The one question I get all the time is: "How do you do it?" or I get comments like..."I don't know how you do it all." These are people who are referring to my daily lifestyle and work ethics. I thought I'd dedicate my next couple of blogs to work and business since this is a huge part of my life. You know that old saying, "Do something you love and you'll never work a day in your life." Totally true! If you love what you do it will never feel like work. Now, this doesn't mean find something you love and expect for it to happen and just because you love it you don't have to put any work into it. That would be taking things to literally and of course would do nothing for you in the long run. Time flies when you're having fun and when you love your job it never feels like you're actually working.
With all of that in mind, I am a HUGE believer that you can make anything into a business. ANYTHING! Sit down, get a pen and paper, and rack your brain. What do you love to do? What makes you tick? What are you good at? Now think of a way to make this lucrative for you. Get creative! In my case, I've always loved to sing and entertain, I love writing, make-up, home fragrance, candles, jewelry, animals etc. How did I turn these into businesses??? I now have a DJ/Karaoke business, I am partnered with a network on Youtube where I can showcase my love of everything beauty and get paid for it, write a blog (like this one) and earn a little extra cash, and I am also an Independent Scentsy Consultant which is a Wickless Candle company! This isn't "it" for me because I can only grow from here. Research your loves and you'd be surprised at what you'll find available to you. My biggest advice is to NOT look down on Independent Sales. Do you like to cook? Try being a Pampered Chef consultant. Love makeup? There's Mary Kay, Avon, Beauti Control etc. Most people will roll their eyes when they find out their friend has become a Mary Kay consultant or a consultant for any other company. While those people are busy rolling their eyes these Independent Sales Consultant's are driving new cars, taking trips that their business paid for, receiving incentive gifts for a job well done etc. Many of these men and women are millionaires or are making 3 figures doing what they love because they never quit!
Keep in mind that every business big, small, or independent all take time to grow. I'm not saying...find what you love and expect a ton of money right away. I'm saying find what you love and the effort comes naturally. People will see that you are genuinely enthusiastic and passionate about what you're doing and over time it becomes contagious. People want to help and support your plans. It's amazing! Eventually it will become successful. The hard part is not giving up. When I first started Youtube it was a hobby. At this point I am now in the marketing business. I receive beauty products worth $2-$200 or more to try out for FREE and if I like them I'll speak about the business and products in my videos. I am also able to buy a nice goodie or an awesome dinner for my husband and I with the pay I receive every month. My YT biz is only growing and some of the women on YT are making a complete living off of their very own brand because they never gave up which inspires me to keep doing what I love. When I started my DJ karaoke business I was working under a friend who would send me out on gigs when he needed me. It was extra cash at that point. Now this is my bread and butter and primary job. I can work as many times a week as I want to or as little as I want to. The choice is mine. But, I had to build clientele, my reputation, and my business. It took 2 years for this to become a steady income, but my efforts have literally paid off. Last but not least my Scentsy business. I have been doing this for about 10 months and at this point I can feel the pace steadily picking up. As someone who has worked in retail I know that their are slow months and busy months. The key is to keep going. This is also the same concept as my DJ business. I had to build a loyal customer base and my reputation with this company. At this point with this business I am able to purchase a nice substantial item for my home, pay a few bills, or have a quick weekend get away with the pay and I have a team under me. Again...I will keep on pushing. Understand that when something is making you money it is your responsibility to keep the ball rolling. Things will only keep getting better if you keep pushing forward. Patience is the ultimate key. In my future blogs I will talk about my time management, how to have successful businesses, building a business, etc. I am not a professional by any means, but I feel I do pretty well for myself. I am a confident woman with 3 businesses to run, a household to tend to and a husband to love and I feel like I've always been pretty good at the juggling act. If you all have any suggestions that you'd like my opinion on as far as business feel free to post a comment. :)
<3
Hayley
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
4 years....
