How much thought have you given to this question, How to start an online business at home?
The FIRST question should be WHY should I start an online business at home. There are gazillion reasons, perhaps different for each of us. Can I share my reason? Think about your reason too.
This is a long sad story with a happy ending. So grab a cup of coffee and read on. I am hoping it will inspire you to go into the home based business yourself.
My reason is I had lost most of my savings ten years ago in the Great Recession Retirement age was near, however, my pensions and social security had not kicked in yet. So I started to dip into my savings, If that’s all I did, I would not have got into a pickle.
When I looked forward to a life without a job, I felt that my money in my IRA would evaporate before I started earning the passive income from my retirement sources. I needed to do more than leave the money vested in cash and stocks.
I was watching late night TV before the Great Recession hit and a company called Better Trades was doing an infomercial on trading Stock Options. They were offering a free day long seminar locally, so I signed up.
The Hook
That turned out to be the worst decision in my life. At the end of the day they threw in an offer for a three-day course where they promised attendees would be taught everything the needed to become successful options traders. The profit potential was huge. This course which normally cost $5000 was offered to the attendees as a one time deal of $1999 that would not be repeated.
Since I had the money, and they convinced me to invest in myself, I signed the agreement. I never felt so good ever when parting with almost $2000!
The various option techniques taught at the three-day seminar was indeed an eye-opener. I had no idea that one could leverage just $500 with the potential of magnifying that several fold in a relatively short time.
The Bait
Several experts associated with the company were given an opportunity to tout their special premium courses that we were told was optional to sign up for. But they made it clear that if one was to make progress faster, it was essential to pick one or two of these advanced programs and focus on these to really make a lot of money.
I caught the bait. And shelled out another $4000 for a course on trading the LEAPS. This was based on long term options.
The Result
After I was well vested in trading options, and had a large percentage of my savings involved, the recession hit. Being the eternal optimist I am, I kept betting that the market would go up. We all know what happened.
My retirement account got decimated. The problem was it happened so gradually. As long as I had some capital left, I knew I could make up my losses.
It was like feeding an addiction. Placing a series of $10k trades each day became routine. Until I had lost it all.
It was like Las Vegas. On steroids!
Broken
I was moping at home not knowing what to do. We had a mortgage to pay as well as all the bills associated with owning a home. And car payments too.
My wife told me I had to look for a job. At 61 who would want to employ me in my high tech profession? In any case, jobs were few and far between as most companies were also beaten down and were laying off people in droves.
I got a job as an insurance agent. The pay was totally commission based. There was training involved, I couldn’t’t sell any insurance until I completed the training, passed the test and got my certification.
New Hope
I got CERTIFIED! I could sell insurance.
This turned out to me much tougher than I thought. Sure I made some sales. I was with that company for three years. The money coming in was barely enough to pay the bills. But I felt hopeful. There were colleagues who were doing incredibly well. Earning six figures. Surely I could learn from them and make the same?
Hope was my new mantra.
Kicked In The Teeth
After two years my manager called me into his office and had a heart-to-heart talk. My annual sales was way below their minimum standards. Maybe this was not the right profession for me. Head office had told them I had to be let go.
I felt kicked in the teeth again. Five years after losing the job in the engineering profession I had spent a lifetime.
My mind was at it’s lowest it had ever been.
After staying at home and trading options again with what remaining savings I had, I finally lost it all. My wife told me that this time I needed to get a REAL job. One that paid by the hour. And not commission based.
From $50 an Hour to $5.75 an Hour
I finally got a job again. The lady in the personal office made it clear that I should not be expecting to earn $50 an hour like before. Cashiers jobs were minimum wage jobs. At that time minimum wage was $5.75 an hour. The company was Walmart!
For FIVE years I slaved as a cashier. Eventually my hourly rate had increased to $8.50 an hour. I had to do something else.
A friend informed me that she was going to join a company that sold Solar Panels. I thought, why not look into that? So I attended their information meeting.
This was great! This was a door to door selling job that I could fit in between my Walmart job. So for the last three years working at Walmart, I also sold solar panels! I enjoyed this a lot! The commission on each sale was in the thousands of dollars. This income supplemented my Walmart earnings really well.
Kicked In The Teeth – Second Edition
This time after three years selling solar panels my manager called me into his office. I got an uneasy feeling this was not going to be good.
I had been through this scenario before!
I got the same story. My annual sales were not good enough. Perhaps sales was not mu forte. It was time to let me go.
WOW! Was this really happening? Am I such a bad salesperson? I looked into the mirror and had to face the harsh reality that I was not good at selling.
But the insurance company and this solar panel company didn’t give me enough time. I was on the cusp of striking it big with a backlog of potential customers that I was sure I was about to sign up. In both cases, they didn’t want to take the chance.
Salvation!
Then I found Wealthy Affiliate! Or more correctly Wealthy Affiliate found me. Who in Heavens name is Wealthy Affiliate?
This is a company that specializes in the best home based business category on the planet today.
Affiliate Marketing! Some of you may know what this is. And some may not. Regardless, this is like no other company around. They have been in business for over 10 years and minted thousands of successful entrepreneurs. It’s also about people helping people.
