My Dream to Work Part Time at HomeMy dream to work part time at home is slowly coming to fruition.... Hi everyone! My name is Stef Erickson. Thank you for visiting my website, and in particular this page, to find out a little about me and my dream to work part time at home. I’ll do my best to tell you about myself, and what brought me to this point in my life. Hopefully I'll also give you an idea as to how you can do this too! I'm not a computer techy person, and I don't have a degree in computer science. Actually, I'm minimally knowledgeable about computer technology at best! I don't Facebook frequently, I don't have an iPhone or a laptop, and I'm not familiar with the ins and outs of the internet. What I do have is a desire to do what I love, and do it in less time than I'm doing it now - hence my desire to work part time at home.
Why do I want to work part time at home? Don't I love my job?
Do I really have to dignify this question with an answer??? Ok, I'll answer it...no, I don't love my job. I mean, it's ok, I'm not miserable, it pays the bills, and I like the people I work with. But it's not the dream of a lifetime, and frankly there are lots of other things I could be doing with my time...between the commute to work and the time at the office, it just doesn't seem that efficient. I want to work part time at home because I want to have time with family and friends, I want to be able to work out more, I want to take my dog for walks, I want to take art classes, I want to garden, I want to cook more and I want to do everything else that I love so much!
My first thoughts about being able to work part time at home, came to me after I went through a lay off at work. That took quite an emotional toll on me because of how much self-esteem I had wrapped up in what I did for a living. I had to redefine myself, and figure out how I would feel "important" in life without my career. I started to minimize the importance of my career, and maximize the importance of my life and my time with those that I love, doing things that I love. I was eventually able to land a comparable job, but it was too late. I didn't feel the same way about work that I used to...I wasn’t having fun at work anymore. And worse yet, I couldn’t even justify it anymore because my belief system had been shattered. I started thinking....if I'm going to spend 8+ hours per day doing something, shouldn't it be fun to me? And I started asking myself, what if I could work part time at home?
What made me believe I really could work part time at home?
My outlook on life really started to change when I downloaded the audio version of The Secret (opens new window) by Rhonda Byrne. I listened to that recording over and over and over again. For those of you who aren't familiar with this book, it's all about the Cosmic Law of Attraction and how that law affects us in our daily lives. It talks about how we determine the course of our lives by our thoughts and our feelings. It talks about how each one of us deserves to be happy....truly happy....during our time on this earth, and that we can have anything and everything we want if we only apply the Law of Attraction in the right way. (This, of course, included my dream to work part time at home! YAY! :)
Well, I have to tell you, I was ECSTATIC when I heard those words (as were my friends who also read the book or watched the movie) and I started putting the Law of Attraction into effect immediately. I felt great! And, like everyone who read that book, I truly expected my life to change within 30 days! (Oh...and when I say "change", I mean I would have all the money I wanted, have the body I wanted, be able to work part time at home, etc. etc.....all within 30 days....) Needless to say, it didn't unfold quite that quickly, but I definitely took a turn in the right direction. The book taught me the basics about the Law of Attraction and I began to learn more about the law and how to apply it to my life. It was exciting, but at the same time, I was learning something that was completely contradictory to what I had grown up believing. Everything that I had been told, or had been taught to accept as true, was challenged by this new set of beliefs. And while everything in the book made sense and felt "right" to me, I had to begin working on the core beliefs that I had accepted as "truths" before I was able to have a significant impact on my life. Before I became familiar with the Law of Attraction I had this deep down belief that life was not meant to be THAT fun....and if you were having too much fun with it, you needed to brace yourself for something going wrong. What I discovered during this process was that life was actually meant to be enjoyed! "Follow your bliss" a saying coined by Joseph Campbell (opens new window), captures how I first started to embrace this new way of thinking and living.
I had to analyze and modify both my beliefs about the world, and my actions in it. Believe me when I tell you that wasn't an easy thing to do. I had to look at my beliefs about the world, spirituality, relationships, money, karma and personal responsibility. I had to alter my belief that I was a passive player in the world, to one where I actually determined my own destiny. I started small, and began thinking through decisions that I would make on a daily basis. When I was faced with a decision, I would ask myself, "Is this what I really want?" If the answer was 'no' then I re-evaluated whether or not I should do it! (Of course, some things like going to work, were non-negotiable "must do's" regardless of whether or not I wanted to do them. After all, unless I won the lottery, my dream to work part time at home, would not come to fruition overnight!)
Did I really WANT to work part time at home?