As a lot of you know I just recently celebrated my 4 year wedding anniversary with my husband. I always get excited when we reach another year because it's such an accomplishment. I was thinking about when we first got engaged and married and reflecting on how much we've grown. Marriage isn't always a "good" time or fun and it's definitely not easy. It takes work and dedication and a lot of teamwork.
When my husband and I first got engaged we moved into together 6 months before our wedding. The last thing I wanted to do was move in right after getting married. This was all brand new to me. I had never lived outside of my parents house before, so besides paying for car insurance and my cell phone bill I hadn't payed any major bills before. I wanted to have everything prepared before the big day. When we were looking for a place to live we got lucky in finding our townhouse. The rent is awesome and it's bigger than your average apartment especially for the price. We literally combined our furniture that we had in both of our bedrooms at home to create our new home together. We had dollar general bathroom rugs and Dollar Tree shower curtains and rings. We couldn't afford anything. Haha! We were so grateful when my mother-in-law offered to give us her dining room table and some couches and when my parents bought us a microwave and gave us some dishes and silverware. So we had enough furniture to furnish our entire house...maybe not to our liking, but enough to have something in every room which was awesome. Dollar store bathrooms, hand me down living room furniture, and mismatched bedrooms! We were still happy regardless. :)
We had both of our tv's which were basically the old box 20 inch tvs and we had one on our dresser set up with a dvd player so we could watch movies. We didn't have internet or cable for about 6 months after getting married! We're super independent and wanted to stabilize everything on our own. We were sharing one car (my old taurus) and just our luck the air conditioner went out in it and during summer none the less. Not even 3 months after getting married we both lost our jobs because the place we worked at decided to shut it's doors and we were both blessed to find jobs 6 days after. I worked retail basically getting paid nothing, but something was better than nothing. I hated my job. I was so depressed and what was worse, my husband worked nights and I worked days. Sharing one car with opposite schedules completely wore us out. So let's take some inventory...We lose our jobs, gain new ones, have separate schedules, exhaustion, no cable or internet, car without air, and working at a job I hated. Fast forward to year 2 and our car totally shits out on us. We had to get a car and get it fast. We had $500 to put down on a car and we got a good deal on a nice vehicle...then my husband gets rear ended.
Here's where the blessings begin. Our insurance covers the entire car as a loss and we get a nice amount of $$$ back and get an even newer car! During this time I was feeling depressed and sick (same thing I'm dealing with now) and have to take some time off from work. They phase me out of the schedule! Basically I was fired without even knowing it. One of my best friends asks me to work with him and help him expand his DJ/Karaoke business. I started off doing small gigs with him and getting paid until he tells us that if we really want to make money we all needed to find our own gigs and charge our own prices and basically run our own business off of his. My husband was promoted to an assistant manager where he worked. I began doing beauty Youtube videos off of a suggestion from my friend as a hobby. All of these good things became a domino effect.
