That Business Attraction
Table of Contents
For years, I asked myself, how can I start a business and live well?
I grew up amongst professionals and entrepreneurs, starting at the age of 4 years. My grandmother was an East Indian who did not know how to read or write. The challenging circumstances of her life led her to leave her marital home and travel into the city to make a life of her own with her girl children.
Without knowing how to read or write, she created a trading empire, invested in properties in the city and educated her girls. All eventually had businesses of their own.
My early years were spent with my grandmother while my mother was away studying. I accompanied her to the market to buy and sell goods. Perhaps, that is where my attraction to business started.
Knowing what your drivers are help you to connect to your purpose. This is critical to keep you going through the tough times.
Years Of Searching
Like the majority of you, I was directed along the traditional path. I went to school, got an education, landed a fairly good job and worked my butt off. From studying mathematics and actuarial science, I moved into accounts and computer programming.
For years, I worked with large mainframes, studying and writing code to develop programs that would make the lives of workers easier. That led me into training, marketing and eventually, human resources and communications.
The work was never difficult but, I struggled with the culture and the environments within which I worked. In spite of all those struggles, I travelled the world and climbed the corporate ladder, eventually reaching the Board Room and elusive Executive Suite.
With all of that success though, I grew more and more disillusioned. It became harder and harder to align myself with the vision, mission and behaviours of the companies I worked with.
I also invested a few years in starting up my own businesses. The reality of having to manage all the resources that were required to start those businesses and grow them hit me hard.
It was difficult to find people who were like-minded and open to learning, investing in themselves and growing. Then of course, the financial burden of establishing and maintaining a physical business was growing even more challenging as the world developed.
There had to be a more efficient, effective and profitable way.
Right Back Where I Started
I never drifted far away from where I started my career. Computers eventually became Information Technology (IT) and the internet was born in 1983, the same year I started working. It seems that we were made for each other.
Although I did not keep abreast of all the technological advancements as my work life evolved, I did incorporate many of them in my work to make it easier.
The internet evolved and grew and in 2016, I found myself returning to the space in my search for a way to establish a business presence.
Writing was always a love of mine. I devoured books and information like a savage animal. It was a way to mask my introversion and take me into a world of ideas and innovation. Perhaps it was all that reading and those ideas that made me so restless and unaccepting.
Knowledge is power. Knowledge changes you and your world view. I changed many times and found myself again attracted to the creative world wide web.
By this time I was also a single-parent and the flexibility to be able to support, educate and nurture my daughter was at the top of my list of priorities.
The demands of the traditional brick-and-mortar, no matter how much I earned, would no longer fit into my lifestyle and personal objectives.
Marrying What You Know With What You Need And Want
I knew what I needed and wanted and sat down to assess what I knew and how putting them all together could move me forward.
My love of books, information, knowledge, learning, travel, change and culture were at the top of my list.
- But, what could I do with them?
- Were they considered skills?
- How valuable were they?
I took to the internet and started to research what sustainable business I could invest in that would bring me joy and satisfaction.
My first stop was writing and I started to look into online businesses such as teaching English, writing scripts and copy and designing communications campaigns. There was a lot of research to cover and although I was stumbling upon a lot of success stories, most of them were being told as a hook to get you to buy their products or read their stories.
It was quite by chance, one Sunday evening, that I discovered the online platform that would provide me with all the tools, resources and support that I needed to understand the 4 steps to creating a successful business online.
What engaged me from day one was the fact that I could get started for FREE! Absolutely no payment required.
Starting An Online Business Is Not Rocket-Science
If nothing else hit me when I started learning how to become an Online Entrepreneur, this did.
The process of starting and building an online business is not at all complicated. I have concluded that people make it seem complicated to justify their over-the-top pricing for low quality products and services.
It is easy to mask your thinking on a subject if you do not know anything or a little about it. That is done almost every minute on the internet.
But, with a market of over 4.5 billion people, what do you expect? Everyone wants a piece of it.
In October 2019, I discovered Wealthy Affiliate, (WA), immediately set up my FREE account and began my FREE Online Entrepreneur Certification (OEC) training. That was also surprising and refreshing. I was learning how to start and manage a business with no financial outlay. Simply investing my time.
Remember my affinity for learning? Well, I devoured those lessons in quick time.
By the time I reached lesson 4, I was building my first niche website!
Of course, I was using the FREE Starter Membership for the WA platform. The learning and awakening were steep. By the time I had reached lesson 8, creating custom menus on my website, I knew that this was going to be well-worth the investment.
I invested in the first month’s discounted membership fee of $19.00 and quickly moved on to enjoy even more savings by investing in WA’s Premium Membership.
Here’s an outline of where I started and what I eventually invested in.
1 Year, 8 Online Income Streams
While I know that my success may be unique, it shows what is possible.
I was hell-bent and determined to do whatever was required to learn and start to earn. To say it directly, I worked my butt off during my first year!
Even though I was still working in my offline business, I studied and worked online as though it was my only full-time investment. That investment has paid off, magnificently and I am now well-positioned to grow a sustainable and profitable online business over the next year, 5 years, 10 years and more.
Over the past year, I have been able to establish 8 different streams of income.
- Consulting Retainers, led by my LaMP International Limited brand
- Wealthy Affiliate – Training and Support
- Website Hosting & Management
- Affiliate Marketing, through my Live Well Affiliate brand
- Domain Investments
- Personal Coaching Brand, Cassi Of Troy
- Google AdSense
- Wealthy Affiliate Sales
My ultimate goal is to build a legacy for my daughter.
There is no way I would have been able to create all these income streams with a traditional day-to-day, offline job. As I continue to build by businesses, I know that my income will continue to grow, horizontally and vertically.
It was, by far, one of the very best decisions that I have made in my life.
This is home to two (2) world-travelling, youthful, life-loving and committed Caribbean women – Cassi, a Baby Boomer Dragon Gemini preparing to transition into being a full-time Digital Entrepreneur/Writer/Photographer and, Zafi, a Generation Alpha Tiger Aquarian who has already found her life passion in the realm of dance and music.
Together, we discovered Affiliate Marketing and now enjoy building and growing our lives full of genuine community, learning, support, networking and earning – on our terms and at our leisure.