I did want to work part time at home, but why? Why was that such a strong desire for me? I had to identify exactly what it was that I wanted to achieve by doing that. If I were to work part time at home, would I be happier? Would I feel more fulfilled? Slowly, I realized that I did want that! I wanted to be able to have more free time, to decrease the amount of time I spent driving to and from work every day, to have time to do errands and chores, and time to work out, eat healthy by making more dinners at home, and all of the things that most of us want in life. The Law of Attraction told me that the more I focused on what I want and what makes me happy, the more of it I would receive in my life. I started by identifying exactly what it was that I wanted....literally picturing my life the way it would look if I were writing the script myself....and then I wrote it down. I wrote a detailed description about what every aspect of my life would look like in my ideal world.....my family, my friends, my contribution to society (in other words, my "job"), my free time, my hobbies, my financial status, my "toys", etc. etc. This helped me define my desires. One thing I know for sure....you can't have what you want if you don't even know what that is! I used to say things like..."I want to make a lot of money!"....but with this new way of thinking, I had to ask myself if this was really a true statement? Money for the sake of money, is really very meaningless. I didn't want money....what I wanted was the ability to do what I wanted to do when I wanted to do it. I learned that I wanted to work part time from home because I wanted a flexible schedule, time with family and friends, and time to just enjoy life! When I decided to "follow my bliss" and identify what I wanted in life, I started gardening more. It is one of my most favorite hobbies, and so I did more and more and more of it. Then, I identified for myself that I wanted to make more money in less amount of time, so that I'd be able to spend more time with my friends and my family...after all, isn't that what life is really all about? I also knew I wanted to be able to benefit from my own creative efforts and hard work. And this is a big part of my descire to work part time at home! When you have a typical 9 to 5 job, all your efforts benefit the organization you work for, not you as an individual. You may or may not climb the proverbial ladder, and you may or may not support the organization in your heart of hearts. I wanted to do something that would allow me to use my creative efforts, and BENEFIT from that creativity. I also knew that I wanted to work part time at home and have the ability to increase my salary based on the effort that I put forth. When you earn your salary on an hourly basis, you only have so many hours you can work in a day, and therefore only so much money you can earn. I didn't want a limit put on my earnings. I wanted my earnings limited by only one things...ME! If I wanted to put forth greater effort, I wanted to receive financial compensation for it. As I was thinking about how I would be able to work part time from home, I began searching the web and was introduced to the world of web-based businesses and affiliate marketing. (I didn’t even know what "affiliate marketing" was, but I happened upon some information, and it sure sounded like I could eventually meet my goal to work part time from home by learning about it.)
How was I going to meet my goal to work part time at home?
I first happened upon a book by Rosalind Gardner, The Super Affiliate Handbook (opens new window). I bought the book, learned from her, and absorbed everything I could about affiliate marketing and web-based businesses. I knew that if I were given enough information and instruction, I could succeed! Well, while reading that book, I was given information about Site Build It! (opens new window) and that is what has really started to change my life. I still have my 9 to 5 job but I am well on my way to being able to work part time from home. It is possible that I’ll achieve my goal in the next year or two. Follow my journey here for regular updates on my progress!
What really and truly baffled me was that I could actually achieve my goal to work part time at home by creating, and maintaining, a website that was valuable to people. If I knew something about something, or if I was willing to research something, I could put that information together into a real bonafide website, and get paid for doing this if I did it right. To work part time at home, I needed to do it right, do it honestly, and feel good about myself and my product....which is essentially..."information"! I knew I could do that! I knew I had information to share, and I knew I could follow instructions if someone showed me the way! Not only that, but there were LOTS of other people who had SBI! websites who were able to work part time at home, and be successful doing it. If they could do it, I knew I could too! So that's my story in a nutshell. That's the journey that I'm on towards my goal to work part time at home. I'm getting closer and closer to achieving it every single day! I have a wonderful, supportive family, who I'm very close to, and who completely support my dream to work part time from home. You will see me reference them in this site often. I live with my partner, Jeanne, and my dog, Abby, in a 3-bedroom ranch in one of the suburbs surrounding Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Jeanne and I have created a backyard that truly is a mini-vacation retreat. We decided long ago that instead of buying a vacation property that we could only visit on weekends, we would create a vacation property in our home so we could enjoy it everyday. We had a pool and a hot tub installed, and we have been working to improve our yard since we bought this house in 2003. This is where the idea for this website came from. It was my belief that so many average homeowners out there have improvements, or fun things, they'd like to do with their yards but don't know where to start. Much of the gardening and landscaping advice you find in books and on the web, is geared towards people with some expertise in this area. It can be overwhelming to the average person who just wants to up the curb appeal of their house, enjoy their backyard a little bit more, or plant some flowers or a vegetable garden. I wanted to create a place where people could go to find some easy, straight forward information, that would help them in making some basic improvements. I also wanted to create a place that would help others make decisions about features that they were thinking about adding to their yard. Because of the improvements that I've done personally, or my friends and family have done, I have some insight to share that I believe will help others, including what's involved in some backyard landscaping projects, and what may be best handled by a professional as opposed to doing it yourself. Above all, it is my intention that this website will prove to be a very valuable resource for those who visit it. I thank you so much for taking the time to learn a little about me and my reasons for creating this site.
If you're interested in reading more about my ride through website development visit the work at home page. That page wasn't so thrilling initially, but I have to say it's getting much more fun to write! I actually earned $600 in April of 2010! Can't WAIT to be able to do this full time! :) If you're curious as to how I'm doing this (writing this site, that is...) and you want to know more about the program I'm using, and consider whether or not this may be something for you...visit Site Build It! Reviews where I discuss my critique of the program in general, and the online business degree course where I discuss the options available to you through SBI! Thanks again for visiting!
In her down-to-earth, sincere and often humorous style, Rosalind Gardner guides you through the entire process of building an affiliate marketing business on the 'Net. Frequently revised and updated to reflect industry changes, the Super Affiliate Handbook now consists of 236 pages and 124 screenshots that will show you step-by-step how to become a Super Affiliate. You'll learn how to pick the best affiliate programs, negotiate a commission raise and save time, money and effort on everything from affiliate software to web hosting. To learn exactly how she does it, Click Here.
Return from Work Part Time at Home to Backyard Landscaping
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This was a totally new concept to me. What I found was that so often, I was doing what I thought I SHOULD do instead of what I WANTED to do. Or worse yet, I was doing what I thought OTHERS thought I should do! The ironic thing is that as I conducted myself in this way, I wasn't having a great impact on anyone else's happiness, and certainly not ANY impact on my own happiness.