At this current time my husband has 2 jobs (by choice) that he does well with, we have 2 vehicles with air..lol, I have a successful business under my friends business where I am lucky to get to do what I love. My Youtube channel became a business where I get paid to make my videos and get sent all sorts of beauty products from companies that I get to review! I joined Scentsy almost a year ago and that business is steadily growing and my husband is definitely a huge helping hand with that when I need orders delivered. We landed on our feet and of course we are slowly updating all of our furniture and rooms little by little and getting things the way we want it to look. I'm not bragging in any way or saying we have it all, I'm just happy with what we're building and becoming.We've had hard times, bad times, and even sad moments...but when I reflect on everything we've accomplished TOGETHER in the past 4 years it makes me proud of the team we're becoming and happy that we're still walking hand in hand as we face all of these challenges. My point of this blog is that marriage definitely has its ups and downs like everyone says it does. But, if you hold on and push one another to grow those downs will seem to diminish over time with all the ups and the things that you've always imagined can begin to happen. All it takes is a little teamwork and effort. So..I am excited at reaching another milestone and amazed at how far we've come and can't wait to see what the future has in store for us. :)
<3
Hayley
When my husband and I first got engaged we moved into together 6 months before our wedding. The last thing I wanted to do was move in right after getting married. This was all brand new to me. I had never lived outside of my parents house before, so besides paying for car insurance and my cell phone bill I hadn't payed any major bills before. I wanted to have everything prepared before the big day. When we were looking for a place to live we got lucky in finding our townhouse. The rent is awesome and it's bigger than your average apartment especially for the price. We literally combined our furniture that we had in both of our bedrooms at home to create our new home together. We had dollar general bathroom rugs and Dollar Tree shower curtains and rings. We couldn't afford anything. Haha! We were so grateful when my mother-in-law offered to give us her dining room table and some couches and when my parents bought us a microwave and gave us some dishes and silverware. So we had enough furniture to furnish our entire house...maybe not to our liking, but enough to have something in every room which was awesome. Dollar store bathrooms, hand me down living room furniture, and mismatched bedrooms! We were still happy regardless. :)
We had both of our tv's which were basically the old box 20 inch tvs and we had one on our dresser set up with a dvd player so we could watch movies. We didn't have internet or cable for about 6 months after getting married! We're super independent and wanted to stabilize everything on our own. We were sharing one car (my old taurus) and just our luck the air conditioner went out in it and during summer none the less. Not even 3 months after getting married we both lost our jobs because the place we worked at decided to shut it's doors and we were both blessed to find jobs 6 days after. I worked retail basically getting paid nothing, but something was better than nothing. I hated my job. I was so depressed and what was worse, my husband worked nights and I worked days. Sharing one car with opposite schedules completely wore us out. So let's take some inventory...We lose our jobs, gain new ones, have separate schedules, exhaustion, no cable or internet, car without air, and working at a job I hated. Fast forward to year 2 and our car totally shits out on us. We had to get a car and get it fast. We had $500 to put down on a car and we got a good deal on a nice vehicle...then my husband gets rear ended.
Here's where the blessings begin. Our insurance covers the entire car as a loss and we get a nice amount of $$$ back and get an even newer car! During this time I was feeling depressed and sick (same thing I'm dealing with now) and have to take some time off from work. They phase me out of the schedule! Basically I was fired without even knowing it. One of my best friends asks me to work with him and help him expand his DJ/Karaoke business. I started off doing small gigs with him and getting paid until he tells us that if we really want to make money we all needed to find our own gigs and charge our own prices and basically run our own business off of his. My husband was promoted to an assistant manager where he worked. I began doing beauty Youtube videos off of a suggestion from my friend as a hobby. All of these good things became a domino effect.
At this current time my husband has 2 jobs (by choice) that he does well with, we have 2 vehicles with air..lol, I have a successful business under my friends business where I am lucky to get to do what I love. My Youtube channel became a business where I get paid to make my videos and get sent all sorts of beauty products from companies that I get to review! I joined Scentsy almost a year ago and that business is steadily growing and my husband is definitely a huge helping hand with that when I need orders delivered. We landed on our feet and of course we are slowly updating all of our furniture and rooms little by little and getting things the way we want it to look. I'm not bragging in any way or saying we have it all, I'm just happy with what we're building and becoming.We've had hard times, bad times, and even sad moments...but when I reflect on everything we've accomplished TOGETHER in the past 4 years it makes me proud of the team we're becoming and happy that we're still walking hand in hand as we face all of these challenges. My point of this blog is that marriage definitely has its ups and downs like everyone says it does. But, if you hold on and push one another to grow those downs will seem to diminish over time with all the ups and the things that you've always imagined can begin to happen. All it takes is a little teamwork and effort. So..I am excited at reaching another milestone and amazed at how far we've come and can't wait to see what the future has in store for us. :)
<3
Hayley
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