You Don’t Have to “Just Get By”

This post was written by Cas McCullough from SupportAWAHP.

You may not know this, but Support a WAHP (Support a Work at Home Person) has been a bit of a problem child for me. I inherited this business from another entrepreneurial mum, two years ago. At the time I thought it would be a great source of passive income to complement my local startup business, Mumatopia and I loved being in an active support network comprised of home based businesses.

Now, here's where I get brutally honest

Nobody likes to admit it when they've got it wrong, but I had this grand idea of what could be achieved with this little business. The truth of it was, that with all my big ideas I had created a rod for my own back and there came a point earlier in the year where I felt so undervalued and resentful about how much work and effort I had to put into the business, that I nearly shut up shop. Don't get me wrong, I really valued supporting other work at home businesses through Support a WAHP but for the amount of effort I was putting in, I wasn’t getting a return on my investment and was starting to feel a bit trapped. Then one night, after a heavy downpour, a retaining wall in our backyard collapsed, causing thousands of dollars in damage. My first impulse was to say: “Well, how am I going to pay for that?” But what happened after that was what changed everything for me. I had a massive “aha” moment. I realized that I could make a choice to either keep struggling or decide to put my energy into doing what I love in a way that pays me what I’m worth, so that I can be more present for my family, and stop being a slave to my business.

So, you know what I did next?

I took $1000 out of my pocket (despite the fact I had a $24,000 bill looming over my head) and I invested in a 3 month business mentoring programme. By making that choice to honour my worth and my family, my business-life was transformed. Through the mentoring program I realised that what I'm really passionate about is empowering other women entrepreneurs to use their own powerful content to amplify their value and attract raving clients. I had built Mumatopia with no advertising or marketing budget and I knew that other businesses wanted to know how to do that too… thus Content Marketing Cardiology was born. I launched my first ever group training program (my maths-teacher gran would laugh if she saw I was now teaching) and within a month I not only made back what I spent on that program, I doubled it and thoroughly enjoyed working with the four businesses that did my introductory program. And, best of all, I’ve been able to keep this valuable work at home business community going without burning myself out. We now have a new website and simplified blog and membership program and I have wonderful support from some other business mums.

And now for something really big

Not satisfied to just do one challenging thing this year, I decided to go big. Six months ago, I began a journey to organise the biggest event I've ever undertake in my life. I'd seen lots of different telesummits but never one aimed squarely at solo women entrepreneurs, craftisans, home based business mums and dads and micro businesses. So, I decided that it was high time there was a telesummit for people like us. I refuse to believe that businesses choosing to stay small, don't want to learn how to grow and be profitable. Otherwise, why would we choose this work at home life? It's been an amazing ride. I've learned more than I could ever have imagined and at the end of this month, I'm running a three day telesummit called Startup Small — Dream Big — Grow Fast in conjunction with my accountability buddy Stacey Myers! You really don’t have to “just get by.” You can do what you love, live the lifestyle you promised yourself (and your family) and not only turn your business into a thriving enterprise, but make a significant profit, so that you have more to give and can make a bigger impact on the world. It is possible to start a business at the kitchen table and grow it into something amazing, while being present for the people who matter most to you. The idea for this telesummit was sparked by my desire to inspire other women solopreneurs to expand their ideas on what is possible for their businesses and earn what they are worth, without becoming corporate carbon copies. I hope you will join me for this ground breaking celebration of solo enterprise. To register for “Startup Small — Dream Big — Grow Fast.” click here!

This post was originally posted on SupportAWAHP.

I would love to hear about your experiences of being a 'Work at Home Person'.  Please leave your comments below.

Cas McCullough is an author, blogger and entrepreneur and the ultimate shoestring marketer. Cas blogs for www.startupsmart.com.au and her two small businesses mumatopia.com and www.supportawahp.com. Cas is passionate about empowering women entrepreneurs to drop the sales pitch and start marketing with ease using powerful content and social media. Content-ment is her vision!