What Do You Love Doing? Turn it into a Business.

Have you ever thought about starting your own business? Want to be an Entrepreneur? These days it is so easy to start your own business, and there are dozens of types of businesses you can have. Starting your own business is no longer about coming up with a business plan, and pitching it to a bank or other lender to get hundreds of thousands of dollars to start a brick and mortar business. While that is an option for sure, so is working online, or having a network marketing business, or a mail order business. Even blogging or vlogging can be a business.

I have always had an entrepreneurial spirit and in fact could be described as a “serial entrepreneur”.  I have been a distributor in 4 different Network Marketing companies, and honestly, that seems to be the way so many businesses are going these days. It is a great business model. No storefront to own, no huge investment, and shoppers all over the world. In fact, there are even electric and gas companies that are using the Multi Level Marketing style of business to gain customers.

If that isn’t your cup of tea, you can start a business based on your passion. If you love to bake you can bake and sell your baked goods online, or at farmers markets in your area, or even at some grocery stores. If you love to make jewelry, make your jewelry and sell at a farmers market, on an online based platform such as Etsy. You could also partner with local boutiques in your area. Additionally there may even be vendor opportunities in your local area, especially at the holidays.

When I venture to my local farmers market I see people who make jellies and jams, baked goods, spice mixes, meat rubs, salsa, clothing, crafters, etc. If you have an idea and a passion, you can probably make money doing what you love. What may start as a side gig can become your main source of income. The sky is the limit.

If you love to write you can blog, or write short stories or even books. Monetizing a blog is not difficult, and there are many websites with information on how to do that successfully and make a great living blogging. If you prefer film or video you can vlog or create content on YouTube.

I have found that owning my own business has not only been a way for me to create an extra stream of income, but has given me so many opportunities for personal growth. I have read so many books, and listened to business leaders speak. I have been able to learn from amazing business leaders such as Linda Ellerbe, John O’leary, Robert Kiyosake, and Grace Lever, among others. Learning from them, and reading self discovery books has helped me to become a better person, and I really like the person I have become.

I guess what I am trying to say is What Do You Love Doing? Turn it into a Business. Go for it! What do you have to lose? And you could have a LOT to gain!

Why should I continue blogging?

When I started blogging 4 years ago, it was on a whim.  I knew I liked to write and my friend Patty was participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month).  I was absolutely positive I did NOT want to write a novel, however, that month is also NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month).  Now that was something I felt I could handle.  So I created a Blog called Glass Half Full, and started writing.  Looking back at those posts always brings a smile to my face.  They were so rough, and the writing was not at all the way I write now.

I suppose practice does create improvements because the more I have blogged, the better my writing has become.  Not that I am a brilliant writer now, or ever, but it is better now than it was then.

About a year after I started blogging I was approached by an acquaintance to ask if I wanted to blog together with her.  I said sure, and a wonderful friendship grew from our collaboration.  We blogged together for a couple of years, and we had a lot of fun.  Blogging with another person has its good points and bad points.  The good is that there is someone to share the work.  The posting, designing, etc.  My partner was awesome at finding cute backgrounds and would spend hours designing the look of the blog.  The bad part about blogging with someone is that you have to compromise.  You don’t have complete control of all the elements of the blog or the content.  I am a control freak, and that was a difficult piece of the partnership for me.  For a variety of reasons that partnership dissolved, and I was back to blogging on my own.

Now I am at a crossroad.  Not sure if I want to continue blogging or not.  I have had some successes blogging.  I have had a couple of blogs syndicated (meaning I was paid for them).  I have run some successful advertising blog campaigns with BlogHer (meaning I was paid for them), but I haven’t had the crazy success blogging that I dreamed about.  I dreamed about being the next “Pioneer Woman” or “Bloggess”.  Hell, even a small fraction of their success would have been a dream come true.

But dreams are a funny thing.  They are just dreams.  Hopes.  Wishes.  These dreams have not come true for me, and I wonder why I should even continue blogging?

I haven’t written in months.  There are times when I think of something and then think, “I should write about that”, but so many other things in my life require my attention, that it doesn’t get done.  I have an “idea” board next to my desk in my office, and even that has been blank recently.

My mother has criticized my blogging and I will admit that those criticisms have affected my desire to write.  A part of me says, “She doesn’t have to read the blog, if it bothers her”  and the other part of me wants my mother to be happy.

So I am trying to decide if it is really worth it to keep writing.  I don’t receive a lot of monetary compensation, or followers, or notoriety, but on the other hand, it makes me feel good, and there is this very small piece of me that has faith that SOMEONE out there enjoys reading what I write.

Time will tell.

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NaBloPoMo is back. November 2013 I will write!!

I have been very very absent and my blog has become very very boring.  To be honest I have been having my ass seriously kicked by school this semester. I am in a Psychology 317 class which is statistics from hell! I have really been struggling in this class, and I am almost to the point of tears due to the  frustration.

Beyond that I am dealing with family situations here with my two young adult step children.  The teenagers are doing okay for now, so at least that is one less worry for me.

Because of these pulls on my time I have been blogging less and less, and I am truly glad that NaBloPoMo is here to motivate me to get back in the habit of writing.

So, here we go….