Rather than me explaining what this company is about, why don’t you check them out yourself! Click the article I wrote below and you will learn more about my recommendation.
The Best Training In Affiliate Marketing That Turns Beginners Into Pros!
I wish you much success in starting your online business.
Cheers!
Edwin
Whao! This is a good story to reflect oj. this article make me remember the advice of my poor Dad and my rich dad. My poor Dad we say’ go to school and earn good grade for you to get good job’ and
my rich dad we tell me to strive hard and make money work for me instead of me working for money. That’s amazing.
In the era we are, alot of parent want their children to be educated in order to become employed. Not knowing that we are still following the train of master and slave, so sad.
What can one do. In this era, alot of people have a lot of business plan but failed to execute it because there is no money. We have to use money to find money that’s why people prefer being employed than being employer.
This is a redefine world, we can start a business at the corner of our home without huge capital for investment. All we need is time and attention. We can make affiliate marketing work for us and earn passive income through even when we choose blogging as a full day job.
A quick search on Google about how to start an online business at home led me here. I was about to leave because I thought I landed on a wrong website when I noticed that there’s a story being narrated so I stayed. I am thankful that I stayed.
Like you, I’ve been kicked in the teeth, too. I used to work in a sales department of local dealer of Mitsubishi motors here in the Philippines. For the same reason, I was kicked out of the company and was told to find a job that’s not related to sales. Fortunately, I found your site and got some encouragement here and now thinking of starting my own online business like you did.
If I click on that banner and sign up with Wealthy Affiliate, can I count on you for personal coaching? I need someone in WA to guide me step by step of the way.
Gomer, firstly thanks for reading till the end. I will absolutely help you as you go through the course. I am already helping others. I’ll be happy t help you.
It sounds like you went through a lot before Wealthy Affiliate found you.
With having house payments and car payments knowing that you need to have those payments or you will lose those items.You lost that one job.
I have learned a lot so far, Like writing I am not a very good writer because I am at a loss for words, because I don’t know what to say.So I have been trying to write more.
It sounds like you have been through a lot before Wealthy Affiliate found you
With having a house payment and car payment and knowing that you need to have those payment or you will lose your house or your car.
Losing your job would make things hard for you
I have been with Wealthy Affiliate for about a month now. I have been learning a lot with doing the lessons, I have been learning to write, I am not a very good writer because I am at a loss for words
Melody, thanks for your comments. Can I make a suggestion? Instead of trying to write out your articles, have a conversation with an imaginary person about what you want to say. Use your phone to record it all. Then listen to it and then write down what you said verbally. Is you type how to write a blog into the grey area at the top a number of trainings and lessons will appear. Click and review them You will find a training you can relate to. Then follow it. Here is one such link:
https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/training/how-to-write-a-blog-for-money-a-guide-to-getting-started/how-to-write-a-blog-for-money-part-1
As you can see this is Part 1. There are other Parts that together cover this topic. It was written by another member.
I hope this helps. I wish you all the best.
Hey, Edwin, thank you for sharing that story. Thank you for being vulnerable with us. You’ve no idea how much I appreciate that about people. 🙂
It seems that it really has been a long way to finding your true calling and occupation after that recession. I’m glad you have. As it seems that you are really pumped about the opportunity to be a part of the Wealthy Affiliate family. And to work 100% from home, part-time. It really is a beautiful thing if you enjoy it (I’ve found that not all people do).
I hope you have a Great One, my friend! And if it’s appropriate to you, find me on WA. I’m always open to help other people with whatever expertise I have acquired during my time. In that sense, who knows… Maybe we’ll be working together someday!
I wish you all the success in the world, Edwin!
Cheers,
Matiss
Hi Matiss, you are so kind. I prefer working for myself by a long shot. I feel confident that WA will enable me to earn more than I ever did before. I wish to leave a legacy where the money will be used to help others when I am not around. So I better build a huge asset ha! One that keeps on giving well into the future.
You should know that the solar panel company got greedy and want out of business a year later. Hence it all worked out for the best. Even when bad things were happening in my life I stayed optimistic and was always happy.
I will connect with you on WA.
All the best.
Cheers!
Wow, such an incredibly struggling journey you have had. I hope it’s all much better now since joining WA.
I was really surprised they let you go from that Solar Panel job. From the way you told the story, it seemed things were doing great. And that that calling into manager’s office was so incredibly random. I mean, you were doing this stuff part-time, weren’t you? Of course, the annual sales are not as great as for those who do that stuff full-time.
Ultimately it seems that both those jobs have been somewhat reluctant to put their faith into you. Which is a bummer. But I believe there are many companies out there that are like that. They care only about the numbers. Which is so superficial. But what can you do?
My hope is that WA will be a completely different experience for you! … I kinda know it will. 🙂
Have a Wonderful Day!
Rasa
Rasa, thank you so much for reviewing my article. I am very optimistic about Wealthy Affiliate. I am working for myself and I am definitely not going to fire myself ha! I was working part time. but they wanted me to work full time. I didn’t want to leave my Walmart job since I needed a guaranteed income. That was part of the problem. You may like to know that the solar panel company I worked for got greedy and went out of business a year after they fired me.
I wish you all the best too.
Edwin