My business is at a crucial point right now. It’s the first time I will be hiring some regular help. I have posted small jobs to eLance and Guru before, but never attempted to hire someone to work with me regularly.
I just posted my first ad on Craig’s List, and I hope to be getting emails from potential contractors very soon. Here’s a link to the ad:
http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/dak/web/4799301949.html
This also marks a turning point in the direction of my business. For 8 years now I have been working online. Right now I predominantly do web design for a handful of long-term ecommerce clients. I love my clients, and I love my work. I never thought I would be a work-a-holic, but that is what I’ve become because I love it so much.
I love the flexibility, and I love working from home (or anywhere really!)
But – there has come a sort of glass ceiling that I did not perceive before. (Mostly because, like most people, I had a hard time perceiving my own success.) The glass ceiling is that I am only one person working 40+ hours per week. I can’t make more time. I am a single mom of two lovely school-age children and their schedules and needs prevent me from being a true work-a-holic and busting way over the 40+ hours per week I currently work.
I also want to have a life. And a vacation! I haven’t taken a true vacation (away from a computer 100%) in over 8 years. I love the flexibility of taking the computer along and being able to work when on vacation, but there are certain things I want to do that will require me going “off the grid” for longer than 6-12 hours at a time! 🙂
I want to hike in Costa Rica, I want to scuba dive in Portugal, I want to vagabond through Europe with a backpack and stay in hostiles.
In order to make these things a reality my business model is changing slightly (and slowly – no body panic!) Ideally over the next 4-8 months I will be giving up the day to day implementations to awesome contractors that I hope to hire in the next month. My “job” will then be to find new business. And the business I hope to find is 100% internet marketing strategy and implementation.
I will predominantly be (drum roll here) a consultant! (I can never decide if this is a good word or not.)
I want to sit down with business owners and take them further into this dream they had of having a business online. I want to get back to that core passion and then implement marketing strategies for them that will blast their dream out of the water and make it a successful reality.
I’ve laid the ground work, I’ve educated myself, and I’m now taking the first real step toward hiking for 10 straight days in the Costa Rica jungle. 🙂