen King (I'm still waiting on that one).
The book claimed you could practically snooze your to way to $30,000 a year. That sounded pretty darn good to me, considering some weeks we were bringing home nothing.
Unfortunately, I had no marketing experience. No sales experience. No professional writing experience. No marketing degree. And basically, no clue. My resume, at that time, included a 3 weekend stint serving nachos at a traveling rodeo and two high school mission trips.
Are you impressed yet?
I fully credit my youth and naivety for the career I have today, because I somehow didn't see my pathetic professional track record as a problem. I scribbled some pro bono "ads" into a notepad document (yes, I'm serious. Stop laughing) and started looking for writing work. I applied to this thing and that thing and contacted some businesses and after a whole month, I hadn't gotten a single nibble. I tweaked the cover letter I'd been using and asked family members if I could write samples for their businesses and used them as references. I kept going. We had no computer, so this involved walking a mile to the library daily to use their computers. Have you ever tried writing samples and sending cover letters with a 6 month old grabbing at your hair and grunting every five seconds? (although, if you've found yourself on this site, you quite possibly have...carry on).
I finally got a few hits. I was writing for pennies, but I finally landed a gig doing SEO content for another writer. It bought a few groceries, and I was ecstatic. I was a real, honest to God, (still broke) writer!
At this point I still had no computer, so I was walking to the library almost daily. Since I was limited to under 3 hours of Internet time, I would often write long-hand and then transcribe what I'd already written onto the computer as fast as I could at the end of the day to submit. This was while trying to keep the baby happy in a stroller in a place where she wasn't supposed to make any noise. Fun!
Eventually, after several months of working for slave wages and barely making enough to keep us all fed and in diapers, I got a call back from a content editor at an online retailer. He said my samples were "quite impressive" (WTF?!) and decided to give me a try. I was to be paid by the write-up, but the income possibilities were quite promising.
My parents got me a computer for Christmas that year, and advanced me the money to order up our Internet service. I got to work at my new gig, and it was great... aside from the editor calling me every day to tell me everything I had done wrong. At times I wondered why he even hired me, but it ended up being the best thing for me. I knew how to write decently well, but he was grooming me and teaching me how to write to SELL. I will be forever grateful to that persnickety little man. He was a pro copywriter, and he basically trained me, taught me, and handed me a career I still am not sure I really deserve.
So as to not turn this into a book, this gig led to many others. Turns out, this was a pretty large seller with a good track record. Having them on my resume kept us fed throughout the recession, and for three years while hubby went to back to school. During that time I studied marketing, helped small businesses develop campaigns, performed content strategy duties, and written copy on accounts for Fortune 500 retailers. And I'm less than a decade in. Now I have trouble choosing which clients to mention on my resume because the list goes on and on. This isn't to brag, but to show you that yes, you can start your own business. And no, you don't have to be some big wig to do it.
At some point after I'd successfully marketed my own business and helped clients market theirs, I started participating in online forums for WAHMs. There were so many talented ladies there who had great ideas, but no idea how to get them to the masses. I would spend time answering questions and offering suggestions, but there is no way I can dig through all the forums and help everyone. I often joked to friends that I spent so much time answering marketing questions online, that I should start a blog about marketing (haha).
Well, this is that blog. You're welcome. ;-)
My goal here isn't to teach you how to get rich. It's to teach you the basics of marketing, so that you can give your new venture a real shot. If you keep going and get rich after that, then good job! If not, then you will at least have the skills to get customers/clients, break out of your comfort zone a bit, and earn an income you're happy with.
If you made it this far, thank you. I hope you'll stick around while I iron out the little details of running a blog, finding the right topics to help my (hopefully? Eventually?) readers, and develop a bit of a groove. I'm glad you found me.