Let me give you a little backstory before we dive into how exactly I started a business from home on my laptop in 2019!

 

I wouldn’t say entrepreneurship was something I always knew I wanted for myself. I grew up with the idea that you got your degree, found yourself a job with great benefits, and you stayed with them for decades. And that’s how you made it, even if you took a pay cut for better benefits, it was worth it. That was how you’re able to make a steady income, save, and retire at 70. And that sounded miserable to me 😂

 

But I still followed that path. I figured, my parents had done the same, my brother had done the same, and it worked. I did not enjoy school nor was I good at it. It turns out I hate working for someone else, too. At least I hated working for someone else in jobs that I just truly didn’t care about. It seemed like that’s all that school pushed me to do. I worked in so many different professions trying to find something I could enjoy. I was a lifeguard, a waitress, a nanny, worked at a fitness center, sat front desk at an eye doctor office, I tried my hand at landscaping, worked at a family doctor’s office, worked at a liquor store, worked at a real estate office, I got my real estate license, I mean the list goes on!

 

Eventually I decided to think about things I actually enjoyed and photography was a hobby I had loved since high school. I still had my high school graduation present, a Nikon camera, and I decided to offer photography services to friends and family. I really just gave away my time and service for free 😅I might have made a total of $300, but that’s okay! I learned so much about shooting and editing photos. I even took an online course on the topic!

 

I then learned that people were making some great money shooting weddings and real estate videography. I sold my Nikon Camera, bought a Canon Camera and took an online course in videography geared towards weddings and real estate. I also took classes at the local community college to really learn videography and editing. I pictured my life as a wedding videographer and needing to work every single weekend (because that’s when people get married) and decided that wasn’t for me. My main goal was to have a LIFE and man it seemed almost impossible!

 

I decided to get my real estate license and shoot real estate photography and videography. This was my first real taste of entrepreneurship! I was able to set my own schedule and prices and I loved it. I would shoot photos of beautiful homes and purchased a drone to add areal photograpghy to my portfolio. 

 

At this time, this was still a side hustle. I was still working two other jobs. I would work 8am – 4:30pm as a front desk lady at a real estate office and then work 5pm – 10pm at the local liquor store. Saturdays were typically my day off to shoot real estate and Sundays I worked 9am – 5pm at the liquor store. So my schedule was FULL. This was not sustainable and not at all what I wanted for my life. Call me lazy, but I wanted to work less and make more money. 

 

Again, something had to change. During my time at the real estate office I noticed that they had no social media presence. I couldn’t believe that… the best way to sell real estate is to market the beautiful photos that the realtors spend so much money getting taken. I offered to start a Facebook and Instagram for them and that’s where it all began…

 

I spent MONTHS learning everything I could possibly learn about marketing on social media and learned that people were making good money being a social media manager for small businesses. You could say I became obsessed with it. It was the perfect mixture of my passion (photography) and a great skill to sell (marketing). 

 

So this is exactly how I started a business from home!

 

1. I started by learning everything I possibly could. There is so much great information about making content and marketing on social media! YouTube was my best friend. 
2. I quickly realized that I could scour the internet for months and months to learn everything I needed to know about the social media marketing industry or I could buy a course and learn it all in one weekend and start making money now. So that’s what I did.
3. I set up an LLC and opened a business bank account.
4. I started a business Instagram and shared some of my best photos and videos to show future clients the kind of work I did.
5. I asked small businesses if they would like help with social media marketing. Including the liquor store I worked at part time.
6. I set my monthly retainer prices and got to work!

 

That’s exactly how to start an online business from home. I was able to replace my full time income and my part time income within two months. Once I was making more money with social media management than I was in my jobs, I quit. Finally, I had the flexibility and time freedom I had always wanted! I was able to work early mornings, late at night, on the weekends, not on Fridays, whatever I wanted! 

 

And the best part?

 

I wasn’t trading time for money. I was trading value for money. I had a skill that could produce results for clients. It didn’t matter if it took me 2 hours or 10 hours to produce those results, I was getting paid the same. This was a breakthrough moment for me. I realized if I could set up systems and automations I could work less and make more money. A complete win in my book. You might be thinking, well, your work output is suffering because you are leaving it up to automations to do tasks for you. The beauty about the internet and social media is that everything is trackable. There are online automation systems that can track and dissect analytics better than a human can. They can tell us the best times of day to post, how long viewers are watching videos, where in the world our followers are, and so much more. This kind of research would take months if not years to gather without these tools!

 

This isn’t to say I didn’t put the time in in the beginning, though. I definitely did. I spent hours learning about online businesses and so much time making mistakes but it was all worth it. Now, I work very few hours a week on my social media marketing business. I pay for automations that work for me and free up my time. And I’ve mastered the art of marketing on social media so I am able to produce results faster.

 

There are so many opportunities to make money online. You just have to get creative! Find a need and fill it!