Making a living online, where did I get a hair-brained idea like that?
Making a living online in 1995 when I first started was a piece of cake! This was my first online business and I had zero training. It was an affiliate site selling organizing products. Being organized is a strong skill-set of mine so I thought I would talk about organizing and recommending products.
Google and search engine technology were still quite young back then so it was pretty easy to rank on the first page of Google.
I don’t even remember how I learned about making a living online. I just wanted to have my own thing. I was working in the family business which was in Information Technology but it wasn’t “mine”. I yearned to have something and do something more.
While I think being a mother is the most important job in the world, I felt empty. I wasn’t challenging myself. I wasn’t growing as an individual and my website was the creative outlet that gave me a voice.
I loved that site. I sure loved the paychecks too! I couldn’t believe how easy it was to make $1000 a month! I do realize this isn’t an amazing figure but the point was, that I made money with zero knowledge.
I poured my heart and soul into it and ended in the year 2000 due to a family tragedy that I couldn’t quite get over. I let it die. Looking back on it, that is one of my life regrets. I wish that I had never let it die.
I had been married for only two years and had a one-year-old when it all started. We didn’t need the money, my husband made plenty of money. I guess he was gone a lot of the time and I wanted something that was my business, so to speak. The truth is, I didn’t look at it as a business at all back then.
My husband bought a computer company for $500 to repair computers. Little did I know that I had a crazy knack for business and marketing. I took this business and it transformed quickly. We made half a million dollars that first year. Soon we hired employees, managers and next we had three retail locations.
Another child later and I was even busier. That didn’t stop me though, I started getting into graphics and website development. Back then we didn’t use WordPress, it was all HTML and software specific to developing the website.
I was stepping away from all of the hardware, software and wanted to give making a living online a try again.
In 2003 I started two more affiliate sites in the health and fitness industry. This time around, I noticed how it was a little harder to rank in Google. We had to work much harder with keywords. Hmm, what is that?! I was clueless. It had changed that much! I still managed to make money though.
This making a living online thing didn’t make me rich but I proved several times to myself that it does work.
My marriage wasn’t what it could be and I started homeschooling, to be honest, my heart still wasn’t in it. I let these two die in under a year.
Being passionate about health and fitness, I proceeded to get my training and nutritional certifications and started a consulting business in 2005. I competed in physique competitions and hand many biathlons, 5k’s, 10k’s, and marathons under my belt by this time.
Everyone asked me how I always looked so fit so I thought I could help people so I guess I was my billboard.
I hit the ground running and got clients easily.
The family made a move to another state and I would have to build the business up from the ground again but instead decided that I would have another baby.
I was getting older than 42 at the time and knew this would be my last chance to have a baby. I so love being a mom. It is THE best job in the world. I don’t always feel that way when they give me flack but at the end of the day, I adore them!
I didn’t do much of anything for a few years. The little one kept me pretty busy. I competed one last time and won in a physique competition just four years ago. My youngest was two years old at the time. What a thrill to win first place and up against women who were half my age! I am very proud of that.
Fast-forward to today, I wanted to start an online coaching services business. I’m always searching for ways to improve myself but people in my life always said they felt that I had a unique ability to make them feel heard and provide sound advice.
A struggle of mine my whole life was being around people who didn’t have the drive or the passion that I had. I might as well be from another planet. I absorbed everything that I could get my hands on about the mind and behavior. I wanted to help people. I wanted to be a life coach and business coach.
It’s sad to say that my marriage ended in 2011, we were not meant to be. I needed to figure some things out.
I started a Spa! Now isn’t that different than anything that I had done? It was fun, exciting, and a LOT of work!
With my website expertise from years gone by, I went to work and built an online presence for the spa. Thank you, Google! I had my phone ringing with free people! People just found my spa because I had mastered the keyword and SEO (search engine optimization) techniques. This was all great but the spa was not my love.
I can’t believe I went against my idea of being authentic. What does that mean? I believe that you should do what you love. I didn’t love the spa. What was I thinking? Well it was successful I did love being out with people socializing and dressing up every day but it wasn’t the real me. The worst part is, I wasn’t home with my little girl. That was important to me.
I was planning my exit, sold the spa, and went into life coaching. This career is so much more flexible and the money is good if you know how to market yourself.
I homeschooled the other two children through high school and now I was homeschooling the little one too.
Being single, I needed to make some money. I needed to be authentic. I needed to homeschool my little one.
“Necessity is the mother of invention.” –Plato
There it is…
“Genius!” I thought. I can do this! Well, let me tell you, this time around everything is different! I am much older-Gah! I am also so much wiser.
I took the skills, knowledge, and passions that I developed over the last 25 years and poured them into my latest online ventures to help you be authentic too, and do what you love. I am making a living online as a life coach online and multiple streams of income so that I can do the things that I love and have more passion for life.
Sharon Lee, Your online life coach, and business coach
Founder of Fearless Pursuits (Online Coaching Services)
Are you reaching your fullest potential? Do you feel stuck in your life and afraid? There’s no need to live your life this way any longer. A rock-bottom beginning and becoming homeless and a life full of twists turns and personal tragedy, I now teach how I am living my dream life. Get this program to help you achieve your dreams now!
