Don’t be too scared to shine

Three months ago, our 30-metre long, 1.6-metre high wooden retaining wall snapped and fell over after a heavy downpour. My initial reaction was: “Oh no! How are we going to pay for that?”

However, in the days afterwards, I had an “a-ha” moment and I wanted to share it with you, because, for me, it’s changed everything!

Working from home does not mean “making no money”! I’ll say it again three times if you like, just so it sinks in:

Working from home does not mean “making no money”!

Working from home does not mean “making no money”!

Working from home does not mean “making no money”!

It is easy to get caught up in the mindset that, as a mum working from home, you can only go so far and earn so much because there are only so many hours in the day.

I often read the following words on Facebook:

• “I’m not really making any money…”
• “I’m just earning enough to…”
• “I know mums can’t afford much…”
• “I don’t think anyone would pay more than that.”

The problem is that little bit extra you are earning now may be fine until your wall falls over and you’re faced with the prospect of having to find extra money from somewhere to cover the massive bills.

The other problem is that with words like this, we limit ourselves to thinking small and restricting not only our audience’s spending potential, but our own income potential.

Why does earning more have to mean working more or working from a big office? The truth? It doesn’t!

But we trick our brains into thinking that it does. Pesky brains!

Since my wall collapsed, instead of desperately trying to scrape together some cash to pay for it and feeling like a slave to my business so that I can “get by”, I decided to make a considerable investment in my business and hired a business coach. Already my business is transforming before my very eyes!

If you’re feeling stuck in the poverty mindset and are looking for some inspiration from other women in business that work from home or run micro-businesses, why not check out www.shinelittlebiz.com? Karen Gunton, from Build a Little Biz, has kick-started this website to showcase the achievements of women in little businesses, to celebrate excellence and inspire women in business everywhere to shine like the superstars they are.

Like you, I love what I do, but if you’re going to work so hard on your business, shouldn’t you also be reaping the rewards and shouldn’t you be expecting to?

You deserve to shine!

A version of this article was originally published on the Support a WAHP blog.