Welcome to my cozy little home on the internet.
I love helping others share from their heart which is such a blessing to be able to turn that into a full time income and more.
I know the feeling as a women of wanting to work from home on something you’re passionate about by writing on a blog with the security of a full time income but having no idea how to even start.
You may wonder how on earth you could do this too, it’s simple.
You need to commit yourself to the long game, this isn’t an easy fix or quick cash. This is something you will develop that grows like a snowball. If you keep adding snow, you will eventually have a snowman and much more.
I’m sharing my unique expertise and everything I’m studying along the way with you here.
My Clients Love What I Do
I remember when I embarked on creating a scrapbooking site with the intention of a full time income. I was so excited however I already owned 5 retail stores (a busy business!) so I did a lot of writing on my blogs in the basement of my home late nights so I could focus.
I remember driving around to my suppliers, picking up products and dropping them off at my 5 stores every Friday and how I would daydream about the day I could cozy up with a coffee or tea at home instead.
This is your dream too to have a full time blogging income and the ability to work from home. If you are willing to put the work in, you will definitely achieve it.
I made the dream happen and then trauma hit my life, my daughter got very sick and I had a divorce. This almost took me out but I can tell you this, I am so much STRONGER than ever and I’m on a mission to help as many women as I can create their own income and live their life exactly how they want.
Read More About My Entrepreneurial History Here
I’m an entrepreneur who opened up my first retail store by age 21 in 1997. By the time I was 24, I had 5 retail stores and was *not* having the time of my life lol.
Here’s my story…
We (my ex husband and I) opened our first retail store in 1997 and that’s also when we launched selling items on eBay. Along with the store we were listing 100 items a day on eBay for sale, this especially helped in the months following Christmas rush because we had access to the world on the internet.
Here’s a picture of our first store, the night before our grand opening which the last moment before the sign was placed.
I remember that night like it was yesterday. We had friends and family come down to the store for pizza to celebrate our first location. There was a lot of anticipation the night before and how exciting it was the moment I walked up to the store the next morning and we had a line up of people waiting to get inside.
What people don’t realize is that we had built our business for almost 3 years prior to this grand opening day. We had been setting up at the local flea markets in Cloverdale and Abbotsford every weekend and building our customer base. After the flea market is when we opened up a cart in the middle of the mall for about 8 months and it was then we knew we were ready to take the leap into a store location.
It was fun, I learned a lot of what it takes to start a business and before I knew it, we had 5 retail stores across the Lower Mainland.
Then everything shifted for me.
One day I was standing in one of my stores with opened empty boxes all over the floor behind the showcases while I was busy pricing product and getting it all on the shelf.
The store was packed with people and I had a ton of product that needed to be priced and put out for sale… I always said to myself, “Vera, you can’t sell it if people can’t see it”.
It was one of those moments, I stopped for a second and looked down.
I was completely overwhelmed.
As I was looking at the empty boxes on the floor, I knew deep down in my heart this wasn’t my dream to be stuck every single day of my life inside the mall in a store.
We had a lot going on and I knew change was coming.
I had found this wonderful group of work at home Moms and that’s where I started learning about internet marketing. I learned how I could make money online without having to list on eBay… this was a big deal to me.
I launched my online business in the scrapbooking market back in 2004 and that’s where it all started.
I loved scrapbooking back then so it only made sense to share my hobby online as well.
I’ll never forget the day I launched my scrapbooking podcast and how surprised I was the day I got my first affiliate cheque for $70 USD.
I will never forget that moment.
I was in the basement of my house where I was packaging up eBay items (we had quite the set up) and that’s also where we kept our mail to go through. I took a break from packing items and peeked at my mail.
Sitting there was an envelope addressed to me which was unfamiliar. I opened it up and there it was, my first affiliate cheque. I was so delighted, the first thing I did was call my dear friend Alice Seba to let her know.
I finally knew I was on the right track.
From there, Kodak sponsored my podcast, “Scrappers Talk Radio” with a $300 USD monthly fee for advertising. I was on my way to making a full time income with my blog.
I knew this the start of something very special and exciting.
I had been studying internet marketing for a while and it was time to put together my first product launch.
There I was standing inside one of my stores with my Mom by my side. I said to her, “are you ready Mom? I’m going to send the last email now.” This was the email that let my subscribers know that the cart was open to my product.
We were both so excited!
I had just created my very first product launch this was “the” email that was going to show if the launch worked.
The email worked so well sales started pouring in and I made $800 USD within the first two minutes… literally.
We were both jumping up and down in the store. I knew my life was going to change forever.
I started sharing my experience with other online business owners and before I knew it people wanted to hire me to handle things for them as well.
This is when I decided to launch my first business planner. I knew that if my methods worked for me, they would work for others too.
My little online business had overtaken the monthly sales of my least performing store, I knew this was it. By 2007 I was able to sell 3 of my retail stores and close 2.
I was officially FREE!!!
I learned the foundation of online business and left the retail world and I never looked back.
To this day I still visit my old friends who still have stores in the mall, it’s like I’m inside a time capsule when I see them, so wonderful yet I still feel that sense of huge freedom when I leave the mall.
My experience can be yours too.
You just need to know the basic foundation of online business and you can apply it to what you are passionate about.
I’ve taught many people (I can’t even count) on how to fill up the year with marketing messages, emails and strategy for a successful online business that will generate a full time income and much more than that.
I look forward to connecting with you.