“I’d love to have an online business and work from home” is a comment I hear regularly.
When I work with people changing their careers, or even just chatting socially with people, so many express the desire to work for themselves. Frequently this is followed by “I’d love to create a business online and work from home.”
I’ve hit all the speed bumps!
This is a career move that is close to my heart, after all I live it every day. But I have, until now, hesitated to recommend it to people because there can be a few speed bumps on the road to online success. I know because I think I’ve hit every one of them over the last eight or nine years!
It’s been an interesting journey and along the way I have met some amazing people. Sometimes it is the people you meet that make the most unexpected impact on your life, even years later.
On a cold and dismal day in London in 2010 I arrived at a business workshop after flying into the UK from Australia. I was jet lagged, excited, nervous and not quite sure what I’d let myself in for. I’d gained access to the workshop through a competition online and I think I only won because I said I’d fly from Australia to London to attend. It certainly wasn’t for the quality of the video I’d submitted!
Chris and Susan Beesley
I met an interesting couple, Chris and Susan Beesley, almost as soon as I arrived at the venue. Susan and her husband Chris were accountants and management consultants but hoped to work from home. At that time they were just starting to learn about internet marketing, inspired by the success of one of their business clients.
The workshop required quite a lot of “buddy” work, so Susan and I became “buddies” and worked closely together for some of the workshop and the three of us often chatted in the breaks. I enjoyed their company and we kept in touch over the years. When you work from home it’s important to have other people also working from home who can share ideas with you and who inspire you to do better.
Highly regarded internet marketers
Now they are highly regarded internet marketers, keynote speakers at major international internet events providing online business education, and reaping the financial benefits of their hard work, their new skills and their ability to deliver online business education in an interesting and understandable way. And they still work from home, often with their much-loved rescue cat sitting on their lap or trying to snuggle up.
I recently met up with them again after all those years. We had kept in touch, and in fact I’d been following their work and learning from them for several years. They traveled to Australia to be the keynote speakers at an internet marketing workshop.
My husband David attended the summit with me and we were both most impressed by their knowledge and their stage style, which is just them being exactly who they are on stage. That is refreshing in an age of youthful success, photoshopping and manufactured images.
Catching up was fun
We also had a great time catching up socially, with lovely dinners and the occasional glass or two of bubbles! With a common interest in creating a great lifestyle that encompasses lots of travel and embraces some work online to enhance that lifestyle, we had a lot to talk about.
Built an international business working from home
During that time they have had enormous business success. To achieve this level of success they needed to master new skills to an expert level, so they could teach others. They discovered a love of teaching and an amazing ability to foster confidence and hope in people who were embarking on a whole new business venture. During this time they have also encountered major problems that they had to overcome, problems that were outside their control. Despite all this they have kept smiling, helping people and building their business.
Working from home involves some hard work
Working from home, building a business to boost your retirement income, does not have to involve the extreme level of commitment that they have shown, but it will take some work.
Contact us if you would like to discuss your own situation and explore possibilities that suit you and your lifestyle.
