All my adult life, my focus has been nurturing, supporting, and enjoying my six children. Now, four of my children are married and are rearing their own little ones. That puts me in the most glorious of all callings – that of being Nana to my eight grandchildren. I spend a lot of time with each of them, but that hasn’t always been the case. When I was first a Nana, I was working three jobs.
My husband and I live in a beautiful but remote valley, high in the mountains of western Wyoming. We decided early in our marriage that I would be an at-home mom and the primary influence in the lives of our children. At first, I taught piano lessons for a little extra spending money. Then, I created a children’s performance group and I taught classes in our family room three afternoons a week after school. This all worked great for about 15 years, but then my husband’s employment changed dramatically. It became necessary for me to begin working away from home. I was emotionally compromised as I left each day to be a bread winner, but I had no way of providing from home the kind of income we needed. I had a college degree and teaching certification, and because being a school district employee offered insurance benefits, soon I was teaching English to at-risk students at an alternative high school. Don’t get me wrong, I love teaching and the work was sometimes very rewarding, but I continued to be conflicted leaving so many hours a day of mothering to someone else. It would have been okay if I had been working only the hours my children were in school, but as any teacher knows, sixty hours is the average teacher workweek.
Teaching was challenging enough, but I was also managing a dog boarding kennel and I was the bookkeeper for my husband’s landscaping business. Caring for a child with disabilities, supporting my husband, rearing my children, there was no time for my dreams. It seemed that I was running on empty most days and there wasn’t much chance of refueling. When I did spend time with my family, I was so exhausted and grumpy, everyone wished that I would just go back to work! Talk about feeling compromised. I wanted to be a good mom and grandma, but how could I be available when so much of my time was consumed trying to make ends meet?
Then I was introduced to direct sales/network marketing and all that changed. A co-worker at our high school told us at lunch one day that her son had just made thirty thousand dollars in his new business. I listened intently and thought, “Here I am giving my best time to someone else’s kids when I all I really want is to be home with my grandbabies.” The seed was planted and the more I pondered the possibilities, the more I became determined that if a punk twenty-two year old who had played football with my son in high school could make that kind of money from home, I certainly could do it, too. I set aside my plans to finish my Masters degree and began assessing how I would purchase my new business.
It took me a few weeks to wrap my head around the direct selling model, but I soon got straight in my mind the idea that when I bought the entry level product, I could then sell the entry level product and I was off and running. Because I had never been exposed to such a concept it definitely took a paradigm shift, but soon it made sense that if I was using that product and pleased with the results, I could then be a knowledgeable representative of that product. If I purchased the more expensive products and became the “product” of those products, I could then represent those products appropriately. I became enthralled with the ingenuity of direct sales.
I resigned my teaching position, I convinced my husband to hire a bookkeeper for his business (actually, I just told him, “I quit!”), I hired kennel assistants, and purchased my first direct sales business. Now, six years later, I work from my home office (or the hammock in my back yard) about 25 hours a week. And the whole key to me spending relaxed quality time with my grandchildren on a regular basis is the time freedom and financial independence that comes from making in a month what I used to make in a year teaching high school. Because of the inspired direct sales model of my business, my dreams are in focus and I’m making them come true.
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- Winter Sunshine (Why I have a Home Business!)
- First and foremost, I am Nana Val
9 Comments and Pings on Home Business Nana
This is a great story of the success we can achieve in the world of direct dales. Live and enjoy the life!
.-= Scott Scales´s last blog ..What the heck is a Focused DMO? =-.
Val – you know I love this story! And your love of writing shows through. You go girl!
Jodi
.-= Jodi Lee´s last blog ..Are you 3 feet from gold? =-.
This a great example of how the online business model is changing the way we do business. I’ve been an entrepreneur most of my life, and with the advent of web 2.0 technology and systems, there’s just no limit to what we can accomplish. Thanks for showing how it’s done, Val.
.-= David Merrill´s last blog ..Building Your MLM Downline with Social Media =-.
Val,
What a great story of the beauty of this industry. Many people get it wrong, they don’t understand or think that it’s some kind of scam. It sounds like the time you took to learn about direct sales and do your due diligence has paid off nicely for you. This really is a remarkable industry for those who get it.
.-= Don Enck´s last blog ..How To Survive Today’s Online Gold Rush…A Lesson From 1849 =-.
Hi Val,
This is a very inspirational story. And I am so glad you told it, transparently and with so much heart. This is the kind of story people in this profession need to hear again and again and again. The Dream drives us forward, always, and your dream is going to carry you far!
Mary Lou
.-= Mary Lou Kayser´s last blog ..How to Be an Online Hall-of-Famer (It’s Easier than You Think…) =-.
Hi! thanks for sharing really helpful.
Val,
Love what you shared with us here. ‘s so awesome that you found your passion and are living it every day.
Thanks for sharing,
Val
.-= Val Wilcox´s last blog ..Along The Path of Self Discovery… =-.
Val,
I love how you gave us a snapshot of your life and how through all the struggles and challenges you were still able to reach the top!
As a Teacher, I know exactly what you mean regarding the countless hours and unbelievable amount of energies required to teach, and in some cases, raise other peoples children!
Look forward to connecting with you.
Cheers
Steve
.-= Steve Hachey´s last blog ..Why Blog? What’s The Point? =-.
Dear Val,
I really enjoyed your posts.Several of which mirrored my own lifes journey of blessings and challenges.I am just completing a coaching corse with Barbara Silva’s ‘Coaching Cognition’ and have been looking at other established coachers online to explore all the different angles out there.I love the way you present your material straight from your heart.Its real and honest and I feel the connect.Thats a talent Val. I hope I can do as well. Now I have found you I would love to keep in touch.I live in New Zealand and you have my email.
Look forward to hearing from you.
Regards
Caryn
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