I have a dream!
No, it’s not in the realm of Martin Luther King Jnr’s dream, but for me it’s a big one.
What is it?
Financial independence.
I want to find a way to become independent of government support (or anyone else’s support), despite having CFS / ME and electrosensitivity.
And I believe I can do this via internet business (which some of you may already know if you’ve been reading my previous blogs.)
I saw the potential in online business opportunities almost 2 years ago when I started listening to Pat Flynn’s Smart Passive Income podcast.
I realised that there were many non-dodgy, completely legitimate ways of making money online, and that, although there is little chance of this income appearing overnight, with work and commitment it IS possible for anyone – even spoonies with little energy or money – to achieve (I believe anyway!).
And my dream’s not just about money. It’s about truly making a difference to the world. I couldn’t do anything JUST for the money.
My dream – or part of my many dreams – is make a meaningful contribution to the quality of life of people with CFS / ME / FM and other Spoonies. I have many ideas – some already happening – of how to do this.
Getting Serious
I have always had an entrepreneurial mindset – a mind full of ideas of how to solve problems in creative ways.
Some of these are ways to make money, others are just ways to create something and solve a problem at the same time.
So at the start of this year, I decided to really get serious about my dream.
I worked out a way to get a loan in order to hire a virtual assistant (VA) and get some of the equipment and software I otherwise could not afford.
I had realised that, although I have some great ideas, and I know how to put them in place (and, for the most part, how to do all the tasks that requires), it would take me forever to do it alone, and it was also playing havoc with my health spending so much time in front of the computer (and getting the related EMR migraines/headaches/face pain).
I knew if I was to take my dream to its conclusion I had to really go out on a limb and hire someone to help me.
In the end I hired two VAs from the Philippines. I didn’t plan to hire 2, but the recruitment company – Virtual Staff Finder – managed to find me such great candidates for my general VA position, I decided to take an even bigger chance and hire both Pam AND Jen because I could see that one complimented the other – and between them they could do almost all the jobs I had on my outsourcing list (and hopefully get me earning an online income even faster!).
So since March, when I hired Pam and Jen, it was been a steep learning curve for me because, on top of all my own responsibilities, I now have a team to manage.
Why am I sharing this with you?
1. Well, part of my dream is not only to create online businesses that lead to my own financial independence, but I want to inspire, help and support other Spoonie Entrepreneurs (people with CFS / ME / FM and other chronic illnesses), to also create their OWN financial independence via online business opportunities.
2. Although I’ve come a long way since March (and since starting seriously online in January 2013), I’m still in the building phase, and although I can see a definite light at the end of the tunnel, I’m a little way off yet.
I have various Spoonie products in the development, I have my eBook – 15 Minute Power Plays With Your Kids – now on Amazon, and I have other non-Spoonie-related projects on the go.
BUT, I’m still not making very much money, which means that I need to find a way of covering my costs or I’ll have to say goodbye to my amazing VAs and start doing it all on my own again.
I don’t want to do that if at all possible! I’m just not sure my health would hold up, and I certainly would have to wait a lot longer to get my financial freedom AND to make the difference to the Spoonie community that I want to make.
3. So combining the 2 above reasons, I’ve decided to offer my team’s services to other Spoonie Entrepreneurs who are also aiming to become financially independent.
I know that many of you with these dreams and goals would not have the means to hire a VA yourselves.
So I’m offering MY VAs (and my own tech/admin) services to you on a casual, project-oriented basis for a fraction of the price it would cost you if you were to hire your own VA or hire someone else to do the jobs my team can do for you.
So what can we do for you?
Lots! 🙂
Here is a list of SOME of the things Pam, Jen and I are proficient at & can offer out as services:
Typing handwritten documents
Transcribing audio to written documents
Designing Facebook/Twitter/Google+ cover pages
Designing website banners
Creating photo quotes with your website name built in
Data entry
Research
Social Media post scheduling
Providing advice on how to create a podcast from your blog
Providing advice on a range on internet business-related topics
And bigger jobs as well, such as:
Building a WordPress-based website from scratch for you
Clearing out your email inbox & creating filters so that emails go to specific folders
Video editing to go up on YouTube or elsewhere
Audio editing to go wherever you want
Really, it’s a matter of “just ask”, and we can probably provide it or refer you to someone who can!
How do you get our services & how much will they cost?
If you’re interested in hiring my team, just email me at VAteam@GetUpAndGoGuru.com and we can work out the particulars.
The price of the tasks will depend on how long the task will take, but many of the smaller jobs will cost as little as US$10.
You will be surprised how economically we can do certain jobs for you and save you a lot of time and energy.
Seeing others succeed in fulfilling their dreams – or taking steps towards them – is what lights me up.
If we can help you in any way to move towards your goals and dreams, I’d love to be able to do that, while also being able to move toward my own goals and dreams.
Limited Time Offer
This offer is really only for a limited time until I get to the stage where I’m breaking even with my business ventures – although if it worked out that many Spoonie Entrepreneurs were interested in these services, I would consider growing my team over time to fill that need.
This is not an offer that will interest everyone, but I know some of you out there are serious bloggers and entrepreneurs.
Even if you’re not looking to make money, you can still be an entrepreneur – someone with innovative ideas of how to solve problems and make a difference to others.
So if this offer calls to you, please email me at VAteam@GetUpAndGoGuru.com and we’ll go from there. If you just want to ask a question or get a quote, feel free to ask.
This blog has actually taken me a bit to write. I’ve hesitated to reach out, but I decided that there is WAY more potential benefit to you, my Spoonie audience, than there is risk in putting people off by talking about the business side of what I’m doing.
I’m learning that my old attitudes around money are not particularly productive in my business pursuits, so I’m stepping through my fears and just putting stuff like this out there.
I really hope some of you take advantage of it.
I know that if I had this offer 12 months ago I would have grabbed it. It would have given me a chance to outsource without the stress, outlay and time involved in hiring my own VA. I hope you see it that way too! 🙂
Oh, and if you ARE a Spoonie Entrepreneur, you might also be interested in joining a small group I’ve started up over on Facebook, appropriately called “Spoonie Entrepreneurs“. Just click on the link and you can request to become part of the private group.
Keep Smiling 🙂
Louise